1998 Australian Capital Territory general election

Elections to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly were held on Saturday, 21 February 1998. The incumbent Liberal Party, led by Kate Carnell, was challenged by the Labor Party, led by Wayne Berry. Candidates were elected to fill three multi-member electorates using a single transferable vote method, known as the Hare-Clark system. The result was another hung parliament. However the Liberals, with the largest representation in the 17-member unicameral Assembly, formed Government with the support of independents Michael Moore, Paul Osborne, and Dave Rugendyke. Carnell was elected Chief Minister at the first sitting of the fourth Assembly on 19 March 1998.[1]

1998 Australian Capital Territory general election

21 February 1998 (1998-02-21)

All 17 seats of the unicameral Legislative Assembly
9 seats needed for a majority
Turnout91.8 ( 2.3 pp)
  First party Second party
 
Leader Kate Carnell Wayne Berry
Party Liberal Labor
Leader since 21 April 1993 19 August 1997
Leader's seat Molonglo Ginninderra
Last election 7 seats 6 seats
Seats won 7 seats 6 seats
Seat change 0 0
Percentage 37.8% 27.7%
Swing 2.7 4.0

Chief Minister before election

Kate Carnell
Liberal

Resulting Chief Minister

Kate Carnell
Liberal

Subsequent to the election and during the life of the fourth Assembly, on 18 October 2000, Carnell stepped down as Chief Minister and was replaced by Gary Humphries.

This would be the last time the Liberal Party (or the Coalition) would form government at a state or territory level after an election until the 2008 Western Australian state election. Also, this is the last time the Liberal Party has formed government after an election in the ACT.

Key dates

[2]

  • Close of party registration: 15 January 1998
  • Pre-election period commenced/nominations opened: 16 January 1998
  • Rolls closed: 23 January 1998
  • Nominations closed: 29 January 1998
  • Nominations declared/ballot paper order determined: 30 January 1998
  • Pre-poll voting commenced: 2 February 1998
  • Polling day: 21 February 1998
  • Poll declared: 17 March 1998

Candidates

[3]

Sitting members at the time of the election are in bold. Tickets that elected at least one MLA are highlighted in the relevant colour. Successful candidates are indicated by an asterisk (*).

Greens

Brindabella

Five seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending two seats. The Liberal Party was defending two seats. The Paul Osborne Independent Group was defending one seat.

Labor Candidates Liberal Candidates Greens Candidates Democrats Candidates
 

John Hargreaves*
Karen Mow
Kathryn Presdee
Andrew Whitecross
Bill Wood*

Geoff Didier
Margaret Head
Trevor Kaine*
Louise Littlewood
Brendan Smyth*

Sue Ellerman
Peter Farrelly
Liz Stephens
Fiona Tito

Charlie Bell
Geoff Dodd
Anna Grant
Mark Peirce
Adele Tait

Osborne Candidates CDP Candidates Ungrouped
 

Linda Moore
Paul Osborne*

Stephen Carter
Francis Piccin

Tom Cornwell (Ind)
Margaret A Kobier (Ind)
Margot Marshall (Ind)
Peter Menegazzo (Ind)
Leonard Munday

Ginninderra

Five seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending two seats. The Liberal Party was defending two seats. The Greens were defending one seat.

Labor Candidates Liberal Candidates Greens Candidates Democrats Candidates
 

Wayne Berry*
Roberta McRae
Joy Nicholls
Chris Sant
Jon Stanhope*

Terry Birtles
Vicki Dunne
Warwick Gow
Harold Hird*
Bill Stefaniak*

Jennifer Palma
Shane Rattenbury
Dierk Von Behrens
Molly Wainwright

Alex Allars
Jocelyn Bell
Terry Holder
Stephen Selden
Peter Vandenbroek

Osborne Candidates CDP Candidates PLP Candidates Ungrouped
 

Hilary Back
Dave Rugendyke*

John Richard Miller
Ivan Young

Renee Brooks
Morgan Graham

Alice Chu (Ind)
Cheryl Hill
Derek Hill
Connie Steven (Ind)
Helen Szuty
Manuel Xyrakis

Molonglo

Seven seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending two seats. The Liberal Party was defending three seats. The Greens were defending one seat. The Moore Independents were defending one seat.

Labor Candidates Liberal Candidates Greens Candidates Democrats Candidates Moore Candidates
 

Simon Corbell*
Chris Flaherty
Steve Garth
Tania McMurtry
John O'Keefe
Ted Quinlan*
Marion Reilly

Greg Aouad
Jacqui Burke
Kate Carnell*
Greg Cornwell*
Gary Humphries*
John Louttit
Nick Tolley

Miko Kirschbaum
Caroline Le Couteur
Tiffany Lynch
Roland Manderson
Niki Ruker
Michael Smitheram
Kerrie Tucker*

John Davey
Jane Errey
John Kennedy
Melissa McEwen
Jonathan Tonge
Jason Wood

Joan Kellett
Michael Moore*

Osborne Candidates CDP Candidates PLP Candidates DSP Candidates Ungrouped
 

Chris Carlile
Chris Uhlmann

Terry Craig
John Edward Miller

Robin Bartrum
Bora Kanra

Sue Bull
Tim Gooden
Nicholas Soudakoff

Pamela Ayson (Ind)
Daryl Arthur Black (Ind)
Nick Dyer (Ind)
Jerzy Gray-Grzeszkiewicz (Ind)
Noel Habercht
John Hancock (Ind)
Jeremy Leyland (Shooters ACT)
Roger Nicholls (Ind)
Jacqui Rees
Peter Willmott (Ind)

Results

Australian Capital Territory general election, 21 February 1998
Legislative Assembly
<< 19952001 >>

Enrolled voters 205,248
Votes cast 188,484 Turnout 91.8% +2.3
Informal votes 8,134 Informal 4.3% -1.9
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats Change
  Liberal 68,221 37.8 -2.7 7 ±0
  Labor 49,798 27.6 -4.0 6 ±0
  Osborne Independent Group 16,426 9.1 +9.1 2 +2
  Greens 16,417 9.1 +0.0 1 -1
  Democrats 10,786 6.0 +2.1 0 ±0
  Independent 9,232 5.1 -0.5 0 -1
  Moore Independents 5,261 2.9 -4.1 1 ±0
  Christian Democrats 3,027 1.7 +1.7 0 ±0
  Democratic Socialist 745 0.4 +0.4 0 ±0
  Progressive Labour 437 0.2 +0.2 0 ±0
Total 180,350     17  
Results by electorate
Brindabella Ginninderra Molonglo
Party Votes % Seats Votes % Seats Votes % Seats
Liberal 20,110 37.1 2 16,741 33.2 2 31,370 41.5 3
Labor 15,463 28.5 2 14,931 29.6 2 19,404 25.6 2
Osborne Independent Group 8,804 16.2 1 4,856 9.6 1 2,766 3.7 0
Greens 4,383 8.1 0 4,384 8.7 0 7,650 10.1 1
Democrats 3,336 6.2 0 3,614 7.2 0 3,836 5.1 0
Independent 1,244 2.3 0 4,745 9.4 0 3,243 4.3 0
Moore Independents 5,261 7.0 1
Christian Democrats 911 1.7 0 922 1.8 0 1,194 1.6 0
Democratic Socialist 745 1.0 0
Progressive Labour 240 0.5 0 197 0.3 0


Distribution of seats
Electorate Seats held
Brindabella     O    
Ginninderra     O    
Molonglo       M      

M - Moore Independents
O - Osborne Independent Group

See also

References

  1. "Legislative Assembly for the ACT - Week 1". ACT Hansard. ACT Legislative Assembly. 19 March 1998. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
  2. "Election timetable". ACT Legislative Assembly election - 1998. ACT Electoral Commission. 1998. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  3. "Voting data". 1998 Election. ACT Electoral Commission. 1998. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
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