1980 Denison state by-election

A by-election for the Tasmanian House of Assembly was held in the Division of Denison in the Australian state of Tasmania on Saturday 16 February 1980.

1980 Denison state by-election

16 February 1980
All 7 seats for the Division of Denison in the House of Assembly 4 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   DEM Leader Doug Lowe Geoff Pearsall Norm Sanders Party Labor Liberal Democrats Seats before 4 3 0 Seats won 3 3 1 Seat change 1 1 First preference vote 21,615 20,309 4,292 Percentage 46.4% 43.6% 9.2% Swing 4.3pp 1.6pp 1.8pp

Background

The election was the first to use the Robson Rotation, a method of rotating names on ballot papers. In previous elections, candidates were listed in alphabetical order by surname.

By-elections are not usually held in the Tasmanian House of Assembly because casual vacancies are filled by a countback of votes, a system that has been in place since 1917.

On 18 December 1979 the Supreme Court of Tasmania ordered that the election of three candidates in the 1979 election be declared void. The court found that Julian Amos, John Devine and John Green had exceeded their spending limits. As a result, all elected members for the electorate of Denison were required to face another election.

Elected Members

The election resulted in two previously elected members losing their seats: John Green from the Labor Party and Bob Baker from the Liberal Party. Elected in their place were Norm Sanders from the Democrats and Liberal Gabriel Haros.

The following candidates were elected, listed in order of election:

Order	Name	Party
1	Neil Batt	Labor
2	Max Bingham	Liberal
3	Gabriel Haros	Liberal
4	Julian Amos	Labor
5	John Devine	Labor
6	Robert Mather	Liberal
7	Norm Sanders	Democrats

Result

1980 Denison state by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Quota			5,819
	Labor	Neil Batt (elected 1)	8,272	17.8	+5.2
	Labor	John Devine (elected 5)	4,346	9.3	−2.4
	Labor	Julian Amos (elected 4)	3,928	8.4	−3.6
	Labor	John Green	2,325	5.0	−2.8
	Labor	Bob Graham	2,108	4.5	−0.6
	Labor	Stan Joiner	332	0.7	+0.7
	Labor	Norm Hanscombe	304	0.7	+0.3
	Liberal	Max Bingham (elected 2)	5,960	12.8	−12.9
	Liberal	Gabriel Haros (elected 3)	5,658	12.2	+7.4
	Liberal	Robert Mather (elected 6)	2,160	4.6	+0.8
	Liberal	Geoff Davis	1,616	3.5	+0.5
	Liberal	Bob Baker	1,540	3.3	+1.6
	Liberal	Max Robinson	1,364	2.9	+1.5
	Liberal	Doug Clark	1,194	2.6	+2.6
	Liberal	Terry Bower	462	1.0	+0.5
	Liberal	Alan Hughes	355	0.8	+0.8
	Democrats	Norm Sanders (elected 7)	2,798	6.0	+1.8
	Democrats	Peter Brown	466	1.0	+1.0
	Democrats	Rod Broadby	422	0.9	−1.9
	Democrats	Elizabeth Holloway	206	0.4	+0.4
	Democrats	Andrew Langlinger	149	0.3	+0.3
	Democrats	John Harrison	130	0.3	+0.3
	Democrats	Bruce Kent	121	0.3	+0.3
	Christian Democrats	Hellen Kelly	168	0.4	+0.4
	Christian Democrats	Stephen Shelley	167	0.4	+0.4
Total formal votes			46,551	94.8	−1.5
Informal votes			2,538	5.2	+1.5
Turnout			49,089	90.0	−2.4
Party total votes
	Labor		21,615	46.4	-4.3
	Liberal		20,309	43.6	+1.6
	Democrats		4,292	9.2	+1.8
	Christian Democrats		335	0.7	+0.7

Further reading

• Denison form guide 2006 Archived 2008-07-17 at the Wayback Machine, Poll Bludger, 2006. Quoting an article by Wayne Crawford of The Mercury in 2002.