# 1992 Queensland state election

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 19 September 1992 to elect the 89 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.
The Labor Party led by Wayne Goss was reelected for a second term with a strong majority government. The election effectively confirmed the status quo, although the ALP lost a small percentage of votes and four seats. Three of those were new seats which were nominally Labor following the redistribution.
This was the first election in many decades in which a zonal system of electoral representation did not exist. The previous parliament had legislated for a "one vote one value" electoral redistribution, in which almost all the 89 electoral districts were to have similar numbers of electors (within a 10% margin of the mean). The only exceptions were electorates that had areas of at least 100,000 square kilometres. The number of electors in each of those electorates was increased by 2% of the total area of the electorate expressed in square kilometres, to ensure that the number of electors in the affected electorates was within 10% of the mean enrolment. This election also saw the introduction of optional preferential voting (replacing compulsory full-preferential voting) in Queensland elections, which would remain in place until the 2016 electoral reforms of the Palaszczuk government.
Although Labor suffered a small swing against it in north Queensland, that was slightly masked by the abolition of the zonal system.

## Key dates

| Date | Event |
| 25 August 1992 | Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election. |
| 29 August 1992 | Close of electoral rolls. |
| 1 September 1992 | Close of nominations. |
| 19 September 1992 | Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm. |
| 24 September 1992 | The Goss Ministry was reconstituted. |
| 31 October 1992 | The writ was returned and the results formally declared. |

## Electoral redistribution

A redistribution of electoral boundaries occurred in 1991. The zonal system was abolished, with a weighting added for remote electorates over 100,000km2.
The electorates of Auburn, Balonne, Bowen, Broadsound, Carnarvon, Condamine, Cooroora, Fassifern, Flinders, Glass House, Isis, Landsborough, Manly, Merthyr, Mourilyan, Nundah, Peak Downs, Pine Rivers, Port Curtis, Rockhampton North, Roma, Salisbury, Sherwood, Somerset, South Coast, Stafford, Toowong, Townsville East, Windsor, and Wolston were abolished.
The electorates of Beaudesert, Broadwater, Bundamba, Burleigh, Caloundra, Capalaba, Charters Towers, Chermside, Clayfield, Cleveland, Crows Nest, Ferny Grove, Fitzroy, Gladstone, Hervey Bay, Inala, Indooroopilly, Kallangur, Kedron, Keppel, Kurwongbah, Maroochydore, Merrimac, Mooloolah, Mount Ommaney, Mundingburra, Noosa, Sunnybank, Waterford, and Western Downs were created.
The redistribution added 7 more electorates to Greater Brisbane, the Gold Coast, and Sunshine Coast, while leaving 7 less electorates in regional Queensland. Aspley, Clayfield, and Hinchinbrook became notionally Labor-held.
The changes resulted in 59 notionally Labor-held seats, 10 notionally Liberal-held seats, and 20 notionally National-held seats.

## Retiring members
### Labor

* Ron McLean (Bulimba)
* Bill Prest (Port Curtis)
* Nev Warburton (Sandgate)

### National

* Des Booth (Warwick) - Lost preselection
* Bill Gunn (Somerset)
* Neville Harper (Auburn) - Lost preselection
* Bob Katter (Flinders)
* Don Neal (Balonne)

## Results

Queensland state election, 19 September 1992 Legislative Assembly
<< 1989–1995 >> :
| Enrolled voters | Enrolled voters | 1,951,675 | | | | |
| Votes cast | Votes cast | 1,785,403 | | Turnout | 91.48% | +0.30% |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | 40,242 | | Informal | 2.25% | –0.75% |
| Summary of votes by party |||||||
| Party | Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change |
| | Labor | 850,480 | 48.73% | –1.59% | 54 | ± 0 |
| | Nationals | 413,772 | 23.71% | –0.38% | 26 | – 1 |
| | Liberal | 356,640 | 20.44% | –0.62% | 9 | + 1 |
| | Confederate Action | 23,510 | 1.35% | +1.35% | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Greens | 11,463 | 0.66% | +0.33% | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Indigenous Peoples | 6,431 | 0.37% | +0.37% | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Democrats | 5,774 | 0.33% | –0.09% | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Independent | 77,091 | 4.42% | +1.20% | 0 | ± 0 |
| Total | Total | 1,745,161 | | | 89 | |
| Two-party-preferred |||||||
| | Labor | | 53.7% | -0.1% | | |
| | National/Liberal | | 46.3% | +0.1% | | |
Popular vote
Labor
48.73%
Nationals
23.71%
Liberal
20.44%
Confederate Action
1.35%
Greens
0.66%
Indigenous Peoples
0.37%
Democrats
0.33%
Independents
4.42% :
Seats
Labor
60.67%
Nationals
29.21%
Liberal
10.11% :

## Seats changing hands

| Seat | 1991 Redistribution | 1991 Redistribution | 1991 Redistribution | 1991 Redistribution | Swing | 1992 Election | 1992 Election | 1992 Election | 1992 Election |
| Seat | Party | Party | Member | Margin | Swing | Margin | Member | Party | Party |
| Aspley | | Labor | notional | 1.10 | -2.03 | 0.93 | John Goss | Liberal | |
| Broadwater | | Liberal | notional | 4.80 | -11.72 | 6.92 | Allan Grice | National | |
| Burleigh | | Liberal | notional | 3.60 | -4.68 | 1.08 | Judy Gamin | National | |
| Caloundra | | National | notional¹ | 6.20 | -8.52 | 2.32 | Joan Sheldon | Liberal | |
| Charters Towers | | Labor | Ken Smyth | 1.60 | -1.96 | 0.36 | Rob Mitchell | National | |
| Clayfield | | Labor | notional | 0.00 | -4.08 | 4.08 | Santo Santoro | Liberal | |
| Currumbin | | Liberal | Trevor Coomber | 0.10 | -5.91 | 5.81 | Merri Rose | Labor | |
| Hinchinbrook | | Labor | Bill Eaton | 3.00 | -5.26 | 2.26 | Marc Rowell | National | |
| Keppel | | Labor | Robert Schwarten | 3.30 | -4.71 | 1.41 | Vince Lester | National | |
| Maroochydore | | Liberal | notional | 4.10 | -8.12 | 4.02 | Fiona Simpson | National | |
| Mooloolah | | National | notional | 6.50 | -19.38 | 12.88 | Bruce Laming | Liberal | |
| Mount Ommaney | | Liberal | David Dunworth | 3.70 | -4.95 | 1.25 | Peter Pyke | Labor | |
| Nicklin | | Liberal | notional² | 4.00 | -11.88 | 7.88 | Neil Turner | National | |
| Noosa | | Labor | Ray Barber | 2.40 | -4.86 | 2.46 | Bruce Davidson | Liberal | |
| Toowoomba North | | Labor | John Flynn | 0.10 | -0.60 | 0.50 | Graham Healy | National | |
* Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.
* ¹ Joan Sheldon gained Landsborough for the Liberal Party at the 1990 by-election. The National Party had retained the seat at the 1989 election.
* ² In 1990, the Court of Disputed Returns overturned the result and declared Neil Turner for the National Party elected in Nicklin. The Liberal Party had originally been declared the winner at the 1989 election.

## Subsequent changes

* On 31 March 1994, National Party member Jim Randell (Mirani) resigned. At the by-election on 30 April 1994, Ted Malone retained the seat for the National Party.