# 1996 Western Australian state election

Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 14 December 1996 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and all 34 members to the Legislative Council. The Liberal–National coalition government, led by Premier Richard Court, won a second term in office against the Labor Party, led by Opposition Leader Dr Geoff Gallop since 15 October 1996.
The election resulted in the Liberals winning an outright majority for the first time in Western Australia's history. Although Court did not need the support of the Nationals, the coalition was retained. Meanwhile, Labor attracted its lowest share of the primary vote since 1901.

## Results
### Legislative Assembly

Western Australian state election, 14 December 1996 Legislative Assembly
<< 1993–2001 >> :
| Enrolled voters | Enrolled voters | 1,119,992 | | | | |
| Votes cast | Votes cast | 1,007,835 | | Turnout | 89.99% | –3.51% |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | 44,229 | | Informal | 4.39% | +0.26% |
| Summary of votes by party |||||||
| Party | Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change |
| | Liberal | 384,518 | 39.90% | –4.25% | 29 | + 3 |
| | Labor | 345,159 | 35.82% | –1.26% | 19 | – 5 |
| | National | 55,817 | 5.79% | +0.46% | 6 | ± 0 |
| | Democrats | 48,985 | 5.08% | +2.76% | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Greens | 45,550 | 4.73% | +0.42% | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Marijuana | 3,245 | 0.34% | +0.34% | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Other parties | 6,929 | 0.72% | –4.35% | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Independent | 74,179 | 7.70% | +1.21% | 3 | + 2 |
| Total | Total | 963,606 | | | 57 | |
| Two-party-preferred |||||||
| | Liberal/National | 530,603 | 55.16% | –0.28% | | |
| | Labor | 431,245 | 44.84% | +0.28% | | |
Notes:
    $^1$ At the 1993 election, Liberal Party member Phillip Pendal won the South Perth seat, whilst Labor Party member Ernie Bridge won Kimberley. Both members resigned from their parties during the term of parliament, and won their seats as independents in 1996.

### Legislative Council

Western Australian state election, 14 December 1996 Legislative Council :
| Enrolled voters | Enrolled voters | 1,119,992 | | | | |
| Votes cast | Votes cast | 1,009,592 | | Turnout | 90.14% | –3.53% |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | 30,430 | | Informal | 3.01% | –0.73% |
| Summary of votes by party |||||||
| Party | Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change |
| | Liberal (metropolitan) | 313,953 | 32.06% | –2.59% | 7 | – 1 |
| | Liberal/National | 140,933 | 14.39% | –0.24% | | |
| | Liberal (country) | | | | 7 | ± 0 |
| | National | | | | 3 | ± 0 |
| | Labor | 323,886 | 33.08% | –3.74% | 12 | – 2 |
| | Democrats | 64,461 | 6.58% | +3.57% | 2 | + 2 |
| | Greens | 54,336 | 5.55% | +0.39% | 3 | + 2 |
| | Marijuana | 24,373 | 2.49% | +2.49% | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Call to Australia | 6,675 | 0.68% | +0.41% | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Australia First Party | 5,856 | 0.60% | +0.60% | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Natural Law Party | 5,514 | 0.56% | +0.56% | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Racism No! | 1,939 | 0.20% | +0.20% | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Independent | 37,236 | 3.80% | –0.38% | 0 | – 1 |
| Total | Total | 979,162 | | | 34 | |
$^1$ In the Agricultural and South West regions, the Liberals and Nationals ran a joint ticket, and in Mining and Pastoral, they ran separately, with the Liberals attracting 18,635 of the 52,240 formal votes and the Nationals 5,087.

## Seats changing hands

| Seat | Pre-1996 | Pre-1996 | Pre-1996 | Pre-1996 | Swing | Post-1996 | Post-1996 | Post-1996 | Post-1996 |
| Seat | Party | Party | Member | Margin | Swing | Margin | Member | Party | Party |
| Kimberley | | Labor | Ernie Bridge | 15.4 | N/A | 11.5 | Ernie Bridge | Independent | |
| Mitchell | | Labor | David Smith | 0.5 | +3.7 | 3.2 | Dan Sullivan | Liberal | |
| Ningaloo | | Labor | Kevin Leahy | 1.2 | +1.9 | 0.7 | Rod Sweetman | Liberal | |
| South Perth | | Liberal | Phillip Pendal | 13.2 | N/A | 14.2 | Phillip Pendal | Independent | |
| Southern River | | Labor | Judyth Watson | 2.6 | +4.1 | 1.5 | Monica Holmes | Liberal | |