# 1973 New South Wales state election

Elections for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly were held in the state of New South Wales, Australia, on Saturday 17 November 1973. The result was a win for the Liberal-Country Party coalition under Sir Robert Askin, which had been in office since 1965. As of 2023, this was the first and only time the Coalition won a fourth-term in New South Wales.

## Issues

The Legislative Assembly had been enlarged by three members to 99 adding the seats of Woronora, Penrith and Ku-ring-gai.
The election was held just eleven months after the Liberal/Country coalition lost the federal election after 23 years in power. Askin called an early election to take advantage of the increasing economic issues which had been attributed to the Whitlam Labor government.
Leader of the Legislative Council Neville Wran, who would become Premier at the next election moved from the unelected Legislative Council to the Legislative Assembly after the late retirement of Clarrie Earl in the seat of Bass Hill.

## Key dates

| Date | Event |
| 19 October 1973 | The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election. |
| 25 October 1973 | Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon. |
| 17 November 1973 | Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm. |
| 3 December 1973 | The sixth Askin-Cutler ministry was constituted. |
| 4 December 1973 | Parliament resumed for business. |
| 7 December 1973 | The writ was returned and the results formally declared. |

## Results

The Democratic Labor Party won its only lower house seat at the 1973 election following the Liberal Party's incumbent for the northern Sydney seat of Gordon — Harry Jago failed to nominate in time. Conservative voters were urged to vote for the DLP candidate, Kevin Harrold.
New South Wales state election, 17 November 1973  Legislative Assembly
<< 1971–1976 >> :
| Enrolled voters | Enrolled voters | 2,767,876 | | | | |
| Votes cast | Votes cast | 2,560,653 | | Turnout | 92.51 | -0.75 |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | 69,225 | | Informal | 2.70 | +0.36 |
| Summary of votes by party |||||||
| Party | Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change |
| | Labor | 1,069,614 | 42.93 | –2.09 | 44 | – 1 |
| | Liberal | 843,325 | 33.85 | –1.89 | 34 | + 2 |
| | Country | 261,504 | 10.48 | +1.83 | 18 | + 1 |
| | Democratic Labor | 148,378 | 5.96 | +2.79 | 1 | + 1 |
| | Australia | 104,821 | 4.21 | +3.15 | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Communist | 838 | 0.03 | –0.06 | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Independent | 63,358 | 2.54 | –3.24 | 2 | ± 0 |
| Total | Total | 2,491,428 | | | 99 | |
Popular vote
Labor
42.93%
Liberal
33.85%
Country
10.48%
Democratic Labor
5.96%
Australia
4.21%
Independents
2.54%
Communist
0.03%
Parliamentary seats
Labor
44
Liberal
34
Country
18
Independents
2
Democratic Labor
1 :

## Seats changing hands

| Seat | Pre-1973 | Pre-1973 | Pre-1973 | Pre-1973 | Swing | Post-1973 | Post-1973 | Post-1973 | Post-1973 |
| Seat | Party | Party | Member | Margin | Swing | Margin | Member | Party | Party |
| Burrendong | | Labor | Leo Nott | 1.8 | -5.6 | 3.8 | Roger Wotton | Country | |
| Gordon | | Liberal | Harry Jago* | N/A | N/A | 29.4 | Kevin Harrold | Democratic Labor | |
| South Coast | | Liberal | Jack Beale | 0.9 | -2.3 | 1.7 | John Hatton | Independent | |
* Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.
* Sitting Liberal MP for Gordon, Harry Jago failed to renominate as a candidate by the deadline. As a result, the Liberal party endorsed the DLP candidate against the Labor candidate, and Kevin Harrold won the seat.
* In addition, the Liberal party held the seat of Murray, which it had won from an Independent in the 1973 by-election.

### Redistribution affected seats

| Seat | 1971 election | 1971 election | 1971 election | 1971 election | 1973 redistribution | 1973 redistribution | 1973 redistribution | 1973 redistribution | Swing | 1973 election | 1973 election | 1973 election | 1973 election |
| Seat | Party | Party | Member | Margin | Party | Party | Member | Margin | Swing | Margin | Member | Party | Party |
| Gosford | | Labor | Keith O'Connell | 2.6 | | Liberal | Notional | 1.1 | +4.6 | 5.7 | Malcolm Brooks | Liberal | |
| Nepean | | Labor | Ron Mulock | 1.6 | | Liberal | Notional | 1.9 | +1.4 | 3.3 | Ron Rofe | Liberal | |
* Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.
* Sitting Labor member for Gosford, Keith O'Connell instead contested the new seat of Peats and won.
* Sitting Labor member for Nepean, Ron Mulock instead contested the new seat of Penrith and won.

## Post-election pendulum

* The results for Coogee was based on the result of the by-election that was held as a result of the decision by the Court of Disputed Returns due to the closeness off the result for the electorate at the 1973 election.