Nedlands state by-election, 1982

The Nedlands state by-election, 1982 was a by-election held on 13 March 1982 for the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Nedlands in the western suburbs of Perth.

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of the Liberal member for the seat, Premier Sir Charles Court, on 25 January 1982. Court had held the seat since the 1953 state election. Having served as a senior minister in the Brand–Watts Ministry and then as Premier since the 1974 state election, his retirement had been widely expected and was announced on 18 December, a few months after his 70th birthday. He claimed that he had delayed his retirement to carry through the battle against the federal government over funding for Western Australia.

On 2 February 1982, the Speaker of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly issued a writ for an election in the district. It was to be held concurrently with a by-election in the Labor-held seat of Swan and a Legislative Council by-election for South Metropolitan. His son, 33-year-old businessman Richard Court, was preselected for the Liberal Party to run for the seat.

The seat of Nedlands, first established in 1929, was considered to be a safe seat for the Liberal Party, and had had just two other members since its creation—former Attorney-General and leader of the Nationalist Party, Norbert Keenan, and the independent Liberal member David Grayden, who served for a single term from 1950 until his defeat in 1953 by Court.

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