Queensland state election, 1983

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22 October 1983 (1983-10-22)

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All 82 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Joh Bjelke-Petersen	Keith Wright	Terry White
Party	National	Labor	Liberal
Leader since	8 August 1968	20 October 1982 (1982-10-20)	August 1983
Leader's seat	Barambah	Rockhampton	Redcliffe
Last election	35 seats	25 seats	22 seats
Seats won	41 seats	32 seats	8 seats
Seat change	6	7	14
Percentage	38.93%	43.98%	14.88%
Swing	10.99	2.49	12.04

Premier before election

Joh Bjelke-Petersen
National

Elected Premier

Joh Bjelke-Petersen
National

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 22 October 1983 to elect the 82 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.

The election resulted in a sixth consecutive term of office for the National Party under Joh Bjelke-Petersen. It was the tenth election win for the National Party in Queensland since it first came to office in 1957.

The election was triggered when a number of Liberal MLAs, including Welfare Services Minister Terry White, crossed the floor of the Parliament in order to support a Labor motion to create an Expenditure Review Committee. White was sacked from cabinet for supporting the motion. In response, he launched a party-room coup against Liberal leader and deputy premier Llewellyn Edwards and became Liberal leader with Angus Innes as his deputy.

In the normal course of events, this would have made White deputy premier. However, White's progressive leanings didn't sit well with Bjelke-Petersen, and he refused to make White deputy premier. In response, White tore up the Coalition agreement and led the Liberals to the crossbench. However, Bjelke-Petersen prorogued Parliament ahead of the election, allowing him to govern for nine weeks without fear of being toppled on the floor of the legislature.

Labor, under the leadership of new leader Keith Wright, hoped to make use of the division between the conservative parties to make gains, while the Liberals hoped to win enough seats to force the Nationals back into Coalition under more favourable terms. The Nationals sought to gain enough seats to form a majority government in their own right. Indeed, Bjelke-Petersen directed his campaign mainly at right-leaning Liberal voters, suggesting that the alternative was a Labor government propped up by White's Liberals.

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