| Election Name: | 2011 New South Wales state election |
| Country: | New South Wales |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2007 New South Wales state election |
| Previous Year: | 2007 |
| Next Election: | 2015 New South Wales state election |
| Next Year: | 2015 |
| Seats For Election: | All 93 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and 21 (of the 42) seats in the New South Wales Legislative Council 47 Assembly seats were needed for a majority |
| Election Date: | 26 March 2011 |
| Opinion Polls: |
|
| Leader1: | Barry O'Farrell |
| Leader Since1: | 4 April 2007 |
| Party1: | Liberal/National coalition |
| Leaders Seat1: | Ku-ring-gai |
| Popular Vote1: | 2,124,321 |
| Percentage1: | 51.15% |
| Swing1: | 14.16 |
| Last Election1: | 35 seats |
| Seats Before1: | 37 |
| Seats Needed1: | 10 |
| Seats1: | 69 |
| Seat Change1: | 32 |
| Leader2: | Kristina Keneally |
| Leader Since2: | 4 December 2009 |
| Party2: | Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch) |
| Leaders Seat2: | Heffron |
| Popular Vote2: | 1,061,352 |
| Percentage2: | 25.55% |
| Swing2: | 13.43 |
| Last Election2: | 52 seats |
| Seats Before2: | 50 |
| Seats2: | 20 |
| Seat Change2: | 30 |
| Leader3: | No leader |
| Party3: | The Greens NSW |
| Popular Vote3: | 427,144 |
| Percentage3: | 10.29% |
| Swing3: | 1.33 |
| Last Election3: | 0 seats |
| Seats Before3: | 0 |
| Seats Needed3: | 46 |
| Seats3: | 1 |
| Seat Change3: | 1 |
| 1Blank: | TPP |
| 1Data1: | 64.22% |
| 1Data2: | 35.78% |
| 2Blank: | TPP swing |
| 2Data1: | 16.48 |
| 2Data2: | 16.48 |
| Map Size: | 400px |
| Premier | |
| Before Election: | Kristina Keneally |
| Before Party: | Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch) |
| Posttitle: | Elected Premier |
| After Election: | Barry O'Farrell |
| After Party: | Liberal/National coalition |
The 2011 New South Wales state election held on Saturday, 26 March 2011. The 16-year-incumbent Labor Party government led by Premier Kristina Keneally was defeated in a landslide by the Liberal–National Coalition opposition led by Barry O'Farrell.
Labor suffered a two-party swing of 16.4 points, the largest against a sitting government at any level in Australia since World War II. From 50 seats at dissolution, Labor was knocked down to 20 seats—the worst defeat of a sitting government in New South Wales history, and one of the worst of a state government in Australia since federation. The Coalition picked up a 32-seat swing to win a strong majority, with 69 seats–the largest majority government, in terms of percentage of seats controlled, in NSW history. It is only the third time since 1941 that a NSW Labor government has been defeated. It was also notable in that many of Labor's safest seats, such as the seat of Newcastle, were won by the Liberal Party for the first time in history. This election also saw the previous record for largest percentage of seats defeated by the Coalition winning 74.2 percent of seats (69 out of 93 seats) with the previous record set by Neville Wran's Labor Party in the 1981 election, in which Labor won 69 out of 99 seats (69.7 percent).
New South Wales has compulsory voting, with an optional preferential ballot in single-member seats for the lower house and single transferable vote with optional preferential above-the-line voting in the proportionally represented upper house. The election was conducted by the New South Wales Electoral Commission (NSWEC).
See also: Post-election pendulum for the New South Wales state election, 2007. The centre-left Labor Party, led by Premier Kristina Keneally, and the centre-right Liberal Party, led by Leader of the Opposition Barry O'Farrell, were the two main parties in New South Wales. In the 2007 state election, of 93 seats total, Labor won 52 seats, the Liberals won 22 seats and the Nationals, led by Andrew Stoner, who are in coalition with the Liberals, won 13 seats. Six seats were retained by independents. Smaller parties which hold no seats in the lower house but achieved significant votes in 2007 include The Greens and the Christian Democratic Party.
On 18 October 2008, four state electorates (Lakemba, Ryde, Cabramatta, Port Macquarie) went to by-elections as a result of the resignation of the Premier, two of his ministers, and an independent who left after winning a federal by-election. The results in Ryde, Cabramatta, and Lakemba showed the largest by-election swing against Labor in its history.[1] The results showed a significant swing towards the Liberal Party with a swing of 22.7 percentage points in former health minister Reba Meagher's seat of Cabramatta, but it was retained by ALP candidate Nick Lalich,[1] and a swing of 13 points against Labor in former premier Morris Iemma's seat of Lakemba, also retained by an ALP candidate, Robert Furolo.[1] Ryde, once a safe Labor seat, with a swing of 23.1 points delivered former deputy premier John Watkins' seat to Victor Dominello. Peter Besseling, the independent candidate, won Port Macquarie, left vacant after the resignation of Nationals-turned-independent member Rob Oakeshott, over the Nationals by a two-party margin of 54.5–45.5%, despite a swing of 23.7 points to the Nationals. On 19 June 2010 a by-election in the electoral district of Penrith[2] was triggered as a result of the resignation of Labor Party MP Karyn Paluzzano, with Liberal candidate Stuart Ayres winning the seat with a two-party-preferred swing of more than 25 points, the biggest swing against an incumbent government in New South Wales history, until the 2013 Miranda by-election which eclipsed it with a 26-point two-party swing against the Liberal/National government.[3]
See also: Candidates of the 2011 New South Wales state election. The Labor Party launched their campaign on 5 February 2011[5] in Liverpool within the electoral district of Macquarie Fields.[6] Premier Keneally launched the Labor Party's campaign slogan "Protecting jobs – Supporting families". In attendance for the launch were former Prime Minister Bob Hawke and former Premiers Wran and Carr.
The Liberal and Nationals Coalition launched their campaign on 20 February 2011 at the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre in Penrith within the electoral district of Penrith with the slogan: "Real Change for NSW". In attendance for the launch were both Liberal and Nationals Leaders O'Farrell and Stoner as well as federal Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott, former Liberal Premiers and Leaders Greiner, Fahey, and Chikarovski.[7]
The Coalition had been leading in opinion polling for almost three years, and were unbackable favourites throughout the campaign to win the election. The final Newspoll had support for Labor at an all-time low with 23 percent of the primary vote and 35.9 percent of the two-party vote. Bookmakers were paying $1.01 for a Coalition win with Labor getting as much as $36 and one agency even paid out the winnings and declared the winner a week earlier.[8] At one point, Labor was widely predicted to win as few as 13 seats, seven less than the actual result.[9] According to several pollsters, Labor was in danger of losing several seats where it had not been seriously threatened in decades, as well as several that it had held for a century or more. Indeed, there were concerns that Labor would not win enough seats to form a credible shadow cabinet.
The Liberal/National Coalition won the largest proportional number of seats in NSW state history with 69 of 93 seats in the lower house (74.2 percent of the chamber)—in contrast, Labor won 69 of 99 seats (69.7 percent of the chamber) at Neville Wran's second "Wranslide" in 1981 election. Labor won 20 seats, the lowest for Labor in NSW Parliament in over a century, and the worst defeat that a sitting government in NSW has ever suffered. Many prominent Labor MPs and ministers lost their seats including Verity Firth, David Borger, Matt Brown, Jodi McKay, Virginia Judge, Phil Costa and Kevin Greene.[10] In the process, the Coalition took dozens of seats in areas considered Labor heartland, such as western Sydney and the Upper Hunter—some on swings of well over 10 per cent. The Liberals actually won 51 seats, enough for a majority in their own right—the first time the main non-Labor party in the state had achieved this since adopting the Liberal banner in 1945. Although O'Farrell thus had no need for the support of the Nationals, he opted to retain the Coalition.
In the upper house however, where half of the chamber was up for election, the landslide was not enough to deliver a Coalition majority. Three additional votes outside of the Liberal/National Coalition were required to pass legislation. The balance of power shifted from the Greens to the Shooters and Fishers Party and Christian Democratic Party. With two seats each held by the latter two parties, both needed to give legislative support if Labor and the Greens opposed legislation.[11] [12]
Where a Member of the Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council did not renominate to contest the election, their term ended at the dissolution of the parliament. Members who confirmed their retirement were:
Opinion polling was conducted by firms such as Newspoll, Galaxy and Nielsen via random telephone number selection in city and country areas Sampling sizes consist of around 1200–1300 electors. The declared margin of error is ±3 percentage points.
| +Legislative Assembly polling | |||||||||||
| Date | Firm | Primary vote | TPP vote | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALP | L/NP | GRN | OTH | ALP | L/NP | ||||||
| 26 March 2011 | Nielsen | 22% | 50% | 13% | 15% | 36% | 64% | ||||
| 21-24 March 2011 | Newspoll | 23% | 49% | 12% | 15% | 35.9% | 64.1% | ||||
| 23 March 2011 | Galaxy | 22% | 51% | 12% | 15% | 34% | 64% | ||||
| 23 March 2011 | Essential | 23% | 55% | 11% | 11% | 34% | 66% | ||||
| 18 March 2011 | Essential | 24% | 54% | 12% | 11% | 35% | 65% | ||||
| 9-11 March 2011 | Newspoll | 26% | 50% | 11% | 13% | 37% | 63% | ||||
| 4 March 2011 | Galaxy | 23% | 50% | 14% | 13% | 36% | 64% | ||||
| 18 February 2011 | Essential | 27% | 51% | 12% | 10% | 41% | 59% | ||||
| Jan-Feb 2011 | Newspoll | 23% | 46% | 17% | 14% | 38% | 62% | ||||
| 16 February 2011 | Nielsen | 22% | 53% | 13% | 12% | 34% | 66% | ||||
| 20 January 2011 | Nielsen | 20% | 51% | 15% | 14% | 34% | 66% | ||||
| Nov-Dec 2010 | Newspoll | 23% | 46% | 17% | 14% | 37% | 63% | ||||
| Oct-Dec 2010 | Morgan | 22% | 53% | 13.5% | 11.5% | 35% | 65% | ||||
| Sep-Oct 2010 | Newspoll | 23% | 46% | 17% | 14% | 37% | 63% | ||||
| Jul-Aug 2010 | Newspoll | 25% | 46% | 14% | 15% | 39% | 61% | ||||
| May-Jun 2010 | Newspoll | 25% | 46% | 16% | 12% | 39% | 61% | ||||
| Mar-Apr 2010 | Newspoll | 31% | 42% | 14% | 13% | 45% | 55% | ||||
| 22 March 2010 | Galaxy | 29% | 44% | 14% | 13% | 43% | 57% | ||||
| 14 January 2010 | Galaxy | 29% | 43% | 15% | 13% | 44% | 56% | ||||
| 4 December 2009 Kristina Keneally replaces Nathan Rees as Labor leader and Premier | |||||||||||
| Nov-Dec 2009 | Newspoll | 26% | 44% | 17% | 13% | 41% | 59% | ||||
| 28 November 2009 | Taverner | 31% | 43% | 26% | 45% | 55% | |||||
| Sep-Oct 2009 | Newspoll | 30% | 42% | 12% | 16% | 45% | 55% | ||||
| Jul-Aug 2009 | Newspoll | 32% | 41% | 14% | 13% | 46% | 54% | ||||
| May-Jun 2009 | Newspoll | 31% | 41% | 14% | 14% | 45% | 55% | ||||
| 31 May 2009 | Taverner | 44% | 56% | ||||||||
| Mar-Apr 2009 | Newspoll | 33% | 40% | 13% | 14% | 47% | 53% | ||||
| Jan-Feb 2009 | Newspoll | 30% | 42% | 15% | 13% | 44% | 56% | ||||
| Nov-Dec 2008 | Newspoll | 26% | 43% | 14% | 17% | 41% | 59% | ||||
| Sep-Oct 2008 | Newspoll | 29% | 42% | 11% | 18% | 44% | 56% | ||||
| 5 September Nathan Rees replaces Morris Iemma as Labor leader and Premier | |||||||||||
| Jul-Aug 2008 | Newspoll | 33% | 40% | 13% | 14% | 48% | 52% | ||||
| 29 June 2008 | Taverner | 28% | 46% | 26% | 44% | 56% | |||||
| May-Jun 2008 | Newspoll | 32% | 41% | 13% | 14% | 48% | 52% | ||||
| Mar-Apr 2008 | Newspoll | 35% | 38% | 14% | 13% | 51% | 49% | ||||
| Jan-Mar 2008 | Newspoll | 34% | 39% | 14% | 13% | 50% | 50% | ||||
| 15-19 February 2008 | Nielsen | 38% | 42% | 11% | 9% | 50% | 50% | ||||
| 2 February 2008 | Taverner | 51% | 49% | ||||||||
| 4 April 2007 Barry O'Farrell succeeds Peter Debnam as Liberal leader and Leader of the Opposition | |||||||||||
| 24 March 2007 election | 38.98% | 36.99% | 8.95% | 15.08% | 52.26% | 47.74% | |||||
| 23 March 2007 | Nielsen | 41% | 36% | 10% | 13% | 56% | 44% | ||||
| + Better Premier and satisfaction polling* | ||||||||
| Date | Firm | Better Premier | Keneally | O'Farrell | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keneally | O'Farrell | Satisfied | Dissatisfied | Satisfied | Dissatisfied | |||
| 26 March 2011 | Nielsen | 37% | 53% | 37% | 54% | 53% | 34% | |
| 21-24 March 2011 | Newspoll | 32% | 48% | 33% | 59% | 48% | 39% | |
| 23 March 2011 | Galaxy | 33% | 53% | |||||
| 4 March 2011 | Galaxy | 34% | 50% | |||||
| Jan-Feb 2011 | Newspoll | 32% | 47% | 30% | 57% | 43% | 35% | |
| 16 February 2011 | Nielsen | 38% | 52% | 36% | 58% | 55% | 33% | |
| 14 January 2011 | Galaxy | 32% | 54% | 30% | 62% | 53% | 33% | |
| Nov-Dec 2010 | Newspoll | 35% | 40% | 35% | 49% | 42% | 33% | |
| Sep-Oct 2010 | Newspoll | 35% | 42% | 39% | 50% | 48% | 32% | |
| Jul-Aug 2010 | Newspoll | 39% | 39% | 39% | 44% | 43% | 33% | |
| May-Jun 2010 | Newspoll | 44% | 36% | 47% | 37% | 44% | 33% | |
| Mar-Apr 2010 | Newspoll | 45% | 30% | 47% | 31% | 41% | 34% | |
| 22 March 2010 | Galaxy | 48% | 35% | 53% | 30% | 44% | 36% | |
| Jan-Feb 2010 | Newspoll | 40% | 31% | 41% | 26% | 44% | 30% | |
| 14 January 2010 | Galaxy | 42% | 34% | 45% | 25% | 42% | 35% | |
| Nov-Dec 2009 | Newspoll | 35% | 34% | 44% | 30% | |||
| 4 December 2009 Keneally replaces Rees | Rees | O'Farrell | Rees | O'Farrell | ||||
| 28 November 2009 | Nielsen | 43% | 40% | 39% | 49% | 44% | 36% | |
| Jul-Aug 2009 | Newspoll | 32% | 33% | 33% | 51% | 36% | 36% | |
| May-Jun 2009 | Newspoll | 33% | 32% | 30% | 49% | 34% | 34% | |
| 31 May 2009 | Taverner | 33% | 50% | |||||
| Mar-Apr 2009 | Newspoll | 33% | 31% | 34% | 46% | 35% | 37% | |
| Jan-Feb 2009 | Newspoll | 34% | 29% | 37% | 42% | 39% | 32% | |
| Nov-Dec 2008 | Newspoll | 30% | 33% | 34% | 47% | 40% | 32% | |
| Sep-Oct 2008 | Newspoll | 35% | 28% | 39% | 26% | 41% | 30% | |
| 5 September 2008 Rees replaces Iemma | Iemma | O'Farrell | Iemma | O'Farrell | ||||
| May-Jun 2008 | Newspoll | 32% | 39% | 26% | 63% | 37% | 34% | |
| Mar-Apr 2008 | Newspoll | 36% | 33% | 28% | 56% | 33% | 34% | |
| 19 February 2008 | Nielsen | 45% | 30% | 34% | 44% | not asked | ||
| 17 February 2008 | Taverner | 51% | 29% | 18% | 19% | |||
| 4 April 2007 O'Farrell replaces Debnam | Iemma | Debnam | Iemma | Debnam | ||||
| 24 March 2007 election | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| 22 March 2007 | Newspoll | 58% | 24% | 47% | 43% | 31% | 55% | |
| ||||||||
| Newspaper | Endorsement | |
|---|---|---|
| The Australian | [13] | |
| The Australian Financial Review | ||
| Newcastle Herald | ||
| The Daily Telegraph | [14] | |
| The Sydney Morning Herald | [15] | |
See main article: Results of the 2011 New South Wales state election (Legislative Assembly).
| Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left | Liberal | 1,602,457 | 38.58 | +11.64 | 51 | 27 | |||
| align=left | National | 521,864 | 12.56 | +2.51 | 18 | 5 | |||
| Coalition total | 2,124,321 | 51.15 | +14.16 | 69 | style=text-align:right; | 32 | |||
| Labor | 1,061,352 | 25.55 | –13.43 | 20 | 30 | ||||
| Greens | 427,144 | 10.28 | +1.33 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Christian Democrats | 129,431 | 3.12 | +0.65 | 0 | |||||
| Hatton's Independent Team | 45,969 | 1.10 | +1.10 | 0 | |||||
| Family First | 18,576 | 0.45 | +0.45 | 0 | |||||
| Socialist Alliance | 3,180 | 0.07 | +0.07 | 0 | |||||
| Social Justice Network | 3,173 | 0.07 | +0.07 | 0 | |||||
| Independent Australia First | 2,446 | 0.06 | +0.06 | 0 | |||||
| Socialist Equality | 2,056 | 0.05 | +0.05 | 0 | |||||
| Democratic Labor | 1,855 | 0.04 | +0.04 | 0 | |||||
| United We Stand | 1,414 | 0.03 | +0.03 | 0 | |||||
| Progressive Labour | 1,372 | 0.03 | +0.03 | 0 | |||||
| Communist League | 1,226 | 0.03 | +0.03 | 0 | |||||
| Sex Party | 676 | 0.02 | +0.02 | 0 | |||||
| Democrats | 617 | 0.01 | –0.39 | 0 | |||||
| Independent Protectionist | 289 | 0.01 | +0.01 | 0 | |||||
| Independents | 314,066 | 7.56 | –1.62 | 3 | 3 | ||||
| Formal votes | 4,153,335 | 96.72 | +0.18 | – | – | ||||
| Informal votes | 137,260 | 3.20 | +0.43 | – | – | ||||
| Total | 4,290,595 | – | – | 93 | – | ||||
| Registered voters / turnout | 4,635,810 | 92.55 | –0.09 | – | – | ||||
| Two-party-preferred vote | |||||||||
| Coalition | 2,324,226 | 64.22 | +16.48 | ||||||
| Labor | 1,294,824 | 35.78 | –16.48 | ||||||
See main article: Results of the 2011 New South Wales state election (Legislative Council).
Every seat in New South Wales swung to the Coalition on a two-party-preferred basis. The Coalition won the largest government in New South Wales history in a huge landslide, while Labor suffered the largest swing against a sitting government anywhere in Australia (and on any level) since World War II, as well as one of the worst defeats of a state government since Federation. This led to 12 consecutive years of Coalition government in New South Wales (the longest Coalition government and the third-longest state government overall in New South Wales history), until the Coalition was narrowly defeated in 2023.
The Liberals alone won more first preference votes than Labor (usually it takes both Coalition parties, the Liberals and the Nationals, to have a higher first preference vote than Labor).
Labor only had two safe seats after the defeat, both of which were in Western Sydney. The seats were Bankstown (on a 10.3% margin) and Liverpool (on a 14.7% margin). Labor only held five seats outside of Sydney (Cessnock, Keira, Shellharbour, Wallsend and Wollongong).
Ultimately, the Liberals won 29 seats from Labor (Blue Mountains, Camden, Campbelltown, Charlestown, Coogee, Drummoyne, East Hills, Gosford, Granville, Heathcote, Kiama, Londonderry, Maitland, Menai, Miranda, Mulgoa, Newcastle, Oatley, Parramatta, Riverstone, Rockdale, Smithdale, Strathfield, Swansea, The Entrance, Wollondilly and Wyong) while the Nationals won two seats from Labor (Bathurst and Monaro). The Nationals gained three seats from independents (Dubbo, Port Macquarie and Tamworth), which were Nationals seats held by personally popular independents. It is likely that Port Macquarie and Tamworth were regained by the Nationals easily due to a move by two independents in the federal seats of Lyne (Rob Oakeshott) and New England (Tony Windsor), which partially overlap with the respective state seats, which angered the locals, who are mostly liberal conservatives in some of the most safely-held Coalition seats in the country. The move that supposedly caused this was the decision of these two independents to support Julia Gillard, who formed a Labor minority government, over the Coalition under Tony Abbott (although Oakeshott stated that he would have supported the Coalition if Malcolm Turnbull was their leader instead of Abbott). Oakeshott and Windsor were personally popular in these seats (with Oakeshott even being an ex-National), but on traditional two-party-preferred contests, the Nationals were well ahead of Labor. The member for Port Macquarie, Peter Besseling, was friends with Oakeshott and previously worked as his advisor, thus angering Port Macquarie locals. Independents held just three seats after the election: Lake Macquarie, Northern Tablelands and Sydney.
The Greens won their first ever seat in New South Wales, the formerly-safe Labor seat of Balmain in inner-city Sydney, despite the Liberals winning the first preference vote.