House of Representatives Seats 1984-2022

This table shows the winning party in each electorate in the current parliament at every federal election since 1984.

In 1984, the House of Representatives was increased in size from 127 to 148. It is now 151. There have been fourteen federal elections since 1984 and the table is designed to give a pictorial overview of the results. Whilst there have been multiple electoral redistributions in every state and territory since 1984, the colour-coded table nevertheless gives a general picture of electoral shifts in that time.

The table demonstrates the stability inherent in the electoral system. Prior to the 2022 election, the table showed that 71 seats, representing 47.3% of the total, had been held by either the ALP or one of the coalition parties at every election since 1984. Another 12 seats, or 8%, had switched sides once before reverting to their usual voting pattern. At any election, only around 30-35 seats were seriously in play.

Following the 2022 election, at which 18 seats changed hands, increased volatility and fragmentation of the vote is evident, as just 53 of the current seats have been held by the same party since 1984, or from the seat’s creation. The election delivered a majority Labor government with 77 seats, whilst the Liberal Party lost 18 seats – 10 to the ALP, 6 to independents and 2 to the Greens. The ALP had a net gain of eight, losing one to the Greens and one to an independent. It gained the seat of Hawke in the Victorian redistribution. For the first time, the Greens will hold four seats in the House, quadrupling their numbers.

A significant change at the 2022 election was the loss of six bedrock Liberal seats – Mackellar, North Sydney, Wentworth, Kooyong, Goldstein and Curtin – to the “teal” independents, signifying a major fracturing of the Liberal vote that began with the loss of Warringah in 2019. In addition, Higgins and Tangney were won by the ALP. Overall, however, just 12.58% of the 151 seats changed hands.

In interpreting the table, it is important to bear in mind that some seats have undergone significant boundary changes as a result of redistributions every seven years. New seats have been created and some have been abolished. It is wise not to draw conclusions about electoral shifts without consulting the detailed results. The table is indicative only, not definitive.

The table does not show by-election results. In several cases, one party has won a by-election only to lose it in the general election. For example, the Liberals won Adelaide in 1988 and Canberra in 1995, whilst the ALP won Ryan in 2001 and the Greens won Cunningham in 2002. In 2018, the independent Kerryn Phelps won Wentworth from the Liberals. In each case, the seat returned to their opponents at the next general election.

I have shown Pauline Hanson’s victory in Oxley in 1996 as an Independent win but it should be remembered that even though she was disendorsed by the Liberal Party she appeared on the ballot paper as a Liberal candidate.

I have not shown seats abolished since 1984, except for the Northern Territory and the Western Australian electorate of Stirling. Until 2001, the Northern Territory voted as one electorate and showing this seat gives a more complete overview of voting patterns in the territory. Stirling was only abolished at the 2022 election and remains in the table.

Where a cell is blank it means that the seat did not exist at that election.

Legend:
LIB = Liberal Party
NAT = National, National Party, The Nationals
LNP = Liberal National Party (Queensland)
LNP/LIB = Liberal National Party (Queensland), Liberal prior to Liberal-Nationals amalgamation
LNP/NAT = Liberal National Party (Queensland), Nationals prior to Liberal-Nationals amalgamation
CLP = Country Liberal Party (Northern Territory)
ALP = Australian Labor Party
GRN = Australian Greens
PUP = Palmer United Party
NXT = Nick Xenophon Team
CA = Centre Alliance (formerly NXT)
IND = Independent