Australian federal election, 1990

Australian federal election, 1990

1987 ← 24 March 1990 (1990-03-24) → 1993

All 148 seats in the Australian House of Representatives 75 seats were needed for a majority in the House 40 (of the 76) seats in the Australian Senate   First party Second party   Leader Bob Hawke Andrew Peacock Party Labor Liberal/National coalition Leader since 3 February 1983 9 May 1989 Leader's seat Wills Kooyong Last election 86 seats 62 seats Seats won 78 seats 69 seats Seat change 8 7 Popular vote 4,930,834 4,950,069 Percentage 49.90% 50.10% Swing 0.93% 0.93%

Prime Minister before election Bob Hawke Labor Elected Prime Minister Bob Hawke Labor

Federal elections were held in Australia on 24 March 1990. All 148 seats in the House of Representatives and 40 seats in the 76-member Senate were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Bob Hawke defeated the opposition Liberal Party of Australia led by Andrew Peacock with coalition partner the National Party of Australia led by Charles Blunt.

Results

House of Reps (IRV) — 1990–93 — Turnout 95.31% (CV) — Informal 3.19%

	Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Australian Labor Party	3,904,138	39.44	−6.39	78	−8
	Liberal Party of Australia	3,468,570	35.04	+0.48	55	+12
	Australian Democrats	1,114,216	11.26	+5.22	0	0
	National Party of Australia	833,557	8.42	−3.10	14	−5
	Independents	252,116	2.55	+0.94	1	+1
	Other	327,077	3.30	+2.85	0	0
	Total	9,899,674			148
	Australian Labor Party	Win	49.90	−0.93	78	−8
	Liberal/National coalition		50.10	+0.93	69	+7

Independents: Ted Mack

Senate (STV GV) — 1990–93 — Turnout 95.81% (CV) — Informal 3.40%

	Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held
	Australian Labor Party	3,813,547	38.41	−4.42	15	32
	Liberal/National (Joint Ticket)	2,429,552	24.47	+10.70	5
	Liberal Party of Australia	1,445,872	14.56	−6.41	12	28
	Australian Democrats	1,253,807	12.63	+4.15	5	8
	National Party of Australia	258,164	2.60	−4.49	1	5
	Australian Greens	201,618	2.03	*	0	0
	WA Greens	76,381	0.77	*	1	1
	Country Liberal Party	29,045	0.29	+0.08	1	1
	Other	421,779	4.25	−0.56	0	0
	Harradine Group					1
	Total	9,929,765			40	76

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1990				Swing	Post-1990
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Adelaide, SA		Liberal	Mike Pratt	1.9	2.8	3.7	Bob Catley	Labor
Aston, Vic		Labor	John Saunderson	2.9	7.2	4.6	Peter Nugent	Liberal
Ballarat, Vic		Labor	John Mildren	1.9	4.0	1.9	Michael Ronaldson	Liberal
Bendigo, Vic		Labor	John Brumby	3.4	5.1	1.1	Bruce Reid	Liberal
Corinella, Vic		Labor	notional – new seat	5.3	6.0	0.7	Russell Broadbent	Liberal
Dunkley, Vic		Liberal	Frank Ford	1.7	6.8	1.2	Bob Chynoweth	Labor
Fairfax, Qld		National	Evan Adermann	N/A	0.2	7.5	Alex Somlyay	Liberal
Hawker, SA		Labor	Elizabeth Harvey	1.2	1.2	0.0	Christine Gallus	Liberal
Kennedy, Qld		National	Bob Katter	3.0	4.4	1.4	Rob Hulls	Labor
La Trobe, Vic		Labor	Peter Milton	7.3	4.6	1.4	Bob Charles	Liberal
McEwen, Vic		Labor	Peter Cleeland	4.1	6.1	3.2	Fran Bailey	Liberal
McMillan, Vic		Labor	Barry Cunningham	4.3	7.4	4.4	John Riggall	Liberal
Moore, WA		Labor	Allen Blanchard	5.2	6.3	6.9	Paul Filing	Liberal
Moreton, Qld		Liberal	Donald Milner Cameron	0.7	3.0	2.3	Garrie Gibson	Labor
North Sydney, NSW		Liberal	John Spender	N/A	57.7	7.7	Ted Mack	Independent
Page, NSW		National	Ian Robinson	4.5	5.2	0.7	Harry Woods	Labor
Richmond, NSW		National	Charles Blunt	6.6	7.1	0.5	Neville Newell	Labor

• Members in italics did not contest their seat at this election

Background

The 1990 election resulted in a swing to the Coalition, which was attributed to the late 80's/early 90's recession, although Labor retained government. This was Labor’s fourth successive electoral victory with Bob Hawke as leader, a level of political success which no previous Labor government or Labor leader had enjoyed. The election was to be Hawke’s last as Prime Minister and Australian Labor Party leader; he was replaced by Paul Keating on 20 December 1991.

John Howard lost the 1987 election to Hawke, and Andrew Peacock was elected Deputy Leader in a show of party unity. In May 1989 Peacock's supporters mounted a party room coup which returned Peacock to the leadership. Peacock, now 50, cultivated a new mature image,^{[citation needed]} enhanced by a second marriage to Margaret St George. Hawke's Treasurer, Paul Keating, ridiculed him by asking: "Can the soufflé rise twice?" and calling him "all feathers and no meat." Although Hawke's government was in political trouble, with high interest rates and a financial crisis in Victoria, Peacock failed to defeat Hawke at the 1990 elections and he subsequently resigned.

This election saw the peak of the Australian Democrats' popularity under Janine Haines, and a WA Greens candidate won a seat in the Australian Senate for the first time – although the successful candidate, Jo Vallentine, was already a two-term senator, having previously won a seat for the Nuclear Disarmament Party at the 1984 election, and the Vallentine Peace Group at the 1987 election. Until 2010, this was the only post-war election where a third party (excluding splinter state parties and the Nationals) has won more than 10% of the primary vote for elections to the Australian House of Representatives.

See also

• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1990
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1990–1993
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1990–1993

References

• University of WA election results in Australia since 1890
• AEC 2PP vote
• AustralianPolitics.com election details

External links

• 'Give a Damn: Vote Democrat 1' – 1990 commercial with Janine Haines