2001 Australian federal election

Australian federal election, 2001

10 November 2001 (2001-11-10)
All 150 seats in the Australian House of Representatives 76 seats were needed for a majority in the House 40 (of the 76) seats in the Australian Senate
Registered	12,054,664
Turnout	94.9%
First party Second party   Leader John Howard Kim Beazley Party Liberal/National coalition Labor Leader since 30 January 1995 (1995-01-30) 19 March 1996 (1996-03-19) Leader's seat Bennelong Brand Last election 80 seats 67 seats Seats won 82 seats 65 seats Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 5,846,289 5,627,785 Percentage 50.95% 49.05% Swing 1.93 1.93
Prime Minister before election John Howard Liberal/National coalition Subsequent Prime Minister John Howard Liberal/National coalition

Federal elections were held in Australia on 10 November 2001. All 150 seats in the House of Representatives and 40 seats in the 76-member Senate were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia John Howard and coalition partner the National Party of Australia led by John Anderson defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Kim Beazley.

Results

The disproportionality of the lower house in the 2001 election was 9.43 according to the Gallagher Index, mainly between the Coalition and Labor Parties.

Popular Vote Labor   37.84% Liberal   37.40% National   5.61% Democrats   5.51% Greens   4.96% One Nation   4.34% CLP   0.32% Independents   2.71% Other   1.41%

Two Party Preferred Vote Coalition   50.95% Labor   49.05%

Parliament Seats Coalition   54.67% Labor   43.33% Independents   2.00%

Main article: Australian 2001 election upper house results

House of Representatives preference flows

• The Nationals had candidates in 14 seats where three-cornered-contests existed, with 87.34% of preferences favouring the Liberal Party.
• The Democrats contested 145 electorates with preferences favouring Labor (64.13%)
• The Greens contested 145 electorates with preferences strongly favouring Labor (74.83%)
• One Nation contested 120 electorates with preferences slightly favouring the Liberal/National Coalition (55.87%)

Seats changing hands

The following table indicates seats that changed hands from one party to another at this election. It compares the election results with the previous margins, taking into account redistributions in New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and both territories. As a result, it includes the seats of Macarthur and Parramatta, which were held by Liberal members but had notional Labor margins. The table does not include the new seat of Hasluck (retained by Labor); the abolished Northern Territory, which was divided into Lingiari (retained by Labor) and Solomon (retained by the CLP); or Paterson, a Labor seat made Liberal by the redistribution

Seat	Pre-2001				Swing	Post-2001
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Ballarat, Vic		Liberal	Michael Ronaldson	2.77	5.50	2.73	Catherine King	Labor
Canning, WA		Labor	Jane Gerick	0.04	0.42	0.38	Don Randall	Liberal
Dickson, Qld		Labor	Cheryl Kernot	0.12	6.09	5.97	Peter Dutton	Liberal
Dobell, NSW		Labor	Hon Michael Lee	1.53	1.91	0.38	Ken Ticehurst	Liberal
Farrer, NSW		National	Tim Fischer	14.18	N/A	16.37	Sussan Ley	Liberal
Kennedy, Qld		National	Bob Katter	11.19	N/A	19.69	Bob Katter	Independent
Macarthur, NSW		Labor	notional	1.69	8.65	6.96	Pat Farmer	Liberal
New England, NSW		National	Stuart St. Clair	13.66	N/A	8.30	Tony Windsor	Independent
Parramatta, NSW		Labor	notional	2.49	3.64	1.15	Ross Cameron	Liberal
Ryan, Qld		Labor	Leonie Short*	0.17	8.79	8.62	Michael Johnson	Liberal

• *Leonie Short was elected to Ryan in a by-election earlier in 2001.

Background

ABC news report of the Tampa affair and its political context, October 2001.

Throughout much of 2001, the Coalition had been trailing Labor in opinion polls, thanks to dissatisfaction with the government's economic reform programme and high petrol prices. The opposition Australian Labor Party had won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote at the previous election and had won a series of state and territory elections. Labor also recorded positive swings in two by-elections, taking the Queensland seat of Ryan and coming close in Aston.

The 11 September attacks and the so-called Children Overboard and Tampa affairs were strong influences in the minds of voters at this election, focusing debate around the issues of border protection and national security. Polls swung strongly toward the coalition after the "Tampa" controversy but before the 11 September attacks. Another major issue was the collapse of the country's second biggest airline Ansett Australia and whether it should be given a bailout; the Coalition was opposed to the bailout because it was not the government's fault. However, Labor was for a bailout because the company's collapse was about to result in the biggest mass job loss in Australian history, whilst also arguing that the government was partially responsible for allowing Ansett to be taken over by Air New Zealand who had caused Ansett's failure. Although the two-party preferred result was reasonably close, the ALP recorded its lowest primary vote since 1934.

Political scientists have suggested that television coverage has subtly transformed the political system, with a spotlight on leaders rather than parties, thereby making for more of an American-presidential-style system. In this election television news focused on international issues, especially terrorism and asylum seekers. Minor parties were largely ignored as the two main parties monopolized the camera's attention. The election was depicted as a horse race between the Howard, who ran ahead and was therefore given more coverage than his Labor rival.

The election-eve Newspoll reported the Liberal/National Coalition on a 53 percent two-party-preferred vote.

See also

• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 2001
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 2001-2004
• Members of the Australian Senate, 2002-2005

External links

• Australian Electoral Commission Results
• University of WA election results in Australia since 1890
• AEC 2PP vote
• AustralianPolitics.com election details
• Preference flows – ABC