Australian federal election, 1990

Australian federal election, 1990

24 March 1990 (1990-03-24)
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 Subsequent 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. The election saw the reelection of a Hawke government, the fourth successive term.

Background

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. Hawke's Treasurer, Keating, ridiculed him by asking: "Can the soufflé rise twice?" and calling him "all feathers and no meat". Hawke's government was in political trouble, with high interest rates and a financial crisis in Victoria.

Results

Independents: Ted Mack

Seats changing hands

Members in italics did not contest their seat at this election. Where redistributions occurred, the pre-1990 margin represents the redistributed margin.

Notes

• Adelaide, SA, won by Labor at the previous election, was won by Liberal in a by-election. The margin listed above is the by-election margin.
• Deakin, Vic, won by Liberal at the previous election, was made notionally Labor in the redistribution and is considered a Liberal gain.
• Isaacs, Vic and Moore, WA, won by Labor at the previous election, were made notionally Liberal in the redistribution and are considered Liberal retains.
• Henty, Vic and Streeton, Vic, won by Labor at the previous election, were abolished.

Outcome

The Gallagher Index result: 12.7

The 1990 election resulted in a modest swing to the opposition Coalition. Though Labor had to contend with the late 80s/early 90s recession, they won a record fourth successive election and a record 10 years in government with Bob Hawke as leader, a level of political success not previously seen by federal Labor. The election was to be Hawke's last as Prime Minister and Labor leader, he was replaced by Paul Keating on 20 December 1991 who would go on to lead Labor to win a record fifth successive election and a record 13 years in government resulting from the 1993 election.

At the election, the Coalition won a slim majority of the two-party vote, and slashed Labor's majority from 24 seats to nine. However, it only managed a two-party swing of 0.9 percent, which was not nearly enough to deliver the additional seven seats the Coalition needed to make Peacock Prime Minister. Despite having regained much of what the non-Labor forces had lost three years earlier, Peacock was forced to resign after the election.

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.

Since the 1918 Swan by-election which Labor unexpectedly won with the largest primary vote, a predecessor of the Liberals, the Nationalist Party of Australia, changed the lower house voting system from first-past-the-post to full-preference preferential voting as of the subsequent 1919 election which has remained in place since, allowing the Coalition parties to safely contest the same seats. Full-preference preferential voting re-elected the Hawke government, the first time in federal history that Labor had obtained a net benefit from preferential voting.^[1]

It also saw the Nationals' leader, Charles Blunt, defeated in his own seat of Richmond by Labor challenger Neville Newell--only the second time that a major party leader had lost his own seat. Newell benefited from the presence of independent and anti-nuclear activist Helen Caldicott. Her preferences flowed overwhelmingly to Newell on the third count, allowing Newell to win despite having been second on the primary vote.

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

Notes

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

Elections and referendums in Australia
Federal elections	1901 1903 1906 1910 1913 1914 1917 1919 1922 1925 1928 1929 1931 1934 1937 1940 1943 1946 1949 1951 1953 1954 1955 1958 1961 1963 1964 1966 1967 1969 1970 1972 1974 1975 1977 1980 1983 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 2016 next by-elections
Referendums	1906 1910 1911 1913 1916 1917 1919 1926 1928 1937 1944 1946 1948 1951 1967 1973 1974 1977 1984 1988 1999 2017
Elections in: Australian Capital Territory New South Wales Northern Territory Queensland South Australia Tasmania Victoria Western Australia

Politics of Australia
Commonwealth	Monarch Governor-General Prime Minister Cabinet (Shadow Cabinet) Executive Council Ministry Foreign relations Parliament House of Representatives Senate Opposition Leader High Court Lower courts Constitution Statute of Westminster Australia Act
Federal elections	pre-1969 1969 1972 1974 1975 1977 1980 1983 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 2016 next by-elections
State/Territory governments	Governors and Administrators Premiers and Chief Ministers Parliaments and Assemblies NSW Vic Qld WA SA Tas ACT NT
State/Territory elections	Vic 2014 SA 2014 Tas 2014 NSW 2015 Qld 2015 ACT 2016 NT 2016 WA 2017 Vic 2018 SA 2018 Next Tas NSW 2019 Next Qld ACT 2020 NT 2020 WA 2021
Local government	NSW Vic Qld WA SA Tas NT
Political parties	Coalition (Liberal, National, Liberal National, Country Liberal) Conservatives Greens Hinch Katter Labor Lambie Liberal Democrat One Nation Xenophon Other parties