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1990 Australian federal election
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April 2023
January 2016
1990 Australian federal election Australia parliamentary no Results of the 1987 Australian federal election (House of Representatives) 1987 Results of the 1993 Australian federal election (House of Representatives) 1993 Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1987–1990 Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1990–1993 10,728,435 3.62% 10,225,800 (95.31%)(1.47 pp) All 148 seats in the House of Representatives 75 seats were needed for a majority in the House 40 (of the 76) seats in the Senate 1990 3 24 y First preference File:Bob Hawke.jpg 190x190px Bob Hawke 8 February 1983 Australian Labor Party Wills (Vic.) 86 seats 78 seats 8 3,904,138 39.44% 6.46% File:Andrew Peacock.jpg Andrew Peacock 9 May 1989 Liberal Party of Australia Liberal–National Coalition Kooyong (Vic.) 62 seats 69 seats 7 4,302,127 43.46% 2.44% TPP 49.90% 50.10% TPP swing 0.93 0.93 1990 Australian federal election.svg 350px Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory. Prime Minister Bob Hawke Australian Labor Party Subsequent Prime Minister Bob Hawke Australian Labor Party
A federal election was 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 its
coalition partner, the National Party of Australia, led by Charles Blunt, despite losing the nationwide popular and two-party-preferred vote. The result saw the re-election of the Hawke government for a fourth successive term, the first time the ALP had won four consecutive terms. The election was also the most recent two Melburnians were leading the main parties.November 2025
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Background
After John Howard lost the 1987 election to Hawke, Andrew Peacock was elected Deputy Leader in a show of party unity.November 2025 In May 1989, Peacock's supporters mounted a successful leadership challenge which returned Peacock to the leadership.November 2025 Hawke's Treasurer, Keating, ridiculed Peacock by asking: "Can the soufflé rise twice?" and calling him, in reference to Peacock's name, "all feathers and no meat".November 2025
Hawke's government was in political trouble, with high interest rates and a financial crisis in Victoria.
The controversy over the Multifunction Polis boiled over during the federal election campaign. Peacock declared that a future Coalition Government would abandon the project.Hamilton, "Serendipity City", pp. 152-55. He shared the Asian "enclave" fears of RSL president Alf Garland and others.Jupp James From White Australia to Woomera: The Story of Australian Immigration 2 April 2007 https://books.google.com/books?id=JPzMx64wXKUC&dq=%22multifunctional+polis%22&pg=PA107 2008-01-12 Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-69789-7 107–219 The following day, The Australian newspaper ran a headline "Peacock a 'danger in the Lodge.https://www.crikey.com.au/2016/05/23/opinion-less-matters/ The more opinion, the less it matters David Washington Crikey 23 May 2016 2023-07-23 subscription
In February 1990, the Liberal Party's deputy Senate leader Austin Lewis was sacked from shadow cabinet after suggesting Peacock would be removed as leader if the Coalition failed to win the election. Lewis's comments reportedly reignited leadership tensions within the Liberal Party and were influential in Hawke deciding to set an election date in March, two months before the last possible date for the election.https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/131179004 Peacock sacks top lib The Canberra Times 15 February 1990
Opinion polling
Date Brand Primary votehttps://infogram.com/federal-newspoll-archive-1gv4m7ejjndop18 Federal Newspoll Archive - Infogram infogram.com 8 April 2023 ALP L/NP DEM OTH24 March 1990 electionN/A39.44%43.4611.26%5.83%22 March 1990Newspoll41.5%39.5%14%5%4 March 1990Newspoll42%39%13%6%10 December 1989Newspoll44.5%40%9.5%6%27 March 1988Newspoll38%48%9%5%23 August 1987Newspoll49%41%8%2%18 July 1987 electionN/A45.90%45.90%6.00%2.18%
Results
House of Representatives results
Post-election pendulum for the 1990 Australian federal election
right|thumb|250px|Government (78)
Labor darkgray Labor (78)
Opposition (69)
Coalition
Liberal darkgray Liberal (55)
National darkgray National (14)
Crossbench (1)
Independent darkgray Independent (1)
Results of the 1990 Australian federal election (House of Representatives) Australia yes
Popular vote var(--background-color-interactive) 600px 410px Labor Australian Labor Party 39.44
Liberal Liberal Party of Australia 35.04
Democrats #F4940D 11.26
National National Party of Australia 8.42
Independents Independent (politician) 2.55
Other #777777 3.30
Two-party-preferred vote var(--background-color-interactive) 600px 410px Coalition Coalition (Australia) 50.10
Labor Australian Labor Party 49.90
Parliament seats var(--background-color-interactive) 600px 410px Labor Australian Labor Party 52.70
Coalition Coalition (Australia) 46.62
Independents Independent (politician) 0.68
Senate results
right|thumb|250px|Government (32)
Labor darkgray Labor (32)
Opposition (34)
Coalition
Liberal darkgray Liberal (29)
National darkgray National (4)
Country Liberal Party darkgray CLP (1)
Crossbench (10)
Democrats darkgray Democrats (8)
Greens darkgray WA Greens (1)
Independent darkgray Independent (1)
Results of the 1990 Australian federal election (Senate) Australia yes
Seats changing hands
Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election. Where redistributions occurred, the pre-1990 margin represents the redistributed margin.
Seat Pre-1990 Swing Post-1990 Party Member Margin Margin Member Party Adelaide, SA Liberal Mike Pratt 6.5* N/A 3.7 Bob Catley Labor Aston, Vic Labor John Saunderson 2.57 7.20 4.63 Peter Nugent Liberal Ballarat, Vic Labor John Mildren 2.12 4.00 1.88 Michael Ronaldson Liberal Bendigo, Vic Labor John Brumby 3.96 5.10 1.14 Bruce Reid Liberal Corinella, Vic Labor notional – new seat 5.27 6.00 0.73 Russell Broadbent Liberal Dunkley, Vic Labor Bob Chynoweth 5.60 6.80 1.20 Frank Ford Liberal Fairfax, Qld National Evan Adermann 7.34 N/A 7.47 Alex Somlyay Liberal Hawker, SA Labor Elizabeth Harvey 1.20 1.21 0.01 Chris Gallus Liberal Kennedy, Qld National Bob Katter 2.99 4.40 1.41 Rob Hulls Labor La Trobe, Vic Labor Peter Milton 4.25 5.60 1.35 Bob Charles Liberal McEwen, Vic Labor Peter Cleeland 2.89 6.10 3.21 Fran Bailey Liberal McMillan, Vic Labor Barry Cunningham 2.96 7.40 4.44 John Riggall Liberal Moreton, Qld Liberal Don Cameron 0.70 3.05 2.35 Garrie Gibson Labor North Sydney, NSW Liberal John Spender 4.23 N/A 7.66 Ted Mack Independent Page, NSW National Ian Robinson 4.51 5.19 0.68 Harry Woods Labor Richmond, NSW National Charles Blunt 6.59 7.09 0.50 Neville Newell Labor
The Liberal Party retained the seats of Isaacs (Vic) and Moore (WA), which were made notionally Liberal-held in the redistribution.
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.
Outcome
right|thumb|300px|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 (to the day) 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, most of the gains made in Victoria.Megalogenis George 2021-06-25 Hard lessons: On unis, Coalition has embraced Howard's way https://www.smh.com.au/national/hard-lessons-on-unis-coalition-has-embraced-howard-s-way-20210622-p583a9.html 2021-06-27 The Sydney Morning Herald en 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.
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
Greens House There was no federal Australian Greens party at this election. The Greens total includes Greens Western Australia (67,164), NSW Green AllianceGreens NSW At this election the Greens in New South Wales were a loose alliance largely organised by local groups, with 18 candidates running under a variety of names: Australian Gruen Party (Fowler, Macarthur, Mackellar, Macquarie, Prospect, St George, Throsby and Werriwa), the Greens (Phillip and Wentworth), Illawarra Greens (Cunningham and Hughes), Sydney Greens, South Sydney Greens (Kingsford Smith), Central Coast Green Party (Dobell and Robertson), Greens in Lowe and Cowper Greens. (45,819), Queensland Greens (10,054), United Tasmania Group (6,367), Greens South Australia (1,878) and ACT Green Democratic Alliance (6,069).
References
University of WA https://web.archive.org/web/20150118085343/http://elections.uwa.edu.au/ 18 January 2015 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
Federal
Federal election
Category:Federal elections in Australia
Category:Bob Hawke