Australian federal election, 1983

Australian federal election, 1983
All 125 seats in the House of Representatives ; 63 seats were needed for a majority in the House ; All 64 seats in the Senate
Prime Minister before election; Malcolm Fraser ; Liberal/National coalition	Subsequent Prime Minister; Bob Hawke ; Labor

Last updated March 12, 2019

Federal elections were held in Australia on 5 March 1983. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives and all 64 seats in the Senate were up for election, following a double dissolution. The incumbent Coalition government in power since 1975, led by Malcolm Fraser (Liberal Party) and Doug Anthony (National Party), was defeated by the opposition Labor Party led by Bob Hawke.

Elections in Australia take place periodically to elect the legislature of the Commonwealth of Australia, as well as for each Australian state and territory. Elections in all jurisdictions follow similar principles, though there are minor variations between them. The elections for the Australian Parliament are held under the federal electoral system, which is uniform throughout the country, and the elections for state and territory Parliaments are held under the electoral system of each state and territory.

The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. There are a total of 76 Senators: 12 are elected from each of the six states regardless of population and 2 from each of the two autonomous internal territories. Senators are popularly elected under the single transferable vote system of proportional representation.

Background and issues

At the time of the election, the economy suffered from high inflation and high unemployment, alongside increases in industrial disputation and drought across much of the rural areas. The coalition government was led by Malcolm Fraser, Prime Minister since 1975. Fraser had fought off a leadership challenge from Andrew Peacock, who had resigned from the Cabinet citing Fraser's "manic determination to get his own way", a phrase Fraser had himself used when he resigned from John Gorton's Government in 1971. The Liberal government had to contend with the early 1980s recession. They unexpectedly won the December 1982 Flinders by-election, after having lost the March 1982 Lowe by-election with a large swing.

Andrew Sharp Peacock AC GCL is a former Australian politician and diplomat. He served twice as leader of the Liberal Party, leading the party to defeat at the 1984 and 1990 elections. He had earlier been a long-serving cabinet minister.

John Gorton Australian politician, 19th Prime Minister of Australia

Sir John Grey Gorton was the 19th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1968 to 1971. He led the Liberal Party during that time, having previously been a long-serving government minister.

Gorton Government government of Australian prime minister John Gorton

The Gorton Government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Gorton. It was made up of members of a Liberal-Country Party coalition in the Australian Parliament from January 1968 to March 1971.

The Gallagher Index result: 10.54 1983 Election Australia Gallagher Index.png — The Gallagher Index result: 10.54

Bob Hawke had entered Parliament at the 1980 federal election following a decade as leader of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). Labor factions began to push for the deposition of Bill Hayden from the party leadership in favour of Hawke. Fraser was well aware of the ructions in Labor, and originally planned to call an election for 1982, more than a year before it was due. However, he was forced to scrap those plans after suffering a severe back injury.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated unions and nine trades and labour councils. The ACTU is a member of the International Trade Union Confederation.

William George Hayden is a former Australian politician who served as the 21st Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1989 to 1996. He had earlier been leader of the Labor Party from 1977 to 1983, as well as serving as a cabinet minister in the Whitlam and Hawke Governments.

On 3 February 1983 at a meeting in Brisbane, Hayden resigned on the advice of his closest supporters. Hawke was elected as interim leader unopposed. An election wasn't due for seven more months, however Fraser, emboldened by the unexpected retention of Flinders, had caught wind of the impending change and attempted to immediately call an election (for 5 March), which would have put Parliament into "caretaker mode" and essentially frozen Labor into contesting the election with Hayden as leader. However, Fraser was unable to have the Governor-General, Sir Ninian Stephen, officially accept his recommendation and dissolve Parliament before the announcement of the change in Labor leadership, and was now stuck opposing the more popular Hawke (future Captain of Qantas flight 32 which was crippled on a flight from Singapore to Sydney, Richard de Crespigny, was serving as aide de camp to Governor-General Stephen at the time and details this event in his book). The actual dissolution of the parliament occurred the following day, 4 February.^[1] In response to his removal, Hayden claimed that a "drover's dog" could lead the ALP to victory. Five days later, the ALP formally elected Hawke as party leader. Fraser also hoped to gain control of the Senate, where the Australian Democrats had held the balance of power since 1 July 1981.

The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative of the Australian monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II. As the Queen is shared equally with the 15 other Commonwealth realms, and resides in the United Kingdom, she, on the advice of her prime minister, appoints a governor-general to carry out constitutional duties within the Commonwealth of Australia. The governor-general has formal presidency over the Federal Executive Council and is commander-in-chief of the Australian Defence Force. The functions of the governor-general include appointing ministers, judges, and ambassadors; giving royal assent to legislation passed by parliament; issuing writs for election; and bestowing Australian honours.

Sir Ninian Martin Stephen was an Australian judge who served as the 20th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1982 to 1989. He was previously a Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1972 to 1982.

Qantas Flight 32 was a Qantas scheduled passenger flight from London to Sydney via Singapore. On 4 November 2010, the aircraft serving the flight, an Airbus A380, suffered an uncontained engine failure shortly after takeoff from Singapore Changi Airport and returned to Singapore to make an emergency landing. The failure was the first of its kind for the A380, the world's largest passenger aircraft. It marked the first aviation occurrence involving an Airbus A380. On inspection it was found that a turbine disc in the aircraft's No. 2 Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine had disintegrated. In addition to destruction of the engine, this caused damage to the nacelle, wing, fuel system, landing gear, flight controls, and the controls for engine No. 1, and a fire in the left inner wing fuel tank that self-extinguished. The failure was determined to have been caused by the breaking of a stub oil pipe which had been manufactured improperly.

Fraser's campaign used the slogan "We're Not Waiting for the World". Hawke's campaign theme was based around his favoured leadership philosophy of consensus, using the slogan "Bringing Australia Together". The Ash Wednesday bushfires that devastated areas of Victoria and South Australia on 16 February disrupted the Prime Minister's re-election campaign which was unofficially put on hold while he toured the affected areas. In response to an attack from Fraser on the security of the banking system to protect people's savings in which he asserted that ordinary people's money was safer under their beds than in a bank under Labor, Hawke laughed and said "you can't keep your money under the bed because that's where the Commies are!"^[2]

As counting progressed on election night, it was obvious early on that the ALP had won on a massive swing. Hawke with wife Hazel claimed victory and a tearful Fraser conceded defeat. Ultimately, Labor won power on a 24-seat swing—the largest defeat of a sitting government since 1949, and the worst defeat a sitting non-Labor government has ever suffered. Fraser soon resigned from Parliament, leaving the Liberal leadership to one-time foe Andrew Peacock, who would later form a fierce leadership rivalry himself with future Prime Minister John Howard.

Hazel Susan Hawke, AO was the first wife of Bob Hawke, the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia. She married him in 1956, and supported him throughout his prime ministership (1983–1991); they divorced in 1995. She worked in social policy areas, and was an amateur pianist and a patron of the arts. After she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, she made public appearances in order to raise awareness of the disease.

John Howard Australian politician, 25th Prime Minister of Australia

John Winston Howard, is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th Prime Minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He is the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister, behind only Sir Robert Menzies, who was in office for over 18 years. Howard was leader of the Liberal Party from 1985 to 1989 and from 1995 to 2007.

Results

House of Representatives

House of Reps (IRV) — 1983–84—Turnout 94.64% (CV) — Informal 2.09%
Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor		4,297,392	49.48	+4.34	75	+24
	Liberal–National coalition		3,787,151	43.61	–2.79	50	–24
		Liberal	2,983,986	34.36	−3.07	33	−21
		National	782,824	9.01	+0.27	17	−2
		Country Liberal	20,471	0.24	+0.01	0	−1
	Democrats		437,265	5.03	−1.54	0	0
	Socialist Workers		46,080	0.53	+0.33	0	0
	Democratic Labor		17,318	0.20	–0.11	0	0
	Green		8,641	0.10	+0.10	0	0
	Progress		6,652	0.08	–0.13	0	0
	Communist		6,398	0.07	–0.07	0	0
	Socialist Labour		6,327	0.07	–0.05	0	0
	Socialist		4,165	0.05	+0.05	0	0
	Deadly Serious		3,810	0.04	+0.04	0	0
	NPWA		3,686	0.04	–0.07	0	0
	Christian		3,016	0.03	+0.01	0	0
	Imperial British Conservative		1,786	0.02	+0.00	0	0
	National Humanitarian		1,687	0.02	+0.02	0	0
	Australia		844	0.01	+0.00	0	0
	Libertarian		732	0.01	+0.01	0	0
	Conservative Nationalist		600	0.01	+0.01	0	0
	Engineered Australia Plan		292	0.00	+0.00	0	0
	Independent		50,891	0.59	–0.11	0	0
	Total		8,684,862			125
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
	Labor		WIN	53.23	+3.6	75	+24
	Coalition			46.77	−3.6	50	−24

Popular Vote

Labor			49.48%
Liberal			34.36%
National			9.25%
Democrats			5.03%
Other			1.88%

Two Party Preferred Vote

Labor			53.23%
Coalition			46.77%

Parliament Seats

Labor			60.00%
Coalition			40.00%

Senate

Senate (STV) — 1983–84—Turnout 94.64% (CV) — Informal 9.87%
		Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Total Seats	Change
Labor		3,637,316	45.49	+3.24	30	30	+3
Liberal–National coalition		3,195,397	39.97	–3.51	28	28	–3
	Liberal–National joint ticket	1,861,618	23.28	−2.35	8	*	*
	Liberal (separate ticket)	923,571	11.55	−1.59	16	23	–4
	National (separate ticket)	388,802	4.86	+0.41	3	4	+1
	Country Liberal	21,406	0.27	+0.02	1	1	0
Democrats		764,911	9.57	+0.31	5	5	0
Independents		193,454	2.42	+1.29	1	1	0
Other		203,967	2.55	−1.34	0	0	0
Total		7,995,045			64	64

Notes

In New South Wales and Victoria, the coalition parties ran a joint ticket. Of the eight senators elected on a joint ticket, seven were members of the Liberal Party and one was a member of the National Party. In Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia, the coalition parties ran on separate tickets. In the ACT and Tasmania, only the Liberal Party ran a ticket. In the Northern Territory, only the Country Liberal Party ran a ticket.
The sole independent elected was Brian Harradine of Tasmania.

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1983				Swing	Post-1983
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	Margin	Member	Party
Barton, NSW		Liberal	Jim Bradfield	0.4	4.4	4.0	Gary Punch	Labor
Bendigo, Vic		Liberal	John Bourchier	1.3	4.1	2.8	John Brumby	Labor
Bowman, Qld		Liberal	David Jull	1.2	3.4	2.2	Len Keogh	Labor
Calare, NSW		National	Sandy Mackenzie	1.5	4.4	2.9	David Simmons	Labor
Canning, WA		Liberal	Mel Bungey	1.8	9.2	7.4	Wendy Fatin	Labor
Casey, Vic		Liberal	Peter Falconer	1.9	2.6	0.7	Peter Steedman	Labor
Chisholm, Vic		Liberal	Graham Harris	2.2	4.4	2.2	Helen Mayer	Labor
Deakin, Vic		Liberal	Alan Jarman	2.3	4.4	2.1	John Saunderson	Labor
Diamond Valley, Vic		Liberal	Neil Brown	3.7	4.1	0.4	Peter Staples	Labor
Eden-Monaro, NSW		Liberal	Murray Sainsbury	2.8	4.6	1.8	Jim Snow	Labor
Fadden, Qld		Liberal	Don Cameron	1.5	3.1	1.7	David Beddall	Labor
Flinders, Vic		Liberal	Peter Reith	2.3	5.6	1.0	Bob Chynoweth	Labor
Herbert, Qld		Liberal	Gordon Dean	0.9	3.7	2.8	Ted Lindsay	Labor
Kingston, SA		Liberal	Grant Chapman	0.2	3.3	3.1	Gordon Bilney	Labor
Leichhardt, Qld		National	David Thomson	1.1	3.2	2.1	John Gayler	Labor
Macarthur, NSW		Liberal	Michael Baume	3.2	5.3	2.1	Colin Hollis	Labor
Moore, WA		Liberal	John Hyde	2.8	10.0	7.2	Allen Blanchard	Labor
Northern Territory, NT		Country Liberal	Grant Tambling	1.2	3.1	1.9	John Reeves	Labor
Perth, WA		Liberal	Ross McLean	1.0	7.4	6.4	Ric Charlesworth	Labor
Petrie, Qld		Liberal	John Hodges	3.4	3.9	0.5	Dean Wells	Labor
Phillip, NSW		Liberal	Jack Birney	0.6	2.5	1.9	Jeannette McHugh	Labor
Stirling, WA		Liberal	Ian Viner	2.0	9.0	7.0	Ron Edwards	Labor
Tangney, WA		Liberal	Peter Shack	4.6	7.8	3.2	George Gear	Labor

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

Notes

Prior to 1984 the AEC did not undertake a full distribution of preferences for statistical purposes. The stored ballot papers for the 1983 election were put through this process prior to their destruction. Therefore, the figures from 1983 onwards show the actual result based on full distribution of preferences. The 1983 swing of approximately 3.6 points is based on a pure deduction of one result from the other.

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References

↑ House of Representatives Practice, 6th Ed, Appendix 12: GENERAL ELECTIONS—SIGNIFICANT DATES FROM 19TH TO 44TH PARLIAMENTS
↑ Hawke Swoops into Power, TIME, 14 March 1983

External links

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

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[1] House of Representatives Practice, 6th Ed, Appendix 12: GENERAL ELECTIONS—SIGNIFICANT DATES FROM 19TH TO 44TH PARLIAMENTS

[2] Hawke Swoops into Power, TIME, 14 March 1983

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