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All 125 seats in the House of Representatives 63 seats were needed for a majority in the House 34 (of the 64) seats in the Senate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Federal elections were held in Australia on 18 October 1980. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives and 34 of the 64 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Liberal–NCP coalition government, led by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, was elected to a third term, defeating the opposition Labor Party led by Bill Hayden.
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.
Future Prime Minister Bob Hawke and future opposition leader Kim Beazley both entered parliament at this election.
Robert James Lee Hawke, is an Australian former politician who was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia and the Leader of the Labor Party from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving Labor Party Prime Minister.
Kim Christian Beazley, AC, is an Australian politician who is currently serving as the Governor of Western Australia. A former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Leader of the Opposition, Beazley has also held various ministerial portfolios in the Hawke and Keating Governments before later serving as Ambassador to the United States.
The Fraser Government had lost a degree of popularity within the electorate by 1980. The economy had been performing poorly since the 1973 oil shock. However, Hayden was not seen as having great electoral prospects. [1] Perhaps as evidence of this, then ACTU President Bob Hawke (elected to Parliament in the election as the Member for Wills) and then Premier of New South Wales Neville Wran featured heavily in the campaign, almost as heavily as Hayden.
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.
The Division of Wills is an Australian electoral division of Victoria. It is currently represented by Peter Khalil of the Australian Labor Party.
The Premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature. The Premier is appointed by the Governor of New South Wales, and by modern convention holds office by virtue of his or her ability to command the support of a majority of members of the lower house of Parliament, the Legislative Assembly.
Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal–NCP coalition | 3,853,585 | 46.40 | –1.71 | 74 | –12 | ||
Liberal | 3,108,517 | 37.43 | −0.66 | 54 | −13 | ||
National Country | 726,263 | 8.74 | −1.07 | 19 | +1 | ||
Country Liberal | 18,805 | 0.23 | +0.02 | 1 | 0 | ||
Labor | 3,749,565 | 45.15 | +5.50 | 51 | +13 | ||
Democrats | 546,032 | 6.57 | −2.81 | 0 | 0 | ||
Democratic Labor | 25,456 | 0.31 | −1.12 | 0 | 0 | ||
Progress | 17,040 | 0.21 | −0.39 | 0 | 0 | ||
Socialist Workers | 16,920 | 0.20 | +0.20 | 0 | 0 | ||
Communist | 11,318 | 0.14 | −0.04 | 0 | 0 | ||
Socialist Labour | 10,051 | 0.12 | +0.12 | 0 | 0 | ||
NPWA | 8,915 | 0.11 | +0.11 | 0 | 0 | ||
Progressive Conservative | 3,620 | 0.04 | +0.04 | 0 | 0 | ||
United Christian | 2,050 | 0.02 | +0.02 | 0 | 0 | ||
Imperial British Conservative | 1,515 | 0.02 | +0.02 | 0 | 0 | ||
Australia | 701 | 0.01 | +0.01 | 0 | 0 | ||
Marijuana | 486 | 0.01 | +0.01 | 0 | 0 | ||
Independent | 58,338 | 0.70 | +0.07 | 0 | 0 | ||
Total | 8,305,633 | 125 | +1 | ||||
Two-party-preferred (estimated) | |||||||
Coalition | WIN | 50.40 | −4.20 | 74 | −12 | ||
Labor | 49.60 | +4.20 | 51 | +13 |
Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats Won | Seats Held | Change | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal–NCP coalition | 3,352,521 | 43.58 | –1.98 | 15 | 31 | –3 | ||
Liberal–NCP joint ticket | 1,971,528 | 25.63 | −8.63 | 4 | * | * | ||
Liberal | 1,011,289 | 13.15 | +2.55 | 9 | 27 | 0 | ||
National Country | 341,978 | 4.45 | +3.95 | 1 | 3 | –3 | ||
Country Liberal | 19,129 | 0.25 | +0.04 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
Labor | 3,250,187 | 42.25 | +5.49 | 15 | 27 | 0 | ||
Democrats | 711,805 | 9.25 | −1.88 | 3 | 5 | +3 | ||
Call to Australia | 118,535 | 1.54 | +0.42 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Democratic Labor | 31,766 | 0.41 | –1.26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Marijuana | 28,337 | 0.37 | –0.23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Australia | 27,404 | 0.36 | +0.25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Socialist | 15,412 | 0.20 | –0.38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Progress | 8,252 | 0.11 | –1.08 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
NPWA | 7,597 | 0.10 | +0.10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Other | 56,128 | 0.73 | +0.73 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Independent | 86,770 | 1.13 | –0.60 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
Total | 7,692,364 | 34 | 64 |
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