Australian federal election, 1984

Australian federal election, 1984
All 148 seats in the House of Representatives ; 75 seats were needed for a majority in the House ; 46 (of the 76) seats in the Senate
Prime Minister before election; Bob Hawke ; Labor	Subsequent Prime Minister; Bob Hawke ; Labor

Last updated March 12, 2019

Federal elections were held in Australia on 1 December 1984. All 148 seats in the House of Representatives (24 of them newly created) and 46 of 76 seats in the Senate (12 of them newly created) were up for election. The incumbent Labor Party led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke defeated the opposition Liberal–National coalition, led by Andrew Peacock.

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

The election had a long campaign and a high rate of informal voting for the House of Representatives, but decreased rate in the Senate (due to the introduction of the Group voting ticket). The election was held 18 months ahead of time, partly to bring the elections for the House of Representatives and Senate back into line following the double dissolution election of 1983.

A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the Australian Constitution to resolve deadlocks in the bicameral Parliament of Australia between the House of Representatives and the Senate. A double dissolution is the only circumstance in which the entire Senate can be dissolved.

The legislated increase in the size of the House of Representatives by 24 seats and the Senate by 12 seats came into effect at the 1984 election. Prior to 1984 the electoral commission did not undertake a full distribution of preferences for statistical purposes. The stored ballot papers for the previous 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.

Results

House of Representatives

House of Reps (IRV) — 1984–87 – Turnout 94.19% (CV) — Informal 6.78%
Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor		4,120,130	47.55	−1.93	82	+7
	Liberal–National coalition		3,900,042	45.01	–1.40	66	+16
		Liberal	2,951,556	34.06	−0.06	45	+12
		National	921,151	10.63	+1.42	21	+4
		Country Liberal	27,335	0.32	+0.08	0	0
	Democrats		472,204	5.45	+0.42	0	0
	Democratic Labor		49,121	0.57	+0.37	0	0
	Nuclear Disarmament		17,978	0.21	+0.21	0	0
	Socialist Workers		9,460	0.11	–0.42	0	0
	Deadly Serious		2,826	0.03	–0.01	0	0
	Pensioner		1,645	0.02	+0.02	0	0
	Communist		1,213	0.01	–0.06	0	0
	Independent		90,333	1.04	+0.07	0	0
	Total		8,664,952			148	+23
Two-party-preferred
	Australian Labor Party		WIN	51.77	−1.46	82	+7
	Liberal–National coalition			48.23	+1.46	66	+16

Popular Vote

Labor			47.55%
Liberal			34.06%
National			10.63%
Democrats			5.45%
CLP			0.32%
Other			1.99%

Two Party Preferred Vote

Labor			51.77%
Coalition			48.23%

Parliament Seats

Labor			55.41%
Coalition			44.59%

Senate

Senate (STV GV) — 1984–87 – Turnout 94.55% (CV) — Informal 4.68%
		Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held	Change
Labor		3,750,789	42.17	−3.32	20	34	+4
Liberal–National coalition		3,516,857	39.54	–0.41	20	33	+5
	Liberal	1,831,006	20.59	+8.58	14	27	+4
	Liberal–National joint ticket	1,130,601	12.71	−11.49	3	N/A	N/A
	National	527,278	5.93	+0.87	2	5	+1
	Country Liberal	27,972	0.31	+0.04	1	1	0
Democrats		677,970	7.62	−2.32	5	7	+2
Nuclear Disarmament		643,061	7.23	+7.23	1	1	+1
Call to Australia		162,272	1.82	−0.04	0	0	0
Democratic Labor		32,472	0.37	+0.37	0	0	0
Pensioner		23,974	0.27	+0.27	0	0	0
Family Movement		18,841	0.21	+0.21	0	0	0
Referendum First		5,807	0.07	+0.07	0	0	0
Conservative		4,731	0.05	+0.05	0	0	0
Independent		57,326	0.64	+0.64	0	1	0
Total		8,894,100			46	76	+12

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1984				Swing	Post-1984
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	Margin	Member	Party
Farrer, NSW		Liberal	Wal Fife	N/A	N/A	13.0	Tim Fischer	National
Flinders, Vic		Labor	Bob Chynoweth	1.0	1.5	1.2	Peter Reith	Liberal
Forde, Qld		Labor	notional – new seat	2.7	2.7	0.0	David Watson	Liberal
Gilmore, NSW		Labor	notional – new seat	0.5	1.7	1.2	John Sharp	National
Hinkler, Qld		Labor	notional – new seat	0.6	0.8	0.2	Bryan Conquest	National
Hume, NSW		National	Stephen Lusher	N/A	N/A	7.7	Wal Fife	Liberal
Macquarie, NSW		Labor	Ross Free	0.5	1.9	1.4	Alasdair Webster	Liberal
Northern Territory, NT		Labor	John Reeves	1.9	3.3	1.4	Paul Everingham	Country Liberal
Petrie, Qld		Labor	Dean Wells	0.5	2.1	0.6	John Hodges	Liberal
Riverina-Darling, NSW		Labor	notional – new seat	1.3	5.9	4.6	Noel Hicks	National

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

Analysis

The Gallagher Index result: 7.79 1984 Election Australia Gallagher Index.png — The Gallagher Index result: 7.79

The results of the election surprised most analysts;^{[ citation needed ]} the expectation had been that Bob Hawke – who had been polling a record ACNielsen approval rating of 75 percent^[1] on the eve of the election – would win by a significantly larger margin. Labor instead suffered a 2-point swing against it and had its majority cut from 25 to 16. Hawke blamed the result on the changes to Senate vote cards, which he believed confused people regarding their House of Representatives votes and contributed to the relatively high informal vote, the majority of which apparently was Labor votes.^[2] Andrew Peacock did well from a good performance in the one leaders' debate, held on 26 November 1984.^[3] This was the first televised leaders' debate in Australia.^[4]

Notes

↑ "The biggest hammering in history". Sydney Morning Herald. 20 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
↑ Hawke, RJL (1996). The Hawke Memoirs. Port Melbourne: Mandarin. pp. 275–276. "Attracted to the simplicity of the Senate ballot, a number of voters thought they could mark their Lower House ballot in exactly the same way. Unfortunately for both them and us the informal vote for the House of Representatives swelled from 2 per cent to nearly 7 per cent. On the best surmise the bulk of the informals were Labor votes."
↑ Fraser, Bryce (1998). The Macquarie Reference Series: Government in Australia. Sydney: The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd. p. 44. ISBN 1-876429-02-X.
↑ "1984 Federal Election". AustralianPolitics.com. Retrieved 2016-07-30.

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References

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

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[1] "The biggest hammering in history". Sydney Morning Herald. 20 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-20.

[2] Hawke, RJL (1996). The Hawke Memoirs. Port Melbourne: Mandarin. pp. 275–276. "Attracted to the simplicity of the Senate ballot, a number of voters thought they could mark their Lower House ballot in exactly the same way. Unfortunately for both them and us the informal vote for the House of Representatives swelled from 2 per cent to nearly 7 per cent. On the best surmise the bulk of the informals were Labor votes."

[3] Fraser, Bryce (1998). The Macquarie Reference Series: Government in Australia. Sydney: The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd. p. 44. ISBN 1-876429-02-X.

[4] "1984 Federal Election". AustralianPolitics.com. Retrieved 2016-07-30.

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