Australian federal election, 1990

Australian federal election, 1990

←  1987 24 March 1990 (1990-03-24) 1993  →
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
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 (Vic.) Kooyong (Vic.) 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.

Future opposition leader Simon Crean entered parliament at this election.

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

House of Representatives results

Government (78)
     Labor (78)

Opposition (69)
Coalition
     Liberal (55)
     National (14)

Crossbench (1)
     Independent (1)

House of Reps (IRV) — 1990–93 — Turnout 95.31% (CV) — Informal 3.19%

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Liberal–National coalition		4,302,127	43.46	–2.44	69	+7
		Liberal	3,440,902	34.76	+0.35	55	+12
		National	833,557	8.42	–3.10	14	–5
		Country Liberal	27,668	0.28	+0.05	0	+0
	Labor		3,904,138	39.44	–6.46	78	–8
	Democrats		1,114,216	11.26	+5.26	0	0
	Greens* (state-based)		137,351	1.37	+1.37	0	0
	Call to Australia		96,497	0.97	+0.97	0	0
	Grey Power		20,984	0.21	+0.21	0	0
	Democratic Socialist		20,668	0.21	+0.20	0	0
	Rex Connor Labor		8,277	0.08	+0.08	0	0
	New Australia		7,043	0.07	+0.07	0	0
	Nuclear Disarmament		5,578	0.06	–0.05	0	0
	Environment Independents		4,866	0.05	+0.05	0	0
	Socialist		2,255	0.02	+0.02	0	0
	Conservative		1,734	0.02	+0.02	0	0
	Pensioner		1,170	0.01	–0.03	0	0
	Independents		272,770	2.76	+0.90	1	+1
	Total		9,899,674			148
Two-party-preferred vote
	Labor		WIN	49.90	−0.93	78	−8
	Liberal–National coalition			50.10	+0.93	69	+7

• Note: there was no federal Australian Greens party as yet. The Greens total includes Greens Western Australia (67,164), Green Alliance (47,697), Queensland Greens (10,054), United Tasmania Group (6,367), and ACT Green Democratic Alliance (6,069).
• Independents: Ted Mack

Popular Vote Labor   39.44% Liberal   35.04% Democrats   11.26% National   8.42% Independents   2.55% Other   3.30%

Two Party Preferred Vote Coalition   50.10% Labor   49.90%

Parliament Seats Labor   52.70% Coalition   46.62% Independents   0.68%

Senate results

Government (32)
     Labor (32)

Opposition (34)
Coalition
     Liberal (29)
     National (4)
     CLP (1)

Crossbench (10)
     Democrats (8)
     WA Greens (1)
     Independent (1)

Main article: Results of the Australian federal election, 1990 (Senate)

Senate (STV GV) — 1990–93 — Turnout 95.81% (CV) — Informal 3.40%

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held	Change
	Liberal–National coalition		4,162,633	41.92	–0.12	19	34	0
		Liberal–National joint ticket	2,429,552	24.47	+10.71	5	N/A	N/A
		Liberal	1,445,872	14.56	–6.41	12	29	+2
		National	258,164	2.60	−4.49	1	4	–2
		Country Liberal	29,045	0.29	+0.08	1	1	0
	Labor		3,813,547	38.41	−4.42	15	32	0
	Democrats		1,253,807	12.63	+4.15	5	8	+1
	Greens [lower-alpha 1]		208,157	2.10	+1.66	1	1	+1
	Call to Australia		136,522	1.37	–0.09	0	0	0
	Environment Independents		74,668	0.75	+0.75	0	0	0
	Independent EFF		63,378	0.64	+0.64	0	0	0
	Nuclear Disarmament		38,079	0.38	–0.71	0	0	–1
	Grey Power		37,600	0.38	+0.38	0	0	0
	Democratic Socialist		36,140	0.36	+0.36	0	0	0
	Against Further Immigration		19,439	0.20	+0.20	0	0	0
	Pensioner		18,235	0.18	+0.00	0	0	0
	Democratic Labor		14,744	0.15	–0.39	0	0	0
	New Australia		8,332	0.08	+0.08	0	0	0
	Conservative		7,381	0.07	+0.07	0	0	0
	Citizens Electoral Council		7,129	0.07	+0.07	0	0	0
	Independent		29,974	0.30	–1.59	0	1	–1
	Total		9,929,765			40	76

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Notes

1. There was no nation-wide Greens party. The total includes 76,381 votes for the Greens Western Australia (who elected one senator), 64,583 votes for the Green Alliance (NSW), 23,420 votes for the Victorian Greens, 19,499 votes for the Greens South Australia, 14,160 votes for the United Tasmania Group, 5,288 votes for the ACT Green Democratic Alliance, and 4,826 votes for the Greens New South Wales.

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.

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	2.6	7.2	4.6	Peter Nugent	Liberal
Ballarat, Vic		Labor	John Mildren	2.1	4.0	1.9	Michael Ronaldson	Liberal
Bendigo, Vic		Labor	John Brumby	4.0	5.1	1.1	Bruce Reid	Liberal
Corinella, Vic		Labor	notional – new seat	5.3	6.0	0.7	Russell Broadbent	Liberal
Deakin, Vic		Labor	Julian Beale (Liberal MP)	1.9	4.3	2.4	Ken Aldred	Liberal
Dunkley, Vic		Labor	Bob Chynoweth	5.6	6.8	1.2	Frank Ford	Liberal
Fairfax, Qld		National	Evan Adermann	N/A	N/A	7.5	Alex Somlyay	Liberal
Hawker, SA		Labor	Elizabeth Harvey	1.2	1.2	0.0	Christine Gallus	Liberal
Kennedy, Qld		National	Bob Katter	3.0	4.4	1.4	Rob Hulls	Labor
La Trobe, Vic		Labor	Peter Milton	4.2	4.6	1.4	Bob Charles	Liberal
McEwen, Vic		Labor	Peter Cleeland	2.9	6.1	3.2	Fran Bailey	Liberal
McMillan, Vic		Labor	Barry Cunningham	3.0	7.4	4.4	John Riggall	Liberal
Moreton, Qld		Liberal	Don Cameron	0.7	3.0	2.3	Garrie Gibson	Labor
North Sydney, NSW		Liberal	John Spender	N/A	N/A	7.7	Ted Mack	Independent
Page, NSW		National	Ian Robinson	4.5	5.2	0.7	Harry Woods	Labor
Richmond, NSW		National	Charles Blunt	6.6	7.1	0.5	Neville Newell	Labor

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

1. Antony Green (2015-09-23). "The Origin of Senate Group Ticket Voting, and it didn't come from the Major Parties". Blogs.abc.net.au. Retrieved 2016-07-30.

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