Election
The
1990 Australian 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.
It was the first and, to date, only time the Labor party won four consecutive elections. As of 2023
[update]
it is the most recent federal election in which leaders of both the largest parties represented divisions outside
New South Wales
, the last to have both major party leaders from the same city other than
Sydney
, the last to have a rematch just
six years earlier
and until
2001
, thus was the last for the 20th century, which unlike 13 years earlier in
1977
when it's the last rematch with the same major party leaders appeared consecutively after the previous federal election in the 20th century just
2 years earlier
, and the last to have both major party leaders born prior to
World War II
.
Background
[
edit
]
After
John Howard
lost the
1987 election
to Hawke,
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 Peacock by asking: "Can the
souffle
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.
The controversy over the
Multifunction Polis
boiled over during the federal election campaign. Peacock, declared that a future Coalition Government would abandon the project.
[1]
He shared the Asian "enclave" fears of
RSL
president
Alf Garland
and others.
[2]
The following day,
The Australian
newspaper ran a headline "Peacock a 'danger in the Lodge
'
".
[3]
Voting intention
[
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]
[4]
Date
|
Brand
|
Primary vote
|
|
|
ALP
|
L/NP
|
DEM
|
OTH
|
24 March 1990 election
|
|
39.44%
|
43.46
|
11.26%
|
5.83%
|
22 March 1990
|
Newspoll
|
41.5%
|
39.5%
|
14%
|
5%
|
4 March 1990
|
Newspoll
|
42%
|
39%
|
13%
|
6%
|
10 December 1989
|
Newspoll
|
44.5%
|
40%
|
9.5%
|
6%
|
27 March 1988
|
Newspoll
|
38%
|
48%
|
9%
|
5%
|
23 August 1987
|
Newspoll
|
49%
|
41%
|
8%
|
2%
|
18 July 1987 election
|
|
45.90%
|
45.90%
|
6.00%
|
2.18%
|
Results
[
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]
House of Representatives results
[
edit
]
House of Reps (
IRV
) ? 1990?93 ? Turnout 95.32% (
CV
) ? Informal 3.19%
Party
|
Votes
|
%
|
Swing
|
Seats
|
Change
|
|
|
Liberal
|
3,440,902
|
34.76
|
+0.44
|
55
|
12
|
|
National
|
833,557
|
8.42
|
?3.10
|
14
|
5
|
|
Country Liberal
|
27,668
|
0.28
|
+0.05
|
0
|
|
Liberal?National coalition
|
4,302,127
|
43.46
|
?2.44
|
69
|
7
|
|
Labor
|
3,904,138
|
39.44
|
?6.46
|
78
|
8
|
|
Democrats
|
1,114,216
|
11.26
|
+5.26
|
|
|
|
Greens
(state-based)
[a]
|
137,351
|
1.37
|
|
|
|
|
Independents
[b]
|
257,139
|
2.60
|
+0.94
|
1
|
1
|
|
Others
|
184,703
|
1.86
|
+1.67
|
|
|
Total
|
9,899,674
|
|
|
148
|
|
Two-party-preferred vote
|
|
Labor
|
4,930,837
|
49.90
|
−0.93
|
78
|
8
|
|
Liberal?National coalition
|
4,950,072
|
50.10
|
+0.93
|
69
|
7
|
|
Invalid/blank votes
|
326,126
|
3.19
|
?1.75
|
|
|
Turnout
|
10,225,800
|
95.32
|
|
|
|
Registered voters
|
10,728,131
|
|
|
|
|
Source:
Federal Elections 1990
|
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
[
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]
Senate (
STV
GV
) ? 1990?93 ? Turnout 95.81% (
CV
) ? Informal 3.40%
Party
|
Votes
|
%
|
Swing
|
Seats won
|
Seats held
|
Change
|
|
|
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
|
|
Liberal?National coalition
|
4,162,633
|
41.92
|
?0.12
|
19
|
34
|
|
|
Labor
|
3,813,547
|
38.41
|
−4.42
|
15
|
32
|
|
|
Democrats
|
1,253,807
|
12.63
|
+4.15
|
5
|
8
|
1
|
|
Greens
[c]
|
208,157
|
2.10
|
+1.66
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
|
Nuclear Disarmament
[d]
|
38,079
|
0.38
|
?0.71
|
|
|
1
|
|
Independents
[e]
|
29,974
|
0.30
|
?1.59
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
Others
|
423,568
|
4.25
|
+2.07
|
|
|
|
Total
|
9,929,765
|
|
|
40
|
76
|
|
|
Invalid/blank votes
|
349,065
|
3.40
|
?0.64
|
|
|
|
Turnout
|
10,728,830
|
95.81
|
|
|
|
|
Registered voters
|
10,728,131
|
|
|
|
|
|
Source:
Federal Elections 1990
|
Seats changing hands
[
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]
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
|
2.6
|
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
|
|
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
|
Chris 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
[
edit
]
- 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
[
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]
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.
[5]
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.
After 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 federal lower house voting system from
first-past-the-post
to full-preference
preferential voting
for the subsequent
1919 election
, and it 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.
[6]
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
[
edit
]
Notes
[
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]
- ^
There was no federal
Australian Greens
party at this election. The Greens total includes
Greens Western Australia
(67,164),
NSW Green Alliance
[f]
(45,819),
Queensland Greens
(10,054),
United Tasmania Group
(6,367),
Greens South Australia
(1,878) and
ACT Green Democratic Alliance
(6,069).
- ^
The independent member was
Ted Mack
(NSW).
- ^
The Greens total in the Senate includes
Greens Western Australia
(76,381 and elected one senator), NSW Green Alliance (64,583),
Victorian Greens
(23,420),
Greens South Australia
(19,499),
United Tasmania Group
(14,160),
ACT Green Democratic Alliance
(5,288),
Greens New South Wales
(4,826) and Australian Gruen (4,826).
- ^
The election of
Nuclear Disarmament
Senator
Robert Wood
was void.
Irina Dunn
was declared elected in his place but was expelled from the party and served out the remainder of her term as an independent.
- ^
Jo Vallentine
had been re-elected in 1987 as an independent however she joined the
Greens
for this election. The sitting independent was
Brian Harradine
.
- ^
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.
References
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]
External links
[
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]