1990 Australian federal election

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All 148 seats in theHouse of Representatives 75 seats were needed for a majority in the House 40 (of the 76) seats in theSenate
Registered	10,728,435 3.62%
Turnout	10,225,800 (95.31%) (1.47pp)
First party Second party   Leader Bob Hawke Andrew Peacock Party Labor Liberal–National Coalition Leader since 8 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 First preference vote 3,904,138 4,302,127 Percentage 39.44% 43.46% Swing 6.46% 2.44% TPP 49.90% 50.10% TPP swing 0.93 0.93
Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory.
Prime Minister before election Bob Hawke Labor Subsequent Prime Minister Bob Hawke Labor

1990 Australian federal election
Candidates
National results
House of Representatives Senate
State and territory results
New South Wales Victoria Queensland Western Australia South Australia Tasmania Australian Capital Territory Northern Territory
Elected House of Representative members Elected Senate members
v t e

The1990 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 24 March 1990. All 148 seats in theHouse of Representatives and 40 seats in the 76-memberSenate were up for election. The incumbentAustralian Labor Party, led byBob Hawke, defeated the oppositionLiberal Party of Australia, led byAndrew Peacock, with itscoalition partner, theNational Party of Australia, led byCharles Blunt, despite losing the nationwide popular andtwo-party-preferred vote. The result saw the re-election of the Hawke government for a fourth successive term, the first time the ALP had won four consecutive terms. The election was also the most recent twoMelburnians were leading the main parties.^{[citation needed]}

AfterJohn Howard lost the1987 election to Hawke,Andrew Peacock was elected Deputy Leader in a show of party unity.^{[citation needed]} In May 1989, Peacock's supportersmounted a successful leadership challenge which returned Peacock to the leadership.^{[citation needed]} Hawke's Treasurer, Keating, ridiculed Peacock by asking: "Can thesoufflé rise twice?" and calling him, in reference to Peacock's name, "all feathers and no meat".^{[citation needed]}

Hawke's government was in political trouble, with high interest rates and a financial crisis in Victoria.The controversy over theMultifunction 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 ofRSL presidentAlf Garland and others.^[2] The following day,The Australian newspaper ran a headline "Peacock a 'danger in the Lodge'".^[3]

In February 1990, the Liberal Party's deputy Senate leaderAustin Lewis was sacked from shadow cabinet after suggesting Peacock would be removed as leader if the Coalition failed to win the election. Lewis's comments reportedly reignited leadership tensions within the Liberal Party and were influential in Hawke deciding to set an election date in March, two months before the last possible date for the election.^[4]

This section is an excerpt from1990 Australian House of Representatives election § Australia.[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

This section is an excerpt from1990 Australian Senate election § Australia.[edit]

Senate (STVGV) — 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

Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election. Where redistributions occurred, the pre-1990 margin represents the redistributed margin.

• The Liberal Party retained the seats ofIsaacs (Vic) andMoore (WA), which were made notionally Liberal-held in the redistribution.
• 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.

The 1990 election resulted in a modest swing to the opposition Coalition. Though Labor had to contend with thelate 80s/early 90s recession, they won a record fourth successive election and a record 10 years in government withBob 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 byPaul 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 the1993 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.^[6] 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 theAustralian Democrats' popularity underJanine Haines, and aWA Greens candidate won a seat in theAustralian Senate for the first time – although the successful candidate,Jo Vallentine, was already a two-term senator, having previously won a seat for theNuclear Disarmament Party at the1984 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.

It also saw the Nationals' leader,Charles Blunt, defeated in his own seat ofRichmond by Labor challengerNeville 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 activistHelen Caldicott. Her preferences flowed overwhelmingly to Newell on the third count, allowing Newell to win despite having been second on the primary vote.

• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1990
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1990–1993
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1990–1993

• University of WAArchived 18 January 2015 at theWayback Machine election results in Australia since 1890
• AEC 2PP vote
• AustralianPolitics.com election details

• 'Give a Damn: Vote Democrat 1' – 1990 commercial with Janine Haines

• 1990 elections in Australia
• March 1990 in Australia
• Federal elections in Australia
• Bob Hawke

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