A 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, the first time the ALP had won four consecutive terms. The election was also the most recent two Melburnians were leading the main parties.

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Background 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 successful leadership challenge which returned Peacock to the leadership. Hawke's Treasurer, Keating, ridiculed Peacock by asking: "Can the soufflé rise twice?" and calling him, in reference to Peacock's name, "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.Hamilton, "Serendipity City", pp. 152-55. He shared the Asian "enclave" fears of RSL president Alf Garland and others. The following day, The Australian newspaper ran a headline "Peacock a 'danger in the Lodge.

In February 1990, the Liberal Party's deputy Senate leader Austin 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.

Opinion polling Date Brand Primary vote ALP L/NP DEM OTH24 March 1990 electionN/A39.44%43.4611.26%5.83%22 March 1990Newspoll41.5%39.5%14%5%4 March 1990Newspoll42%39%13%6%10 December 1989Newspoll44.5%40%9.5%6%27 March 1988Newspoll38%48%9%5%23 August 1987Newspoll49%41%8%2%18 July 1987 electionN/A45.90%45.90%6.00%2.18%

Results House of Representatives results

Senate results

Seats changing hands

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 2.57 7.20 4.63 Peter Nugent Liberal  Ballarat, Vic  Labor John Mildren 2.12 4.00 1.88 Michael Ronaldson Liberal  Bendigo, Vic  Labor John Brumby 3.96 5.10 1.14 Bruce Reid Liberal  Corinella, Vic  Labor notional – new seat 5.27 6.00 0.73 Russell Broadbent Liberal  Dunkley, Vic  Labor Bob Chynoweth 5.60 6.80 1.20 Frank Ford Liberal  Fairfax, Qld  National Evan Adermann 7.34 N/A 7.47 Alex Somlyay Liberal  Hawker, SA  Labor Elizabeth Harvey 1.20 1.21 0.01 Chris Gallus Liberal  Kennedy, Qld  National Bob Katter 2.99 4.40 1.41 Rob Hulls Labor  La Trobe, Vic  Labor Peter Milton 4.25 5.60 1.35 Bob Charles Liberal  McEwen, Vic  Labor Peter Cleeland 2.89 6.10 3.21 Fran Bailey Liberal  McMillan, Vic  Labor Barry Cunningham 2.96 7.40 4.44 John Riggall Liberal  Moreton, Qld  Liberal Don Cameron 0.70 3.05 2.35 Garrie Gibson Labor  North Sydney, NSW  Liberal John Spender 4.23 N/A 7.66 Ted Mack Independent  Page, NSW  National Ian Robinson 4.51 5.19 0.68 Harry Woods Labor  Richmond, NSW  National Charles Blunt 6.59 7.09 0.50 Neville Newell Labor 

The Liberal Party retained the seats of Isaacs (Vic) and Moore (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.

Outcome

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. 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.

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

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