1987 Australian federal election

Australian federal election, 1987

11 July 1987 (1987-07-11)
All 148 seats in the Australian House of Representatives 75 seats were needed for a majority in the House All 76 seats in the Australian Senate
First party Second party   Leader Bob Hawke John Howard Party Labor Liberal/National coalition Leader since 3 February 1983 (1983-02-03) 5 September 1985 (1985-09-05) Leader's seat Wills Bennelong Last election 82 seats 66 seats Seats won 86 seats 62 seats Seat change 4 4 Percentage 50.83% 49.17% Swing 0.94 0.94
Prime Minister before election Bob Hawke Labor Elected Prime Minister Bob Hawke Labor

Federal elections were held in Australia on 11 July 1987, following the granting of a double dissolution on 5 June by the Governor-General Sir Ninian Stephen. Consequently, all 148 seats in the House of Representatives as well as all 76 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party, led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke defeated the opposition Liberal Party of Australia, led by John Howard and the National Party of Australia led by Ian Sinclair.

Results

House of Reps (IRV) — 1987–90 – Turnout 93.84% (CV) — Informal 4.94%

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Australian Labor Party	4,222,431	45.76	−1.79	86	+4
	Liberal Party of Australia	3,175,262	34.41	+0.35	43	−2
	National Party of Australia	1,060,976	11.50	+0.87	19	−2
	Australian Democrats	554,017	6.00	+0.55	0	0
	Country Liberal Party	21,668	0.23	−0.09	0	0
	Other	189,975	2.06	+0.07	0	0
	Total	9,227,772			148
Two-party-preferred vote
	Australian Labor Party	WIN	50.83	−0.94	86	+4
	Liberal/National coalition		49.17	+0.94	62	−4

Popular Vote
Labor			45.76%
Liberal			34.41%
National			11.50%
Democrats			6.00%
CLP			0.23%
Other			2.06%

Two Party Preferred Vote
Labor			50.83%
Coalition			49.17%

Parliament Seats
Labor			58.11%
Coalition			41.89%

Senate (STV GV) — 1987–90 – Turnout 93.84% (CV) — Informal 3.54%

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won
	Australian Labor Party	4,013,860	42.83	+0.66	32
	Liberal Party of Australia	1,965,180	20.97	+0.38	23
	Liberal/National (Joint Ticket)	1,289,888	13.76	+1.05	5
	Australian Democrats	794,107	8.47	+0.85	7
	National Party of Australia	664,394	7.09	+1.16	5
	Call to Australia Party	136,825	1.46	−0.36	0
	Nuclear Disarmament Party	102,480	1.09	−6.14	1
	Vallentine Peace Group	40,048	0.43	*	1
	Harradine Group	37,037	0.40	+0.14	1
	Country Liberal Party	19,970	0.21	−0.10	1
	Other	307,892	3.29	+1.93	0
	Total	9,371,681			76

Note: As this was a double-dissolution election, all Senate seats were contested.

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1987				Swing	Post-1987
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Chisholm, Vic		Labor	Helen Mayer	0.2	0.9	0.7	Michael Wooldridge	Liberal
Denison, Tas		Liberal	Michael Hodgman	1.0	4.8	3.8	Duncan Kerr	Labor
Fisher, Qld		National	Peter Slipper	2.3	2.8	0.5	Michael Lavarch	Labor
Forde, Qld		Liberal	David Watson	0.0	1.0	1.0	Mary Crawford	Labor
Hinkler, Qld		National	Bryan Conquest	0.2	1.3	1.1	Brian Courtice	Labor
Lowe, NSW		Labor	Michael Maher	2.2	3.8	1.6	Bob Woods	Liberal
Northern Territory, NT		Country Liberal	Paul Everingham	1.4	3.6	2.2	Warren Snowdon	Labor
Petrie, Qld		Liberal	John Hodges	0.6	2.0	1.4	Gary Johns	Labor

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

The 1987 federal election was called 6 months early by Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke to capitalise on disunity in the opposition. The trigger for the double dissolution was legislation for the Australia Card, although it did not figure prominently in the campaign. Opposition Leader John Howard had dismissed his predecessor Andrew Peacock from the shadow ministry in March, following unfortunate remarks by Peacock to Victorian state opposition leader Jeff Kennett in an infamous car phone conversation. Howard, who had succeeded Peacock in 1985, was fighting a war on two fronts – the origin of his oft-repeated remark that, in politics, "disunity is death".

File:1987 Election Australia Gallagher Index.png

The Gallagher Index result: 10.57

This election was the last time the Liberals and Nationals competed directly against each other in a federal election. This was due to the abortive Joh for Canberra campaign of Queensland premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. Although Bjelke-Petersen did not run, the resulting schism between the Nationals and Liberals led to several three-cornered contests. Labor campaigned strongly on the disunity among the opposition parties.

Hawke led Labor to a record third successive term in government. Additionally, the Labor result of 86 seats was the party's highest ever (the total number of seats was expanded by 23 in 1984) although the Coalition did improve their share of the two-party-preferred vote.

This is also the most recent election in which every seat in the House of Representatives was won by either Labor or the Coalition.

See also

• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1987
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1987-1990
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1987-1990

References

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