1990 Australian Federal Election

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.

1990 Australian federal election

← 1987 24 March 1990 (1990-03-24) 1993 →
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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
Registered	10,728,435 3.62%
Turnout	10,225,800 (95.31%) (1.47 pp)
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

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.

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 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. The controversy over the Multifunction Polis boiled over during the federal election campaign. Peacock, declared that a future Coalition Government would abandon the project. 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'".

House of Representatives results

 

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)		137,351	1.37
	Independents		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

Senate results

 

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		208,157	2.10	+1.66	1	1	1
	Nuclear Disarmament		38,079	0.38	–0.71			1
	Independents		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.

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.

 

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.

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.

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.

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