1984 Australian federal election

1984 Australian federal election
← outgoing members elected members →
All 148 seats in the House of Representatives; 75 seats were needed for a majority in the House ; 46 (of the 76) seats in the Senate
Registered	9,869,217 5.30%
Turnout	9,295,421 (94.19%); (0.45 pp)
	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

The 1984 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 1 December 1984. All 148 seats in the House of Representatives (24 of them newly created) and 46 of 76 seats in the Senate (12 of them newly created) were up for election. The incumbent Labor Party led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke defeated the opposition Liberal–National coalition, led by Andrew Peacock.

The election was held in conjunction with two referendum questions, neither of which was carried.

Background and issues

The election had a long campaign and a high rate of informal voting for the House of Representatives, but decreased rate in the Senate (due to the introduction of the Group voting ticket). Although a House election was not due until 1986, Hawke opted to call an election 18 months early in part to bring the elections for the House and Senate back into line following the double dissolution election of 1983.

The legislated increase in the size of the House by 24 seats and the Senate by 12 seats came into effect at the 1984 election. Prior to 1984 the electoral commission did not undertake a full distribution of preferences for statistical purposes. The stored ballot papers for the previous election were put through this process prior to their destruction – therefore the figures from 1983 onwards show the actual result based on full distribution of preferences.

Results

House of Representatives

House of Reps (IRV) — 1984–87 – Turnout 94.19% (CV) — Informal 6.78%
Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor		4,120,130	47.55	−1.93	82	7
		Liberal	2,951,556	34.06	−0.06	44	11
		National	921,151	10.63	+1.42	21	4
		Country Liberal	27,335	0.32	+0.08	1	1
	Liberal/National Coalition		3,900,042	45.01	+1.40	66	16
	Democrats		472,204	5.45	+0.42
	Others		172,576	1.99
Total			8,664,952			148	23
Two-party-preferred
	Labor		4,484,622	51.77	−1.46	82	7
	Liberal–National coalition		4,178,572	48.23	+1.46	66	16

Invalid/blank votes			630,469	6.8	+4.7
Turnout			9,295,421	94.2
Registered voters			9,869,217
Source: Federal Election Results 1949-1993

Popular vote

Labor			47.55%
Liberal			34.06%
National			10.63%
Democrats			5.45%
CLP			0.32%
Other			1.99%

Two-party-preferred vote

Labor			51.77%
Coalition			48.23%

Parliament seats

Labor			55.41%
Coalition			44.59%

Senate

Senate (STV GV) — 1984–87 – Turnout 94.55% (CV) — Informal 4.68%

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Total seats	Change
	Australian Labor Party		3,750,789	42.17	−3.32	20	34	4
		Liberal/National joint ticket	1,130,601	12.71	−11.49	3	*	*
		Liberal Party of Australia	1,831,006	20.59	+8.58	14	27	4
		National Party of Australia	527,278	5.93	+0.87	2	5	1
		Country Liberal Party	27,972	0.31	+0.04	1	1
	Liberal/National Coalition		3,516,857	39.54	–0.41	20	33	5
	Australian Democrats		677,970	7.62	−2.32	5	7	2
	Nuclear Disarmament Party		643,061	7.23	*	1	1	1
	Harradine Group		22,992	0.26	−0.32		1
	Others		282,431	3.18	+0.73
Total			8,894,100			46	76	12

Invalid/blank votes			437,065	4.7	–5.2
Turnout			9,331,165	94.5
Registered voters			9,869,217
Source: Federal Election Results 1949-1993

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1984				Swing	Post-1984
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	Margin	Member	Party
Farrer, NSW		Liberal	Wal Fife	7.4	N/A	13.0	Tim Fischer	National
Flinders, Vic		Labor	Bob Chynoweth	0.3	1.5	1.2	Peter Reith	Liberal
Forde, Qld		Labor	notional – new seat	2.7	2.7	0.0	David Watson	Liberal
Gilmore, NSW		Labor	notional – new seat	0.5	1.7	1.2	John Sharp	National
Hinkler, Qld		Labor	notional – new seat	0.6	0.8	0.2	Bryan Conquest	National
Hume, NSW		National	Stephen Lusher	N/A	N/A	7.7	Wal Fife	Liberal
Macquarie, NSW		Labor	Ross Free	0.5	1.9	1.4	Alasdair Webster	Liberal
Northern Territory, NT		Labor	John Reeves	1.9	3.3	1.4	Paul Everingham	Country Liberal
Petrie, Qld		Labor	Dean Wells	1.5	2.1	0.6	John Hodges	Liberal
Riverina-Darling, NSW		Labor	notional – new seat	1.3	5.9	4.6	Noel Hicks	National

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

Analysis

The results of the election surprised most analysts;^{[citation needed]} the expectation had been that Bob Hawke – who had been polling a record ACNielsen approval rating of 75 percent^[1] on the eve of the election – would win by a significantly larger margin. Labor instead suffered a 2-point swing against it and had its majority cut from 25 to 16. Hawke blamed the result on the changes to Senate vote cards, which he believed confused people regarding their House of Representatives votes and contributed to the relatively high informal vote, the majority of which apparently was Labor votes.^[2] However, analysis by the Australian Electoral Commission found that informal voting only slightly reduced Labor's primary vote and did not change the result in any division.^[3]

Andrew Peacock did well from a good performance in the one leaders' debate, held on 26 November 1984,^[4] which was the first televised leaders' debate in Australia.^[5]

References

^ Coorey, Phil (20 May 2008). "The biggest hammering in history". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
^ Hawke, RJL (1996). The Hawke Memoirs. Port Melbourne: Mandarin. pp. 275–276. "Attracted to the simplicity of the Senate ballot, a number of voters thought they could mark their Lower House ballot in exactly the same way. Unfortunately for both them and us the informal vote for the House of Representatives swelled from 2 per cent to nearly 7 per cent. On the best surmise the bulk of the informals were Labor votes."
^ Green, Antony (11 January 2013). "Past Research on the Intended Party Vote of Informal Ballot Papers". ABC News. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
^ Fraser, Bryce (1998). The Macquarie Reference Series: Government in Australia. Sydney: The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd. p. 44. ISBN 1-876429-02-X.
^ "1984 Federal Election". AustralianPolitics.com. Retrieved 30 July 2016.