AUSTRALIAN GENERAL ELECTION, 1987

Federal election major party leaders
1984 1987 1990
'Labor' 'Bob Hawke' 'Prime Minister' 'Parliament': 7 years 'Leader since': 1983 'Division': Wills 'WIN'
'Liberal' 'John Howard' 'Opposition leader' 'Parliament': 13 years 'Leader since': 1985 'Division': Bennelong

'Federal elections' were held in Australia on 11 July 1987. 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 of Australia Bob Hawke defeated the opposition Liberal Party of Australia led by John Howard and the National Party of Australia led by Ian Sinclair.

'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'
	'Australian Labor Party'	'WIN'	'50.83'	-0.94	'86'	+4
	Liberal/National coalition		49.17	+0.94	62	-4

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

	'Party'	'Votes'	'%'	'Swing'	'Seats Won'	'Seats Held'
	Australian Labor Party	4,013,860	42.83	+0.66	32	32
	Liberal Party of Australia	1,965,180	20.97	+0.38	23	26
	Liberal/National (Joint Ticket)	1,289,888	13.76	+1.05	5
	Australian Democrats	794,107	8.47	+0.85	7	7
	National Party of Australia	664,394	7.09	+1.16	5	7
	Call to Australia Party	136,825	1.46	-0.36	0	0
	Nuclear Disarmament Party	102,480	1.09	-6.14	1	1
	Vallentine Peace Group	40,048	0.43	★	1	1
	Harradine Group	37,037	0.40	+0.14	1	1
	Country Liberal Party	19,970	0.21	-0.10	1	1
	Other	307,892	3.29	+1.93	0	0
	Total	9,371,681			76	76

__TOC__


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

Contents

References

References

★ University of WA election results in Australia since 1890

★ AEC 2PP vote

★ AustralianPolitics.com election details