A spill of the leadership of the Liberal Party of Australia took place on 8 April 1982, following former Foreign Minister Andrew Peacock's dissatisfaction with the party's direction under Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. Fraser beat Peacock's challenge for the leadership of the Liberal Party, 54 votes to 27.

Background

On 16 April 1981 Andrew Peacock suddenly resigned from the Cabinet, accusing Prime Minister Fraser of constant interference in his portfolio. This prompted much speculation that intended to challenge Fraser for the leadership. Almost exactly a year later, after a disappointing by election defeat and days after the party's defeat in the Victorian state election (losing power after 27 years), on 5 April 1982 Peacock declared his intention to challenge Fraser, saying "The results of recent elections have shown that the Liberal Party has lost the broad community support which it requires to govern effectively.". The day before the spill Deputy Leader Phillip Lynch announced his resignation stating that "I believe that this is the time to seek the talents of a younger man for the position." This prompted talk of a ticket of Peacock for Leader and Treasurer John Howard for Deputy

Candidates

* Malcolm Fraser, incumbent Leader,

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...

, Member for

Wannon The Division of Wannon is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. History The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions to be contested at the first Federal election. The division was name ...

* Andrew Peacock, former Minister for Industrial Relations, Member for Kooyong

Results

The following tables gives the ballot results:

Leadership ballot

Deputy leadership ballot

Aftermath

Following his victory Fraser returned Peacock to the Cabinet, replacing the retiring Lynch. It was however not enough to maintain his prime ministership for long, 11 months later he lost a snap federal election to

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and union organiser who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (A ...

's Labor Party and resigned, leaving Peacock to take the leadership.

References

{{Leadership spills in Australia Liberal Party of Australia leadership spills Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill