The 1980 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 18 October 1980. All 125 seats in the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
and 34 of the 64 seats in the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
were up for election. The incumbent
Liberal–NCP coalition government, led by Prime Minister
Malcolm Fraser
John Malcolm Fraser (; 21 May 1930 – 20 March 2015) was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983, holding office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia.
Fraser was raised on hi ...
, was elected to a third term with a much reduced majority, defeating the opposition
Labor Party led by
Bill Hayden
William George Hayden (born 23 January 1933) is an Australian politician who served as the 21st governor-general of Australia from 1989 to 1996. He was Leader of the Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1977 to 1983, and served as ...
. This was the last federal election victory for the Coalition until the
1996 election.
Future Prime Minister
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 ...
and future opposition leader and future Deputy Prime Minister
Kim Beazley
Kim Christian Beazley (born 14 December 1948) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. He was leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from 1996 to 2001 and 2005 to 2006, having previously been a cabinet ...
entered parliament at this election.
Issues and significance
The Fraser Government had lost a degree of popularity within the electorate by 1980. The economy had been performing poorly since the
1973 oil shock. However, Hayden was not seen as having great electoral prospects.
Perhaps as evidence of this, then
ACTU
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), originally the Australasian Council of Trade Unions, is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated unions and eight trades and l ...
President
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 ...
(elected to Parliament in the election as the
Member
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
for
Wills) and then
Premier of New South Wales
The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislatur ...
Neville Wran featured heavily in the campaign, almost as heavily as Hayden.
Results
House of Representatives
Senate
;Notes
* Independent:
Brian Harradine
Richard William Brian Harradine (9 January 1935 – 14 April 2014) was an Australian politician who served as an independent member of the Australian Senate, from 1975 to 2005, representing the state of Tasmania. He was the longest-serving indep ...
Seats changing hands
* Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.
Aftermath
In the election, Labor finished only 0.8 percent behind the Coalition on the two-party vote—a four-percent swing from 1977. However, due to the uneven nature of the swing, Labor came up 12 seats short of a majority, giving the Coalition a third term in government. Hayden, however, did manage to regain much of what Labor had lost in the previous two elections. Notably, he managed to more than halve Fraser's majority, from 48 seats at dissolution to 23.
In the subsequent term, the government delivered budgets significantly in deficit, and Fraser was challenged for the Liberal leadership by
Andrew Peacock
Andrew Sharp Peacock (13 February 193916 April 2021) was an Australian politician and diplomat. He served as a cabinet minister and went on to become leader of the Liberal Party on two occasions (1983–1985 and 1989–1990), leading the pa ...
. The
Australian Democrats
The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups, it was Austral ...
made further gains, winning the balance of power in the Senate. From July 1981 (when those senators elected at the 1980 election took up their positions) no Federal Government in Australia had a Senate majority until the
Howard Government won such a majority in 2004.
See also
*
Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1980
This article provides information on candidates who stood for the 1980 Australian federal election. The election was held on 18 October 1980.
Redistributions and seat changes
*A redistribution of electoral boundaries occurred in Western Australia. ...
*
Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1980–1983
*
Members of the Australian Senate, 1981–1983
Notes
References
AustralianPolitics.com election detailsUniversity of WA election results in Australia since 1890
*Prior to 1984 the AEC did not undertake a full distribution of preferences for statistical purposes. The stored ballot papers for the 1983 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.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Federal Election, 1980
1980 elections in Australia
Federal elections in Australia
Malcolm Fraser
October 1980 events in Australia