The 1998 Australian federal election was held to determine the members of the
39th Parliament of Australia. It was held on 3 October 1998. All 148 seats of the
House of Representatives and 40 seats of the 76-seat
Senate were up for election. The incumbent centre-right
Liberal/National Coalition government led by
Prime Minister John Howard of the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
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This is a li ...
and coalition partner
Tim Fischer of the
National Party defeated the centre-left
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms th ...
opposition led by
Opposition Leader
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
Kim Beazley, despite losing the nationwide popular and two-party preferred vote.
Entering parliament at this election were future Prime Ministers
Kevin Rudd
Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...
and
Julia Gillard, future Liberal deputy leader and future Minister of Foreign Affairs
Julie Bishop, and future Speaker
Anna Burke
Anna Elizabeth Burke (born 1 January 1966) is a former Australian politician and current Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. She was a member of the Australian House of Representatives from October 1998 to May 2016, representing the ...
.
Background
The election returned the
Member of the House of Representatives for its 1998–2001 term and half of Australia's senators, who then served in the
1999–2002 Senate.
Despite winning almost 51 percent of the
two-party-preferred vote
In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...
and regaining much of what it had lost in its severe defeat of two years earlier, Labor fell short of forming government. The government was re-elected with 49.02% of the two-party-preferred vote, compared to 50.98% for the Australian Labor Party, the largest difference of six election results where the winner did not gain a
two-party preferred
In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP ...
majority, since 2PP results first estimated from 1937.
The election on 3 October 1998 was held six months earlier than required by the Constitution. Prime Minister John Howard made the announcement following the launch of the coalition's
Goods and Services Tax (GST) policy launch and a five-week advertising campaign. The ensuing election was almost entirely dominated by the proposed 10% GST and proposed income tax cuts.
In reaction to One Nation's policies, the other significant parties all agreed to preference against One Nation. One Nation lost its lone house seat when founder and leader
Pauline Hanson
Pauline Lee Hanson (''née'' Seccombe, formerly Zagorski; born 27 May 1954) is an Australian politician who is the founder and leader of One Nation, a right-wing populist political party. Hanson has represented Queensland in the Australia ...
lost on preferences to Liberal candidate
Cameron Thompson in the Queensland electorate of
Blair
Blair is an English-language name of Scottish Gaelic origin. The surname is derived from any of the numerous places in Scotland called ''Blair'', derived from the Scottish Gaelic ''blàr'', meaning "plain", "meadow" or "field", frequently a “ba ...
. In Queensland, One Nation polled 14.83% of the Senate vote, sufficient to elect one senator without the need for preferences.
The seat initially went to
Heather Hill, but she was subsequently disqualified under
Section 44 of the Constitution, and replaced by
Len Harris.
The election-eve
Newspoll reported Labor on a 53 percent
two-party-preferred vote
In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...
.
On election night of 3 October, the exit poll showed Labor on a 53 percent two-party-preferred vote. Labor made the single biggest gain by an
Opposition party following an election defeat; the Coalition's majority was cut from 40 to 12. It was only when the first returns trickled in from
Western Australia that the Coalition was assured of another term. The swing across all states would have normally been sufficient for a change of government, but the uneven nature of the swing left
Kim Beazley eight seats short of becoming Prime Minister.
The uneven nature of the swing saw Labor getting huge swings in seats that they held prior to the election but not enough in seats needed to gain government.
Results
House of Representatives results
Senate results
House of Representatives preference flows
* The Nationals had candidates in 13 seats where
three-cornered-contests existed, with 88.89% of preferences favouring the Liberal Party.
* One Nation contested 135 electorates with preferences slightly favouring the Liberal/National Coalition (53.66%)
* The Democrats contested 144 electorates with preferences slightly favouring Labor (56.72%)
* The Greens contested 120 electorates with preferences strongly favouring Labor (73.28%)
Seats changing hands
See also
*
Candidates of the 1998 Australian federal election
*
Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1998–2001
*
Members of the Australian Senate, 1999–2002
Notes
References
Election 98 campaign and results coverage by the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
Australian Electoral Commission ResultsUniversity of WA election results in Australia since 1890
AustralianPolitics.com election details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Federal Election, 1998
Federal elections in Australia
1998 elections in Australia
October 1998 events in Australia