A leadership spill of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), then the opposition party in the Parliament of Australia, was held on 16 July 1982. Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Employment and Youth

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 ...

unsuccessfully challenged ALP leader Bill Hayden, with Hayden winning 42 votes to 37.

Background

Despite halving Malcolm Fraser's majority at 1980 election, Bill Hayden position as leader was threatened by the entry into Parliament of the popular former President of the ACTU Bob Hawke. In order to quell speculation over his position Hayden called a leadership spill on 16 July 1982 The day before the ballot, the leader of Labor Right faction Shadow Minister for Resources and Energy Paul Keating switched his support from Hayden to Hawke stating that "I believe that the best interests of the Labor Party and the millions of Australians who deserve and need a Labor victory and the end of Fraserism, will be best served by Bob Hawke now becoming leader." This prompted Hayden supporter Graeme Campbell to state that Keating might have made "the biggest political mistake of his life".

Candidates

, Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Employment, Youth Affairs, Member for Wills * Bill Hayden, incumbent Leader, Member for

Oxley Oxley may refer to: Places Australia Australian Capital Territory * Oxley, Australian Capital Territory is a suburb of Canberra, Australia Queensland *Oxley, Queensland is a suburb of Brisbane, Australia **Oxley railway station, Brisbane ...

Results

The following table gives the ballot results:

Aftermath

After the closeness of the result Hayden said he would "hose down" the left- and rightwing factions of the ALP, however Hawke began to agitate more seriously behind the scenes for a change in leadership. Hayden was further weakened after Labor's unexpectedly poor performance at a by-election in December 1982 for the Victorian seat of

Flinders Flinders may refer to: Places Antarctica * Flinders Peak, near the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula Australia New South Wales * Flinders County, New South Wales * Shellharbour Junction railway station, Shellharbour * Flinders, New South Wa ...

,Hurst, J., (1983), p. 270 which prompted Party power-brokers, such as

Graham Richardson Graham Frederick Richardson (born 27 September 1949) is an Australian former Australian Labor Party, Labor Party politician who was a Australian Senate, Senator for New South Wales from 1983 to 1994 and served as a Cabinet Minister in both the ...

and Barrie Unsworth to openly switched their allegiance to Hawke. Ultimately he resigned in February 1983 and Hawke was elected unopposed.

References

{{Leadership spills in Australia Australian Labor Party leadership spills July 1982 events in Australia 1982 elections in Australia Bob Hawke Australian Labor Party leadership spill