spill A spill occurs when the contents of something, usually in liquid form, are emptied out onto a surface, person or clothes, often unintentionally. Spill may also refer to: * Oil spill *Chemical spill *Data spill *Leadership spill *Spill (audio), wh ...

of the leadership of the

Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Au ...

took place on 8 April 1982, following former Foreign Minister

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 ...

's dissatisfaction with the party's direction under 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 ...

. 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 Sir Phillip Reginald Lynch KCMG (27 July 1933 – 19 June 1984) was an Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1966 to 1982. He was deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 1972 to 1982, and served as a governmen ...

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 A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the ...

for Deputy

Candidates

, incumbent Leader, Prime Minister of Australia, Member for Wannon *

, 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'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