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 9 May 1989, following internal maneuverings by supporters of John Howard's long-time rival,

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 spill was won by Andrew Peacock over John Howard by 44 votes to 27.

Background

During 1988 Liberal Party President John Elliott was the subject of much leadership speculation which undermined John Howard's leadership. This ended after the seat which Elliott sought, Higgins didn't become available. In February, Elliott said confidentially to former leader and current Deputy leader Andrew Peacock, that he would support him in a leadership challenge against Howard. In Late 1988

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 ...

promoted his policy of One Australia which called for an end to

Multiculturalism The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...

and called for the rate of Asian immigration to Australia to be reduced. There were widespread objections to the policy from within the Liberal Party, including from Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett,

New South Wales Premier 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 legislature. ...

Nick Greiner, former 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 ...

, and former

immigration ministers Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

Ian Macphee Ian Malcolm Macphee AO (born 13 July 1938) is an Australian former politician who was a member of the House of Representatives from 1974 until 1990. He is best known for his contributions in developing Australian multiculturalism and for bei ...

and

Michael MacKellar Michael John Randal MacKellar (27 October 1938 – 9 May 2015) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Liberal Party and served in the House of Representatives from 1969 to 1994, representing the Division of Warringah. He was M ...

. Some political commentators later postulated that the dissent within the Liberal Party over immigration policy weakened Howard's leadership position, contributing to him being overthrown as Liberal Party leader by

. A group of Peacock supporters, nicknamed "The Cardinals" worked behind the scenes for most of year to get the numbers to replace Howard with Peacock. By the time that former shadow minister

lost his preselection, it was decided that the time was right to move against Howard. Firstly Senate leader

Fred Chaney Frederick Michael Chaney, AO (born 28 October 1941) is a former Australian politician who was deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 1989 to 1990 and served as a minister in the Fraser Government. He was a Senator for Western Australia from ...

, Peacock's first choice as deputy, was persuaded to reluctantly switch his support, then, Peacock, Chaney, and Chaney's Senate deputy Austin Lewis, being other members of the leadership team, informed Howard that 40 members wanted the matter of leadership raised at the next party meeting. Despite being a key architect in Peacock's comeback, Wilson Tuckey stood for the deputy's position against Peacock's choice of deputy, Senator Chaney, but was eliminated in the first ballot.

Candidates

, incumbent Deputy Leader, Shadow Treasurer, Member for Kooyong *

, incumbent Leader, Member for

Bennelong Woollarawarre Bennelong ( 1764 – 3 January 1813), also spelt Baneelon, was a senior man of the Eora, an Aboriginal Australian people of the Port Jackson area, at the time of the first British settlement in Australia in 1788. Bennelong ser ...

Results

The following tables gives the ballot results:

Leadership ballot

Deputy leadership ballot

Aftermath

succeeded Peacock as Deputy Leader. Declining Peacock's offer of Shadow Minister for Education, Howard went to the backbench and a new period of party disunity ensued which was highlighted by a Four Corners episode detailing the coup against Howard. In October Howard did accept an offer to return to the frontbench as Shadow Minister for Industry, Technology and Commerce. This spill saw Peacock return to the leadership almost four years after his resignation in September 1985. In the immediate aftermath of this spill the just deposed Howard was asked the chances of him making his own comeback to the leadership. Howard expressed his doubts on his own comeback saying it would be "like Lazarus with a triple bypass". Howard did eventually return to the leadership in January 1995 and became Prime Minister when he led the Coalition to victory at the 1996 election.

References

Liberal Party of Australia leadership spills Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill {{Australia-party-stub