Australian federal election, 1984 Totally Explained

Everything about Australian Federal Election 1984 totally explained

Federal election major party leaders
1983 1984 1987
Labor Bob Hawke Prime Minister Parliament: 4 years Leader since: 1983 Division: Wills WIN
Liberal Andrew Peacock Opposition leader Parliament: 18 years Leader since: 1983 Division: Kooyong

Federal elections were held in Australia on 1 December 1984. All 148 seats in the House of Representatives, and 46 of 76 seats in the Senate, were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister of Australia Bob Hawke, defeated the opposition Liberal Party of Australia led by Andrew Peacock with coalition partner the National Party of Australia led by Ian Sinclair. House of Reps (IRV) — 1984-87 — Turnout 94.19% (CV) — Informal 6.78%>

Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
Australian Labor Party	4,120,130	47.55	-1.93	82	+7
Liberal Party of Australia	2,951,556	34.06	-0.06	45	+12
National Party of Australia	921,151	10.63	+1.42	21	+4
Australian Democrats	472,204	5.45	+0.41	0	0
Country Liberal Party	27,335	0.32	+0.08	0	0
Other	172,576	1.99	+0.07	0	0
Total	8,664,952			148	+23
Australian Labor Party	WIN	51.77	-1.46	82	+7
Liberal/National coalition		48.23	+1.46	66	+16

Senate (STV GV) — 1984-87 — Turnout 94.55% (CV) — Informal 4.68%>

Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held
Australian Labor Party	3,750,789	42.17	-3.32	20	34
Liberal Party of Australia	1,831,006	20.59	+8.58	14	27
Liberal/National (Joint Ticket)	1,130,601	12.71	-11.49	3
Australian Democrats	677,970	7.62	-2.32	5	7
Nuclear Disarmament Party	643,061	7.23	*	1	1
National Party of Australia	527,278	5.93	+0.87	2	5
Call to Australia Party	162,272	1.82	-0.04	0	0
Country Liberal Party	27,972	0.31	+0.04	1	1
Harradine Group	22,992	0.26	-0.32	0	1
Other	120,159	1.35	-1.37	0	0
Total	8,894,100			46	76

The election was notable for the long ten week campaign, and for the high rate of informal voting for the House of Representatives, but decreased rate in the Senate (due to the introduction of the Group voting ticket). The 1984 election was held 18 months ahead of time, partly in order to bring the elections for the House of Representatives and Senate back into line. They had been thrown out of kilter by the double dissolution election of 1983.
The legislated increase in the size of the House of Representatives by 24 seats and the Senate by 12 seats came into effect at the 1984 election. Prior to 1984 the electoral commission didn't undertake a full distribution of preferences for statistical purposes. The stored ballot papers for the previous 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.
The results of the election surprised most analysts; the expectation had been that Bob Hawke - who had been polling a record ACNielsen approval rating of 75 percent earlier in the year - would win by a landslide. Labor instead suffered a 2% swing against it and had its majority cut from 25 to 16. Hawke blamed the changes on the Senate vote cards for the result, which he believed confused people regarding their House of Representatives votes and contributed to the relatively high informal vote, the majority of which apparently was Labor votes. Andrew Peacock, however, probably benefited more from the long campaign than Hawke did, as it cast him as the alternative Prime Minister for longer than normal. He also did well from a good performance in the one leaders' debate, held on 26 November 1984.

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