1980 Australian federal election

1980 Australian federal election

← 1977 18 October 1980 1983 →
All 125 seats in the House of Representatives 63 seats were needed for a majority in the House 34 (of the 64) seats in the Senate
First party Second party   Leader Malcolm Fraser Bill Hayden Party Liberal/NCP coalition Labor Leader since 21 March 1975 22 December 1977 Leader's seat Wannon (Vic.) Oxley (Qld.) Last election 86 seats 38 seats Seats won 74 seats 51 seats Seat change 12 13 Percentage 50.4% 49.6% Swing 4.2% 4.2%
Popular vote by state and territory with graphs indicating the number of seats won. As this is an IRV election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote by state or territory but instead via results in each electorate.
Prime Minister before election Malcolm Fraser Liberal/NCP coalition Subsequent Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser Liberal/NCP coalition

The 1980 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 18 October 1980. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives and 34 of the 64 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Liberal–NCP coalition government, led by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, was elected to a third term with a much reduced majority, defeating the opposition Labor Party led by Bill Hayden. This was the last federal election victory for the Coalition until the 1996 election.

Future Prime Minister Bob Hawke and future opposition leader and future Deputy Prime Minister Kim Beazley entered parliament at this election.

Issues and significance[]

The Fraser Government had lost a degree of popularity within the electorate by 1980. The economy had been performing poorly since the 1973 oil shock. However, Hayden was not seen as having great electoral prospects.^[1] Perhaps as evidence of this, then ACTU President Bob Hawke (elected to Parliament in the election as the Member for Wills) and then Premier of New South Wales Neville Wran featured heavily in the campaign, almost as heavily as Hayden.

Results[]

House of Representatives[]

Government (74)
Coalition
  Liberal (54)
  NCP (19)
  CLP (1)

Opposition (51)
  Labor (51)

House of Reps (IRV) — 1980–83—Turnout 94.35% (CV) — Informal 2.45%

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Liberal–NCP coalition		3,853,585	46.40	–1.71	74	–12
		Liberal	3,108,517	37.43	−0.66	54	−13
		National Country	726,263	8.74	−1.07	19	+1
		Country Liberal	18,805	0.23	+0.02	1	0
	Labor		3,749,565	45.15	+5.50	51	+13
	Democrats		546,032	6.57	−2.81	0	0
	Democratic Labor		25,456	0.31	−1.12	0	0
	Progress		17,040	0.21	−0.39	0	0
	Socialist Workers		16,920	0.20	+0.20	0	0
	Communist		11,318	0.14	−0.04	0	0
	Socialist Labour		10,051	0.12	+0.12	0	0
	NPWA		8,915	0.11	+0.11	0	0
	Progressive Conservative		3,620	0.04	+0.04	0	0
	United Christian		2,050	0.02	+0.02	0	0
	Imperial British Conservative		1,515	0.02	+0.02	0	0
	Australia		701	0.01	+0.01	0	0
	Marijuana		486	0.01	+0.01	0	0
	Independent		58,338	0.70	+0.07	0	0
	Total		8,305,633			125	+1
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
	Coalition		Win	50.40	−4.20	74	−12
	Labor			49.60	+4.20	51	+13

Senate[]

Government (31)
Coalition
  Liberal (27)
  NCP (3)
  CLP (1)

Opposition (27)
  Labor (27)

Crossbench (6)
  Democrats (5)
  Independent (1)

Senate (STV) — 1980–83—Turnout 94.35% (CV) — Informal 9.65%

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Total seats	Change
	Liberal–NCP coalition		3,352,521	43.58	–1.98	15	31	–3
		Liberal–NCP joint ticket	1,971,528	25.63	−8.63	4	*	*
		Liberal	1,011,289	13.15	+2.55	9	27	0
		National Country	341,978	4.45	+3.95	1	3	–3
		Country Liberal	19,129	0.25	+0.04	1	1	0
	Labor		3,250,187	42.25	+5.49	15	27	0
	Democrats		711,805	9.25	−1.88	3	5	+3
	Call to Australia		118,535	1.54	+0.42	0	0	0
	Democratic Labor		31,766	0.41	–1.26	0	0	0
	Marijuana		28,337	0.37	–0.23	0	0	0
	Australia		27,404	0.36	+0.25	0	0	0
	Socialist		15,412	0.20	–0.38	0	0	0
	Progress		8,252	0.11	–1.08	0	0	0
	NPWA		7,597	0.10	+0.10	0	0	0
	Progressive Conservative		6,247	0.07	+0.07	0	0
	National Front of Australia		1,467	0.01	+0.01	0	0
	Other		56,128	0.73	+0.73	0	0	0
	Independent		86,770	1.13	–0.60	1	1	0
	Total		7,692,364			34	64

Notes

• Independent: Brian Harradine

Seats changing hands[]

• Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.

Aftermath[]

The Gallagher Index result: 8.61

In the election, Labor finished only 0.8 percent behind the Coalition on the two-party vote—a four-percent swing from 1977. However, due to the uneven nature of the swing, Labor came up 12 seats short of a majority, giving the Coalition a third term in government. Hayden, however, did manage to regain much of what Labor had lost in the previous two elections. Notably, he managed to more than halve Fraser's majority, from 48 seats at dissolution to 23.

In the subsequent term, the government delivered budgets significantly in deficit, and Fraser was challenged for the Liberal leadership by Andrew Peacock. The Australian Democrats made further gains, winning the balance of power in the Senate. From July 1981 (when those senators elected at the 1980 election took up their positions) no Federal Government in Australia had a Senate majority until the Howard Government won such a majority in 2004.

See also[]

• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1980
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1980–1983
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1981–1983

Notes[]

References[]

• AustralianPolitics.com election details
• University of WA election results in Australia since 1890
• AEC 2PP vote
• Prior to 1984 the AEC did not undertake a full distribution of preferences for statistical purposes. The stored ballot papers for the 1983 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.