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Australian general election, 1987

Australian federal election, 1987

← 1984 11 July 1987 (1987-07-11) 1990 →

All 148 seats in the House of Representatives
75 seats were needed for a majority in the House
All 76 seats in the Senate
  First party Second party
  Bob Hawke 1987 portrait crop.jpg John howard.jpg
Leader Bob Hawke John Howard
Party Labor Liberal/National coalition
Leader since 3 February 1983 (1983-02-03) 5 September 1985 (1985-09-05)
Leader's seat Wills (Vic.) Bennelong (NSW)
Last election 82 seats 66 seats
Seats won 86 seats 62 seats
Seat change Increase4 Decrease4
Popular vote 4,222,431 4,236,238
Percentage 50.83% 49.17%
Swing Decrease0.94 Increase0.94

Prime Minister before election

Bob Hawke
Labor

Subsequent Prime Minister

Bob Hawke
Labor


Bob Hawke
Labor

Bob Hawke
Labor

Federal elections were held in Australia on 11 July 1987, following the granting of a double dissolution on 5 June by the Governor-General Sir Ninian Stephen. Consequently, all 148 seats in the House of Representatives as well as all 76 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party, led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke, defeated the opposition Liberal Party of Australia, led by John Howard and the National Party of Australia led by Ian Sinclair.

The Hawke Government had been in power since the general election of 1983, and had been re-elected in the snap election of 1984, although with a decreased majority. Hawke, in partnership with Treasurer Paul Keating, had pursued an ambitiously reformist agenda over the course of his time in office, which included floating the Australian dollar, reducing tariffs on imports and completely reforming the tax system. However, the government's popularity dropped sharply throughout the course of its 1984-87 term, mostly due to a series of blunders such as its failed 'tax summit' (designed to gain support for Keating's proposed consumption tax), and declining terms of trade, which Treasurer Keating argued threatened to reduce Australia to the status of a banana republic unless tough measures were taken to correct the balance of trade.


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