1993 Australian federal election

1993 Australian federal election

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All 147 seats in the House of Representatives 74 seats were needed for a majority in the House 40 (of the 76) seats in the Senate
Registered	11,384,638 6.12%
Turnout	10,900,861 (95.75%) (0.44 pp)
First party Second party   Leader Paul Keating John Hewson Party Labor Liberal–National Coalition Leader since 19 December 1991 (1991-12-19) 3 April 1990 (1990-04-03) Leader's seat Blaxland (NSW) Wentworth (NSW) Last election 78 seats 69 seats Seats won 80 seats 65 seats Seat change 2 4 First preference vote 4,751,390 4,681,822 Percentage 44.92% 44.27% Swing 5.49% 0.81% TPP 51.44% 48.56% TPP swing 1.54% 1.54%
Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory.
Prime Minister before election Paul Keating Labor Subsequent Prime Minister Paul Keating Labor

1993 Australian federal election
Candidates
National results
House of Representatives Senate
State and territory results
New South Wales Victoria Queensland Western Australia South Australia Tasmania Australian Capital Territory Northern Territory
Elected House of Representative members Elected Senate members
v t e

The 1993 Australian federal election was held on 13 March 1993 to determine the members of the

The result was considered an upset, as opinion polls had predicted a Coalition win. In his victory speech, Keating would famously describe the result as "the sweetest victory of all". The Coalition's loss was attributed to the unpopularity of Hewson and his economic policy, popularly known as Fightback!, with the set piece being the majorly divisive Goods and Services Tax (GST).

This would be the last time that the Labor Party won a majority at the federal level until the 2007 election as the next four elections would produce Coalition victories. It also remains the only time that the Liberal Party was led by a leader who previously had no experience as a minister. It was also the last time that the Labor Party had been reelected with a majority until the 2025 election.

This was the first election after the end of the

In November 1991 the Liberal Party launched the 650-page Fightback! policy document — a radical collection of "dry", economic liberal measures including:

• the introduction of a Goods and Services Tax (GST) of 15%,^[1]
• various changes to
  concession holders
  ,
• the introduction of a nine-month limit on unemployment benefits,
• various changes to
  industrial award
  ,
• a $13 billion personal income tax cut directed at middle and upper income earners,
• $10 billion in government spending cuts,
• the abolition of state
  privatisation
  of a large number of government-owned enterprises.

All of this presented a vision of a very different future direction to the

Following the December 1991 Labor leadership spill, where former Treasurer

The Australian Electoral Study conducted after the election showed 70 per cent of respondents had tuned in to the Keating-Hewson televised debates, the highest ever viewership for Australian election debates. Nine Network debates saw the infamous "worm" being introduced for the first time to its screens during the debate. The "worm" wriggled along the bottom of the screen, rising and falling away on the reactions of a chosen audience. It was reported that Keating scored big-time with the worm when he savaged Hewson over his plans for a GST during the debate.^[2]

The election-eve

For the first time since the 1966 election, an incumbent government had increased their two-party-preferred vote.

There was an unusual circumstance in the

This section is an excerpt from 1993 Australian House of Representatives election § Australia.[edit]

House of Reps (IRV) – 1993–36 – Turnout 95.75% (CV) — Informal 2.97%

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor		4,751,390	44.92	+5.49	80	2
		Liberal	3,888,579	36.77	+2.01	49	6
		National	758,036	7.17	–1.25	16	2
		Country Liberal	35,207	0.33	+0.05	0
	Liberal–National Coalition		4,681,822	44.27	+0.81	65	4
	Democrats		397,060	3.75	–7.51
	Independents [b]		329,235	3.11	+0.35	2	1
	Greens [d]		196,702	1.85	+0.48
	Others		220,570	2.09	0.38
Total			10,576,779			147	1
Two-party-preferred vote
	Labor		5,436,421	51.44	+1.54	80	2
	Liberal–National Coalition		5,133,033	48.56	–1.54	65	4
Invalid/blank votes			324,082	2.97
Turnout			10,900,861	95.75
Registered voters			11,384,638
Source: Federal Elections 1993

This section is an excerpt from 1993 Australian Senate election § Australia.[edit]

Senate (

STV GV) — 1993–96 – Turnout 96.22% (CV) — Informal 2.55%

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held	Change
	Labor		4,643,871	43.50	+5.09	17	30	2
		Liberal–National joint ticket	2,605,157	24.40	–0.07	6	N/A	N/A
		Liberal	1,664,204	15.59	+1.03	11	29
		National	290,382	2.72	+0.12	1	6	2
		Country Liberal	35,405	0.33	+0.04	1	1
	Liberal–National coalition		4,595,148	43.05	+1.13	19	36	2
	Democrats		566,944	5.31	–7.32	2	7	1
	Greens [e]		314,845	2.95	+0.85	1	2	1
	Others [f]		553,997	5.2	+0.15	1	1
Total			10,674,805			40	76
Invalid/blank votes			279,453	2.55
Turnout			10,954,258	96.22
Registered voters			11,384,638
Source: Federal Elections 1993

• The Labor Party retained the seat of Lowe (NSW) which was made notionally Labor-held in the redistribution.
• The Liberal Party retained the seat of Fisher (Qld) which was made notionally Liberal-held in the redistribution.
• The National Party retained the seat of Hume (NSW) which was made notionally National-held in the redistribution.
• Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election

• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1993
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1993–1996
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1993–1996
• Birthday cake interview – Hewson's difficulty in explaining how GST would apply to a birthday cake during a news interview said to have contributed to Hewson's defeat.