December 1991 Australian Labor Party leadership spill

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December 1991 Australian Labor Party
Leadership spill
← June 1991 19 December 1991 1996 →
 
Candidate Paul Keating Bob Hawke
Caucus vote 56 (52.3%) 51 (47.7%)
Leader before election

Bob Hawke

 Elected Leader

Paul Keating

A

Prime Minister Bob Hawke
, who had led Labor for eight and a half years.

Background

Bob Hawke had been leader of the Labor Party since 3 February 1983, and

backbench
.

By late 1991, Hawke's public support continued to decline as the Australian economy showed no signs of recovering from the recession and the opposition Liberals launched their Fightback! economic policy, without strong response from Hawke.[3] The final straw was when Hawke sacked Keating's successor as Treasurer, John Kerin for his perceived communication weaknesses in early December.[citation needed] Keating supporters began a campaign to undermine Hawke's leadership.[2]

Candidates

Result

The following table gives the ballot results:

Name Votes Percentage
Paul Keating 56 52.3
Bob Hawke 51 47.7

Keating's second challenge was a success: he defeated Hawke by 56 votes to 51. Keating said Hawke had gone missing for four of his eight years as prime minister and had to be propped up by him.[4]

Foreign Minister Gareth Evans was unable to attend the second ballot as he was overseas.[5]

Evans, a Hawke supporter, was one of three Caucus members who could not vote on this spill. The others were another Hawke supporter Con Sciacca, as he was with his dying son, and Keating supporter Jim Snow.[6][7]

Therefore if all three were in attendance Keating would still have won but with a vote of 57-53.

Aftermath

Hawke resigned from Parliament shortly after losing the leadership, which resulted in Labor losing his seat to an Independent at the following by-election.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b National Archives of Australia. "In office - Robert Hawke (11 March 1983 – 20 December 1991) and Hazel Hawke". primeministers.naa.gov.au. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  2. ^ a b "RICHARDSON, Graham Frederick (1949– )Senator for New South Wales, 1983–94 (Australian Labor Party) | The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate". biography.senate.gov.au. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  3. OCLC 898868398.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  4. ^ "Playing politics is playing for keeps". The Advertiser. 24 February 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  5. ^ Caldwell, Anna. "How it works: PM may come down to lucky draw". NewsComAu. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  6. ^ Richardson, Graham (1994). Whatever it takes. Sydney: Bantam Books
  7. ^ Kelly, Paul (1992), The End of Certainty: The story of the 1980s (paperback), Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin
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