1993 Australian federal election

File:1993 Election Australia Gallagher Index.png result: 8.46]]

This was the first election after the end of the late 80s and early 90s recession. The opposition Liberal Party was led by John Hewson, a former professor of economics at the University of New South Wales who succeeded Liberal leader Andrew Peacock in 1990.

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

• the introduction of a Goods and Services Tax (GST) of 15%,{{Cite web |date=2010-06-30 |first=John |last=Kehoe |title=GST: the reform that divided a nation |url=https://www.afr.com/politics/gst-the-reform-that-divided-a-nation-20100630-iv9fo |access-date=2023-08-07 |website=The Australian Financial Review |publisher=Nine Entertainment |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230807043332/https://www.afr.com/politics/gst-the-reform-that-divided-a-nation-20100630-iv9fo |archive-date=7 August 2023 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |language=en}}
• various changes to Medicare including the abolition of bulk billing for non-concession holders,
• the introduction of a nine-month limit on unemployment benefits,
• various changes to industrial relations including the abolition of 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 payroll taxes and the privatisation of a large number of government-owned enterprises.

All of this presented a vision of a very different future direction to the Keynesian economic conservatism practiced by previous Liberal/National Coalition governments. The 15 percent GST was the centrepiece of the policy document.

Following the December 1991 Labor leadership spill, where former Treasurer Paul Keating ousted Bob Hawke as leader of the Labor Party and subsequently Prime Minister, Keating mounted a campaign against the Fightback! package, and particularly against the GST throughout 1992. Keating described the GST as an attack on the working-class in that it shifted the tax burden from direct taxation of the wealthy to indirect taxation as a broad-based consumption tax. Pressure group activity, public opinion and Keating himself were highly critical of the GST who relentlessly led Hewson to exempt food from the proposed GST. However the exclusions announced by Hewson led to questions surrounding the complexity of what precisely which food items would and would not be exempt from the GST. Hewson's difficulty in explaining this to the electorate was exemplified in the infamous birthday cake interview, considered by some as a turning point in the election campaign. Keating won a record fifth consecutive term for the Labor Party and a record 13 years in government at the 1993 election, a level of political success not previously seen by federal Labor. A number of the proposals were later adopted in to law in some form, to a small extent during the Keating Labor government, and to a larger extent during the John Howard Liberal government (most famously the GST, becoming law on 1 July 2000), while unemployment benefits and bulk billing were re-targeted for a time by the Tony Abbott Liberal government.

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.{{cite news |last1=Wright|first1=Tony |title=The worm has turned: Whatever happened to the great election debates? |url=https://www.smh.com.au/federal-election-2019/the-great-debate-once-a-milestone-of-mass-theatre-is-now-more-of-an-afterthought-20190507-p51kyl.html |url-status=live |archive-date=19 January 2025 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250119021447/https://www.smh.com.au/federal-election-2019/the-great-debate-once-a-milestone-of-mass-theatre-is-now-more-of-an-afterthought-20190507-p51kyl.html |access-date=11 February 2022 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=7 May 2019 |language=en-AU}}

The election-eve Newspoll reported the Liberal Party and National Party Coalition on a 50.5 percent two-party-preferred vote, with Paul Keating's personal ratings being significantly negative.{{cite web |url=http://polling.newspoll.com.au.tmp.anchor.net.au/cgi-bin/polling/display_poll_data.pl?url_caller=&mode=trend&page=show_polls&question_set_id=1 |title=Newspoll archive since 1987 |publisher=Polling.newspoll.com.au.tmp.anchor.net.au |access-date=2016-07-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303135154/http://polling.newspoll.com.au.tmp.anchor.net.au/cgi-bin/polling/display_poll_data.pl?url_caller=&mode=trend&page=show_polls&question_set_id=1 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}{{better source needed|date=January 2025|reason=Source doesn't show information described in article and doesn't show 1993 Newpolls.}}

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 division of Dickson (QLD). One of the candidates, an independent, died very shortly before the election, making it necessary to hold a supplementary election on 17 April.{{cite web|url=https://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/supplementary_by_elections/|title=By-elections and supplementary elections|publisher=Australian Electoral Commission|access-date=17 January 2023|url-status=live|archive-date=19 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250119020504/https://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/supplementary_by_elections/}} Following the return of the Labor Party to government, Keating announced the makeup of the Second Keating Ministry to be sworn in on 24 March, but kept the portfolio of Attorney-General of Australia open for Michael Lavarch subject to him winning Dickson on 17 April. He won the seat, and was appointed to the ministry on 27 April.

File:Australian House of Representatives elected members, 1993.svg (80)

{{Color box|{{Australian politics/party colours|Labor}}|border=darkgray}} Labor (80)

Opposition (65)

Coalition

{{Color box|{{Australian politics/party colours|Liberal}}|border=darkgray}} Liberal (49)

{{Color box|{{Australian politics/party colours|National}}|border=darkgray}} National (16)

Crossbench (2)

{{Color box|{{Australian politics/party colours|Independent}}|border=darkgray}} Independent (2)

]]

{{Excerpt|Results of the 1993 Australian federal election (House of Representatives)|Australia|bold=yes}}

{{bar box

| title=Popular vote

| titlebar=#ddd

| width=600px

| barwidth=410px

| bars=

{{bar percent|Labor|{{party color|Australian Labor Party}}|44.92}}

{{bar percent|Liberal|{{party color|Liberal Party of Australia}}|37.10}}

{{bar percent|National|{{party color|National Party of Australia}}|7.17}}

{{bar percent|Democrats|#F4940D|3.75}}

{{bar percent|Greens|#10C25B|1.86}}

{{bar percent|Independents|{{party color|Independent (politician)}}|3.10}}

{{bar percent|Other|#777777|2.10}}

}}

{{bar box

| title=Two-party-preferred vote

| titlebar=#ddd

| width=600px

| barwidth=410px

| bars=

{{bar percent|Labor|{{party color|Australian Labor Party}}|51.44}}

{{bar percent|Coalition|{{party color|Coalition (Australia)}}|48.56}}

}}

{{bar box

| title=Parliament seats

| titlebar=#ddd

| width=600px

| barwidth=410px

| bars=

{{bar percent|Labor|{{party color|Australian Labor Party}}|54.42}}

{{bar percent|Coalition|{{party color|Coalition (Australia)}}|44.22}}

{{bar percent|Independents|{{party color|Independent (politician)}}|1.36}}

}}

File:Australian Senate elected members, 1993.svg (30)

{{Color box|{{Australian politics/party colours|Labor}}|border=darkgray}} Labor (30)

Opposition (36)

Coalition

{{Color box|{{Australian politics/party colours|Liberal}}|border=darkgray}} Liberal (29)

{{Color box|{{Australian politics/party colours|National}}|border=darkgray}} National (6)

{{Color box|{{party color|Country Liberal Party}}|border=darkgray}} CLP (1)

Crossbench (10)

{{Color box|{{Australian politics/party colours|Democrats}}|border=darkgray}} Democrats (7)

{{Color box|{{Australian politics/party colours|Greens}}|border=darkgray}} Greens (2)

{{Color box|{{Australian politics/party colours|Independent}}|border=darkgray}} Independent (1)

]]

{{Excerpt|Results of the 1993 Australian federal election (Senate)|Australia|bold=yes}}

• 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.

{{Notelist|refs=

{{efn|name=Greens NSW|The Greens total in New South Wales includes the local groups for Lowe, Page, Reid, Robertson and Wentworth.}}

}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://elections.uwa.edu.au/ University of WA] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118085343/http://elections.uwa.edu.au/ |date=18 January 2015 }} election results in Australia since 1890
• [http://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/Australian_Electoral_History/House_of_Representative_1949_Present.htm AEC 2PP vote]
• [http://australianpolitics.com/elections/1993/ AustralianPolitics.com election details]

{{1993 Australian federal election}}

{{Australian elections}}

Federal

Federal election

Category:Federal elections in Australia