1985 Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill

There was a change of leadership of the Liberal Party of Australia on 5 September 1985 with John Howard replacing Andrew Peacock.

Liberal Party of Australia
Leadership spill, 1985

← 1983 5 September 1985 1987 →
 
LIB
Candidate John Howard Jim Carlton
Caucus vote 57 6
Percentage 81.4% 8.6%
Seat Bennelong (NSW) Mackellar (NSW)

Leader before election

Andrew Peacock

Elected Leader

John Howard

A spill of the deputy leadership of the party took place on that day, Peacock attempting to replace John Howard with his preferred candidate John Moore. The spill was won by Howard over Moore by 38 votes to 31 with 7 members abstaining.[1]

Upon rejection of his candidate for the deputy leadership, Andrew Peacock resigned and was replaced by John Howard as leader defeating Jim Carlton 57 votes to 6.[1] The Deputy leadership was then filled by Neil Brown defeating 11 others (including Moore) for the position.

Background

edit

Initial Deputy Candidates

edit

Withdrawn Candidates

edit

Initial Results

edit
Liberal Party of Australia
deputy leadership ballot, 1985
 
← 1983
     
Candidate John Howard John Moore
Caucus vote 38 (50.0%) 31 (40.8%)

Deputy Leader before election

John Howard

Elected Deputy Leader

John Howard

Spill motion to vacate deputy leadership

edit
Spill motion to vacate deputy leadership
Support Votes
Yes 35
No 34

Deputy leadership ballot

edit
Name Final ballot Percentage
John Howard 38 50.0
John Moore 31 40.8
Informal 7 9.2

Final Candidates

edit

Results

edit
Liberal Party of Australia
deputy leadership ballot, 1985
 
1987 →
     
Candidate Neil Brown Ian Macphee
Caucus vote 36 15
Percentage 51.4% 21.4%
Seat Menzies (Vic.) Goldstein (Vic.)

   
Candidate John Moore Peter Shack
Caucus vote 11 8
Percentage 15.7% 11.4%
Seat Ryan (Qld.) Tangney (WA)

Deputy Leader before election

John Howard

Elected Deputy Leader

Neil Brown

The following tables gives the ballot results:

Leadership ballot

edit
Name Votes Percentage
John Howard 57 81.4
Jim Carlton 6 8.6
Informal 7 10.0

Deputy leadership ballot

edit
Candidate Final ballot %
Neil Brown 36 51.4
Ian Macphee 15 21.4
John Moore 11 15.7
Peter Shack 8 11.4

Other candidates in order of elimination:

Aftermath

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Howard Leads the Liberals". The Canberra Times. 6 September 1985. p. 1.
  2. ^ "Peacock's Bouncer Goes for Six". Canberra Times (Act : 1926 - 1995). 6 September 1985. p. 9.