1993 Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill

Liberal Party of Australia
Leadership spill, 1993

← 1990

23 March 1993

1994 →

			LIB
Candidate	John Hewson	John Howard	Bruce Reid
Caucus vote	47	30	1
Percentage	60.2%	38.4%	1.4%
Seat	Wentworth (NSW)	Bennelong (NSW)	Bendigo (Vic.)

Leader before election

John Hewson

Elected Leader

John Hewson

A spill of the leadership of the Liberal Party of Australia took place on 23 March 1993, following the 1993 federal election. The spill was won by incumbent leader John Hewson over former leader John Howard by 47 votes to 30 while backbencher Bruce Reid attracted only one sole vote, presumably his own. For the Deputy leadership Michael Wooldridge won against Peter Costello.

Background

After John Hewson was blamed for losing the 1993 "unloseable election" because of his staunch promotion of a Goods and Services Tax and an inability to sell his policies to voters, Hewson initially stated he would not recontest but was convinced to do so to block John Howard from winning.

Candidates

John Hewson, incumbent Leader, Member for Wentworth
John Howard, Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Employment and Training, Member for Bennelong
Bruce Reid, Member for Bendigo

Results

Liberal Party of Australia
deputy leadership ballot, 1993

← 1990 1994 →

	LIB
Candidate	Michael Wooldridge	Peter Costello
Final ballot	45 (57.1%)	33 (42.9%)
Seat	Casey (Vic.)	Higgins (Vic.)

Deputy Leader before election

Peter Reith

Elected Deputy Leader

Michael Wooldridge

The following tables gives the ballot results:

Leadership ballot

	Votes	Percentage
John Hewson	47	60.2
John Howard	30	38.4
Bruce Reid	1	1.4

Deputy leadership ballot

Candidate		Final ballot	%
	Michael Wooldridge	45	57.1
	Peter Costello	33	42.9

Other candidates in order of elimination:

Aftermath

Over the following year Hewson's leadership was undermined by the likes of Peter Costello and Bronwyn Bishop. This led to his defeat in May 1994 by Alexander Downer.

References

"Politics will get you". The Liberals. Episode 5. 1995.
The Canberra Times, March 24, 1993
Peake, Ross; Brough, Jodie (24 March 1993). "Hewson pledges change, but still hails Fightback". The Canberra Times. p. 1. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
"Out of the rough: Kennett and Kroger end feud". The Age. 22 June 2005. Retrieved 13 July 2013.

v t e Liberal Party of Australia
Leaders	Robert Menzies Harold Holt John Gorton William McMahon Billy Snedden Malcolm Fraser Andrew Peacock John Howard Andrew Peacock John Hewson Alexander Downer John Howard Brendan Nelson Malcolm Turnbull Tony Abbott Malcolm Turnbull Scott Morrison Peter Dutton
Deputy Leaders	Eric Harrison Harold Holt William McMahon John Gorton Billy Snedden Phillip Lynch John Howard Neil Brown Andrew Peacock Fred Chaney Peter Reith Michael Wooldridge Peter Costello Julie Bishop Josh Frydenberg Sussan Ley
Presidents	Malcolm Ritchie Richard Casey W. H. Anderson Lyle Moore Philip McBride J. E. Pagan Robert Southey John Atwill A. J. Forbes John Valder John Elliott Ashley Goldsworthy Tony Staley Shane Stone Chris McDiven Alan Stockdale Richard Alston Nick Greiner John Olsen
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Leadership spills and elections in Australia

Labor Party

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See spills of: New South Wales • Victoria

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