30 November 1963

Robert James Lee (Bob) Hawke stood unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives seat of Corio when Prime Minister Robert Menzies called an early election. The coalition obtained an improved majority with 52 House of Representatives seats won by the Liberal Party and 20 by the Country Party. Labor won 50 seats.

18 October 1980

Hawke won the seat of Wills and became a Labor member of the House of Representatives. Malcolm Fraser’s Liberal–National Country Party Coalition was returned to power, with Liberal Party seats decreased to 54 and the National Party winning 20 seats. Labor members increased to 51. In the Senate the government won 12 seats, the Labor Party 15, the National Party 2, the Country Liberal Party 1 and 1 Independent. The Australian Democrats won 3 seats.

5 March 1983

Bob Hawke led Labor to government in a landslide victory, the greatest Labor win since the 1943 election when John Curtin led the party. Labor won 75 seats in the House of Representatives, the Liberal Party 33 and the National Party 17. Labor also increased its Senate strength, with 30 seats to 23 Liberal Party seats, 4 National Party, 1 Country Liberal Party, 5 Australian Democrats and 1 Independent, Tasmania’s Brian Harradine.

1 December 1984

The Labor Party was returned to government in the election, but with a much-reduced majority. Labor won 82 seats and the Coalition 66, in an enlarged House of Representatives of 148 seats.

11 July 1987

The Labor Party won a historic third successive election, increasing its majority in the House of Representatives from 16 to 24 seats.

24 March 1990

Despite a swing to the Coalition, the Labor Party again won the election. Labor won 78 seats, and the Coalition 69, with 1 Independent in the House of Representatives. In the Senate, Labor had 32, Liberal 29, the National Party 5, the Australian Democrats 8 seats with 2 Independents.

This was Bob Hawke’s last federal election. He resigned from parliament on 20 February 1992, after Paul Keating defeated him in a leadership ballot on 20 December 1991.

Sources

These brief election results relate only to this Prime Minister. They are drawn from the online sources below, where further information can be found.

Australian Electoral Commission: Election results

University of Western Australia: Australian Government and Politics Database