1987 Australian federal election

Hawke, in partnership with Treasurer Paul Keating, had pursued an ambitiously reformist agenda over the course of his time in office, which included floating the Australian dollar, reducing tariffs on imports and completely reforming the tax system.However, the government's popularity dropped sharply throughout the course of its 1984–87 term, mostly due to a series of blunders such as its failed 'tax summit' (designed to gain support for Keating's proposed consumption tax), and declining terms of trade, which Treasurer Keating argued threatened to reduce Australia to the status of a banana republic unless tough measures were taken to correct the balance of trade.In September 1985, Andrew Peacock, who had led the party to a surprising rebound in the 1984 general election, was replaced as leader of the Liberal party by the then Deputy Leader and Shadow Treasurer John Howard, after a botched effort to remove the latter from the Deputy Leadership and replace him with Queenslander John Moore, resulting in Peacock's resignation.Moreover, Howard and National Party leader Ian Sinclair faced challenges from the right as well as the left of the coalition, in the form of Queensland premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen.Premier since 1968, Bjelke-Petersen was a hardline conservative who aggressively opposed the "socialist" Hawke Labor government, and believed that he could transfer the style of politics that had served him so well in his native Queensland to the federal stage.The federal National Party also suffered a net loss of two seats, failing to expand upon its traditional rural base and hampered by disunity within its ranks.

outgoing memberselected membersHouse of RepresentativesSenateBob HawkeJohn HowardLiberal/National coalition8 February 1983 (1983-02-08)5 September 1985 (1985-09-05)BennelongPrime MinisterCandidatesNew South WalesVictoriaQueenslandWestern AustraliaSouth AustraliaTasmaniaElected House of Representative membersElected Senate membersdouble dissolutionGovernor-GeneralNinian StephenAustralian Labor PartyLiberal Party of AustraliaNational Party of AustraliaIan SinclairOld Parliament HouseParliament HouseCapital HillJohn HewsonHawke governmentTreasurerPaul Keatingbanana republicAndrew PeacockJohn MooreJeff KennettQueensland premierJoh Bjelke-PetersenJoh for CanberraRobert Sparkes18 December 1984 electionAustralia CardGovernmentOppositionCoalitionLiberalNationalCountry LiberalDemocratsTwo-party-preferred voteCrossbenchIndependentNuclear DisarmamentVallentine Peace GroupHarradine Groupwere not usedChisholm, VicHelen MayerMichael WooldridgeDenison, TasMichael HodgmanDuncan KerrFisher, QldPeter SlipperMichael LavarchForde, QldDavid WatsonMary CrawfordHinkler, QldBryan ConquestBrian CourticeLowe, NSWMichael MaherBob WoodsNorthern Territory, NTPaul EveringhamWarren SnowdonPetrie, QldJohn HodgesGary JohnsGallagher IndexCandidates of the Australian federal election, 1987Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1987-1990Members of the Australian Senate, 1987-1990NT NationalsJo VallentineNuclear Disarmament PartyAustralian QuarterlyThe Australian QuarterlyWayback Machine1984 ←→ 1990House of Representatives resultsTerritoriesSenate resultselectionsreferendumsFederal electionsConstitutional ConventionBy-elections