A spill of the leadership of the Liberal Party of Australia took place on 3 April 1990, following the defeat of the Liberal Party at the federal election five days earlier. The spill was won by John Hewson over Peter Reith by 62 votes to 13.Canberra Times, 4 April 1990 Reith was then elected deputy leader of the Party.
An election for the deputy leadership of the party was held, as under Liberal Party rules, all leadership positions are declared vacant after a general election, no matter what the outcome.
Background Despite winning a slim majority (50.10 percent) of the two-party vote in the 1990 election, the Coalition came seven seats short of government. Andrew Peacock stood down as leader less than a year since he replaced John Howard, and supported his Shadow Treasurer John Hewson to replace him.
Candidates John Hewson, Shadow Treasurer, Member for Wentworth Peter Reith, Shadow Minister for Education, Member for Flinders Alasdair Webster, Member for Macquarie
Potential candidates who declined to run John Howard, Shadow Minister for Industry, Technology and Commerce, Member for BennelongMarch of Patriots: The Struggle for Modern Australia. Written by Paul Kelly.
Results
The following tables gives the ballot results:
Leadership ballot Name Votes Percentage John Hewson 62 75.5 Peter Reith 13 16.2 Alasdair Webster 5 8.3
Deputy leadership ballot Name Final ballot Percentage Peter Reith 44 55.7 David Jull 35 44.3 Fred Chaney
Other candidates:
Peter Shack Julian Beale Ken Aldred Kathy Sullivan Bill Taylor
Aftermath After his election as leader, Hewson endorsed former leader Peacock as his deputy, which caused a furore with Howard supporters, however, Peacock had no interest in becoming deputy leader again and withdrew happily. Peter Reith was instead elected deputy in a close contest against Peacock supporter David Jull.
References