1985 Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill

Liberal Party of Australia
deputy leadership ballot, 1985
1987 →
Deputy Leader before election; John Howard;	Elected Deputy Leader ; Neil Brown;

Liberal Party of Australia
deputy leadership ballot, 1985
← 1983
Deputy Leader before election; John Howard;	Elected Deputy Leader ; John Howard;

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

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

Initial Deputy Candidates

John Howard, incumbent Deputy Leader, Shadow Treasurer, Member for Bennelong
John Moore, Shadow Minister for Communications, Member for Ryan

Withdrawn Candidates

Michael Hodgman, Shadow Minister for Housing and Construction, Member for Denison^[2]

Initial Results

Spill motion to vacate deputy leadership

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

Deputy leadership ballot

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

Final Candidates

Jim Carlton, former Shadow Minister for Health, Member for Mackellar
John Howard, incumbent Deputy Leader, Member for Bennelong

Results

The following tables gives the ballot results:

Leadership ballot

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

Deputy leadership ballot

	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

References

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

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[spill-1] "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.

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