leadership spill In Australian politics, a leadership spill (or simply a spill) is a declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant and open for contest. A spill may involve all or some of the leadership positions (leader and deputy leader in ...

in the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

, the party of government in the

Parliament of Australia The Parliament of Australia (officially the Parliament of the Commonwealth and also known as the Federal Parliament) is the federal legislature of Australia. It consists of three elements: the Monarchy of Australia, monarch of Australia (repr ...

, was held on 3 June 1991. It was the first of two ballots that year with Prime Minister

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991. He held office as the Australian Labor Party, leader of the La ...

surviving the ballot against Treasurer

Paul Keating Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and trade unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996. He held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP), having previously ser ...

, who then went to the backbench.

Background

had been leader of the Labor Party since 3 February 1983, and prime minister since the 1983 election, with Labor winning a record four elections under his leadership. However, the unexpectedly close win at the 1990 election, coupled with the deepening economic recession, fuelled tensions within the government over economic policy. Furthermore, a re-energised Liberal opposition led by

John Hewson John Robert Hewson AM (born 28 October 1946) is an Australian former politician who served as leader of the Liberal Party from 1990 to 1994. He led the Liberal-National Coalition to defeat at the 1993 Australian federal election. Hewson w ...

, a qualified economist, gained ground in the opinion polls. Hawke had alienated key NSW Right faction powerbroker, Senator

Graham Richardson Graham Frederick Richardson (born 27 September 1949) is an Australian former Labor Party politician who was a Senator for New South Wales from 1983 to 1994 and served as a Cabinet Minister in both the Hawke and Keating governments. He is c ...

by late 1990, with the latter bluntly telling Hawke he no longer had the support of the Right. Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer

launched his first June challenge against Hawke after the latter apparently reneged on a Kirribilli agreement that he would hand over the leadership in 1990.

Candidates

, incumbent leader,

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the Australian Government, federal executive government. Under the pr ...

, member for Wills *

, former

deputy prime minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

, former

treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...

, member for Blaxland

Results

The following tables gives the ballot results:

Leadership ballot

Deputy leadership ballot

Aftermath

Hawke's public support continued to decline before in December 1991, he called on another spill which Keating won 56–51.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1991 06 Australian Labor Party leadership spill Australian Labor Party leadership spills Australian Labor Party leadership spill Labor Party leadership spill, June Labor Party leadership spill