House Of Representatives Members – 39th Parliament 1998-2001

This is the full list of members of the House of Representatives elected on October 3, 1998.

The election resulted in a large loss of seats for the Howard government. In a 148-seat House, the Liberal Party won 64 seats (-11), the National Party 16 (-3), the ALP 67 (+18), with one independent (-4). The Howard government secured its second term with a majority of 13 seats.

The ALP secured 40.10% (+1.34%) of the primary vote. The Liberal Party won 33.89% (-4.80%) and the National Party 5.29% (-2.91%). The Coalition won with just 49.02%% of the two-party-preferred vote, to the ALP’s 50.98%, a swing of 4.61%.

A feature of the election was a primary vote of 8.43% for the fledgling One Nation party. It failed to win a seat in the House, although it did win one seat in the Senate. Pauline Hanson was defeated in Oxley and it would be another twenty years before she returned to the parliament as a senator.

The 39th Parliament lasted a full three-year term. A regular House and half-Senate election took place on November 10, 2001.

There were four by-elections during the life of the 39th Parliament. Accordingly, there are 152 members listed below. The ALP experienced one death (Isaacs) and one resignation (Holt), with both seats retained. The Liberal Party lost one member through death (Aston) and retained the seat. The retirement of John Moore in Ryan resulted in the ALP winning the seat, the new member holding the seat for just under eight months before losing it at the general election.

There are 134 (88%) of these 152 current and former members still living. There are 65 from the ALP, 57 Liberals and 12 Nationals.

The oldest living member of the 39th Parliament is the Liberal Party’s Wilson Tuckey, who is 88. The oldest surviving National is Bruce Scott, who is 80. The ALP’s oldest former member is Frank Mossfield, 88. The youngest living former member is the ALP’s Christian Zahra, who is 51.

The most recent deaths of members of the 39th Parliament have been:
– Dec 19, 2023: Barry Wakelin, Liberal (Grey-SA), 77
– 0ct 03, 2023: Gary Nehl, Nationals (Cowper-NSW), 89
– Jun 25, 2023: Simon Crean, ALP (Hotham-Vic), 74
– Nov 08, 2022: Peter Reith, Liberal (Flinders-Vic), 72
– Jul 19, 2022: Steve Gibbons, ALP (Bendigo-Vic), 72
– Sep 12, 2020: John Fahey, Liberal (Macarthur-NSW), 75
– Apr 27, 2020: Ian Causley, Nationals (Page-NSW), 79
– Aug 22, 2019: Tim Fischer, Nationals (Farrer-NSW), 73
– Jan 01, 2019: Paul Neville, Nationals (Hinkler-Qld), 78
– Jun 21, 2017: Con Sciacca, ALP, 70 (Bowman-Qld), 70
– Apr 17, 2016: Bob Charles, Liberal (La Trobe-Vic), 79
– Jul 14, 2015: Alby Schultz, Liberal (Hume-NSW), 76

The table below lists members by their party affiliation, seat, term and age. Ages of all living members and former members are updated automatically.

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