This page provides detailed two-party-preferred results for the 1998 Federal Election.
The statistics are organised by state and territory. Each electorate in the House of Representatives is shown.
New South Wales is the largest State in the Commonwealth with the largest number of House of Representatives electorates. It is very difficult for any party to win office without winning a majority of seats in NSW. [Read more…]
The 1998 Federal Election is the second election this decade where the party or parties that won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote failed to win the election.
This also occurred in 1998, as well as in 1969, 1961 and 1954.
The Howard coalition government was elected with 49.02% of the two-party-preferred vote. It secured 80 of the 148 seats (54%) in the House of Representatives. Thus, its exaggerated majority is 5.03%.
The ALP secured a majority of the two-party vote in three States (NSW, Victoria & Tasmania) and both Territories. There was an overall swing to the ALP of 4.61%, the party regaining much of the 5.06% it lost in 1996.
The swing ranged from 0.94% in the Northern Territory to 7.17% in Queensland.
A measure of the electoral wipe-out the ALP suffered in 1996 can be seen by the fact that even though it secured swings of between 4 and 7 per cent in South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland, it remains the minority grouping in those States.
| Two-Party-Preferred Statistics 1998 House of Representatives – Summary |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | ALP Votes | ALP % | L/NP Votes | L/NP % | % Swing To ALP |
| New South Wales | 1,879,281 |
51.54
|
1,766,640 |
48.46
|
4.11
|
| Victoria | 1,521,560 |
53.53
|
1,321,121 |
46.47
|
3.22
|
| Queensland | 935,867 |
46.95
|
1,057,508 |
53.05
|
7.17
|
| Western Australia | 515,733 |
49.46
|
527,042 |
50.54
|
5.46
|
| South Australia | 434,189 |
46.89
|
491,802 |
53.11
|
4.15
|
| Tasmania | 176,241 |
57.32
|
131,236 |
42.68
|
5.74
|
| Australian Capital Territory | 121,552 |
62.44
|
73,131 |
37.56
|
6.98
|
| Northern Territory | 45,986 |
50.57
|
44,951 |
49.43
|
0.94
|
| Total | 5,630,409 |
50.98
|
5,413,431 |
49.02
|
4.61
|
Source: Australian Electoral Commission publications
Lynton Crosby has addressed the National Press Club on the outcome of the 1998 federal election.
Crosby is the Federal Director of the Liberal Party.
Transcript of Lynton Crosby’s Address to the National Press Club.
In preparation for this address I took the time to read the remarks of my predecessor when he addressed the National Press Club following the 1993 Federal Election where Fightback and the GST were the focus.
In his speech he spoke of the many advertising experts who contacted him to proffer the “one and only” solution to “better sell or explain the GST”. Well I’ve got news for my predecessor, they’re still around. And to the literally dozens, if not hundreds, of advertising and marketing experts who rang and wrote with their great idea thanks for your thoughts. To the jingle writers, thanks but it was just too hard to choose. To the budding copywriters who managed to come up with a multitude of phrases all built around the letters GST thanks for those ideas too! [Read more…]
These are advertisements broadcast by the Australian Electoral Commission during the 1998 federal election.
They explain how to cast a formal vote in the House of Representatives and the Senate.