[Australia]: 2005 Australian federal election (House of Representatives)

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17 April 2005​

All 150 seats in the House of Representatives 40 of the 76 seats in the Senate 76 House of Representatives seats needed for a majority​

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Leader:	Julia Gillard (WON)	Malcolm Turnbull
Party:	Australian Labor Party	Coalition: Liberal Party of Australia National Party of Australia
Ideology:	Social Democracy Democratic Socialism Social Liberalism	Liberal Party of Australia: Conservatism Liberalism Liberal Conservatism National Party of Australia: Conservatism Agrarianism
Leader since:	2 December 2001	2 December 2003
Leader's seat:	Lalor	Wentworth (lost seat)
Last election (seats):	78 seats	66 seats
Last election (two-party preferred percentage):	52.2%	47.8%
Seats won:	91 seats	56 seats
Seat change:	+13	-10
TPP Popular vote:	6,384,585	5,330,250
TPP Percentage:	54.5%	45.5%
TPP Swing:	+2.3%	-2.3%

 

[Owen]

The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, announced the election for the 41st Parliament at a press conference in Canberra on the 22nd of February, after meeting the Administrator of the Commonwealth (and Governor of Western Australia), Sir Michael Jeffery, at Government House as the Governor-General, Dame Quentin Bryce, was currently in Washington D.C. This was in line with the 10 day deadline after the expiration of the House of Representatives, which occured on the 12th of February (3 years after the 40th Parliament opened). This allowed for the full 58 days for maximum campaigning, though because the election had to be on the Saturday before that, it was actually 54 days as the election needed to be on the 17th of April.

Julia Gillard told a press conference that the election would be about trust. "Who do you trust to keep the economy strong and protect family living standards?" she asked "Who do you trust to keep interest rates low? Who do you trust to lead the fight on Australia's behalf against international terrorism?".

Gillard declined to answer questions about whether she would serve a full three-year term if her government was re-elected. "I will serve as long as my party wants me to," she said.

At a press conference in Sydney half an hour after Gillard's announcement, Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull welcomed the election, saying the Hawke-Keating-Beazley-Gillard government had been in power too long (since 1983), now into it's 20th year. He said the main issue would be truth in government. "We've had too much dishonesty from the Gillard Government", he said. "The election is about trust. The Government has been dishonest for too long."

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[Owen]

A debate between Malcolm Turnbull and Julia Gillard was televised commercial-free on the Nine Network at 7:30pm on Sunday 4 April. In a change from previous election debates, which involved a single moderator, the leaders were questioned by a five-member panel representing each of the major media groups in Australia. There was a representative from commercial television (Laurie Oakes), the ABC (Jim Middleton), News Limited (Malcolm Farr), John Fairfax Holdings (Michelle Grattan) and radio (Neil Mitchell). After an opening address, Turnbull and Gillard responded to questions posed by the panel and had the opportunity to make a closing statement. The Nine Network permitted other television organisations to transmit the feed, but only the ABC chose to.

The debate was followed (only on the Nine Network) by an analysis of the leaders' performance by the "worm". The worm works by analysing the approval or disapproval of a select group of undecided voters to each statement that a leader makes. Throughout the debate, according to the worm, Gillard performed strongly and Turnbull performed poorly. A final poll of the focus group found that 67% of the focus group believed that Gillard won the debate and that 33% of the focus group believed that Turnbull won. Major media outlets generally agreed that Gillard had won the debate, although they pointed out that with no further debates scheduled and nearly two weeks of the campaign remaining, Gillard's gain in the momentum from the debate was unlikely to be decisive.

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[Owen]

While out on the campaign trail in Melbourne's northern suburbs, the Prime Minister Julia Gillard was asked about the recent incident in Egypt.

"What's the Australian Government's reactions to the events that unfolded today in Bernice, Egypt?"

"We have very limited information at this stage, we are obviously deeply concerned of the potential for this to be a terrorist attack and what that may mean for Egypt moving forward. Our travel advice for Egypt remains the same but we are constantly reviewing it."

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[Owen]

In the last days of the campaign the environment policies regarding the logging of Tasmania's old-growth forests were released by both major parties, but too late for the Greens to adjust their preference flows on how-to-vote cards in most electorates as the majority were already printed. In the game of "cat and mouse" on Tasmanian forest policy between Julia Gillard and Malcolm Turnbull, Gillard eventually lost out when Dick Adams (Labor member for the Tasmanian seat of Lyons), Tasmanian Labor Premier Lara Giddings and Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union's (CFMEU) Tasmanian secretary Scott McLean all attacked Gillard's forest policy. At a timber workers' rally on the day Labor's forestry policy was announced, Scott McLean asked those gathered to pass a resolution of no confidence in Ms Gillard's ability to lead the country. Michael O'Connor, assistant national secretary of the CFMEU said the Coalition's forest policy represented a much better deal for his members than Labor's policy. Australian Labor Party national president Carmen Lawrence later said that "Labor has only itself to blame for the backlash over its forestry policy" and that it was a strategic mistake to release the policy so late in the election campaign. She stated that she was disappointed in criticism from within the ALP and union movement, and that the party did not leave itself enough time to sell the package. Treasury and the Department of Finance reported on the validity of Labor's costings of their promises. They claimed to identify a different flaw to that identified by Liberal Shadow Treasurer Costello, but overall Labor was satisfied with the report.

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[Owen]

On the morning of 16 April, the day before the election, a television crew filmed Gillard and Turnbull shaking hands as they crossed paths outside an Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio studio in Sydney. The footage showed Turnbull appearing to draw Gillard towards him and tower over his shorter opponent. The incident received wide media coverage and, while Turnbull claimed to have been attempting to get revenge for Gillard squeezing his wife's hand too hard at a press function, it was variously reported as being "aggressive", "bullying" and "intimidating" on the part of Turnbull. The Labor Party campaign director, Tim Gartrell, later said this incident generated more feedback to Labor headquarters than anything else during the six-week campaign, and that it "brought together all the doubts and hesitations that people had about Malcolm Turnbull". Turnbull disputes the impact of this incident, however, having described it as a "Socialist gee-up: we got close to each other, sure, but otherwise it was a regulation man's handshake. It's silly to say it cost us votes – my numbers spiked in the last night of our polling." According to Turnbull's account of events, Turnbull came in close to Gillard for the handshake to prevent Gillard shaking with her arm rather than her wrist.

The final opinion polls continued to be somewhat contradictory, with Newspoll showing a 50–50 tie and the Fairfax papers reporting 54–46 to Labor. Most Australian major daily newspaper editorials backed a change of government, with the notable exceptions of The Sydney Morning Herald, which backed neither party, and The Canberra Times, which backed Labor.

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[Owen]

State and Territory Two-Party Preferred Results​

State/Territory:	Australian Labor Party:	Coalition:
New South Wales	55.3%	44.7%
Victoria	56.2%	43.8%
Queensland	50.1%	49.9%
Western Australia	51.8%	48.2%
South Australia	52.8%	47.2%
Tasmania	61.4%	38.6%
Australian Capital Territory includes: Norfolk Island and Jervis Bay Territory	68.3%	31.7%
Northern Territory includes: Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands	59.4%	40.6%

Post-Election Pendulum (Labor)​

Seat:	Member:	Party:	Percentage:
Robertson	Deborah O'Neill	Australian Labor Party	0.3%
Paterson	Meryl Swanson	Australian Labor Party	0.4%
Sturt	Mia Handshin	Australian Labor Party	0.4%
Longman	Jon Sullivan	Australian Labor Party	0.6%
Cowper	Paul Sekfy	Australian Labor Party	0.6%
McEwen	Rob Mitchell	Australian Labor Party	0.8%
Kalgoorlie	Daron Keogh	Australian Labor Party	0.9%
Herbert	Cathy O'Toole	Australian Labor Party	1.1%
La Trobe	Laura Smyth	Australian Labor Party	1.4%
Blair	Shayne Neumann	Australian Labor Party	1.5%
Page	Janelle Saffin	Australian Labor Party	1.7%
Boothby	Annabel Digance	Australian Labor Party	1.8%
Corangamite	Darren Cheeseman	Australian Labor Party	1.9%
McMillan	Christian Zahra	Australian Labor Party	2.2%
Deakin	Mike Symon	Australian Labor Party	2.2%
Dobell	Craig Thomson	Australian Labor Party	2.4%
Bennelong	Maxine McKew	Australian Labor Party	3.2%
Eden-Monaro	Mike Kelly	Australian Labor Party	3.9%
Lindsay	David Bradbury	Australian Labor Party	4.3%
Moreton	Graham Perrett	Australian Labor Party	4.4%
Solomon	Damian Hale	Australian Labor Party	4.4%
Bass	Jodie Campbell	Australian Labor Party	4.6%
Wentworth	George Newhouse	Australian Labor Party	4.6%
Stirling	Jann McFarlane	Australian Labor Party	5.2%
Hasluck	Sharryn Jackson	Australian Labor Party	5.4%
Parramatta	Julie Owens	Australian Labor Party	6.1%
Braddon	Sid Sidebottom	Australian Labor Party	6.1%
Makin	Tony Zappia	Australian Labor Party	6.3%
Wakefield	Nick Champion	Australian Labor Party	6.5%
Bonner	Kerry Rea	Australian Labor Party	6.6%
Kingston	Amanda Rishworth	Australian Labor Party	7.1%
Hindmarsh	Steve Georganas	Australian Labor Party	7.3%
Swan	Kim Wilkie	Australian Labor Party	7.3%
Macquarie	Bob Debus	Australian Labor Party	7.7%
Cowan	Anne Aly	Australian Labor Party	8.0%
Bendigo	Steve Gibbons	Australian Labor Party	8.2%
Adelaide	Kate Ellis	Australian Labor Party	8.5%
Richmond	Justine Elliot	Australian Labor Party	8.7%
Isaacs	Mark Dreyfus	Australian Labor Party	8.7%
Holt	Anthony Byrne	Australian Labor Party	8.7%
Ballarat	Catherine King	Australian Labor Party	9.4%
Chisholm	Anna Burke	Australian Labor Party	9.9%
Rankin	Craig Emerson	Australian Labor Party	10.2%
Lowe	John Murphy	Australian Labor Party	10.3%
Banks	Daryl Melham	Australian Labor Party	10.5%
Bruce	Alan Griffin	Australian Labor Party	10.7%
Lyons	Dick Adams	Australian Labor Party	10.9%
Melbourne Ports	Michael Danby	Australian Labor Party	10.9%
Capricornia	Kirsten Livermore	Australian Labor Party	11.0%
Brisbane	Arch Bevis	Australian Labor Party	11.2%
Jagajaga	Jenny Macklin	Australian Labor Party	11.6%
Brand	Gary Gray	Australian Labor Party	11.9%
Lilley	Wayne Swan	Australian Labor Party	12.6%
Corio	Richard Marles	Australian Labor Party	12.8%
Perth	Stephen Smith	Australian Labor Party	13.9%
Prospect	Chris Bowen	Australian Labor Party	14.1%
Werriwa	Chris Hayes	Australian Labor Party	14.3%
Oxley	Bernie Ripoll	Australian Labor Party	14.4%
Hotham	Simon Crean	Australian Labor Party	14.6%
Barton	Robert McClelland	Australian Labor Party	14.8%
Franklin	Julie Collins	Australian Labor Party	14.8%
Lingiari	Warren Snowdon	Australian Labor Party	14.9%
Fremantle	Melissa Parke	Australian Labor Party	15.0%
Calwell	Maria Vamvakinou	Australian Labor Party	15.4%
Charlton	Greg Combet	Australian Labor Party	15.6%
Griffith	Kevin Rudd	Australian Labor Party	15.7%
Kingsford Smith	Peter Garrett	Australian Labor Party	15.8%
Newcastle	Sharon Grierson	Australian Labor Party	15.9%
Lalor	Julia Gillard	Australian Labor Party	16.0%
Shortland	Jill Hall	Australian Labor Party	16.5%
Maribyrnong	Bill Shorten	Australian Labor Party	16.7%
Canberra	Annette Ellis	Australian Labor Party	16.8%
Hunter	Joel Fitzgibbon	Australian Labor Party	18.4%
Cunningham	Sharon Bird	Australian Labor Party	18.9%
Reid	Laurie Ferguson	Australian Labor Party	19.2%
Chifley	Roger Price	Australian Labor Party	19.3%
Port Adelaide	Mark Butler	Australian Labor Party	20.1%
Denison	Duncan Kerr	Australian Labor Party	20.5%
Fraser	Bob McMullan	Australian Labor Party	20.5%
Fowler	Julia Irwin	Australian Labor Party	20.7%
Throsby	Stephen Jones	Australian Labor Party	21.1%
Watson	Tony Burke	Australian Labor Party	21.8%
Scullin	Harry Jenkins Jr.	Australian Labor Party	22.0%
Gorton	Brendan O'Connor	Australian Labor Party	22.1%
Gellibrand	Nicola Roxon	Australian Labor Party	22.2%
Blaxland	Jason Clare	Australian Labor Party	22.5%
Wills	Kelvin Thomson	Australian Labor Party	24.1%
Sydney	Tanya Plibersek	Australian Labor Party	24.5%
Melbourne	Lindsay Tanner	Australian Labor Party	28.3%
Batman	Martin Ferguson	Australian Labor Party	28.5%
Grayndler	Anthony Albanese	Australian Labor Party	28.5%

Post-Election Pendulum (Coalition)​

Seat:	Member:	Party:	Percentage:
Gippsland	Peter McGauran	National Party of Australia	0.5%
Flynn	Glenn Churchill	National Party of Australia	0.7%
Petrie	Teresa Gambaro	Liberal Party of Australia	0.7%
Higgins	Peter Costello	Liberal Party of Australia	1.6%
Hinkler	Paul Neville	National Party of Australia	1.6%
Hughes	Danna Vale	Liberal Party of Australia	1.6%
Bowman	Andrew Laming	Liberal Party of Australia	1.7%
Dickson	Peter Dutton	Liberal Party of Australia	1.9%
Dunkley	Bruce Billson	Liberal Party of Australia	2.2%
Canning	Don Randall	Liberal Party of Australia	2.3%
Gilmore	Joanna Gash	Liberal Party of Australia	2.3%
Kooyong	Petro Georgiou	Liberal Party of Australia	2.6%
Goldstein	Andrew Robb	Liberal Party of Australia	2.8%
North Sydney	Joe Hockey	Liberal Party of Australia	2.8%
Dawson	De-Anne Kelly	National Party of Australia	3.0%
Leichhardt	Warren Entsch	Liberal Party of Australia	3.1%
Ryan	Michael Johnson	Liberal Party of Australia	3.2%
Forrest	Nola Marino	Liberal Party of Australia	3.3%
Menzies	Kevin Andrews	Liberal Party of Australia	3.5%
Moore	Mal Washer	Liberal Party of Australia	3.6%
Greenway	Louise Markus	Liberal Party of Australia	3.8%
Macarthur	Pat Farmer	Liberal Party of Australia	3.9%
Flinders	Greg Hunt	Liberal Party of Australia	3.9%
Warringah	Tony Abbott	Liberal Party of Australia	4.1%
Casey	Tony Smith	Liberal Party of Australia	4.2%
Tangney	Dennis Jensen	Liberal Party of Australia	4.6%
Berowra	Philip Ruddock	Liberal Party of Australia	5.0%
Wide Bay	Warren Truss	National Party of Australia	5.0%
Wannon	David Hawker	Liberal Party of Australia	5.2%
Pearce	Judi Moylan	Liberal Party of Australia	5.7%
Hume	Alby Schultz	Liberal Party of Australia	5.7%
Forde	Kay Elson	Liberal Party of Australia	5.8%
Fisher	Peter Slipper	Liberal Party of Australia	5.8%
Aston	Chris Pearce	Liberal Party of Australia	6.0%
Fairfax	Alex Somlyay	Liberal Party of Australia	6.1%
Mayo	Alexander Downer	Liberal Party of Australia	6.4%
Cook	Scott Morrison	Liberal Party of Australia	6.5%
Grey	Rowan Ramsey	Liberal Party of Australia	6.6%
McPherson	Karen Andrews	Liberal Party of Australia	6.8%
Lyne	Mark Vaile	National Party of Australia	6.9%
Curtin	Julie Bishop	Liberal Party of Australia	7.4%
Fadden	Stuart Robert	Liberal Party of Australia	8.1%
Farrer	Sussan Ley	Liberal Party of Australia	8.2%
Mackellar	Bronwyn Bishop	Liberal Party of Australia	8.3%
Indi	Sophie Mirabella	Liberal Party of Australia	9.1%
Bradfield	Brendan Nelson	Liberal Party of Australia	10.3%
Parkes	John Cobb	National Party of Australia	11.6%
Groom	Ian Macfarlane	Liberal Party of Australia	11.8%
Moncrieff	Steven Ciobo	Liberal Party of Australia	12.7%
Barker	Patrick Secker	Liberal Party of Australia	12.7%
O'Connor	Wilson Tuckey	Liberal Party of Australia	13.2%
Riverina	Kay Hull	National Party of Australia	13.5%
Mitchell	Alex Hawke	Liberal Party of Australia	13.5%
Maranoa	Bruce Scott	National Party of Australia	13.8%
Murray	Sharman Stone	Liberal Party of Australia	16.9%
Mallee	John Forrest	National Party of Australia	17.6%

Post-Election Pendulum (Crossbench)​

Seat:	Member:	Party:	Percentage:
Kennedy	Bob Katter	Independent	3.3% vs. ALP
Calare	Peter Andren	Independent	15.1% vs. LIB
New England	Tony Windsor	Independent	21.4% vs. NAT

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