A leadership spill of the Liberal Party of Australia took place 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.

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. The Deputy leadership was then filled by Neil Brown defeating 11 others (including Moore) for the position.

Background There had been feelings within the Liberal Party that the parties parliamentary wing had been ignoring the organisational wing. The leader of the organisational wing, John Valder, asserted that this could have contributed to the recent electoral losses. These feelings were linked to the spill, although Valder kept his distance from assertions that he was directly involved in instigating the spill.

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Withdrawn candidates Michael Hodgman, Shadow Minister for Housing and Construction, Member for Denison

Initial results

Spill motion to vacate deputy leadership + Spill motion to vacate deputy leadershipSupportVotes 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 CandidateFinal 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:

Julian Beale and Roger Shipton David Connolly Steele Hall Michael MacKellar Wilson Tuckey Michael Hodgman Jim Carlton

Aftermath Howard would remain party leader until 1989, surviving a spill in 1987 triggered by the 1987 election loss. Peacock would stand both times.

References