1988 Groom by-election

A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Groom on 9 April 1988. It was triggered by the resignation of National Party MP Tom McVeigh.

1988 Groom by-election

9 April 1988

First party Second party Third party   Candidate Bill Taylor David Russell Linda Dwyer Party Liberal National Labor Popular vote 20,651 17,814 14,973 Percentage 33.3% 28.8% 24.2% Swing 19.9 20.1 8.2 TPP 62.4% 37.6% TPP swing 62.4 25.2

MP before election Tom McVeigh National Elected MP Bill Taylor Liberal

The by-election was won by Liberal Party candidate Bill Taylor.

A month before the poll, Taylor was publicly backed by former Queensland premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, who had been forced to resign as premier several months earlier, after losing the support of his National Party colleagues. Bjelke-Petersen said the Nationals had lost their way and turned their backs on traditional conservative policies.^[1]

Candidates

• Australian Democrats – Mark Carew, the party's 1987 candidate.
• Australian Labor Party – Linda Dwyer, the party's 1987 candidate.
• Liberal Party of Australia – Bill Taylor, an officer in the Royal Australian Navy.
• National Party of Australia – David Russell.
• Independent – Peter Consandine, republican campaigner who later founded the Republican Party of Australia.
• Independent – Vincent Burke. Burke later contested the Australian Senate as an ungrouped independent in 1990.

Results

Groom by-election, 1988^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Bill Taylor	20,651	33.3	+19.9
	National	David Russell	17,814	28.8	−20.1
	Labor	Linda Dwyer	14,973	24.2	−8.2
	Independent	Vincent Burke	4,661	7.5	+7.5
	Democrats	Mark Carew	3,474	5.6	+0.2
	Independent	Peter Consandine	369	0.6	+0.6
Total formal votes			61,942	98.6
Informal votes			889	1.4
Turnout			62,831	88.0
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal	Bill Taylor	38,651	62.4	+62.4
	National	David Russell	23,271	37.6	−25.2
	Liberal gain from National		Swing	N/A

See also

• List of Australian federal by-elections