Groom by-election, 1988

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

The election was won by Liberal Party candidate Bill Taylor.

Taylor was publicly backed by former Queensland premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen a month before the poll. Bjelke-Petersen, who had been forced to resign as premier several months earlier after losing the support of his National Party colleagues, 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

References

1. "Vote for Libs, says Joh, the Nats are lost", The Courier-Mail, 15 March 1988, pg 2.
2. "By-Elections 1987-1990". Psephos.