| Spill date
|
Party
|
Status
|
Incumbent
|
Contenders
|
Outcome
|
| 2 March 1931
|
|
Labor
|
Government
|
James Scullin
|
|
During the 1931 Labor Party split, Prime Minister James Scullin was challenged by Jack Beasley of the Lang Labor faction, winning by 40 votes to five with seven abstentions.[18] |
| 27 April 1966
|
|
Labor
|
Opposition
|
Arthur Calwell
|
|
Calwell defeated Whitlam by 49 votes to 25 after promising to resign if Labor did not win the November 1966 federal election.[19] |
| 30 April 1968
|
|
Labor
|
Opposition
|
Gough Whitlam
|
|
Whitlam called a spill after conflict with the National Executive. He defeated Cairns by 38 votes to 32.[20] |
| 10 March 1971
|
|
Liberal
|
Government
|
John Gorton
|
|
Prime Minister John Gorton had faced a leadership challenge in November 1969 and prevailed. At the vote, he retained the leadership of the Liberal Party after a leadership spill resulted in a 33–33 tie. However, Gorton then resigned, saying that a tie was not a vote of confidence. He did not contest the ensuing ballot, and McMahon defeated Snedden to become his successor.[2][21] |
| 31 May 1977
|
|
Labor
|
Opposition
|
Gough Whitlam
|
|
Whitlam defeated Hayden by 32 votes to 30.[22] |
| 8 April 1982
|
|
Liberal
|
Government
|
Malcolm Fraser
|
|
Fraser beat Peacock’s challenge for the leadership of the Liberal Party, 54–27 votes.[23] |
| 16 July 1982
|
|
Labor
|
Opposition
|
Bill Hayden
|
- Bill Hayden (Opposition Leader)
- Bob Hawke (Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Employment and Youth)
|
Hayden beat Hawke to retain the leadership of the Labor Party, 42–37 but resigned in February 1983 in Hawke’s favor, just one month before the ALP returned to government in the 1983 federal election.[24] |
| 9 May 1989
|
|
Liberal
|
Opposition
|
John Howard
|
|
Peacock won the Liberal leadership with 44 votes to Howard’s 27, becoming leader for the second time.[25] |
| 9 May 1989
|
|
National
|
Opposition (coalition with Liberal Party)
|
Ian Sinclair
|
|
The National Party held a spill on the same day as their Liberal Party colleagues, resulting in Charles Blunt replacing Ian Sinclair as leader.[25] |
| 3 June 1991
|
|
Labor
|
Government
|
Bob Hawke
|
|
Following Hawke’s failure to honour the Kirribilli Agreement of 1988 in which he promised to hand over the Labor leadership to Keating, Keating challenged Hawke. He lost by 44 votes to Hawke’s 66. He resigned to the backbench.[2] |
| 20 December 1991
|
|
Labor
|
Government
|
Bob Hawke
|
- Bob Hawke (Prime Minister)
- Paul Keating (Backbencher)
|
With Hawke’s public support having fallen to record lows, Keating launched a second leadership challenge. That effort was successful, with Keating winning the Labor leadership by 5 votes, 56–51.[2] The ballot papers for both 1991 spills were preserved by the returning officer and are kept by the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House.[7] |
| 23 May 1994
|
|
Liberal
|
Opposition
|
John Hewson
|
|
Downer won 43 votes against Hewson’s 36 votes for the Liberal party leadership, with Peter Costello elected unopposed to replace Michael Wooldridge as deputy.[26] |
| 16 June 2003
|
|
Labor
|
Opposition
|
Simon Crean
|
|
Crean defeated Beazley’s challenge 58–34.[27] |
| 2 December 2003
|
|
Labor
|
Opposition
|
Simon Crean
|
- Kim Beazley (Backbencher and former Opposition Leader)
- Mark Latham (Shadow Treasurer)
|
Following a poor poll performance, Crean was urged to step down by senior colleagues. He agreed to do so on 28 November 2003. The ballot was held on Tuesday 2 December in which Latham defeated Beazley by a margin of two votes (47-45).[28] |
| 4 December 2006
|
|
Labor
|
Opposition
|
Kim Beazley
|
- Kim Beazley (Opposition Leader)
- Kevin Rudd (Shadow Foreign Minister)
|
Labor frontbencher Kevin Rudd launched a challenge against Beazley, prompting Beazley to call a spill for all leadership positions within the party. Rudd won the Labor leadership 49–39.[29] |
| 16 September 2008
|
|
Liberal
|
Opposition
|
Brendan Nelson
|
|
Turnbull succeeded in his challenge to Nelson, 45–41.[30] |
| 1 December 2009
|
|
Liberal
|
Opposition
|
Malcolm Turnbull
|
- Malcolm Turnbull (Opposition Leader)
- Joe Hockey (Shadow Treasurer)
- Tony Abbott (Backbencher who had resigned shortly beforehand as Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs)
|
On 26 November 2009, following division within the Liberal-National coalition about carbon emissions trading, Kevin Andrews moved a spill motion against Turnbull’s leadership, which was defeated by a vote of 48 to 35.[31][32]
Abbott announced on 27 November—one day after Turnbull survived Kevin Andrews’ spill motion—that he would challenge Turnbull for the leadership. Abbott committed to withdrawing his candidacy if Joe Hockey was to challenge.[33] He changed his position after Hockey refused to oppose an emissions trading scheme outright and suggested a conscience vote on the Rudd Government’s proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.
Hockey was eliminated in the first round of voting. Abbott defeated Turnbull with a narrow margin of 42–41 votes.[33]
|
| 24 June 2010
|
|
Labor
|
Government
|
Kevin Rudd
|
|
First term Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was replaced by his deputy Julia Gillard, months prior to the 2010 federal election.[34] |
| 27 February 2012
|
|
Labor
|
Government
|
Julia Gillard
|
- Julia Gillard (Prime Minister)
- Kevin Rudd (Foreign Minister and former Prime Minister)
|
Kevin Rudd resigned as Foreign Minister seeking to overturn the 2010 spill result but Julia Gillard retained the Labor leadership with 71 votes to Rudd’s 31. Rudd moved to the backbench.[35] |
| 21 March 2013
|
|
Labor
|
Government
|
Julia Gillard
|
- Julia Gillard (Prime Minister)
|
Julia Gillard called a snap ballot following Simon Crean publicly calling for a Labor leadership ballot. Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd vowed not to stand in the challenge, and as a result Julia Gillard was re-elected unopposed.[36] |
| 26 June 2013
|
|
Labor
|
Government
|
Julia Gillard
|
- Julia Gillard (Prime Minister)
- Kevin Rudd (Backbencher and former Prime Minister)
|
Rudd retook the Labor Party leadership in a snap spill, defeating Julia Gillard by a 57–45 margin.[37] Gillard resigned from Parliament at the subsequent 2013 federal election in which the Rudd’s Government was defeated by Abbott’s Coalition.
|
| 9 February 2015
|
|
Liberal
|
Government
|
Tony Abbott
|
|
A motion to bring about a leadership spill in the Liberal Party was defeated 61–39, with Tony Abbott remaining as Prime Minister.[38] |
| 14 September 2015
|
|
Liberal
|
Government
|
Tony Abbott
|
|
Turnbull defeated Prime Minister Tony Abbott, 54 votes to 44. A second ballot the same evening saw Julie Bishop re-elected as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, 70 votes to 30 over Kevin Andrews.[39] |
| 21 August 2018
|
|
Liberal
|
Government
|
Malcolm Turnbull
|
|
Turnbull defeated Dutton, 48 votes to 35. Julie Bishop re-elected as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party unopposed. Dutton resigned as Home Affairs Minister.
|
| 24 August 2018
|
|
Liberal
|
Government
|
Malcolm Turnbull
|
|
Scott Morrison defeated Peter Dutton, 45 votes to 40. Julie Bishop was defeated and eliminated in the first round of voting. The incumbent Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, did not run for the leadership position once the spill was declared.
|
| 4 February 2020
|
|
National
|
Government (coalition with Liberal Party)
|
Michael McCormack
|
- Michael McCormack (Deputy Prime Minister)
- Barnaby Joyce (backbencher and former Deputy Prime Minister)
|
McCormack defeated Barnaby Joyce. David Littleproud elected as Deputy Leader of the National Party.
|
| 21 June 2021
|
|
National
|
Government (coalition with Liberal Party)
|
Michael McCormack
|
- Michael McCormack (Deputy Prime Minister)
- Barnaby Joyce (backbencher and former Deputy Prime Minister)
|
Joyce retook the National Party leadership in a snap spill, defeating McCormack. McCormack resigns as Deputy Prime Minister.
|
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