1992 Australian Election

The 1992 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 11 March 1992. All 148 seats in the House of Representatives and 40 seats in the 76-member Senate were up for election. The newly-incumbent Liberal-National Party led by Barry O'Farrell defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Paul Keating, with the help of the returning coalition partner the National Party of Australia led by Tim Fischer.

Background
This was the first election after the end of the late 80s/early 90s recession. The Labor Party had solidified under the newly elected Paul Keating who would continue his social agenda in healthcare and education. Meanwhile, the Liberal-National party would have some of the most tense leadership challenges in Australian Politics. They had gone through five different Deputy-Leaders during the period, and their top leadership had been also challenged by a number of people. A successful challenge was mounted on incumbent leader John Hewson, replacing him with the factionally unaligned Barry O'Farrell, both because he was best fitted settling down factional disagreements as well as giving the Liberal-National Party a new coat of paint.

In February 1992, only a month after Barry O'Farrell had gained the Prime-Ministership even before an election, due to the National Party handing supply and confidence away from the Labor Party and officially forming a coalition with the Liberal-Nationals. The subsequent election would be heavily dominated by infrastructure and taxation issues. In Late February - Early March, leaks begun to emerge from Liberal-National cabinet meetings, jokes about serious topics such as turning Melbourne into a nuclear waste bomb among others. The leaker was soon turned out to be former Liberal-National leader John Hewson, who would be subsequently kicked out of the party and thrown on the crossbench.