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2008 Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill

Australian political party leadership contest

Field	Value
election_name	Liberal Party of Australia
Leadership spill, 2008
flag_image	Liberal-Party-of-Australia-stub.svg
type	presidential
vote_type	Caucus
ongoing	no
previous_election	2007 Liberal Party of Australia leadership election
previous_year	2007
next_election	2009 Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill
next_year	2009
election_date	16 September 2008
image1	[[File:Turnbull.JPG	150x150px]]
candidate1	Malcolm Turnbull
colour1	0047AB
popular_vote1	45
percentage1	52.3%
image2	[[File:BrendanNelson.JPG	150x150px]]
candidate2	Brendan Nelson
colour2	0047AB
popular_vote2	41
percentage2	47.7%
1blank	Seat
1data1	Wentworth (NSW)
1data2	Bradfield (NSW)
title	Leader
before_election	Brendan Nelson
after_election	Malcolm Turnbull

Leadership spill, 2008 A spill of the leadership of the Liberal Party of Australia took place on 15 September 2008. At a ballot on 16 September, Shadow Treasurer Malcolm Turnbull defeated the incumbent leader Brendan Nelson 45 votes to 41.

Background

The Liberal-National coalition led by Prime Minister John Howard was defeated at the 2007 federal election by the Australian Labor Party led by Kevin Rudd. In the aftermath, Brendan Nelson was elected leader in an ensuing ballot, in a 45-42 vote against former Minister for the Environment, Malcolm Turnbull.

Nelson's leadership came under intense pressure throughout 2008. Newspoll polling in February 2008 set a record low "Preferred Prime Minister" rating for any opposition leader at 9 percent, with March polling setting another record of 7 percent, with two party preferred setting another Newspoll record at 37-63 percent. In response to increased speculation about his leadership Nelson commented in April that he "will keep fighting and standing up for everyday Australians."

Support for Nelson as leader within the Liberal Party had all but collapsed by the end of July 2008, in part due to repeated gaffes on emissions trading and climate change. Expected to challenge him was either Peter Costello or Malcolm Turnbull, upon the release of Costello's book, The Costello Memoirs. Costello stated he would not be making any move for the Liberal leadership, but media outlets capitalised on Costello's failure to categorically rule out any future leadership challenge. Some MPs said he "still remained ready to assume the leadership later in the electoral cycle".

Results

Candidate	Votes
Malcolm Turnbull	45
Brendan Nelson	41

References

(15 September 2008). "Leadership spill: Nelson draws 'line in the sand'".
(16 September 2008). "Turnbull victorious in leadership spill". ABC Online.
(4 March 2008). "Brendan Nelson and Liberal-Nationals Coalition hit all-time low in Newspoll". [[The Australian]].
Lahey, Kate. (12 April 2008). "Nelson vows to stay on as Liberal leader". [[The Age]].
(2 August 2008). "Brendan Nelson's leadership is hanging by a thread". [[Herald Sun]].
O'malley, Sandra. (2 September 2008). "Libs meet amid leadership speculation". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
(11 September 2008). "Costello clears the air over Liberal leadership". ABC Online.
(12 September 2008). "Costello may still harbour dream of being PM". [[The Age]].
(16 September 2008). "Nelson to Turnbull: bring it on". [[Canberra Times]].

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

2008-elections-in-australia liberal-party-of-australia-leadership-spills 2008-political-party-leadership-elections september-2008-in-australia

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