Abbott's Gambit, The 2013 Australian Federal Election, The 2013 Australian Federal Election

Year

2015

Publisher

ANU Press

Language

English

Pages

ISBN

978-1-92502-210-0

Link

Last Update

19-May-2026

Keywords

Political Science

Description

Australians historically do not change governments lightly. Yet the 2013 federal election heralded a change of government—only the seventh time Australians have voted to change their national government since the Second World War. Tony Abbott, who had been Opposition Leader since 1 December 2009, became Australia’s 28th Prime Minister on 18 September 2013 leading a Liberal–National Coalition with a comfortable majority in the lower house of parliament but well short of a majority in the upper house. The election result occurred after a surreal seven-and-a-half months of campaigning (actually 227 days) in which the Coalition largely held its...