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Leadership or Policy? Explaining the 2015 Queensland Election Result
Author(s) -
Williams Paul D.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
australian journal of politics and history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.123
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-8497
pISSN - 0004-9522
DOI - 10.1111/ajph.12462
Subject(s) - government (linguistics) , political science , general election , lease , principal (computer security) , politics , style (visual arts) , public administration , electoral politics , political economy , law , sociology , history , democracy , philosophy , linguistics , archaeology , computer science , operating system
Australian electoral politics historically have been described as stable, with hung parliaments rare and changes of government infrequent. However, the 2015 Queensland election, where a government with the largest parliamentary majority in Australian history was defeated after a single term in office, seriously challenges assumptions of Australian electoral stability, and determining the causes behind this result is therefore of significant scholarly interest. While many journalistic analyses of the 2015 Queensland election argue that the distinctive leadership style of Liberal‐National Party leader Campbell Newman was wholly or principally responsible for the government's defeat, this article argues the result emerged from a confluence of factors, with two — a contentious LNP policy to lease major government‐owned assets, and Campbell Newman's “combative” leadership style — of relatively equal significance as principal determinants.