The election returned the
Member of the House of Representatives for its 1998–2001 term and half of Australia's senators, who then served in the
1999–2002 Senate. Despite winning almost 51 percent of the
two-party-preferred vote and regaining much of what it had lost in its severe defeat of two years earlier, Labor fell short of forming government. The government was re-elected with 49.02% of the two-party-preferred vote, compared to 50.98% for the Australian Labor Party, the largest difference of six election results where the winner did not gain a
two-party preferred majority, since 2PP results first estimated from 1937. result was 11.33. The election on 3 October 1998 was held six months earlier than required by the
Constitution. Prime Minister John Howard made the announcement following the launch of the coalition's
Goods and Services Tax (GST) policy launch and a five-week advertising campaign. The ensuing election was almost entirely dominated by the proposed 10% GST and proposed income tax cuts. This election was not the first to be centred on a GST; the 1993 election saw the Keating Labor government re-elected after a proposal by then Opposition leader John Hewson to introduce a 15% GST. In reaction to One Nation's policies, the other significant parties all agreed to preference against One Nation. One Nation lost its lone house seat when founder and leader
Pauline Hanson lost on preferences to Liberal candidate
Cameron Thompson in the Queensland electorate of
Blair. In Queensland, One Nation polled 14.83% of the Senate vote, sufficient to elect one senator without the need for preferences. The seat initially went to
Heather Hill, but she was subsequently disqualified under
Section 44 of the Constitution, and replaced by
Len Harris. The election-eve
Newspoll reported Labor on a 53 percent
two-party-preferred vote. On election night of 3 October, the exit poll showed Labor on a 53 percent two-party-preferred vote. Labor made the single biggest gain by an
Opposition party following an election defeat; the Coalition's majority was cut from 40 to 12. It was only when the first returns trickled in from
Western Australia that the Coalition was assured of another term. The swing across all states would have normally been sufficient for a change of government, but the uneven nature of the swing left
Kim Beazley eight seats short of becoming prime minister. The uneven nature of the swing saw Labor getting huge swings in seats that they held prior to the election but not enough in seats needed to gain government. The election for the division of
Newcastle was deferred as the candidate died on 1 October, two days before the federal election. A
supplementary election was held on 21 November, with Labor holding the seat. ==Results==