Editing Malcolm Fraser (section)

=== Labor Party and 1983 federal election ===
[[File:MalcolmFraser1982.JPEG|left|upright|thumb|Fraser in 1982, towards the end of his tenure in office]]
By early 1982, the popular former [[Australian Council of Trade Unions|ACTU President]], [[Bob Hawke]], who had entered Parliament in 1980, was polling well ahead of both Fraser and the Labor Leader, [[Bill Hayden]], on the question of who voters would rather see as prime minister. Fraser was well aware of the infighting this caused between Hayden and Hawke and had planned to call a snap election in autumn 1982, preventing the Labor Party changing leaders. These plans were derailed when Fraser suffered a severe back injury. Shortly after recovering from his injury, the Liberal Party narrowly won a [[1982 Flinders by-election|by-election]] in the marginal seat of [[Division of Flinders|Flinders]] in December 1982. The failure of the Labor Party to win the seat convinced Fraser that he would be able to win an election against Hayden.

As leadership tensions began to grow in the Labor Party throughout January, Fraser subsequently resolved to call a [[double dissolution]] [[1983 Australian federal election|election]] at the earliest opportunity, hoping to capitalise on Labor's disunity. He knew that if the writs were issued soon enough, Labor would essentially be frozen into going into the subsequent election with Hayden as leader.

On 3 February 1983, Fraser arranged to visit the [[Governor-General of Australia]], [[Ninian Stephen|Sir Ninian Stephen]], intending to ask for a surprise election. However, Fraser made his run too late. Without any knowledge of Fraser's plans, Hayden resigned as Labor leader just two hours before Fraser travelled to [[Government House, Canberra|Government House]]. This meant that the considerably more popular Hawke was able to replace him at almost exactly the same time that the writs were issued for the election. Although Fraser reacted to the move by saying he looked forward to "knock[ing] two Labor Leaders off in one go" at the forthcoming election, Labor immediately surged in the opinion polls.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/50th-birthday-news/wrong-call-ushered-in-era-of-great-reform/story-fnmx97ei-1226947684807 |title=Wrong call ushered in era of great reform |last=Bramston |first=Troy |work=[[The Australian]] |publisher=[[News Corp Australia]] |date=9 June 2014 |access-date=20 March 2015 |archive-date=25 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140625101708/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/50th-birthday-news/wrong-call-ushered-in-era-of-great-reform/story-fnmx97ei-1226947684807 |url-status=live }}</ref>

At the election on 5 March the Coalition was heavily defeated, suffering a 24-seat swing, the worst defeat of a non-Labor government since Federation. Fraser immediately announced his resignation as Liberal leader and formally resigned as prime minister on 11 March 1983; he retired from Parliament two months later. To date, he is the last non-interim prime minister from a rural seat.