Canberra — Australian Federal Election Results

Compiled by EveryElectionResult.com's data team · Last updated 2026-08-30

Canberra was won by Alicia Payne (Labor) at the 2019 federal election, with a margin of 29,519 votes over Mina Zaki after preferences. This page covers every federal election in Canberra from 1974 to 2019.

Australia uses instant-runoff (preferential) voting: voters rank candidates in order of preference, and if no one has a majority of first-preference votes, the lowest-placed candidate is eliminated and their votes redistributed to voters' next preference, repeating until one candidate has a majority. The "Winner" and "Margin" below reflect the final result after preferences (equivalent to the AEC's own two-candidate-preferred figure) — not simply whoever led on first preferences, which can occasionally be a different candidate.

Full Election History (After Preferences), 1974–2019

Election	Winner	Party	Final Votes	Final Share	Runner-up	Margin
1974	Keppel Enderby	Labor	24,761	59.8%	Peter Hughes (Liberal)	8,103 (19.6 pts)
1975	John Haslem	Liberal	26,296	52.5%	Keppel Enderby (Labor)	2,478 (4.9 pts)
1977	John Haslem	Liberal	28,976	51.0%	Henry Lawrence (Labor)	1,082 (1.9 pts)
1980	Ros Kelly	Labor	32,352	55.5%	John Haslem (Liberal)	6,395 (11.0 pts)
1983	Roslyn Kelly	Labor	40,434	64.4%	Gerard Brennan (Liberal)	18,069 (28.8 pts)
1984	Roslyn Kelly	Labor	39,946	61.6%	Gary Humphries (Liberal)	15,015 (23.1 pts)
1987	Ros Kelly	Labor	45,070	62.0%	John Louttit (Liberal)	17,409 (23.9 pts)
1990	Roslyn Kelly	Labor	44,872	55.8%	Bill Mackey (Liberal)	9,343 (11.6 pts)
1993	Ros Kelly	Labor	53,432	59.6%	Bill Stefaniak (Liberal)	17,157 (19.1 pts)
1996	Bob Mcmullan	Labor	38,338	57.5%	Gwen Wilcox (Liberal)	10,021 (15.0 pts)
1998	Annette Ellis	Labor	58,972	60.1%	Ian Morison (Liberal)	19,752 (20.1 pts)
2001	Annette Ellis	Labor	59,632	59.4%	Belinda Barnier (Liberal)	18,936 (18.9 pts)
2004	Annette Ellis	Labor	60,029	59.6%	Belinda Barnier (Liberal)	19,380 (19.2 pts)
2007	Annette Ellis	Labor	71,030	61.8%	Natalie Colbert (Liberal)	27,159 (23.6 pts)
2010	Gai Brodtmann	Labor	66,335	59.1%	Giulia Jones (Liberal)	20,514 (18.3 pts)
2013	Gai Brodtmann	Labor	66,074	57.0%	Tom Sefton (Liberal)	16,180 (14.0 pts)
2016	Gai Brodtmann	Labor	75,247	58.5%	Jessica Adelan-Langford (Liberal)	21,774 (16.9 pts)
2019	Alicia Payne	Labor	57,961	67.1%	Mina Zaki (Liberal)	29,519 (34.2 pts)

First-Preference Result by Election

Every candidate's first-preference votes, before any preference redistribution.

1974

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Keppel Enderby	Labor	24,761	53.8%
Peter Hughes	Liberal	16,658	36.2%
Mary Thomas	AP	2,520	5.5%
Dorothy Mattress	Country Party	1,871	4.1%
Doreen Story	Independent	211	0.5%

1975

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Haslem	Liberal	25,697	49.4%
Keppel Enderby	Labor	23,517	45.2%
Anthony Harris	LM	1,572	3.0%
Kevin Wise	Independent	434	0.8%
John Moloney	Independent	406	0.8%
Oleg Kavenenko	Independent	377	0.7%

1977

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Haslem	Liberal	24,578	43.2%
Henry Lawrence	Labor	23,214	40.8%
John Bellhouse	Australian Democrats	8,544	15.0%
Oleg Kavunenko	Independent	534	0.9%

1980

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Ros Kelly	Labor	32,352	52.4%
John Haslem	Liberal	25,957	42.1%
Leo Nesic	Australian Democrats	2,845	4.6%
Kevin Wise	Independent	574	0.9%

1983

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Roslyn Kelly	Labor	40,434	62.2%
Gerard Brennan	Liberal	22,365	34.4%
Joanne Hansen	Independent	2,191	3.4%

1984

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Roslyn Kelly	Labor	33,454	51.6%
Gary Humphries	Liberal	21,667	33.4%
Robyn Hancock	NDP	4,945	7.6%
Fiona Richardson	Australian Democrats	4,087	6.3%
Joanne Hansen	Independent	724	1.1%

1987

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Ros Kelly	Labor	39,175	53.9%
John Louttit	Liberal	23,039	31.7%
Frances English	Australian Democrats	4,712	6.5%
Chris Warren	NDP	3,060	4.2%
Beverley Cains	Independent	2,015	2.8%
John Farrell	Independent	742	1.0%

1990

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Roslyn Kelly	Labor	35,286	43.8%
Bill Mackey	Liberal	31,009	38.5%
Julie Mccarron-Benson	Australian Democrats	10,215	12.7%
Gina Jeffrey	Greens	2,856	3.5%
Barbara Meyer	NDP	1,183	1.5%

1993

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Ros Kelly	Labor	46,895	52.3%
Bill Stefaniak	Liberal	32,504	36.2%
Peter Myers	Australian Democrats	4,796	5.3%
Greg Adamson	Independent	3,109	3.5%
Mike Trevethan	Independent	1,663	1.9%
Sally Kelly	Independent	775	0.9%

1996

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Bob Mcmullan	Labor	32,405	48.3%
Gwen Wilcox	Liberal	25,594	38.1%
Gordon Mcallister	Greens	6,047	9.0%
Sue Bull	Independent	1,508	2.2%
Jerz Gray-Grzeszkiewicz	Independent	789	1.2%
Maryan Chaplin	Independent	778	1.2%

1998

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Annette Ellis	Labor	48,015	48.9%
Ian Morison	Liberal	32,336	32.9%
Yulia Onsman	Australian Democrats	7,237	7.4%
Burt Doble	One Nation	5,122	5.2%
Sue Ellerman	Greens	3,774	3.8%
Nikki Ulasowski	Independent	1,427	1.5%
Maryan England	Independent	281	0.3%

2001

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Annette Ellis	Labor	46,632	46.5%
Belinda Barnier	Liberal	34,148	34.0%
Aaron Matthews	Australian Democrats	8,098	8.1%
Stephanie Koorey	Greens	6,268	6.2%
Barry Cox	One Nation	3,179	3.2%
John Miller	Communist Party	2,003	2.0%

2004

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Annette Ellis	Labor	50,214	49.9%
Belinda Barnier	Liberal	37,238	37.0%
Sue Ellerman	Greens	10,243	10.2%
Aaron Matthews	Australian Democrats	2,218	2.2%
Jim Arnold	CEC	765	0.8%

2007

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Annette Ellis	Labor	58,711	51.1%
Natalie Colbert	Liberal	40,359	35.1%
Amanda Bresnan	Greens	14,878	12.9%
John Holder	Independent	953	0.8%

2010

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Gai Brodtmann	Labor	49,608	44.2%
Giulia Jones	Liberal	41,732	37.2%
Sue Ellerman	Greens	20,816	18.6%

2013

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Gai Brodtmann	Labor	47,613	41.1%
Tom Sefton	Liberal	43,919	37.9%
Julie Melrose	Greens	14,691	12.7%
Damian Maher	Independent	4,756	4.1%
Tony Hanley	Palmer United Party	3,725	3.2%
Nicole Burt	Independent	1,264	1.1%

2016

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Gai Brodtmann	Labor	55,091	42.8%
Jessica Adelan-Langford	Liberal	48,416	37.6%
Patricia Cahill	Greens	19,200	14.9%
Christopher Bucknell	Independent	6,013	4.7%

2019

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Alicia Payne	Labor	34,989	40.5%
Mina Zaki	Liberal	24,063	27.8%
Tim Hollo	Greens	20,144	23.3%
Tim Bohm	Independent	4,062	4.7%
Robert Knight	Independent	1,784	2.1%
Greg De Maine	United Australia Party	1,361	1.6%

Margin Over Time

Final (after-preferences) winning margin, percentage points, coloured by the winning party.

Trend

Canberra has been contested at 18 federal elections on record since 1974. Winning parties over that span: Labor, Liberal.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won Canberra in the 2019 federal election?

Alicia Payne (Labor) won Canberra in 2019 after preferences, with 57,961 votes (67.1%) to Mina Zaki's 28,442.

Which parties have won Canberra since 1974?

Since 1974, Canberra has been won by: Labor, Liberal.

What was the closest result in Canberra?

The closest result on record for Canberra was 1977, when John Haslem (Liberal) beat Henry Lawrence by 1,082 votes (1.9 percentage points) after preferences.