1988 Groom by-election
A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Groom on 9 April 1988. It was triggered by the resignation of National Party MP Tom McVeigh.
The by-election was won by Liberal Party candidate Bill Taylor.
A month before the poll, Taylor was publicly backed by former Queensland premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, who had been forced to resign as premier several months earlier, after losing the support of his National Party colleagues. Bjelke-Petersen said the Nationals had lost their way and turned their backs on traditional conservative policies.
Candidates
- Australian Democrats - Mark Carew, the party's 1987 candidate.
- Australian Labor Party - Linda Dwyer, the party's 1987 candidate.
- Liberal Party of Australia - Bill Taylor, an officer in the Royal Australian Navy.
- National Party of Australia - David Russell.
- Independent - Peter Consandine, republican campaigner who later founded the Republican Party of Australia.
- Independent - Vincent Burke. Burke later contested the Australian Senate as an ungrouped independent in 1990.