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.