Talk:Leadership spill

What is a "Spill"?
What's the etymology of the term? Mr Serjeant Buzfuz (talk) 00:40, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

+1 for interest in the answer. So far I failed to find anything about the etymology of the term. Amos Shapira 05:55, 7 February 2015 (UTC). The closest I could find so far is from option (3) in http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/spill: "Cause to fall off a horse or bicycle: the horse was wrenched off course, spilling his rider", but that's far from being authoritative.

"Destroy/waste", "split in pieces", and "let fall or let run out" seem to be the main meanings, with the first two unusual in modern use.

Is there a game in which cards or pieces are intentionally spilled, after which they will be rearranged?

I'm pretty sure I've seen "spill" used to refer to a small piece of split wood; were those ever a kind of voting mark? TooManyFingers (talk) 18:18, 30 September 2021 (UTC)


 * A proper definition for this sense is apparently in the Macquarie Dictionary. I don't have access to that, but for someone who does it's a place to look. TooManyFingers (talk) 19:40, 30 September 2021 (UTC)

Expansion of scope?
The idea of a party's leadership being challenged can exist in any Westminster-style government, though it seems to be more common and more formalized in Australia. Should we expand the scope of this article to discuss the practice in multiple countries? —Arctic Gnome (talk • contribs) 20:51, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Identity of the Canberra Times writer
The word spill had its first recorded appearance in a Canberra Times article but this article itself lacks the name of its author. Is there anyway to find out know who this writer was and why he called it a spill. 122.106.83.10 (talk) 15:29, 14 September 2018 (UTC)

Spill used in non-political context
The word spill is not only used in Australian politics but in other aspects of Australian life including in business and sports. Should this article covered the word spill with the same meaning used in the non-political context. 122.106.83.10 (talk) 15:32, 14 September 2018 (UTC)

Unsuccessful spill motions - include or not?
In the "Notable spills" we list several events that were not spills, i.e. failed spill motions. These are Abbott Feb 2015, Rann 2011, McGowan 2016, Barnett 2016. Note that we include Crean Dec 2003 and Rann 2011 as "semi-voluntary" resignations but we don't include the leadership elections after the resignations of Barnaby Joyce, Barry O'Farrell, Luke Foley, etc. (slightly different circumstances but broadly similar). Should these be included in the notable spills section? I would lean towards removing them. Ivar the Boneful (talk) 15:33, 3 December 2018 (UTC)
 * I would differentiate those based on the fact that the latter involved a resignation for other reasons than a challenger waiting in the wings. Also, the first Keating challenge failed as did some of the challenges to Gillard, but they are still notable spills. If the consensus is to remove them then maybe they could be added to a broader "Leadership elections in Australia" article? Goldcactus (talk) 22:41, 3 December 2018 (UTC)
 * What I mean by "failed spill motion" is where the vote to have a vote failed, i.e. the leadership was never actually declared vacant. This is different from a failed challenge where a vote was held but the incumbent won. Ivar the Boneful (talk) 05:25, 4 December 2018 (UTC)
 * How about renaming the section "Notable spill motions"? The first Abbott one was an important prelude to the successful second one for example. Goldcactus (talk) 10:25, 4 December 2018 (UTC)

"leadership election" is non-existent in the Australian language.

If you don't think spill is the right word then I strongly suggest referring to either as a leadership ballot or a leadership contest.

Calling it a leadership election is absolutely absurd and a misrepresentation of how Australians speak. 122.106.83.10 (talk) 02:39, 17 January 2019 (UTC)