The 1996 Blaxland by-election was held in the Australian electorate of Blaxland in New South Wales on 15 June 1996. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of the sitting member, the Australian Labor Party's Paul Keating on 23 April 1996. The writ for the by-election was issued on 13 May 1996.

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1996 Blaxland by-election

15 June 1996

First party Second party Third party   Candidate Michael Hatton John Hutchinson Peter John Krumins Party Labor Reclaim Australia AAFI Popular vote 37,804 5,771 8,759 Percentage 58.83% 8.98% 13.63% Swing 0.12 8.98 10.88 TPP 69.06% 30.94% TPP swing 6.08 30.94

MP before election Paul Keating Labor Elected MP Michael Hatton Labor

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Blaxland had been held since 1969 by Paul Keating, who had been Treasurer under Bob Hawke from 1983, until he defeated Hawke in a leadership challenge in December 1991, becoming Prime Minister of Australia. Keating went on to defeat John Hewson at the 1993 election, but three years later the ALP was defeated in a landslide victory by a resurgent Coalition led by John Howard at the 1996 election on 2 March. Following the party's election loss, Keating immediately resigned as party leader, and several weeks later, resigned from the Parliament.^[1]

The Australian Labor Party retained the seat with an increased majority, with Michael Hatton as their candidate. The Liberal Party of Australia declined to run a candidate, and this saw a rise in the vote for two minor anti-immigration parties: Australians Against Further Immigration and Reclaim Australia: Reduce Immigration, which came second and third in the popular vote. On a two-party preferred basis, RARI gained their best ever result in an election, gaining over 30% of the vote on preferences.

• List of Australian federal by-elections