Australian federal election, 1974 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Federal elections were held in Australia on 18 May 1974. All 127 seats in the House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

, and all 60 seats in the Senate

Australian Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

were up for election, due to a double dissolution

Double dissolution

A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the Australian Constitution to resolve deadlocks between the House of Representatives and the Senate....

. The incumbent Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

led by Prime Minister of Australia

Prime Minister of Australia

The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...

Gough Whitlam

Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before being dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the...

defeated the opposition Liberal Party of Australia

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

led by Billy Snedden

Billy Snedden

Sir Billy Mackie Snedden, KCMG, QC was an Australian politician representing the Liberal Party. He was Leader of the Opposition at the 1974 federal election, failing to defeat the Labor incumbent Gough Whitlam.-Early life:...

and Coalition

Coalition (Australia)

The Coalition in Australian politics refers to a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922...

partner the Country Party led by Doug Anthony

Doug Anthony

John Douglas Anthony, AC, CH , is a former Australian politician. He was leader of the National Party from 1971 to 1984, and Deputy Prime Minister from 1971 to 1972 and again from 1975 to 1983.-Early life:...

House of Reps (IRV
Instant-runoff voting
Instant-runoff voting , also known as preferential voting, the alternative vote and ranked choice voting, is a voting system used to elect one winner. Voters rank candidates in order of preference, and their ballots are counted as one vote for their first choice candidate. If a candidate secures a...

) — 1974–75 — Turnout 95.42% (CV
Compulsory voting
Compulsory voting is a system in which electors are obliged to vote in elections or attend a polling place on voting day. If an eligible voter does not attend a polling place, he or she may be subject to punitive measures such as fines, community service, or perhaps imprisonment if fines are unpaid...

) — Informal 1.92%
Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
Australian Labor Party Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	3,644,110	49.30	−0.29	66	−1
Liberal Party of Australia Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	2,582,968	34.95	+2.91	40	+2
Country Party	736,252	9.96	+0.53	21	+1
Australia Party Australia Party The Australia Party was the name of a minor political party in Australia ....	172,176	2.33	−0.09	0	0
Democratic Labor Party Democratic Labor Party (historical) The Democratic Labor Party was an Australian political party that existed from 1955 until 1978.-History:The DLP was formed as a result of a split in the Australian Labor Party that began in 1954. The split was between the party's national leadership, under the then party leader Dr H.V...	104,974	1.42	−3.83	0	0
Other	150,526	2.04			0
Total	7,391,006			127	+2
Australian Labor Party Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	WIN	51.70	−1.00	66	−1
Liberal/Country coalition Coalition (Australia) The Coalition in Australian politics refers to a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922...		48.30	+1.00	61	+3

Senate (STV
Single transferable vote
The single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...

) — 1974–75 — Turnout 95.50% (CV
Compulsory voting
Compulsory voting is a system in which electors are obliged to vote in elections or attend a polling place on voting day. If an eligible voter does not attend a polling place, he or she may be subject to punitive measures such as fines, community service, or perhaps imprisonment if fines are unpaid...

) — Informal 10.77%
Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held
Australian Labor Party Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	3,127,197	47.29	+5.08	29	29
Liberal/Country (Joint Ticket)	2,298,816	34.77	+15.26	16
Liberal Party of Australia Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	516,919	7.82	−9.80	12	23
Democratic Labor Party Democratic Labor Party (historical) The Democratic Labor Party was an Australian political party that existed from 1955 until 1978.-History:The DLP was formed as a result of a split in the Australian Labor Party that began in 1954. The split was between the party's national leadership, under the then party leader Dr H.V...	235,343	3.56	−7.55	0	0
Australia Party Australia Party The Australia Party was the name of a minor political party in Australia ....	92,107	1.39	−1.51	0	0
Country Party¹	85,719	1.30	+0.24	1	6
Liberal Movement	63,032	0.95		1	1
Independents Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... ²	121,396	1.84	+0.13	1	1
Other	71,856	1.09		0	0
Total	6,612,385			60	60

¹ The Country Party (CP) contested the elections in Western Australia as the National Alliance

National Alliance (Australia)

The National Alliance was an Australian political party of the early 1970s. The party was formed in Western Australia as a result of a merger between the WA Country Party and WA Democratic Labor Party . The National Alliance contested the WA state elections in March 1974, winning more than 8.5% of...

(NA), which was a merger of the CP and the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) in that state. The NA won a single Senate seat in WA, its elected representative being Tom Drake-Brockman, who represented the CP, on election to parliament.

² Independent: Michael Townley

Michael Townley (Australian politician)

Michael Townley is a former Tasmanian senator. He served both as an Independent and as a Liberal Party of Australia senator....

(Liberal Party

Liberal Party of Australia

from Feb 1975)

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1974				Swing	Post-1974
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	Margin	Member	Party
Canning, WA Division of Canning The Division of Canning is an Australian Electoral Division in Western Australia. The division was created in 1949 and is named for Alfred Canning, the Western Australian government surveyor who surveyed the Canning Stock Route...		National Alliance	John Hallett John Hallett (Australian politician) John Mead Hallett was an Australian politician. Born in Rexdale, a suburb of Toronto in Canada, his family moved to Australia in 1919 where he was educated at Guildford Grammar School in Perth, after which he became a farmer at Corrigin...	N/A	26.1	14.3	Mel Bungey Mel Bungey Melville Harold "Mel" Bungey is a retired Australian politician. Born in Gnowangerup, Western Australia, he was educated at Wesley College, Perth and the University of Western Australia before becoming a farmer. Later, he was Vice-President of the Wool Section in the Farmers' Union of Western...	Liberal
Henty, Vic Division of Henty The Division of Henty was an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division was created in 1913 and abolished in 1990. It was named for the Henty family of Portland, the first European settlers in Victoria. It was located in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, including at various times...		Liberal	Max Fox Max Fox Edmund Maxwell Cameron "Max" Fox, CBE was an Australian politician. Born in Melbourne, he was educated at state schools before becoming a clerk and a salesman. He served in the military 1942-45. In 1955, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Liberal member for Henty...	0.3	1.8	1.5	Joan Child Joan Child Gloria Joan Liles Child AO is a former Australian politician. She was the first, and so far only, woman to be Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives....	Labor
Hume, NSW Division of Hume The Division of Hume is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. The Division is located in the central part of the state, just north of the Australian Capital Territory. The Division covers a predominantly rural area, with agriculture and coal mining the main industries...		Labor	Frank Olley Frank Olley Frank Olley was an Australian politician. Born in Sydney, he was educated at Granville Technical College before becoming an electrical tradesman with the New South Wales State Electricity Commission. He was involved in local politics as a member of Yass Municipal Council...	1.9	2.6	0.7	Stephen Lusher Stephen Lusher Stephen Augustus Lusher was an Australian politician. Born in Sydney, he rose to become Assistant Federal Director of the Country Party National Secretariat. In 1974, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives, defeating Labor member Frank Olley for the seat of Hume...	Country
Isaacs, Vic Division of Isaacs The Division of Isaacs is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. It is located in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, on the eastern shores of Port Phillip Bay...		Liberal	David Hamer David Hamer David John Hamer, AM, DSC was an Australian politician. Born in Melbourne, he was educated at Geelong Grammar School and then the Royal Australian Naval College. He served in the Royal Australian Navy from 1940 to 1968. He was a lieutenant aboard during the battles of Leyte and Lingayen Gulf...	1.1	1.7	0.6	Gareth Clayton Gareth Clayton Gareth Clayton was an Australian politician. Born in Hampshire, England, he was educated at Liverpool University, and at Makerere University in Uganda. He became a teacher and a scientific officer for the Australian Road Research Board...	Labor
Lilley, Qld Division of Lilley The Division of Lilley is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was first proclaimed in 1913. The division is named after Sir Charles Lilley, a former Premier of Queensland and a former Chief Justice in the Supreme Court of Queensland....		Labor	Frank Doyle Frank Doyle (Australian politician) Francis Edward "Frank" Doyle was an Australian politician. Born in Oakey, Queensland, he was an engine driver and secretary of the Queensland branch of the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen before entering politics...	0.0	1.0	1.0	Kevin Cairns	Liberal
Mitchell, NSW Division of Mitchell The Division of Mitchell is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. It is located in the north-west suburbs of Sydney, and includes the entire suburbs of Baulkham Hills, Beaumont Hills, Bella Vista, Box Hill, Kellyville, Nelson and Winston Hills...		Labor	Alfred Ashley-Brown Alfred Ashley-Brown Alfred Ashley-Brown was an Australian politician. Born in Sydney, he was a company director, and served in the military 1942-45. A member of Blacktown City Council, he was the mayor from 1961–65 and 1968-71. In 1972, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Labor member for...	1.2	2.7	1.5	Alan Cadman Alan Cadman Alan Glyndwr Cadman, AM , Australian politician, was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from 18 May 1974 to 17 October 2007, representing the Division of Mitchell, New South Wales....	Liberal
Moore, WA Division of Moore The Division of Moore is an Australian electoral division in the state of Western Australia. Eligible voters within the Division elect a single representative, known as the member for Moore, to the Australian House of Representatives...		National Alliance	Donald Maisey Donald Maisey Donald William Maisey was an Australian politician. Born in Goomalling, Western Australia, he was educated at Wesley College in Perth before becoming a farmer and grazier at Dowerin. He was President of the Australian Wheatgrowers' Federation in 1954...	N/A	1.4	10.5	John Hyde John Hyde (Australian federal politician) John Martin Hyde is a former Australian politician. He was elected as the member for the Division of Moore in Western Australia for the Liberal Party....	Liberal
Riverina, NSW Division of Riverina The Division of Riverina is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. It is located in south-west rural New South Wales, generally following the Murrumbidgee River valley. It includes the cities of Wagga Wagga and Griffith as well as the towns of Junee, West Wyalong, Tumut,...		Labor	Al Grassby Al Grassby Albert Jaime Grassby, AM , Australian politician, was Minister for Immigration in the Whitlam Labor government. He initiated sweeping reforms in immigration, human rights, and is often known as the father of Australian "multiculturalism".-Early life and state politics:Born Albert Grassby in...	6.9	7.7	0.8	John Sullivan	Country
Wide Bay, Qld Division of Wide Bay The Division of Wide Bay is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election...		Labor	Brendan Hansen	3.3	6.8	3.5	Clarrie Millar	Country

Background and Issues

Gough Whitlam had been an active prime minister since his party's victory in the 1972 election

Australian federal election, 1972

Federal elections were held in Australia on 2 December 1972. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election. The Liberal Party of Australia had been in power since 1949, under Prime Minister of Australia William McMahon since March 1971 with coalition partner the Country Party...

, and his government had pursued many socially progressive reforms and policies over its first term. However, it received a hostile reception from the coalition/DLP

Democratic Labor Party

The Democratic Labor Party is a political party in Australia that espouses social conservatism and opposes neo-liberalism. The first "DLP" Senator in decades, party vice-president John Madigan was elected to the Australian Senate with 2.3 percent of the primary vote in Victoria at the 2010 federal...

-controlled Senate, with the last Senate election held in 1970

Australian Senate election, 1970

Half-senate elections were held in Australia on 21 November 1970.Independents: Reg Turnbull , Michael Townley , Syd Negus -See also:*Candidates of the Australian Senate election, 1970...

. Following an attempt by Whitlam to create an extra Senate vacancy in Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

by appointing former Democratic Labor Party

Democratic Labor Party

(DLP) Leader, Senator Vince Gair

Vince Gair

Vincent Clare "Vince" Gair was an Australian politician. He served as Premier of Queensland from 1952 until 1957, when his stormy relations with the trade union movement saw him expelled from the Australian Labor Party. He was elected to the Australian Senate and led the Democratic Labor Party...

, as Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

, Snedden announced that the opposition would block the Government's supply bills in the Senate. Justified by the failure of six (non-supply) bills to pass the Senate, Whitlam requested and was granted by Governor-General

Governor-General of Australia

The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...

Sir Paul Hasluck

Paul Hasluck

Sir Paul Meernaa Caedwalla Hasluck KG GCMG GCVO KStJ was an Australian historian, poet, public servant and politician, and the 17th Governor-General of Australia.-Early life:...

a double dissolution

Double dissolution

A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the Australian Constitution to resolve deadlocks between the House of Representatives and the Senate....

under section 57 of the Constitution

Constitution of Australia

The Constitution of Australia is the supreme law under which the Australian Commonwealth Government operates. It consists of several documents. The most important is the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia...

. The election focused on Whitlam's first one-and-a-half years in office and whether the Australian public was willing to continue with his reform agenda.

The re-elected Whitlam government's failure again to gain a majority in the Senate led to Australia's only joint sitting pursuant to section 57 of the Constitution. It was approved by the new governor-general Sir John Kerr after the bills were presented to the new parliament and were rejected a third time. It was held three months after the election, on 6–7 August, and it enabled the six bills that had been thrice rejected by the Senate to be passed. The Health Insurance bills were both passed on party lines, 95–92, the Petroleum and Minerals Authority legislation also passed on party lines, though with one Liberal Party member absent. Liberal Movement Senator Steele Hall

Steele Hall

Raymond Steele Hall was the 36th Premier of South Australia 1968-70, a senator for South Australia 1974-77, and federal member for the Division of Boothby 1981-96.-Biography:...

supported the three Electoral bills, citing his experience as Liberal Premier of South Australia

Premiers of South Australia

Before the 1890s when there was no formal party system in South Australia, MPs tended to have historical liberal or conservative beliefs. The liberals dominated government from 1893 to 1905 with Labor support, with the conservatives mostly in opposition. Labor took government with the support of...

, where he had fought his own party in an effort to improve unequal electoral arrangements dubbed the Playmander

Playmander

The Playmander was a form of electoral malapportionment in the Australian state of South Australia, in place from 1936 to 1968. It consisted of rural districts enjoying a 2-to-1 advantage in the state parliament, even though they contained less than half of the population, as well as a change from...

. Northern Territory Country Party MP, Sam Calder

Sam Calder

Stephen Edward "Sam" Calder AM, OBE was a decorated World War II flying ace, member of the Australian House of Representatives, and founder of the Northern Territory Country Liberal Party, one of the more successful political parties in Australia’s history.Calder was born in Melbourne, Victoria...

, supported the Territory Senators legislation, though he opposed the ACT being given added representation.

Election result

The Whitlam Government had been re-elected with a decreased majority in the lower house but an increase in the upper house. The ALP and the coalition each won 29 seats in the 60 member Senate, with the balance of power held by Steele Hall

Steele Hall

Raymond Steele Hall was the 36th Premier of South Australia 1968-70, a senator for South Australia 1974-77, and federal member for the Division of Boothby 1981-96.-Biography:...

of the Liberal Movement, and Michael Townley

Michael Townley (Australian politician)

Michael Townley is a former Tasmanian senator. He served both as an Independent and as a Liberal Party of Australia senator....

, a conservative independent.

The Democratic Labor Party

Democratic Labor Party (historical)

The Democratic Labor Party was an Australian political party that existed from 1955 until 1978.-History:The DLP was formed as a result of a split in the Australian Labor Party that began in 1954. The split was between the party's national leadership, under the then party leader Dr H.V...

lost all five of its Senate seats.

Subsequent changes

In February 1975, Townley joined the Liberal party.

Later in 1975, Coalition premiers would break longstanding convention in the replacement of two ALP senators. Lionel Murphy

Lionel Murphy

Lionel Keith Murphy, QC was an Australian politician and jurist who served as Attorney-General in the government of Gough Whitlam and as a Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1975 until his death.- Personal life :...

, who had resigned to take up an appointment to the High Court

High Court of Australia

The High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States, and...

, was replaced by independent Cleaver Bunton

Cleaver Bunton

Cleaver Ernest Bunton AO OBE was a long serving Mayor of Albury, New South Wales, Australia, who came to national prominence in 1975 when he was controversially appointed to the Senate.-Early life:...

; and Bertie Milliner

Bertie Milliner

Bertie Milliner was an Australian trade unionist, politician and Senator, representing the Australian Labor Party . He would have been a minor figure in Australia’s political history but for the events that followed his sudden death...

, who had died, was replaced by Albert Field

Albert Field

Albert Patrick Field was an Australian who was a French polisher plucked from obscurity to become a Senator in 1975. The circumstances of his appointment were instrumental in precipitating the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis.Queensland ALP Senator Bertie Milliner died suddenly on 30 June 1975...

, an ALP member who was opposed to Whitlam. Bunton (along with Hall) refused to vote against supply, but Field was prepared to. This gave the Coalition effectively a majority of 31 seats out of 60 (30 Coalition members plus Field). This allowed them to block supply in the Senate to pave the way for the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis.