1975 Australian federal election

none November 2015 November 2015 1975 Australian federal election Australia parliamentary no 1974 Australian federal election 1974 1977 Australian federal election 1977 Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1974–1975 Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1975–1977 8,262,413 4.62% 7,881,873 (95.39%)(0.03 pp) All 127 seats of the House of Representatives 64 seats were needed for a majority in the House All 64 seats of the Senate 13 December 1975 Image:Malcolm_Fraser_1974_(cropped).jpg 190x190px Malcolm Fraser 21 March 1975 Liberal Party of Australia LiberalNational Country Wannon (Vic.) 61 seats 91 seats 30 4,102,078 53.05% 7.32 Image:Gough Whitlam headshot.jpg Gough Whitlam 8 February 1967 Australian Labor Party Werriwa (NSW) 66 seats 36 seats 30 3,313,004 42.84% 6.46 TPP TPP swing 55.70% 7.40 44.30% 7.40 1975 Australian federal election.svg 350px Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory. Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser Liberal/NCP coalition Subsequent Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser Liberal/NCP coalition Primary A federal election was held in Australia on 13 December 1975. All 127 seats in the House of Representatives and all 64 seats in the Senate were up for election, due to a double dissolution. Malcolm Fraser had been commissioned as caretaker prime minister following the dismissal of Gough Whitlam's three-year-old Labor government by Governor-General Sir John Kerr, on 11 November 1975. The same day, Fraser advised an immediate double dissolution, in accordance with Kerr's stipulated conditions (see 1975 Australian constitutional crisis). The Coalition of Fraser's Liberal Party of Australia and Doug Anthony's National Country Party secured government in its own right, winning the largest majority government to date in Australian history.While the Coalition under John Howard and Labor under Anthony Albanese won 94 seats in 1996 and 2025 respectively, this only accounted for 63.51% and 62.66% of all seats in the House of Representatives, as there were 148 seats in 1996 and 150 in 2025. The Coalition under Fraser won 91 seats, which, although smaller than 94, accounted for 71.65% of the House of Representatives, which had 127 seats in 1975. Therefore, while Howard and Albanese won three more seats than Fraser in 1996 and 2025, Fraser still won a larger majority. The Liberals actually won a majority in their own right, with 68 seats–the first time that the main non-Labor party had done so since adopting the Liberal banner in 1944. Although Fraser had no need for the support of the National Country Party, the Coalition was retained. It was also the first time a party won over 90 seats at an Australian election. This is the last federal election that any party has won more than 50% of the primary (first preference) vote. Labor suffered a 30-seat swing and saw its lower house caucus cut almost in half, to 36 seats—fewer than it had when Whitlam became leader in the aftermath of the Coalition landslide nearly 10 years earlier, in the 1966 election. With only 28% of the House of Representatives seats, this was the worst seat share for Labor since the current Liberal-Labor party contest from 1946. The fact that Whitlam was already a former prime minister coming into this election has often been overlooked or forgotten with Whitlam seemingly treated as the incumbent at this election in retrospectives. __TOC__ Results House of Representatives results Results of the 1975 Australian federal election (House of Representatives) right|thumb|250px|Government (91) Coalition Liberal darkgray Liberal (68) National darkgray NCP (22) Country Liberal Party darkgray CLP (1) Opposition (36) Labor darkgray Labor (36) + House of Reps (IRV) – 1975–77—Turnout 95.39% (CV) – Informal 1.89%alt=|center|300x300px Party First preference votes % Swing Seats Change   Liberal–NCP coalition 4,102,078 53.05 +7.32 91 +30   Liberal 3,232,159 41.80 +6.85 68 +28   National Country100px 853,943 11.04 +0.28 22 +1   Country Liberal 15,976 0.21 +0.21 1 +1   Labor 3,313,004 42.84 −6.46 36 −30   Democratic Labor 101,750 1.32 −0.10 0 0   Workers 60,130 0.78 +0.78 0 0   Liberal Movement 49,484 0.64 –0.14 0 0   Australia 33,630 0.43 −1.89 0 0   Communist 9,393 0.12 +0.11 0 0   Independent 63,109 0.82 +0.42 0 0   Total 7,732,578     127   Two-party-preferred (estimated)   Liberal–NCP coalition Win 55.70 +7.40 91 +30   Labor   44.30 −7.40 36 −30 First preference vote var(--background-color-interactive) 600px 410px Labor Australian Labor Party 42.84 Liberal Liberal Party of Australia 41.80 National National Party of Australia 11.25 DLP #008080 1.32 Other #777777 2.79 Two-party-preferred vote var(--background-color-interactive) 600px 410px Coalition Coalition (Australia) 55.70 Labor Australian Labor Party 44.30 Parliament seats var(--background-color-interactive) 600px 410px Coalition Coalition (Australia) 71.65 Labor Australian Labor Party 28.35 Senate results right|thumb|250px|Government (35) Coalition Liberal darkgray Liberal (26) National darkgray NCP (8) Country Liberal Party darkgray CLP (1) Opposition (27) Labor darkgray Labor (27) Crossbench (2) Liberal Movement darkgray Liberal Movement (1) Independent darkgray Independent (1) + Senate (STV) – 1975–77—Turnout 95.39% (CV) – Informal 9.10%alt=|center|300x300px Party First preference votes % Swing Seats won Seats held Change   Liberal–NCP coalition (total) 3,706,989 51.74 +7.85 35 35 +6   Liberal–NCP joint ticket 2,855,721 39.86 +5.09 17 * *   Liberal 793,772 11.08 +3.26 16 26 +3   National Country 41,977 0.59 −0.71 1 8 +2   Country Liberal 15,519 0.22 +0.22 1 1 +1   Labor 2,931,310 40.91 −6.38 27 27 −2   Democratic Labor 191,049 2.67 −0.89 0 0 0   Liberal Movement 76,426 1.07 +0.11 1 1 0   Workers 62,385 0.87 +0.87 0 0 0   Family Movement 45,658 0.64 +0.64 0 0 0   Australia 34,632 0.48 –0.91 0 0 0   United Tasmania 1,227 0.02 –0.01 0 0 0   Socialist 727 0.01 +0.01 0 0 0   Independents 114,310 1.60 –0.52 1 1 0   Total 7,164,713     64 64 +4 Notes Independent: Brian Harradine (Tasmania) Seats changing hands Seat Pre-1975 Swing Post-1975 Party Member Margin Margin Member Party Barton, NSW  Labor Len Reynolds 5.1 10.0 4.9 Jim Bradfield Liberal  Bowman, Qld  Labor Len Keogh 1.3 8.4 7.1 David Jull Liberal  Braddon, Tas  Labor Ron Davies 4.8 8.6 3.8 Ray Groom Liberal  Brisbane, Qld  Labor Manfred Cross 1.1 5.0 3.9 Peter Johnson Liberal  Canberra, ACT  Labor Kep Enderby 7.1 10.4 3.3 John Haslem Liberal  Capricornia, Qld  Labor Doug Everingham 4.9 5.0 0.1 Colin Carige National Country  Casey, Vic  Labor Race Mathews 1.5 9.0 7.5 Peter Falconer Liberal  Cook, NSW  Labor Ray Thorburn 0.5 8.3 7.8 Don Dobie Liberal  Dawson, Qld  Labor Rex Patterson 0.6 4.2 3.6 Ray Braithwaite National Country  Denison, Tas  Labor John Coates 2.8 7.7 4.9 Michael Hodgman Liberal  Diamond Valley, Vic  Labor David McKenzie 0.7 9.8 9.1 Neil Brown Liberal  Eden-Monaro, NSW  Labor Bob Whan 0.1 5.6 5.5 Murray Sainsbury Liberal  Evans, NSW  Labor Allan Mulder 4.9 6.9 2.0 John Abel Liberal  Franklin, Tas  Labor Ray Sherry 12.9 14.7 1.8 Bruce Goodluck Liberal  Henty, Vic  Labor Joan Child 1.5 6.7 5.2 Ken Aldred Liberal  Holt, Vic  Labor Max Oldmeadow 6.9 8.5 1.6 William Yates Liberal  Isaacs, Vic  Labor Gareth Clayton 0.6 7.5 6.9 David Hamer Liberal  Kalgoorlie, WA  Labor Fred Collard 2.1 6.3 4.3 Mick Cotter Liberal  Kingston, SA  Labor Richard Gun 6.1 12.7 6.6 Grant Chapman Liberal  La Trobe, Vic  Labor Tony Lamb 4.6 8.9 4.3 Marshall Baillieu Liberal  Leichhardt, Qld  Labor Bill Fulton 3.3 5.7 2.4 David Thomson National Country  Macarthur, NSW  Labor John Kerin 4.4 8.5 4.1 Michael Baume Liberal  Macquarie, NSW  Labor Tony Luchetti 8.7 10.3 1.6 Reg Gillard Liberal  McMillan, Vic  National Country Arthur Hewson N/A 2.1 6.7 Barry Simon Liberal  Perth, WA  Labor Joe Berinson 8.2 9.0 0.8 Ross McLean Liberal  Phillip, NSW  Labor Joe Riordan 4.5 7.1 2.6 Jack Birney Liberal  St George, NSW  Labor Bill Morrison 5.8 5.8 0.0 Maurice Neil Liberal  Swan, WA  Labor Adrian Bennett 5.6 7.7 2.1 John Martyr Liberal  Tangney, WA  Labor John Dawkins 3.1 9.7 6.6 Peter Richardson Liberal  Wilmot, TAS  Labor Gil Duthie 2.7 8.0 5.3 Max Burr Liberal  Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election. Issues and significance right|thumb|300px|The Gallagher Index result: 14.19 The election followed the dismissal of the Whitlam government by Governor-General Sir John Kerr in the 1975 constitutional crisis. Labor campaigners hoped that the electorate would "maintain [its] rage" and punish the Coalition for its part in bringing down the government, proclaiming "Shame Fraser, Shame". However, the Coalition focused on economic issues following the 1973 oil crisis and 1973–75 recession, the Loans Affair, alleged Labor mismanagement of inflation, and campaigned under the slogan "Turn on the lights, Australia" (drawing on a contemporary cynicism: "Would the last businessman leaving Australia please turn out the lights?").Twomey Anne 19 April 2017 Australian politics explainer: Gough Whitlam's dismissal as prime minister The Conversation https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-gough-whitlams-dismissal-as-prime-minister-74148 live 23 August 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230823064145/https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-gough-whitlams-dismissal-as-prime-minister-74148 23 August 20231975 Federal Election https://australianpolitics.com/elections/federal-1975 live https://web.archive.org/web/20230823065523/https://australianpolitics.com/elections/federal-1975 Malcolm Farnsworth 23 August 2023 23 August 2023 AustralianPolitics.com Printers at News Limited went on strike to protest against anti-Labor editorials in the company's papers. News Limited's support for Fraser and the Liberals during the campaign resulted in its journalists conducting a two-day strike beginning on 8 December 1975 in protest at "bias and dishonesty" in the company’s coverage of the election.Griffen-Foley Bridget From murky beginnings, Fraser became a friend of diverse media https://theconversation.com/from-murky-beginnings-fraser-became-a-friend-of-diverse-media-39179 The Conversation 10 November 2025 23 March 2015Van Heekeren Margaret Strikes (Journalists' and Printers') AustLit: Discover Australian Stories https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/9566586 www.austlit.edu.au 10 November 2025 en The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory received an entitlement to elect two senators each as a consequence of the Senate (Representation of Territories) Act 1973, passed during the 1974 Joint Sitting of the Australian Parliament. See also Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1975 Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1975–1977 Members of the Australian Senate, 1975–1978 Notes References External links AustralianPolitics.com 1975 election details University of WA https://web.archive.org/web/20150118085343/http://elections.uwa.edu.au/ 18 January 2015 election results in Australia since 1890 AEC 2PP vote Federal Federal election Federal election Category:Federal elections in Australia Category:Gough Whitlam Category:Malcolm Fraser