1975 Bass by-election

April 2024 April 2022 Tasmania parliamentary no 28 June 1975 First preference Kevin Newman Liberal Party of Australia 24,638 57.6% 11.6pp John Macrostie Australian Labor Party 15,609 36.5% 17.5pp TPP TPP swing 60.3% 14.3pp 39.7 14.3pp MP Lance Barnard Australian Labor Party Kevin Newman Liberal Party of Australia A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Bass on 28 June 1975. This was triggered by the resignation of Labor Party MP and former Deputy Prime Minister Lance Barnard. The by-election was won by Liberal Party candidate Kevin Newman. Newman's victory came as something of a surprise. Barnard had held the seat since 1954 and had usually skated to reelection. However, in the by-election, Labor's primary vote plummeted by more than 17 percent, and Newman took the seat off Labor with a resounding 60 percent of the two-party vote. Newman actually won 57.6 percent of the primary vote, enough to win the seat outright. The shock loss of Bass is widely reckoned as the beginning of the end for Gough Whitlam, whose government was dismissed from office six months later. Results [[1975 Bass by-election]]http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/1974/1974repsby.txt By-Elections 1974-1975 Psephos Adam Carr's Election Archive 2022-05-24 Kevin Newman Liberal 24,638 57.6 +11.6 John Macrostie Labor 15,609 36.5 −17.5 Violet Petrovsky United Tasmania Group 1,272 3.0 +3.0 Paul Kent Independent 904 2.1 +2.1 Marcus Aussie-Stone Independent 243 0.6 +0.6 Syd Negus Independent 124 0.3 +0.3 43,814 98.2 +0.2 773 1.8 −0.2 43,563 93.2 −2.0 Liberal Kevin Newman 60.3 +14.3 Labor John Macrostie 39.7 −14.3 Liberal Labor +14.3 See also List of Australian federal by-elections References Category:1975 elections in Australia Category:Tasmanian federal by-elections Category:1970s in Tasmania Category:June 1975 in Australia