1974 Australian federal election

none February 2018 March 2023 1974 Australian federal election Australia parliamentary no 1972 Australian federal election 1972 1975 Australian federal election 1975 Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1972–1974 Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1974–1975 7,897,506 11.64% 7,535,768 (95.42%)(0.04 pp) All 127 seats of the House of Representatives 64 seats were needed for a majority in the House All 60 seats of the Senate 18 May 1974 Image:Gough Whitlam at the Lodge 1974 (cropped).jpg 190x190px Gough Whitlam 8 February 1967 Australian Labor Party Werriwa (NSW) 67 seats 66 seats 1 3,644,110 49.30% 0.29 51.70% 1.00 Image:Billy Snedden 1973 (1).jpg Billy Snedden 5 December 1972 Liberal Party of Australia LiberalCountry Coalition Bruce (Vic.) 58 seats 61 seats 3 3,379,545 45.73% 4.25 48.30% 1.00 TPP TPP swing 1974 Australian federal election.svg 350px Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory. Prime Minister Gough Whitlam Australian Labor Party Subsequent Prime Minister Gough Whitlam Australian Labor Party Primary A federal election was held in Australia on 18 May 1974. All 127 seats in the House of Representatives and all 60 seats in the Senate were up for election, due to a double dissolution. The incumbent Labor Party led by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam defeated the opposition Liberal–Country coalition led by Billy Snedden. This marked the first time that a Labor leader won two consecutive elections. Prior to the election the voting age had been reduced from 21 to 18 years. The election was held in conjunction with four referendum questions, none of which were carried. Future Prime Minister John Howard entered parliament at this election. Snedden became the first Liberal Leader not to serve as prime minister. Background and issues Gough Whitlam had been an active prime minister since his party's victory in the 1972 election, and his government had pursued many socially progressive reforms and policies over its first term. However, it suffered through the 1973 oil crisis and the 1973–75 recession and received a hostile reception from the coalition/DLP-controlled Senate, with the last Senate election held in 1970. Following an attempt by Whitlam to create an extra Senate vacancy in Queensland by appointing former Democratic Labor Party (DLP) Leader, Senator Vince Gair, as Ambassador to Ireland, Snedden announced that the opposition would block the Government's supply bills in the Senate. After a great deal of legalistic argumentation in both houses about the Gair Affair, and justified by the failure of six (non-supply) bills to pass the Senate, Whitlam requested and was granted by Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck a double dissolution under section 57 of the Constitution. The already-announced election date of 18 May was kept. The election focused on Whitlam's first 1 1 2 years in office and whether the Australian public was willing to continue with his reform agenda. Electoral system Members of the House of Representatives were elected one per division (electoral district) using full-preferential instant-runoff voting. Senators were elected by single transferable vote and proportional representation. In states senators are elected from state-wide six-member districts, and in territories from territory-wide two-member districts. All candidates have to be ranked or the vote is rejected. Results House of Representatives results Results of the 1974 Australian federal election (House of Representatives) right|thumb|250px|Government (66) Labor darkgray Labor (66) Opposition (61) Coalition Liberal darkgray Liberal (40) National darkgray Country (21) + House of Reps (IRV) – 1974–75 – Turnout 95.42% (CV) – Informal 1.92%alt=|center|300x300px Party First preference votes % Swing Seats Change   Labor 3,644,110 49.30 −0.29 66 −1   Liberal–Country coalition 3,379,545 45.73 +4.25 61 +3   Liberal 2,582,968 34.95 +2.91 40 +2   Country 736,252 9.96 +0.52 21 +1   National Alliance100px 60,325 0.82 * 0 -2   Australia 172,176 2.33 −0.09 0 0   Democratic Labor 104,974 1.42 −3.83 0 0   Liberal Movement 57,817 0.78 * 0 0   Socialist 1,132 0.02 +0.00 0 0   Republican 934 0.01 * 0 0   Communist 539 0.01 –0.11 0 0   Independents 29,779 0.40 –0.56 0 0   Total 7,391,006     127 +2 Two-party-preferred (estimated)   Labor Win 51.70 −1.00 66 −1   Liberal–Country coalition   48.30 +1.00 61 +3 Notes The National Alliance was an electoral alliance of the Country Party and the Democratic Labor Party in Western Australia. It defended two seats that had elected the Country Party in 1972 but lost them both. First preference vote var(--background-color-interactive) 600px 410px Labor Australian Labor Party 49.30 Liberal Liberal Party of Australia 34.95 Country/NA National Party of Australia 10.78 Australia #F4940D 2.33 DLP #008080 1.42 Other #777777 2.04 Two-party-preferred vote var(--background-color-interactive) 600px 410px Labor Australian Labor Party 51.70 Coalition Coalition (Australia) 48.30 Parliament seats var(--background-color-interactive) 600px 410px Labor Australian Labor Party 51.97 Coalition Coalition (Australia) 48.03 Senate results right|thumb|250px|Government (29) Labor darkgray Labor (29) Opposition (29) Coalition Liberal darkgray Liberal (23) National darkgray Country (6) Crossbench (2) Liberal Movement darkgray Liberal Movement (1) Independent darkgray Independent (1) + Senate (STV) – 1974–75 – Turnout 95.50% (CV) – Informal 10.77%alt=|center|300x300px Party First preference votes % Swing Seats won Seats held Change   Labor 3,127,197 47.29 +5.08 29 29 +3   Liberal–Country coalition 2,901,454 43.88 +5.70 29 29 +3   Liberal–Country joint ticket 2,298,816 34.77 +15.26 16 * *   Liberal 516,919 7.82 −9.79 12 23 +2   National Alliance 55,301 0.84 +0.84 1 * *   Country 30,418 0.46 –0.60 0 6 +1   Democratic Labor 235,343 3.56 −7.55 0 0 –5   Australia 92,107 1.39 −1.51 0 0 0   Liberal Movement 63,032 0.95 * 1 1 +1   National Liberal 23,965 0.36 * 0 0 0   Communist 20,583 0.31 * 0 0 0   United Christian 3,977 0.06 * 0 0 0   United Tasmania 2,051 0.03 * 0 0 0   National Socialist 1,810 0.03 –0.40 0 0 0   Republican 484 0.01 * 0 0 0   Social Credit 379 0.01 * 0 0 0   Independents 140,003 2.12 +0.41 1 1 –2   Total 6,612,385     60 60 Notes The Country Party (CP) contested the elections in Western Australia as the National Alliance (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 sat with the CP on election to parliament. Independent: Michael Townley (Liberal Party from Feb 1975) The NSW portion of this vote was telling of the disadvantages of requiring the marking of preferences for all the candidates. NSW voters faced a list of 73 candidate for the state's 12 seats. Twelve percent of Labour voters cast improper votes that were rejected. The final seat was taken by a candidate that received only about one percent of the vote. The result across the country was 29 Liberal/National, 29 Labour and two others holding the balance of power.Bowler and Grofman, Elections in Australia, Ireland and Malta, p. 44 Seats changing hands Seat Pre-1974 Swing Post-1974 Party Member Margin Margin Member Party Canning, WA  National Alliance John Hallett N/A 26.1 14.3 Mel Bungey Liberal  Henty, Vic  Liberal Max Fox 0.3 1.8 1.5 Joan Child Labor  Hume, NSW  Labor Frank Olley 1.9 2.6 0.7 Stephen Lusher Country  Isaacs, Vic  Liberal David Hamer 1.1 1.7 0.6 Gareth Clayton Labor  Lilley, Qld  Labor Frank Doyle 0.0 1.0 1.0 Kevin Cairns Liberal  Mitchell, NSW  Labor Alfred Ashley-Brown 1.2 2.7 1.5 Alan Cadman Liberal  Moore, WA  National Alliance Don Maisey N/A 1.4 10.5 John Hyde Liberal  Riverina, NSW  Labor Al Grassby 6.9 7.7 0.8 John Sullivan Country  Wide Bay, Qld  Labor Brendan Hansen 3.3 6.8 3.5 Clarrie Millar Country  Aftermath Election result The Whitlam government had been re-elected with their majority in the House of Representatives reduced from 9 to 5 seats, while they gained 5 seats in the Senate. The ALP and the coalition each won 29 seats in the 60 member Senate, with the balance of power held by Steele Hall of the Liberal Movement, and Michael Townley, a conservative independent. The Democratic Labor Party, which had been rendered obsolete by the election of the Whitlam government in 1972, lost all five of its Senate seats.Fred Daly, From Curtin to Kerr, 1977, Sun Books, Sydney. Al Grassby, who was Minister for Immigration in the Labor Whitlam government, lost his seat. Grassby's actions as immigration minister attracted criticism from anti-immigration groups, led by the Immigration Control Association, which targeted his electorate in a campaign at the May 1974 election. Partly as a result, Grassby was defeated by the National Party candidate, John Sullivan, by just 792 votes. Grassby and his supporters accused these groups of mounting a smear campaign against him. Whitlam government minister Al Grassby dies The Sydney Morning Herald 23 April 2005 http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Whitlam-government-minister-Al-Grassby-dies/2005/04/23/1114152357786.html 2010-08-06 Joint sitting The re-elected Whitlam government's failure again to gain a majority in the Senate led to the 1974 joint sitting, 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 supported the three Electoral bills, citing his experience as Liberal Premier of South Australia, where he had fought his own party in an effort to improve unequal electoral arrangements dubbed the Playmander. Northern Territory Country Party MP Sam Calder supported the Territory Senators legislation, though he opposed the ACT being given added representation.http://wopared.parl.net/Library/pubs/rn/2004-05/05rn07.htm The 1974 joint sitting of Parliament: Thirty years on 2007-10-17 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20070929125059/http://wopared.parl.net/Library/pubs/rn/2004-05/05rn07.htm 29 September 2007 Subsequent changes In February 1975, the independent senator Michael Townley joined the Liberal party. This gave the Coalition 30 out of 60 Senators, with 29 Labor and 1 Liberal Movement (Steele Hall). Later in 1975, two Coalition premiers would break longstanding convention in the replacement of two ALP senators. Lionel Murphy, who had resigned to take up an appointment to the High Court, was replaced by independent Cleaver Bunton; and Bertie Milliner, who had died, was replaced by Albert Field, an ALP member who was opposed to Whitlam. Bunton (along with Hall) refused to vote against supply, but Field was prepared to. Field took his seat in the Senate as an independent on 9 September. Due to a High Court challenge to his appointment, he was on leave from the Senate, unable to exercise a vote, from 1 October 1975, which reduced the number of sitting senators to 59. This gave the Coalition an effective majority, holding 30 of the 59, allowing them to block supply in the Senate to pave the way for the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. See also Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1974 Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1974–1975 Members of the Australian Senate, 1974–1975 References Bibliography AustralianPolitics.com 1974 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 Category:Federal elections in Australia Category:Gough Whitlam