Australian federal election, 1974
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Federal elections were 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 Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister of Australia Gough Whitlam defeated the opposition Liberal Party of Australia led by Billy Snedden and Coalition partner the Country Party led by Doug Anthony.
| Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
| Australian Labor Party | 3,644,110 | 49.30 | -0.29 | 66 | -1 | |
| Liberal Party of Australia | 2,582,968 | 34.95 | +2.91 | 40 | +2 | |
| Country Party | 736,252 | 9.96 | +0.53 | 21 | +1 | |
| Australia Party | 172,176 | 2.33 | -0.09 | 0 | 0 | |
| Democratic Labor Party | 104,974 | 1.42 | -3.83 | 0 | 0 | |
| Other | 150,526 | 2.04 | 0 | |||
| Total | 7,391,006 | 127 | +2 | |||
| Australian Labor Party | WIN | 51.70 | -1.00 | 66 | -1 | |
| Liberal/Country coalition | 48.30 | +1.00 | 61 | +3 |
| Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats Won | Seats Held | |
| Australian Labor Party | 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 | 516,919 | 7.82 | -9.80 | 12 | 23 | |
| Democratic Labor Party | 235,343 | 3.56 | -7.55 | 0 | 0 | |
| Australia Party | 92,107 | 1.39 | -1.51 | 0 | 0 | |
| Country Party* | 85,719 | 1.30 | +0.24 | 1 | 6 | |
| Liberal Movement | 63,032 | 0.95 | * | 1 | 1 | |
| Independents | 121,396 | 1.84 | +0.13 | 1 | 1 | |
| Other | 71,856 | 1.09 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total | 6,612,385 | 60 | 60 |
Independents: Michael Townley (Liberal Party from Feb 1975)
- 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 Thomas Drake-Brockman, who represented the CP, on election to parliament.
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[edit] Background and Issues
Gough Whitlam had been an active prime minister, and his government had pursued many socially progressive reforms and policies over its first term but received a hostile reception from the coalition/DLP-controlled Senate, with the last elections held in 1970. Following an attempt by Whitlam to create an extra Senate vacancy in Queensland by appointing former DLP Leader, Senator Vince Gair, as Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, 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 Sir Paul Hasluck a double dissolution under section 57 of the Constitution. 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 in 1974 pursuant to section 57 of the Constitution. It was held three months after the election, and it enabled the six bills which had been twice rejected by the Senate to be passed. The Health Insurance bills were both passed on party lines, 95 to 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. Northern Territory Country Party Senator, Sam Calder, supported the Territory Senators legislation, though he opposed the ACT being given added representation. [1]
[edit] Senate Numbers
[edit] 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 of the Liberal Movement, and Michael Townley, a conservative independent.
The Democratic Labor Party lost all five of its Senate seats.
[edit] Subsequent Changes
In February 1975, Townley joined the Liberal party.
Later in 1975, Coalition premiers would break longstanding convention by replacing outgoing ALP senators Lionel Murphy and Bert Milliner with independent Cleaver Bunton and only nominally ALP Albert Field. 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 Australian constitutional crisis of 1975.
[edit] References
- AustralianPolitics.com 1974 election details
- University of WA election results in Australia since 1890
- AEC 2PP vote
- Prior to 1984 the AEC did not undertake a full distribution of preferences for statistical purposes. The stored ballot papers for the 1983 election were put through this process prior to their destruction. Therefore the figures from 1983 onwards show the actual result based on full distribution of preferences.
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