Australian federal election, 1977

Australian federal election, 1977

1975 ← 10 December 1977 → 1980

All 124 seats of the Australian House of Representatives 63 seats were needed for a majority in the House 34 (of the 64) seats of the Australian Senate   First party Second party   Leader Malcolm Fraser Gough Whitlam Party Liberal/National coalition Labor Leader since 21 March 1975 8 February 1967 Leader's seat Wannon Werriwa Last election 91 seats 36 seats Seats won 86 seats 38 seats Seat change 5 2 Percentage 54.60% 45.40% Swing 1.10 1.10

Prime Minister before election Malcolm Fraser Liberal/National coalition Elected Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser Liberal/National coalition

Federal elections were held in Australia on 10 December 1977. All 124 seats in the House of Representatives, and 34 of the 64 seats in the Senate, were up for election.

The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Malcolm Fraser with coalition partner the National Country Party led by Doug Anthony, in government since 1975, was elected to a second term over the Australian Labor Party led by Gough Whitlam. While the Coalition suffered a five-seat swing, it still had a substantial 48-seat majority in the House. Whitlam was unable to recover much of the ground Labor had lost in its severe defeat of two years prior, and resigned as leader shortly after the election.

Results

House of Reps (IRV) — 1977–80—Turnout 95.08% (CV) — Informal 2.52%

	Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Australian Labor Party	3,141,051	39.65	−3.20	38	+2
	Liberal Party of Australia	3,017,896	38.09	−3.71	67	−1
	National Country Party	793,444	10.01	−1.24	19	−4
	Australian Democrats	743,365	9.38	*	0	0
	Other	227,098	2.87		0	0
	Total	7,922,854			124	−3
	Liberal/National coalition	WIN	54.60	−1.10	86	-5
	Australian Labor Party		45.40	+1.10	38	+2

Senate (STV) — 1977–80—Turnout 95.08% (CV) — Informal 9.00%

	Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held
	Australian Labor Party	2,718,876	36.76	−4.15	14	27
	Liberal/National (Joint Ticket)	2,533,882	34.26	−5.60	7
	Australian Democrats	823,550	11.13	*	2	2
	Liberal Party of Australia	783,878	10.60	−0.48	10	27
	National Country Party	36,619	0.50	−0.04	0	6
	Country Liberal Party	15,463	0.21	−0.01	1	1
	Independents	127,850	1.73	+0.13	0	1
	Other	356,089	4.81	+2.75	0	0
	Total	7,396,207			34	64

Independent: Brian Harradine

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1977				Swing	Post-1977
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Capricornia, Qld		National Country	Colin Carige	0.1	2.7	1.2	Doug Everingham	Labor
Griffith, Qld		Liberal	Donald Milner Cameron	8.0	5.0	3.5	Ben Humphreys	Labor
Indi, Vic		National Country	Mac Holten	N/A	22.3	5.1	Ewen Cameron	Liberal

• Members in italics did not contest their seat at this election.

Background and issues

The government offering tax cuts to voters and ran advertisements with the slogan "fistful of dollars". The tax cuts were never delivered; instead a "temporary surcharge" was imposed in 1978. The election coincided with the retirement of the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr. Kerr had appeared drunk at the Melbourne Cup in November and the public outcry resulted in the cancellation of his appointment as Ambassador to UNESCO.

The 1977 election was held a year earlier than required, partly to bring elections for the House and Senate back into line. A half-Senate election had to be held by the middle of 1978, since the double dissolution election of 1975 had resulted in the terms of senators being backdated to July 1975.

Significance

Liberal Don Chipp had been dropped from the ministry after the 1975 election. He had formed a new political party, the Australian Democrats, and had announced his intention to run for the Senate. Liberal Movement senator Steele Hall resigned and was replaced by Janine Haines but lost her seat, however the party gained Chipp in Victoria and Colin Mason in New South Wales, with Haines being re-elected at the next election as popularity grew.

The ALP made limited gains in the election. The Second Fraser Government retained the second-largest parliamentary majority in Australian history after the majority it won in the 1975 election. Gough Whitlam resigned as the leader of the ALP in 1978.

Although there were a number of women candidates for the House of Representatives, no women were elected. Women have been elected at every general election from 1980 onwards.

See also

• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1977
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1977–1980
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1978–1981

References

• AustralianPolitics.com 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.