Australian federal election, 1972

Australian federal election, 1972

2 December 1972

All 125 seats of the Australian House of Representatives 63 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party   Leader Gough Whitlam William McMahon Party Labor Liberal/Country coalition Leader since 8 February 1967 10 March 1971 Leader's seat Werriwa Lowe Last election 59 seats 66 seats Seats won 67 seats 58 seats Seat change 8 8 Percentage 52.70% 47.30% Swing 2.50 2.50

Prime Minister before election William McMahon Liberal/Country coalition Subsequent Prime Minister Gough Whitlam Labor

Federal elections for the House of Representatives were held in Australia on 2 December 1972, and were won by the Australian Labor Party led by Gough Whitlam. Labor won 67 of the 125 seats contested and defeated the Liberal Party led by Prime Minister William McMahon and Coalition partner the Country Party led by Doug Anthony. The elections ended 23 years of successive Coalition governments which held power since 1949.

Results

See Australian Senate election, 1970 for Senate composition.

An election for a Queensland Senator was held to replace Liberal Senator Annabelle Rankin who resigned in 1971.^[1] Neville Bonner, who was appointed to fill the casual vacancy by the Queensland Parliament, won the Senate position. The election was held at the time of the House of Representatives elections as per Section 15 of the Constitution.

Seats changing hands

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

Issues

The 1972 election campaign dealt with a combination of Vietnam and domestic policy issues, and the role of the federal government in resolving these issues. The Coalition of the Liberal and Country parties had been in government for 23 years. Successive Coalition governments promoted conservative economics, trade, and defence. However, Australian economic prosperity during the post-war period of the 1950s and 1960s led to the emergence of a range of "quality of life" issues regarding urban development, education, and healthcare. By 1972 these "quality of life" issues came to represent a major political problem for the coalition parties. Traditionally all of these areas had been handled by the state governments, and the Coalition had always asserted the importance of states rights, a view backed by Liberal state premiers like Robert Askin and Henry Bolte. Throughout 1966 to 1972, Labor leader Gough Whitlam developed policies designed to deal with the problems of urban and regional development using the financial powers granted to the federal government under the Australian Constitution. As Whitlam put it, Labor focused on "cities, schools and hospitals", and these issues were electorally appealing especially to the young and growing baby boomer generation living in the outer suburbs of the major cities.

By contrast, Coalition policies of conservative economic management,increasing trade, and Australian involvement in the Vietnam War disengaged a significant number of Australian voters. Australian involvement in the Vietnam War was initially popular. However, protests grew as the consequences of the war became apparent and the likelihood of a US led victory diminished. A major part of the protests were directed at conscripting Australians to fight in the war. Liberal policies on Vietnam focused on the need to contain the spread of communism, but the gradual US and Australian troop withdrawal undermined this position. In 1971, Opposition Leader Gough Whitlam visited China. The Coalition heavily criticised the visit. The criticism soon became an embarrassent when US President Richard Nixon announced he would visit China the following year.

Finally the incumbent Prime Minister William McMahon was no match for Whitlam, a witty and powerful orator. McMahon's position was precarious to begin with as he had only emerged as Liberal Leader after a prolonged period of turmoil following the Coalition's unexpectedly poor showing at half Senate elections held in 1970, and various state elections. In early 1971, Country Party leader John McEwen had retired, to be replaced by Doug Anthony. McEwen, who had disliked McMahon, held a virtual veto over the possibility of his becoming Liberal leader, which he had exercised in 1968. Anthony declared that this veto was no longer in operation, clearing the way for a leadership challenge by McMahon against Prime Minister John Gorton. Gorton survived, but only narrowly, and soon called another leadership election, which he lost. This gave the impression of the Coalition being weak and divided, and consumed in internal struggles.

McMahon was further weakened by concerns about inflation and negative press coverage. For example, Rupert Murdoch and his newspaper The Australian supported the ALP. The ALP ran a strong campaign under the famous slogan, It's Time – a slogan which, coupled with its progressive policy programme, gave it great momentum within the electorate after 23 years of Conservative rule.^[2]

Significance

The 1972 election ended 23 years of Liberal-Country rule—the longest unbroken run in government in Australian history. It is also unusual as Whitlam only scraped into office with a thin majority of 9 seats. Typically, elections that produce a change of government in Australia take the form of landslides (as in the elections of 1949, 1975, 1983, 1996 or 2007, for example). The comparatively small size of Whitlam's win is partly explained by his strong performance at the previous election of 1969, where he achieved a 7 percent swing, gaining 18 seats, from a low of 41 of 124 seats and a 43 percent two-party figure at the 1966 election.

The new Labor Government of Gough Whitlam was eager to make long-planned reforms, although it struggled against a lack of experience in its cabinet and the onset of the 1973 oil crisis and 1973–75 recession. In addition, the Senate was hostile to Whitlam, with the Coalition and Democratic Labor Parties holding more seats than the ALP, as the term of the Senate at the time was 1970 to 1974. This in particular would make governing difficult and led to the early double dissolution election of 1974.

See also

• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1972
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1972-1974

Notes

References

• AustralianPolitics.com 1972 election details
• "It's Time For Leadership" – Whitlam policy speech, 13 November 1972
• 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.

Elections and referendums in Australia
Federal elections	1901 1903 1906 1910 1913 1914 1917 1919 1922 1925 1928 1929 1931 1934 1937 1940 1943 1946 1949 1951 1953 1954 1955 1958 1961 1963 1964 1966 1967 1969 1970 1972 1974 1975 1977 1980 1983 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 2016 next by-elections
Referendums	1906 1910 1911 1913 1916 1917 1919 1926 1928 1937 1944 1946 1948 1951 1967 1973 1974 1977 1984 1988 1999
Elections in: Australian Capital Territory New South Wales Northern Territory Queensland South Australia Tasmania Victoria Western Australia

Politics of Australia
Commonwealth	Monarch Governor-General Prime Minister Cabinet (Shadow Cabinet) Executive Council Ministry Foreign relations Parliament House of Representatives Senate Opposition Leader High Court Lower courts Constitution Statute of Westminster Australia Act
Federal elections	pre-1969 1969 1972 1974 1975 1977 1980 1983 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 2016 next by-elections
State/Territory governments	Governors and Administrators Premiers and Chief Ministers Parliaments and Assemblies NSW Vic Qld WA SA Tas ACT NT
State/Territory elections	NSW 2015 Vic 2014 Qld 2015 WA 2013 SA 2014 Tas 2014 ACT 2016 NT 2016 NSW 2019 Vic 2018 Next Qld WA 2017 SA 2018 Next Tas ACT 2020 NT 2020
Local government	NSW Vic Qld WA SA Tas NT
Political parties	Coalition (Liberal, National, Liberal National, Country Liberal) Labor Greens Xenophon One Nation Katter Family First Liberal Democrat Lambie Hinch Other parties