A federal election was held in Australia on 13 December 1975. All 127 seats in the House of Representatives and all 64 seats in the Senate were up for election, due to a double dissolution.

Malcolm Fraser had been commissioned as caretaker prime minister following the dismissal of Gough Whitlam's three-year-old Labor government by Governor-General Sir John Kerr, on 11 November 1975. The same day, Fraser advised an immediate double dissolution, in accordance with Kerr's stipulated conditions (see 1975 Australian constitutional crisis).

The Coalition of Fraser's Liberal Party of Australia and Doug Anthony's National Country Party secured government in its own right, winning the largest majority government to date in Australian history. The Liberals actually won a majority in their own right, with 68 seats–the first time that the main non-Labor party had done so since adopting the Liberal banner in 1944. Although Fraser had no need for the support of the National Country Party, the Coalition was retained. It was also the first time a party won over 90 seats at an Australian election. This is the last federal election that any party has won more than 50% of the primary (first preference) vote.

Labor suffered a 30-seat swing and saw its lower house caucus cut almost in half, to 36 seats—fewer than it had when Whitlam became leader in the aftermath of the Coalition landslide nearly 10 years earlier, in the 1966 election. With only 28% of the House of Representatives seats, this was the worst seat share for Labor since the current Liberal-Labor party contest from 1946.

The fact that Whitlam was already a former prime minister coming into this election has often been overlooked or forgotten with Whitlam seemingly treated as the incumbent at this election in retrospectives.

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Results House of Representatives results

+ House of Reps (IRV) – 1975–77—Turnout 95.39% (CV) – Informal 1.89% Party First preference votes % Swing Seats Change   Liberal–NCP coalition 4,102,078 53.05 +7.32 91 +30   Liberal 3,232,159 41.80 +6.85 68 +28   National Country 853,943 11.04 +0.28 22 +1   Country Liberal 15,976 0.21 +0.21 1 +1   Labor 3,313,004 42.84 −6.46 36 −30   Democratic Labor 101,750 1.32 −0.10 0 0   Workers 60,130 0.78 +0.78 0 0   Liberal Movement 49,484 0.64 –0.14 0 0   Australia 33,630 0.43 −1.89 0 0   Communist 9,393 0.12 +0.11 0 0   Independent 63,109 0.82 +0.42 0 0   Total 7,732,578     127   Two-party-preferred   Liberal–NCP coalition Win 55.70 +7.40 91 +30   Labor   44.30 −7.40 36 −30

Senate results

+ Senate (STV) – 1975–77—Turnout 95.39% (CV) – Informal 9.10% Party First preference votes % Swing Seats won Seats held Change   Liberal–NCP coalition (total) 3,706,989 51.74 +7.85 35 35 +6   Liberal–NCP joint ticket 2,855,721 39.86 +5.09 17 * *   Liberal 793,772 11.08 +3.26 16 26 +3   National Country 41,977 0.59 −0.71 1 8 +2   Country Liberal 15,519 0.22 +0.22 1 1 +1   Labor 2,931,310 40.91 −6.38 27 27 −2   Democratic Labor 191,049 2.67 −0.89 0 0 0   Liberal Movement 76,426 1.07 +0.11 1 1 0   Workers 62,385 0.87 +0.87 0 0 0   Family Movement 45,658 0.64 +0.64 0 0 0   Australia 34,632 0.48 –0.91 0 0 0   United Tasmania 1,227 0.02 –0.01 0 0 0   Socialist 727 0.01 +0.01 0 0 0   Independents 114,310 1.60 –0.52 1 1 0   Total 7,164,713     64 64 +4 Notes Independent: Brian Harradine (Tasmania)

Seats changing hands Seat Pre-1975 Swing Post-1975 Party Member Margin Margin Member Party Barton, NSW  Labor Len Reynolds 5.1 10.0 4.9 Jim Bradfield Liberal  Bowman, Qld  Labor Len Keogh 1.3 8.4 7.1 David Jull Liberal  Braddon, Tas  Labor Ron Davies 4.8 8.6 3.8 Ray Groom Liberal  Brisbane, Qld  Labor Manfred Cross 1.1 5.0 3.9 Peter Johnson Liberal  Canberra, ACT  Labor Kep Enderby 7.1 10.4 3.3 John Haslem Liberal  Capricornia, Qld  Labor Doug Everingham 4.9 5.0 0.1 Colin Carige National Country  Casey, Vic  Labor Race Mathews 1.5 9.0 7.5 Peter Falconer Liberal  Cook, NSW  Labor Ray Thorburn 0.5 8.3 7.8 Don Dobie Liberal  Dawson, Qld  Labor Rex Patterson 0.6 4.2 3.6 Ray Braithwaite National Country  Denison, Tas  Labor John Coates 2.8 7.7 4.9 Michael Hodgman Liberal  Diamond Valley, Vic  Labor David McKenzie 0.7 9.8 9.1 Neil Brown Liberal  Eden-Monaro, NSW  Labor Bob Whan 0.1 5.6 5.5 Murray Sainsbury Liberal  Evans, NSW  Labor Allan Mulder 4.9 6.9 2.0 John Abel Liberal  Franklin, Tas  Labor Ray Sherry 12.9 14.7 1.8 Bruce Goodluck Liberal  Henty, Vic  Labor Joan Child 1.5 6.7 5.2 Ken Aldred Liberal  Holt, Vic  Labor Max Oldmeadow 6.9 8.5 1.6 William Yates Liberal  Isaacs, Vic  Labor Gareth Clayton 0.6 7.5 6.9 David Hamer Liberal  Kalgoorlie, WA  Labor Fred Collard 2.1 6.3 4.3 Mick Cotter Liberal  Kingston, SA  Labor Richard Gun 6.1 12.7 6.6 Grant Chapman Liberal  La Trobe, Vic  Labor Tony Lamb 4.6 8.9 4.3 Marshall Baillieu Liberal  Leichhardt, Qld  Labor Bill Fulton 3.3 5.7 2.4 David Thomson National Country  Macarthur, NSW  Labor John Kerin 4.4 8.5 4.1 Michael Baume Liberal  Macquarie, NSW  Labor Tony Luchetti 8.7 10.3 1.6 Reg Gillard Liberal  McMillan, Vic  National Country Arthur Hewson N/A 2.1 6.7 Barry Simon Liberal  Perth, WA  Labor Joe Berinson 8.2 9.0 0.8 Ross McLean Liberal  Phillip, NSW  Labor Joe Riordan 4.5 7.1 2.6 Jack Birney Liberal  St George, NSW  Labor Bill Morrison 5.8 5.8 0.0 Maurice Neil Liberal  Swan, WA  Labor Adrian Bennett 5.6 7.7 2.1 John Martyr Liberal  Tangney, WA  Labor John Dawkins 3.1 9.7 6.6 Peter Richardson Liberal  Wilmot, TAS  Labor Gil Duthie 2.7 8.0 5.3 Max Burr Liberal  Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.

Issues and significance

The election followed the dismissal of the Whitlam government by Governor-General Sir John Kerr in the 1975 constitutional crisis. Labor campaigners hoped that the electorate would "maintain [its] rage" and punish the Coalition for its part in bringing down the government, proclaiming "Shame Fraser, Shame". However, the Coalition focused on economic issues following the 1973 oil crisis and 1973–75 recession, the Loans Affair, alleged Labor mismanagement of inflation, and campaigned under the slogan "Turn on the lights, Australia" (drawing on a contemporary cynicism: "Would the last businessman leaving Australia please turn out the lights?").

Printers at News Limited went on strike to protest against anti-Labor editorials in the company's papers. News Limited's support for Fraser and the Liberals during the campaign resulted in its journalists conducting a two-day strike beginning on 8 December 1975 in protest at "bias and dishonesty" in the company’s coverage of the election.

The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory received an entitlement to elect two senators each as a consequence of the Senate (Representation of Territories) Act 1973, passed during the 1974 Joint Sitting of the Australian Parliament.

See also Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1975 Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1975–1977 Members of the Australian Senate, 1975–1978

Notes

References

External links AustralianPolitics.com 1975 election details University of WA election results in Australia since 1890 AEC 2PP vote