Australian federal election, 1977
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The 1977 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 10 December 1977. All 124 seats in the House of Representatives and 34 of the 64 seats in the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
were up for election. The incumbent Liberal- National Country
Coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...
led by Malcolm Fraser, in government since 1975, was elected to a second term over the opposition 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. The Liberals retained an outright majority, with 67 seats. Although Fraser thus had no need for the support of the National Country Party, the Coalition was retained. Whitlam became the first and only person to contest four federal elections as
Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
. He was unable to recover much of the ground Labor had lost in its severe defeat two years prior, and resigned as leader shortly after the 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 July 1978, since the double dissolution election of 1975 had resulted in the terms of senators being backdated to 1 July 1975, as per
Section 13 of the Constitution of Australia Section 13 of the Constitution of Australia provides for three aspects of the terms of members of the Australian Senate: the timing of elections, the commencement date of their terms and for the Senate to allocate long (six-year) and short (thr ...
.


Results


House of Representatives results


Senate results

* Independent: Brian Harradine (Tasmania) * The Progress Party was the renamed "Workers Party" from the 1975 election.


Seats changing hands

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


Significance

This election marks the effective parliamentary debut of the Australian Democrats. The former Liberal minister
Don Chipp Donald Leslie Chipp, AO (21 August 192528 August 2006) was an Australian politician who was the inaugural leader of the Australian Democrats, leading the party from 1977 to 1986. He began his career as a member of the Liberal Party, winning el ...
had resigned his seat to leave politics but was soon invited to lead the new party and decided to run as a senator for Victoria. The party's
Janine Haines Janine Winton Haines, AM (née Carter; 8 May 1945 – 20 November 2004) was an Australian politician who was a Senator for South Australia from 1977 to 1978 and again from 1981 to 1990. She represented the Australian Democrats, and served as t ...
had briefly inherited a South Australian Senate seat when Liberal Movement senator Steele Hall had resigned to contest a lower-house seat. Haines was, however, not preselected to recontest the seat. Don Chipp was elected in Victoria and
Colin Mason Colin Victor James Mason (28 October 1926 – 18 July 2020) was a New Zealand-born Australian journalist, author and politician. Mason worked for 14 years as the first foreign correspondent of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and became ...
in New South Wales. (Haines returned to the Senate at the following election.) The second Fraser Government had the second-largest parliamentary majority in Australian history (at the time) after the majority it won in the 1975 election. Gough Whitlam resigned as the leader of the ALP in 1978, and was replaced by Bill Hayden. This was the last Australian federal election for the House of Representatives at which no women were elected, although there were a number of women candidates. Women have been elected at every federal election from
1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...
onwards.


See also

* Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1977 *
Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1977–1980 This is a list of members of the Australian House of Representatives from 1977 to 1980, as elected at the 1977 federal election: :1 Labor member Gough Whitlam resigned on 31 July 1978; Labor candidate John Kerin won the resulting by-elec ...
*
Members of the Australian Senate, 1978–1981 This is a list of members of the Australian Senate from 1 July 1978 to 30 June 1981. Half of the state senators were elected at the December 1975 election and had terms due to finish on 30 June 1981; the other half of the state senators were el ...


Notes


References


AustralianPolitics.com election detailsUniversity of WA
election results in Australia since 1890

{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Federal Election, 1977 1977 elections in Australia Federal elections in Australia Gough Whitlam Malcolm Fraser December 1977 events in Australia