1974 Australian Senate election

See also: Members of the Australian Senate, 1974–1975

1974 Australian Senate elections

18 May 1974
All 60 seats in the Australian Senate 31 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	95.50%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Lionel Murphy Reg Withers Frank McManus Party Labor Liberal/Country coalition Democratic Labor Leader since 8 February 1967 20 December 1972 10 October 1973 Leader's seat New South Wales Western Australia Victoria Seats before 26 26 5 Seats after 29 29 0 Seat change 3 3 5 Popular vote 3,127,197 2,901,454 235,343 Percentage 47.29% 43.88% 3.56% Swing  % 5.70% 7.55%
Senators elected in the 1974 federal election
Leader of the Senate before election Lionel Murphy Labor Elected Leader of the Senate Lionel Murphy Labor

A federal election was held in Australia on 18 May 1974. All 60 seats in the Senate were up for election as well as all 127 seats in the House of Representatives, due to a double dissolution.

Background

Following an attempt by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam to create an extra Senate vacancy in Queensland by appointing former Democratic Labor Party (DLP) Leader, Senator Vince Gair, as Ambassador to Ireland, Liberal leader Billy Snedden announced that the opposition would block the Government's supply bills in the Senate. After a great deal of legalistic argumentation in both houses about the Gair Affair, and 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 already-announced election date of 18 May was kept. The election focused on Whitlam's first 1+1⁄2 years in office and whether the Australian public was willing to continue with his reform agenda.

Nationwide results

Senate (STV) – 1974–75 – Turnout 95.50% (CV) – Informal 10.77%

Party			First preference votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held	Change
	Labor		3,127,197	47.29	+5.08	29	29	+3
	Liberal–Country coalition		2,901,454	43.88	+5.70	29	29	+3
		Liberal–Country joint ticket	2,298,816	34.77	+15.26	16	*	*
		Liberal	516,919	7.82	−9.79	12	23	+2
		National Alliance	55,301	0.84	+0.84	1	*	*
		Country	30,418	0.46	–0.60	0	6	+1
	Democratic Labor		235,343	3.56	−7.55	0	0	–5
	Australia		92,107	1.39	−1.51	0	0	0
	Liberal Movement		63,032	0.95	*	1	1	+1
	National Liberal		23,965	0.36	*	0	0	0
	Communist		20,583	0.31	*	0	0	0
	United Christian		3,977	0.06	*	0	0	0
	United Tasmania		2,051	0.03	*	0	0	0
	National Socialist		1,810	0.03	–0.40	0	0	0
	Republican		484	0.01	*	0	0	0
	Social Credit		379	0.01	*	0	0	0
	Independents		140,003	2.12	+0.41	1	1	–2
	Total		6,612,385			60	60

Notes

• 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 Tom Drake-Brockman, who sat with the CP on election to parliament.
• Independent: Michael Townley (Liberal Party from Feb 1975)

The NSW portion of this vote was telling of the disadvantages of requiring the marking of preferences for all the candidates. NSW voters faced a list of 73 candidate for the state's 12 seats. Twelve percent of Labour voters cast improper votes that were rejected. The final seat was taken by a candidate that received only about one percent of the vote. The result across the country was 29 Liberal/National, 29 Labour and two others holding the balance of power.

See also

• 1974 Australian federal election
• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1974
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1974–1975