Australian federal election, 1969

Australian federal election, 1969

25 October 1969

All 125 seats of the Australian House of Representatives 63 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party   Leader John Gorton Gough Whitlam Party Liberal/Country coalition Labor Leader since 10 January 1968 8 February 1967 Leader's seat Higgins Werriwa Last election 82 seats 41 seats Seats won 66 seats 59 seats Seat change 16 18 Percentage 49.80% 50.20% Swing 7.10 7.10

Prime Minister before election John Gorton Liberal/Country coalition Subsequent Prime Minister John Gorton Liberal/Country coalition

Federal elections were held in Australia on 25 October 1969. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia John Gorton with coalition partner the Country Party led by John McEwen (who had also served as Prime Minister for three weeks after Harold Holt's disappearance) defeated the Australian Labor Party led by Gough Whitlam. Even though Labor lost, the election was seen as a good result for the party as it made significant gains against the Coalition.

Results

House of Reps (IRV) — 1969–72—Turnout 94.97% (CV) — Informal 2.54%

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Australian Labor Party	2,870,792	46.95	+6.97	59	+18
	Liberal Party of Australia	2,125,987	34.77	−5.37	46	−15
	Country Party	523,232	8.56	−1.28	20	−1
	Democratic Labor Party	367,977	6.02	−1.29	0	0
	Australia Party	53,646	0.88	*	0	0
	Independents	141,090	2.31	+0.85	0	−1
	Other	31,394	0.51		0	0
	Total	6,114,118			125	+1
	Liberal/Country coalition	WIN	49.80	−7.10	66	−16
	Australian Labor Party		50.20	+7.10	59	+18

Popular Vote
Labor			46.95%
Liberal			34.77%
Country			8.56%
DLP			6.02%
Australia			0.88%
Independents			2.31%
Other			0.51%

Two Party Preferred Vote
Labor			50.20%
Coalition			49.80%

Parliament Seats
Coalition			52.80%
Labor			47.20%

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1969				Swing	Post-1969
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Adelaide, SA		Liberal	Andrew Jones	2.8	14.3	11.3	Chris Hurford	Labor
Barton, NSW		Liberal	Bill Arthur	2.2	5.7	3.0	Len Reynolds	Labor
Batman, Vic		Independent	Sam Benson	N/A	0.2	3.0	Horrie Garrick	Labor
Bowman, Qld		Liberal	Wylie Gibbs	6.7	7.1	2.5	Len Keogh	Labor
Eden-Monaro, NSW		Liberal	Dugald Munro	0.7	5.8	3.2	Allan Fraser	Labor
Forrest, WA		Liberal	Gordon Freeth	9.5	11.6	1.1	Frank Kirwan	Labor
Franklin, Tas		Liberal	Thomas Pearsall	2.2	9.9	5.9	Ray Sherry	Labor
Grey, SA		Liberal	Don Jessop	3.0	3.1	1.9	Laurie Wallis	Labor
Hawker, SA		Liberal	notional - new seat	N/A	13.7	7.9	Ralph Jacobi	Labor
Kingston, SA		Liberal	Kay Brownbill	8.2	16.5	3.9	Richard Gun	Labor
Lalor, Vic		Liberal	Mervyn Lee	0.7	4.8	10.9	Jim Cairns	Labor
Maribyrnong, Vic		Liberal	Philip Stokes	7.6	8.0	1.4	Moss Cass	Labor
Paterson, NSW		Liberal	Allen Fairhall	N/A	9.1	7.5	Frank O'Keefe	Country
Perth, WA		Liberal	Fred Chaney	6.9	12.2	8.2	Joe Berinson	Labor
Riverina, NSW		Country	Bill Armstrong	16.5	18.8	2.3	Al Grassby	Labor
Robertson, NSW		Liberal	William Bridges-Maxwell	8.5	9.7	1.8	Barry Cohen	Labor
St George, NSW		Liberal	Len Bosman	9.5	9.6	0.1	Bill Morrison	Labor
Sturt, SA		Liberal	Ian Wilson	16.2	15.0	0.5	Norm Foster	Labor
Swan, WA		Liberal	Richard Cleaver	3.5	8.3	4.1	Adrian Bennett	Labor

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

Issues

The 1969 election centred heavily on the two leaders, John Gorton and Gough Whitlam. Both were leading their respective parties in an election for the first time. Gorton had initially been very popular, and was publicly promoted as an "average Aussie bloke". This image was boosted by his record of wartime service and his craggy battered profile (the result of a wartime injury). However, he gradually gained a reputation for being erratic and unnecessarily confrontational. By the time of the 1969 election campaign his attempts to alter long-standing Liberal Party policies with regard to federal–state powers, and foreign affairs had alienated the more conservative sections of the Liberal Party, and various state Liberal leaders (Henry Bolte and Bob Askin in particular).

Whitlam, by contrast, had reformed the ALP and abandoned unpopular policies such as the once-dominant White Australia Policy, as well as the commitment to socialism still held by many members on the left of the party. He presented a sleek and modern image which was able to win over new voters to his cause. Whitlam had also managed to restore and heal the party's image as an electable alternative, something that had been impossible after the Labor Party split in 1955. Under his leadership, Whitlam had also attracted back many Catholic voters who had previously dumped Labor due to its infighting and factionalism. In addition, although the Coalition had won the biggest majority government in Australian history in 1966, it was increasingly seen as becoming tired and unfocused after 20 years in power. There were also growing concerns over Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War. The ALP thus went into the election with a good chance of increasing its small caucus.

Despite a Coalition campaign depicting Labor as a party dominated and controlled by union bosses, the result was very close. Labor became the biggest single party in the House, taking 59 seats—an 18-seat swing from 1966. It also won a bare majority of the two-party-preferred vote, winning 50.2 percent to the Coalition's 49.8 percent—a 7.1-point swing from 1966, the largest not to have resulted in a change of government. However, largely due to the Democratic Labor Party preferencing against Labor, Whitlam came up four seats short of toppling the Coalition. Had Labor been able to overcome DLP preferences in four Melbourne-area seats, Whitlam would have become Prime Minister.^[1] Nonetheless, Whitlam recovered much of what Labor had lost in its severe defeat three years earlier, and put the party within striking distance of winning government three years later.

See also

• Australian Senate election, 1967
• Australian Senate election, 1970
• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1969
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1969–1972
• Don's Party

Notes

1. Analysis of 2007 election in Victoria by Antony Green

References

• 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.