Federal election major party leaders
1975 1977 1980
Liberal Malcolm Fraser Prime Minister Parliament: 22 years Leader since: 1974 Division: Wannon WIN
Labor Gough Whitlam Opposition leader Parliament: 25 years Leader since: 1967 Division: Werriwa

Federal elections were held in Australia on 10 December 1977. All 124 seats in the House of Representatives, and 34 of the 64 seats in the Senate, were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Malcolm Fraser with coalition partner the National Country Party led by Doug Anthony in government since 1975 defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Gough Whitlam.

House of Reps (Instant-runoff voting>IRV) — 1977-80 — Turnout 95.08% (CV) — Informal 2.52%

	Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Australian Labor Party	3,141,051	39.65	-3.20	38	+2
	Liberal Party of Australia	3,017,896	38.09	-3.71	67	-1
	National Country Party	793,444	10.01	-1.24	19	-4
	Australian Democrats	743,365	9.38	*	0	0
	Other	227,098	2.87		0	0
	Total	7,922,854			124	-3
	Liberal/Country coalition	WIN	54.60	-1.10	86	-5
	Australian Labor Party		45.40	+1.10	38	+2

Senate (Single Transferable Vote>STV) — 1977-80 — Turnout 95.08% (CV) — Informal 9.00%

	Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held
	Australian Labor Party	2,718,876	36.76	-4.15	14	27
	Liberal/Country (Joint Ticket)	2,533,882	34.26	-5.60	7
	Australian Democrats	823,550	11.13	*	2	2
	Liberal Party of Australia	783,878	10.60	-0.48	10	27
	National Country Party	36,619	0.50	-0.04	0	6
	Country Liberal Party	15,463	0.21	-0.01	1	1
	Independents	127,850	1.73	+0.13	0	1
	Other	356,089	4.81	+2.75	0	0
	Total	7,396,207			34	64

Independent: Brian Harradine

Background and Issues

The election is remembered for the "fistful of dollars" advertisements run by the government, offering tax cuts to voters. The tax cuts were never delivered; instead a "temporary surcharge" was imposed in 1978. The election also coincided with the retirement of the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr. Kerr had disgraced himself by a drunken appearance at the Melbourne Cup in November. His appointment as Ambassador to UNESCO never took place due to a public outcry.

The 1977 election was held a year earlier than required. In part, it was necessary to bring elections for the House and Senate back into line. A half-Senate election had to be held by the middle of 1978, since the double dissolution election of 1975 had resulted in the terms of senators being backdated to July 1975.

Significance

Socially progressive Liberal Don Chipp had been dropped from the ministry after the 1975 election. He had formed a new political party, the Australian Democrats, and had announced his intention to run for the Senate. Liberal Movement senator Steele Hall resigned and was replaced by Janine Haines but lost her seat, however the party gained Chipp in Victoria and Colin Mason in New South Wales, with Haines being re-elected at the next election as popularity grew.

The 1977 election had seen the ALP make gains, but they were limited. The Second Fraser Government still enjoyed the second-largest Parliamentary majority in Australian history (after the majority it won in the 1975 election. Gough Whitlam resigned as the leader of the ALP in 1978.

This election was the last one to date at which no women were elected to the House of Representatives.

References

• AustralianPolitics.com election details
• 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.

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