1977 Australian federal election

← 1975 10 December 1977 1980 →
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All 124 seats of the House of Representatives 63 seats were needed for a majority in the House 34 (of the 64) seats of the Senate
Registered	8,548,779 3.47%
Turnout	8,127,762 (95.08%) (0.31 pp)
First party Second party   Leader Malcolm Fraser Gough Whitlam Party Liberal/NCP coalition Labor Leader since 21 March 1975 8 February 1967 Leader's seat Wannon (Vic.) Werriwa (NSW) Last election 91 seats 36 seats Seats won 86 seats 38 seats Seat change 5 2 Popular vote 3,811,340 3,141,051 Percentage 48.11% 39.65% Swing 4.95 3.20 TPP 54.60% 45.40% TPP swing 1.10 1.10
Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory.
Prime Minister before election Malcolm Fraser Liberal/NCP coalition Subsequent Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser Liberal/NCP coalition

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 were up for election.

The incumbent Liberal-National Country Coalition 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. 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".^[1] The tax cuts were never delivered; instead a "temporary surcharge" was imposed in 1978.^{[citation needed]} The election coincided with the retirement of the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[2]

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.

Results

House of Representatives results

House of Reps (IRV) — 1977–80—Turnout 95.08% (CV) — Informal 2.52%

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Liberal–NCP coalition		3,811,340	48.11	–4.95	86	–5
		Liberal	3,017,896	38.09	−3.71	67	−1
		National Country	776,982	9.81	−1.44	18	−4
		Country Liberal	16,462	0.21	+0.00	1	0
	Labor		3,141,051	39.65	−3.20	38	+2
	Democrats		743,365	9.38	+9.38	0	0
	Democratic Labor		113,271	1.43	+0.11	0	0
	Progress		47,567	0.60	–0.18	0	0
	Communist		14,098	0.18	+0.06	0	0
	Socialist		1,895	0.02	+0.02	0	0
	Independents		50,267	0.63	–0.19	0	0
	Total		7,922,854			124	−3
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
	Liberal–NCP coalition		Win	54.60	−1.10	86	–5
	Labor			45.40	+1.10	38	+2

Senate results

Senate (STV) — 1977–80—Turnout 95.08% (CV) — Informal 9.00%

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held	Change
	Liberal–NCP coalition (total)		3,369,843	45.56	–5.18	18	34	–1
		Liberal–NCP joint ticket	2,533,882	34.26	−5.60	7	*	*
		Liberal	783,878	10.60	−0.48	10	27	+1
		National Country	36,619	0.50	−0.04	0	6	–2
		Country Liberal	15,463	0.21	−0.01	1	1	0
	Labor		2,718,876	36.76	−4.15	14	27	0
	Democrats		823,550	11.13	+11.13	2	2	+2
	Democratic Labor		123,192	1.67	–1.00	0	0	0
	Progress		88,203	1.19	+0.32	0	0	0
	Call to Australia		49,395	1.12	+1.12	0	0	0
	Marijuana		44,276	0.60	+0.60	0	0	0
	Socialist		42,740	0.58	+0.57	0	0	0
	Australia		8,283	0.11	–0.37	0	0	0
	Independents		127,850	1.73	+0.13	0	1	0
	Total		7,396,207			34	64

• 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 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 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 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 onwards.