December 1977 Australian Labor Party
Leadership election

← May 1977 22 December 1977 1982 →

Candidate Bill Hayden Lionel Bowen Caucus vote 36 (56.3%) 28 (43.8%)

Leader before election Gough Whitlam Elected Leader Bill Hayden

A leadership election of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), then the opposition party in the Parliament of Australia, was held on 22 December 1977. Following the resignation of Gough Whitlam former Treasurer Bill Hayden was elected Labor's new leader winning 36 votes to 28 over Lionel Bowen who was then elected deputy leader.^[1]

Background

After losing the 1977 election Gough Whitlam finally resigned as party leader after more than 10 years.

Bill Hayden who in May had come within two votes of toppling Whitlam, announced the day after election that he would contest the leadership.^[2]

Candidates

• Lionel Bowen, Shadow Attorney-General, Member for Kingsford Smith
• Bill Hayden, Shadow Minister for Economic Management, Member for Oxley

Results

Australian Labor Party
Deputy Leadership election, 1977

← May 1977 1990 →

Candidate Lionel Bowen Tom Uren Mick Young First ballot 25 (39.1%) 22 (34.4%) 10 (15.6%) Second ballot 26 (40.6%) 26 (40.6%) 11 (17.2%) Third ballot 33 (51.6%) 29 (45.3%) Eliminated   Candidate Ralph Willis First ballot 7 (10.9%) Second ballot Eliminated Third ballot Eliminated

Deputy Leader before election Tom Uren Deputy Leader after election Lionel Bowen

Leadership ballot

The following tables gives the ballot results:

Deputy leadership ballot

Paul Keating had previously announced that he would stand for the deputy leadership,^[3] however he stood aside in favour of Bowen.^[4]

Aftermath

Hayden led the party in on the 1980 election where they managed to halve Malcolm Fraser's majority.