“1972 Australian federal election”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

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1972 Australian federal election

释义

Issues
Results
House of Representatives Senate
Seats changing hands
Significance
See also
Notes
References

{{Use Australian English|date=February 2018}}{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2013}}{{Infobox Election
| election_name = Australian federal election, 1972
| country = Australia
| type = parliamentary
| ongoing = no
| previous_election = Australian federal election, 1969
| previous_year = 1969
| next_election = Australian federal election, 1974
| next_year = 1974
| seats_for_election = All 125 seats of the House of Representatives
63 seats were needed for a majority
| election_date = 2 December 1972
| image1 =
| leader1 = Gough Whitlam
| leader_since1 = 8 February 1967
| party1 = Australian Labor Party
| leaders_seat1 = Werriwa (NSW)
| last_election1 = 59 seats
| seats1 = 67 seats
| seat_change1 = {{increase}}8
| popular_vote1 =
| percentage1 = 52.70%
| swing1 = {{increase}}2.50%
| image2 =
| leader2 = William McMahon
| leader_since2 = 10 March 1971
| party2 = Liberal/Country coalition
| leaders_seat2 = Lowe (NSW)
| last_election2 = 66 seats
| seats2 = 58 seats
| seat_change2 = {{decrease}}8
| popular_vote2 =
| percentage2 = 47.30%
| swing2 = {{decrease}}2.50%
| title = Prime Minister
| before_election = William McMahon
| before_party = Liberal/Country coalition
| posttitle = Subsequent Prime Minister
| after_election = Gough Whitlam
| after_party = Australian Labor Party
}}

Federal elections were held in Australia on 2 December 1972. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election, as well as a single Senate seat in Queensland. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition government, led by Prime Minister William McMahon, was defeated by the opposition Labor Party under Gough Whitlam. Labor's victory ended 23 years of successive Coalition governments that began in 1949.

Issues

The 1972 election campaign dealt with a combination of Vietnam and domestic policy issues, and the role of the federal government in resolving these issues. The Coalition of the Liberal and Country parties had been in government for 23 years. Successive Coalition governments promoted conservative economics, trade, and defence. However, Australian economic prosperity during the post-war period of the 1950s and 1960s led to the emergence of a range of "quality of life" issues regarding urban development, education, and healthcare. By 1972 these "quality of life" issues came to represent a major political problem for the coalition parties. Traditionally all of these areas had been handled by the state governments, and the Coalition had always asserted the importance of states rights, a view backed by Liberal state premiers like Robert Askin and Henry Bolte. Throughout 1966 to 1972, Labor leader Gough Whitlam developed policies designed to deal with the problems of urban and regional development using the financial powers granted to the federal government under the Australian Constitution. As Whitlam put it, Labor focused on "cities, schools and hospitals", and these issues were electorally appealing especially to the young and growing baby boomer generation living in the outer suburbs of the major cities.

By contrast, Coalition policies of conservative economic management,increasing trade, and Australian involvement in the Vietnam War disengaged a significant number of Australian voters. Australian involvement in the Vietnam War was initially popular. However, protests grew as the consequences of the war became apparent and the likelihood of a US led victory diminished. A major part of the protests were directed at conscripting Australians to fight in the war. Liberal policies on Vietnam focused on the need to contain the spread of communism, but the gradual US and Australian troop withdrawal undermined this position. In 1971, Opposition Leader Gough Whitlam visited China. The Coalition heavily criticised the visit. The criticism soon became an embarrassent when US President Richard Nixon announced he would visit China the following year.

Finally the incumbent Prime Minister William McMahon was no match for Whitlam, a witty and powerful orator. McMahon's position was precarious to begin with as he had only emerged as Liberal Leader after a prolonged period of turmoil following the Coalition's unexpectedly poor showing at half Senate elections held in 1970, and various state elections. In early 1971, Country Party leader John McEwen had retired, to be replaced by Doug Anthony. McEwen, who had disliked McMahon, held a virtual veto over the possibility of his becoming Liberal leader, which he had exercised in 1968. Anthony declared that this veto was no longer in operation, clearing the way for a leadership challenge by McMahon against Prime Minister John Gorton. Gorton survived, but only narrowly, and soon called another leadership election, which he lost. This gave the impression of the Coalition being weak and divided, and consumed in internal struggles.

McMahon was further weakened by concerns about inflation and negative press coverage. For example, Rupert Murdoch and his newspaper The Australian supported the ALP. The ALP ran a strong campaign under the famous slogan, It's Time – a slogan which, coupled with its progressive policy programme, gave it great momentum within the electorate after 23 years of Conservative rule.^[1]

Results

House of Representatives

House of Reps (IRV) — 1972–74—Turnout 95.38% (CV) — Informal 2.17%
Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
Labor}} \|	Labor		3,273,549	49.59	+2.64	67	+8
	Liberal–Country coalition		2,737,911	41.48	–1.84	58	–8
	Liberal}} \|	100px}}	2,115,085	32.04	–2.73	38	–8
	Country}} \|	100px}}	622,826	9.44	+0.88	20	0
Democratic Labor}} \|	Democratic Labor		346,415	5.25	–0.77	0	0
Australia}} \|	Australia		159,916	2.42	+1.54	0	0
Defence of Government Schools}} \|	Defence of Government Schools		9,703	0.15	+0.15	0	0
Communist}} \|	Communist		8,105	0.12	+0.04	0	0
National Socialist}} \|	National Socialist		1,161	0.02	+0.02	0	0
Socialist}} \|	Socialist		1,062	0.02	+0.02	0	0
	Independents		63,228	0.96	–1.57	0	0
	Total		6,601,050			125
Two-party-preferred {{Nobold\|(estimated)
Labor}} \|	Labor		WIN	52.70	+2.50	67	+8
Liberal}} \|	Liberal–Country coalition			47.30	−2.50	58	−8

{{bar box
| title=Popular Vote
| titlebar=#ddd
| width=600px
| barwidth=410px
| bars={{bar percent|Labor|{{Australian Labor Party/meta/color}}|49.59}}{{bar percent|Liberal|{{Liberal Party of Australia/meta/color}}|32.04}}{{bar percent|Country|{{National Party of Australia/meta/color}}|9.44}}{{bar percent|DLP|#008080|5.25}}{{bar percent|Australia|#F4940D|2.42}}{{bar percent|Other|#777777|1.27}}
}}{{bar box
| title=Two Party Preferred Vote
| titlebar=#ddd
| width=600px
| barwidth=410px
| bars={{bar percent|Labor|{{Australian Labor Party/meta/color}}|52.70}}{{bar percent|Coalition|{{Coalition (Australia)/meta/color}}|47.30}}
}}{{bar box
| title=Parliament Seats
| titlebar=#ddd
| width=600px
| barwidth=410px
| bars={{bar percent|Labor|{{Australian Labor Party/meta/color}}|53.60}}{{bar percent|Coalition|{{Coalition (Australia)/meta/color}}|47.30}}
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Senate

A special Senate election was held in Queensland to replace Liberal senator Annabelle Rankin, who resigned in 1971.^[2] Neville Bonner, who had been appointed to fill the casual vacancy by the Queensland Parliament, won the Senate position – the first Indigenous Australian elected to parliament. The election was held at the time of the House of Representatives elections as per Section 15 of the Constitution.

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1972				Swing	Post-1972
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	Margin	Member	Party
Bendigo, Vic	Labor}}\|	Labor	David Kennedy	3.0	3.2	0.2	John Bourchier	Liberal	Liberal}}\|
Casey, Vic	Liberal}}\|	Liberal	Peter Howson	5.0	7.2	2.2	Race Mathews	Labor	Labor}}\|
Cook, NSW	Liberal}}\|	Liberal	Don Dobie	2.8	3.5	0.7	Ray Thorburn	Labor	Labor}}\|
Darling Downs, Qld	Liberal}}\|	Liberal	Reginald Swartz	N/A	3.4	11.3	Tom McVeigh	Country	Nationals}}\|
Denison, Tas	Liberal}}\|	Liberal	Robert Solomon	2.6	7.2	4.6	John Coates	Labor	Labor}}\|
Diamond Valley, Vic	Liberal}}\|	Liberal	Neil Brown	6.1	7.7	1.6	David McKenzie	Labor	Labor}}\|
Evans, NSW	Liberal}}\|	Liberal	Malcolm Mackay	1.2	3.9	2.7	Allan Mulder	Labor	Labor}}\|
Forrest, WA	Labor}}\|	Labor	Frank Kirwan	1.1	4.7	3.6	Peter Drummond	Liberal	Liberal}}\|
Holt, Vic	Liberal}}\|	Liberal	Len Reid	3.5	7.9	4.4	Max Oldmeadow	Labor	Labor}}\|
Hume, NSW	Nationals}}\|	Country	Ian Pettitt	1.0	2.9	1.9	Frank Olley	Labor	Labor}}\|
La Trobe, Vic	Liberal}}\|	Liberal	John Jess	5.2	10.2	5.0	Tony Lamb	Labor	Labor}}\|
Lilley, Qld	Liberal}}\|	Liberal	Kevin Cairns	1.7	1.7	0.0	Frank Doyle	Labor	Labor}}\|
Macarthur, NSW	Liberal}}\|	Liberal	Jeff Bate†	3.8	6.0	2.2	John Kerin	Labor	Labor}}\|
McMillan, Vic	Liberal}}\|	Liberal	Alex Buchanan†	N/A	2.9	2.4	Arthur Hewson	Country	Nationals}}\|
McPherson, Qld	Nationals}}\|	Country	Charles Barnes	N/A	6.5	4.7	Eric Robinson	Liberal	Liberal}}\|
Mitchell, NSW	Liberal}}\|	Liberal	Les Irwin	2.5	3.7	1.2	Alfred Ashley-Brown	Labor	Labor}}\|
Phillip, NSW	Liberal}}\|	Liberal	William Aston	0.4	4.1	3.7	Joe Riordan	Labor	Labor}}\|
Stirling, WA	Labor}}\|	Labor	Harry Webb	5.5	8.4	2.9	Ian Viner	Liberal	Liberal}}\|
Sturt, SA	Labor}}\|	Labor	Norm Foster	0.5	2.2	2.7	Ian Wilson	Liberal	Liberal}}\|

†Jeff Bate and Alex Buchanan contested their seats as independent candidates.

Significance

The 1972 election ended 23 years of Liberal-Country rule—the longest unbroken run in government in Australian history. It is also unusual as Whitlam only scraped into office with a thin majority of 9 seats. Typically, elections that produce a change of government in Australia take the form of landslides (as in the elections of 1949, 1975, 1983, 1996, 2007 or 2013, for example). The comparatively small size of Whitlam's win is partly explained by his strong performance at the previous election of 1969, where he achieved a 7 percent swing, gaining 18 seats, from a low of 41 of 124 seats and a 43 percent two-party figure at the 1966 election.

The new Labor Government of Gough Whitlam was eager to make long-planned reforms, although it struggled against a lack of experience in its cabinet and the onset of the 1973 oil crisis and 1973–75 recession. In addition, the Senate was hostile to Whitlam, with the Coalition and Democratic Labor Parties holding more seats than the ALP, as the term of the Senate at the time was 1970 to 1974. This in particular would make governing difficult and led to the early double dissolution election of 1974.

Notes

1. ^{{cite book | author=Wendy Lewis, Simon Balderstone and John Bowan | title=Events That Shaped Australia | pages=234–238 | publisher=New Holland | year=2006 | isbn=978-1-74110-492-9 }}
2. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2007/guide/glossary.htm#casual_vacancy |title=Glossary of Election Terms - Federal Election 2007 |publisher=ABC |date= |accessdate=2016-07-30}}

References

AustralianPolitics.com 1972 election details
"It's Time For Leadership" – Whitlam policy speech, 13 November 1972
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.

{{Australian elections}}{{Politics of Australia}}{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2013}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Federal Election, 1972}}

4 : Federal elections in Australia|1972 elections in Australia|Gough Whitlam|December 1972 events

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