| Federal election major party leaders | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian elections 1966 1969 1972 Australian elections | |||||
Liberal John Gorton Prime Minister Parliament: 20 years Leader since: 1968 Division: Higgins WIN | |||||
Labor Gough Whitlam Opposition leader Parliament: 17 years Leader since: 1967 Division: Werriwa | |||||
| 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 |
See Australian Senate election, 1967 and Australian Senate election, 1970 for Senate compositions.
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 a "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 Robin 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 factionism. In addition, the Coalition had been in office for 20 years and was seen as becoming tired and unfocused, and there were growing concerns over Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The ALP went into the election with a small caucus and could have a good hope of gaining seats.
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. They 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 percent swing from 1966. However, Labor came up four seats short of taking power. Nonetheless, it set the stage for Labor winning government three years later.
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.
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