1972 Australian federal election

1972 Australian federal election
2 December 1972
All 125 seats of the House of Representatives
63 seats were needed for a majority
Registered7,073,930 7.08%
Turnout6,747,244 (95.38%)
(0.41 pp)
  First party Second party
 
Leader Gough Whitlam William McMahon
Party Labor Liberal–Country Coalition
Leader since 8 February 1967 10 March 1971
Leader's seat Werriwa (NSW) Lowe (NSW)
Last election 59 seats 66 seats
Seats won 67 58
Seat change 8 8
Primary vote 3,273,549 2,737,911
Percentage 49.59% 41.48%
Swing 2.64 1.84
TPP 52.7% 47.3%
TPP swing 2.50 2.50
Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory.
Prime Minister before election

William McMahon
Liberal/Country coalition

Subsequent Prime Minister

Gough Whitlam
Labor

A federal election was 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 led by Gough Whitlam. Labor's victory ended 23 years of successive Coalition governments that began in 1949 and started the three-year Whitlam Labor Government.

Whitlam became the first Labor leader since World War II to lead the party to victory from opposition. The feat was repeated by Bob Hawke in 1983, Kevin Rudd in 2007 and Anthony Albanese in 2022.

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