Australian federal election, 1969

Federal elections were held in Australia on 25 October 1969. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives, no Senate seats were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia John Gorton with coalition partner the Country Party led by John McEwen (who had also served as Prime Minister for three weeks after Harold Holt's disappearance) defeated the Australian Labor Party led by Gough Whitlam. Even though the ALP lost, the election was seen as a good result for them as it made significant gains against the Coalition.

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, largely due to the Democratic Labor Party preferencing against Labor, Whitlam came up four seats short of toppling the Coalition. Had Labor been able to overcome DLP preferences in four Melbourne-area seats, it would have won. [ [http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2007/results/senate/vic.htm Analysis of 2007 election in Victoria] by Antony Green] Nonetheless, it set the stage for Labor winning government three years later.

References

* [http://elections.uwa.edu.au/ University of WA] election results in Australia since 1890
* [http://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/Australian_Electoral_History/House_of_Representative_1949_Present.htm 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.