1976 Australian Labor Party leadership spill

1976 Australian Labor Party
Leadership spill

←  1968 27 January 1976 May 1977  →

Candidate Gough Whitlam Lionel Bowen Frank Crean Caucus vote 36 (57.1%) 14 (22.2%) 13 (20.6%)

Leader before election Gough Whitlam Elected Leader Gough Whitlam

A leadership spill in the Australian Labor Party, the party of opposition in the Parliament of Australia, was held on 27 January 1976, the date of the first Caucus meeting following the 1975 election.

Dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was comfortably re-elected leader of the ALP ahead of senior MPs Lionel Bowen and Frank Crean on the first ballot. A much more extensive series of ballots was required to fill the deputy leadership with eight contenders narrowed down to a final ballot seeing Tom Uren narrowly defeat Paul Keating 33 votes to 30. ^[1]

To date, this is the last Australian Labor Party leadership spill at the federal level to be contested by more than two candidates.

Candidates

• Lionel Bowen, 53, former minister for manufacturing industry, member for Kingsford Smith
• Frank Crean, 59, incumbent deputy leader, former minister for overseas trade, member for Melbourne Ports
• Gough Whitlam, 59, incumbent leader, member for Werriwa

Withdrawn candidates

• Gordon Bryant, former minister for the Capital Territory, member for Wills ^[2]

Potential candidates who declined to run

• Bill Hayden, former treasurer, member for Oxley

Results

Australian Labor Party
Deputy Leadership spill, 1976

← 1975 May 1977  →

Candidate Tom Uren Paul Keating Third ballot 33 (52.4%) 30 (47.6%)

Deputy Leader before election Frank Crean Deputy Leader after election Tom Uren

Leader

The following table gives the ballot results:

Name		Votes	Percentage
	Gough Whitlam	36	57.14
	Lionel Bowen	14	22.22
	Frank Crean	13	20.63

Deputy leader

The following table gives the ballot results: ^[3]

Candidate		1st ballot	2nd ballot	3rd ballot
	Tom Uren	15	26	33
	Paul Keating	13	21	30
	Mick Young	13	16	Eliminated
	Kim Beazley	6	Eliminated
	Gordon Bryant	5	Eliminated
	Gordon Scholes	4	Eliminated
	Moss Cass	4	Eliminated
	Les Johnson	3	Eliminated

See also

• 1975 Australian federal election
• 1975 Australian constitutional crisis

References

1. "Clear win to Whitlam". The Canberra Times . 28 January 1976. p. 1.
2. "Whitlam to stay as leader: supporters". The Canberra Times. 22 December 1975. p. 3. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
3. "Voting for Party Leaders". The Canberra Times . 28 January 1976. p. 9.