The Australian Democrats was a centrist political party which held many seats in the Australian Senate and several state and territory legislatures between 1977 and 2008. It was Australia's largest minor party from its formation in 1977 through to 2004, and frequently held the balance of power in the Senate during that time. The party's share of the vote collapsed at the 2004 election and was further diminished in 2007 with the last senators leaving office in 2008.
Edward Gough Whitlam was the 21st Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The Leader of the Labor Party from 1967 to 1977, Whitlam led his party to power for the first time in 23 years at the 1972 election. He won the 1974 election before being controversially dismissed by the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, at the climax of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. Whitlam remains the only Australian prime minister to have his commission terminated in that manner.
John Malcolm Fraser was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1975 to 1983 as leader of the Liberal Party.
The 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, also known simply as the Dismissal, has been described as the greatest political and constitutional crisis in Australian history. It culminated on 11 November 1975 with the dismissal from office of the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), by Governor-General Sir John Kerr, who then commissioned the Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Fraser of the Liberal Party, as caretaker Prime Minister.
Sir John Robert Kerr, was the 18th Governor-General of Australia. He dismissed the Labor government of Gough Whitlam on 11 November 1975, marking the climax of the most significant constitutional crisis in Australian history. He had previously been the 13th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
Donald Leslie Chipp, AO was an Australian politician who was the inaugural leader of the Australian Democrats, leading the party from 1977 to 1986. He began his career as a member of the Liberal Party, winning election to the House of Representatives in 1960 and serving as a government minister for a cumulative total of six years. Chipp left the Liberals in 1977 to help create a new party, the Democrats, and famously promised to "keep the bastards honest". He won election to the Senate later that year, and led the party at four federal elections; after 1983 it held the sole balance of power in the Senate.
This is a list of members of the Australian House of Representatives from 1975 to 1977. The 13 December 1975 election was a double dissolution of both Houses, with all 127 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 64 seats in the Senate were up for election. Malcolm Fraser had been commissioned as prime minister following the dismissal of the Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s three-year-old Labor government by Governor-General Sir John Kerr, on 11 November 1975. The same day, Fraser advised the calling of the election, in accordance with Kerr’s stipulated conditions. Thus the Liberal Party of Australia, led by Fraser, with coalition partner the National Country Party, led by Doug Anthony, went to the election as a minority caretaker government. The election resulted in the Coalition securing government with a 30-seat swing in the House of Representatives away from Labor.
The Whitlam Government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. It was made up of members of the Australian Labor Party. The government commenced when it defeated the McMahon Government in the 1972 federal election after a record 23 years of Coalition government. It concluded in historic circumstances, when it was dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr as a result of the 1975 constitutional crisis and was succeeded by the Fraser Government. The Whitlam Government remains the only federal government in Australian history to be dismissed by either a monarch or viceregal representative.
Federal elections were held in Australia on 13 December 1975. All 127 seats in the House of Representatives and all 64 seats in the Senate were up for election, due to a double dissolution.
Federal elections were held in Australia on 18 May 1974. All 127 seats in the House of Representatives and all 60 seats in the Senate were up for election, due to a double dissolution. The incumbent Labor Party led by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam defeated the opposition Liberal–Country coalition under Billy Snedden.
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.
Federal elections were held in Australia on 25 October 1969. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition government, led by Prime Minister John Gorton, won the election with a severely diminished majority over the opposition Labor Party, led by Gough Whitlam. Both major parties had changed their leaders in the run-up to the election, the first time this had occurred since 1946.
Gordon Glen Denton Scholes AO was an Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1967 to 1993, representing the Labor Party. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1975 to 1976, and then a minister in the Hawke Government from 1983 to 1987.
This is a list of members of the Australian Senate from 1975 to 1978. The 13 December 1975 election was a double dissolution of both houses, with all 127 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 64 seats in the Senate up for election. Malcolm Fraser had been commissioned as prime minister following the dismissal of Gough Whitlam’s Labor government by Governor-General Sir John Kerr, on 11 November 1975. The same day, Fraser advised the calling of the election, in accordance with Kerr’s stipulated conditions. Thus the Liberal Party of Australia, led by Fraser, with Coalition partner the National Country Party, led by Doug Anthony, went to the election as a caretaker government. The election resulted in the Coalition securing government with a 30-seat swing away from Labor in the House of Representatives.
This article provides information on candidates who stood for the 1977 Australian federal election. The election was held on 10 December 1977.
The Fraser Government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. It was made up of members of a Liberal-Country party coalition in the Australian Parliament from November 1975 to March 1983. Initially appointed as a "caretaker" government following the dismissal of the Whitlam Government, Fraser won in a landslide at the resulting 1975 Australian federal election, and won substantial majorities at the subsequent 1977 and 1980 elections, before losing to the Bob Hawke-led Australian Labor Party in the 1983 election.
The Gorton Government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Gorton. It was made up of members of a Liberal-Country Party coalition in the Australian Parliament from January 1968 to March 1971.
The McMahon Government was the period of federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister William McMahon of the Liberal Party. It was made up of members of a coalition between the Liberal Party and the Country Party, led by Doug Anthony as Deputy Prime Minister. The McMahon Government lasted from March 1971 to December 1972, being defeated at the 1972 federal election. Writing for the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Julian Leeser describes McMahon's prime ministership as "a blend of cautious innovation and fundamental orthodoxy".
The history of the Australian Labor Party has its origins in the Labour parties founded in the 1890s in the Australian colonies prior to federation. Labor tradition ascribes the founding of Queensland Labour to a meeting of striking pastoral workers under a ghost gum tree in Barcaldine, Queensland in 1891. The Balmain, New South Wales branch of the party claims to be the oldest in Australia. Labour as a parliamentary party dates from 1891 in New South Wales and South Australia, 1893 in Queensland, and later in the other colonies.
