Australian federal election, 1974

← 1972

18 May 1974

1975 →

All 127 seats of the Australian House of Representatives
64 seats were needed for a majority in the House
All 60 seats of the Australian Senate

	First party	Second party

Leader	Gough Whitlam	Billy Snedden
Party	Labor	Liberal/Country coalition
Leader since	8 February 1967	5 December 1972
Leader's seat	Werriwa	Bruce
Last election	67 seats	58 seats
Seats won	66 seats	61 seats
Seat change	1	3
Percentage	51.70%	48.30%
Swing	1.00	1.00

Prime Minister before election

Gough Whitlam
Labor

Subsequent Prime Minister

Gough Whitlam
Labor

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 Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam defeated the opposition Liberal Party of Australia led by Billy Snedden and Coalition partner the Country Party led by Doug Anthony.

The election was held in conjunction with four referendum questions, none of which were carried.

¹ The Country Party (CP) contested the elections in Western Australia as the National Alliance (NA), which was a merger of the CP and the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) in that state. The NA won a single Senate seat in WA, its elected representative being Tom Drake-Brockman, who represented the CP, on election to parliament.
² Independent: Michael Townley (Liberal Party from Feb 1975)

Gough Whitlam had been an active prime minister since his party's victory in the 1972 election, and his government had pursued many socially progressive reforms and policies over its first term. However, it suffered through the 1973 oil crisis and the 1973–75 recession and received a hostile reception from the coalition/DLP-controlled Senate, with the last Senate election held in 1970.

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