May 1977 Australian Labor Party leadership spill

May 1977 Australian Labor Party
Leadership spill

31 May 1977

Candidate Gough Whitlam Bill Hayden Caucus vote 32 (51.6%) 30 (48.4%)

Leader before election Gough Whitlam Elected Leader Gough Whitlam

A leadership spill of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), then the opposition party in the Parliament of Australia, was held on 31 May 1977. Former Treasurer Bill Hayden unsuccessfully challenged Labor leader Gough Whitlam. Whitlam was narrowly re-elected by 32 votes to 30 (the smallest possible majority) leading him to later refer to many in his caucus as 'out of touch'.

Background

After his party's heavy defeat at the 1975 election Gough Whitlam was comfortably re-elected leader of the ALP. However over the following year his support began to fall away and many MPs lobbied his former Treasurer Bill Hayden to stand against him. In March 1977 Hayden announced his candidacy.

Candidates

• Bill Hayden, Shadow Minister for Economic Management, Member for Oxley
• Gough Whitlam, incumbent Leader, Member for Werriwa

Potential candidates who declined to run

• Lionel Bowen, Shadow Attorney-General, Member for Kingsford Smith

Results

Australian Labor Party
Deputy Leadership spill, May 1977

Candidate Tom Uren Paul Keating Chris Hurford First ballot 28 (45.2%) 22 (35.5%) 12 (19.4%) Second ballot 34 (54.8%) 28 (45.3%) Eliminated

Deputy Leader before election Tom Uren Deputy Leader after election Tom Uren

Leadership ballot

The following tables gives the ballot results:

Name		Votes	Percentage
	Gough Whitlam	32	51.62
	Bill Hayden	30	48.38

Deputy leadership ballot

Candidate		1st ballot	2nd ballot
	Tom Uren	28	34
	Paul Keating	22	28
	Chris Hurford	12	Eliminated

Aftermath

Despite surviving the vote the ALP only gained a handful of seats at the 1977 election, which prompted Whitlam to resign as leader with Hayden elected as his replacement.