The

Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Au ...

held a

leadership spill In Australian politics, a leadership spill (or simply spill) is a colloquialism referring to a declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant and open for contest. A spill may involve all or some of the leadership positions (l ...

on 7 November 1969, following the party's poor performance at the federal election on 25 October. Prime Minister

John Gorton Sir John Grey Gorton (9 September 1911 – 19 May 2002) was an Australian politician who served as the nineteenth Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1968 to 1971. He led the Liberal Party during that time, having previously been a l ...

was re-elected as the party's leader, defeating challengers

William McMahon Sir William McMahon (23 February 190831 March 1988) was an Australian politician who served as the 20th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1971 to 1972 as leader of the Liberal Party. He was a government minister for over 21 years, ...

and David Fairbairn.

Background

The Liberal–Country coalition lost a combined 16 seats at the 1969 federal election, and the Labor Party (under

Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1977, he was notable for being the ...

) won the

two-party-preferred vote In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP ...

. On 2 November, National Development Minister David Fairbairn announced his intention to challenge Gorton for the leadership of the Liberal Party. He was joined the following day by Treasurer

, who had been deputy leader since 1966.McMahon in race for P.M.
''The Canberra Times'', 4 November 1969. Deputy Prime Minister

John McEwen Sir John McEwen, (29 March 1900 – 20 November 1980) was an Australian politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Australia, holding office from 1967 to 1968 in a caretaker capacity after the disappearance of Harold Holt. He was the ...

, the leader of the Country Party, announced that his party was willing to work with any of the three candidates; this lifted the veto he had applied to McMahon at the previous leadership ballot in January 1968.Summer of ’69: lessons from a Liberal spill
Crikey, 2 February 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2017.

Candidates

* David Fairbairn, Minister for National Development, Member for

Farrer Farrer may refer to People * Alisha Farrer (born 1943), Australian actress and model * Austin Farrer (1904–1968), English theologian, philosopher, and friend of C. S. Lewis * Buster Farrer (1936-), South African cricketer * Claude Farrer (1862� ...

, incumbent Leader, Prime Minister of Australia, Member for Higgins *

, incumbent Deputy Leader,

Treasurer of Australia The Treasurer of Australia (or Federal Treasurer) is a high ranking official and senior minister of the Crown in the Government of Australia who is the head of the Ministry of the Treasury which is responsible for government expenditure and ...

, Member for Lowe

Election

The election on 7 November was set for 10 a.m., but delayed by an hour as five MPs travelling from Melbourne were delayed by a faulty aircraft. With Speaker William Aston presiding, the 65 members of the Liberal partyroom took 49 minutes to elect a leader. Gorton won an absolute majority on the first ballot, but the final results were kept secret, with the ballot papers burnt immediately after being tallied.Result a secret
''The Canberra Times'', 8 November 1969. Alan Reid of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' estimated Gorton had won 34 votes, while ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...

'' estimated 38 votes; Gorton's supporters claimed up to 40 votes. The deputy leadership was also declared vacant, and McMahon was re-elected over Immigration Minister Billy Snedden and Postmaster-General

Alan Hulme Sir Alan Shallcross Hulme KBE (14 February 19079 October 1989) was an Australian politician, accountant and cattle breeder. He was born in the Sydney suburb of Mosman and was educated at North Sydney Boys High School. He moved to Queensland be ...

with about 35 votes, with Snedden receiving the majority of the rest.

Results

The following table gives the ballot result:

Leadership ballot

Deputy leadership ballot

Aftermath

After the challenge, Fairbairn resigned from cabinet and McMahon was demoted to Minister for External Affairs. Gorton resigned in March 1971 after a vote of confidence in his leadership was tied 33-33, and McMahon won the subsequent leadership contest against Billy Snedden.

References

External links

Interview with John Gorton the day after the leadership challenge
{{Leadership spills in Australia Liberal Party of Australia leadership spills November 1969 events in Australia 1969 elections in Australia Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill