Candidates of the 1977 Australian federal election explained

This article provides information on candidates who stood for the 1977 Australian federal election. The election was held on 10 December 1977.

Redistributions and seat changes

• Redistributions occurred in all states except Tasmania.
  • In New South Wales, the Labor-held seats of Darling and Lang and the Liberal-held seat of Evans were abolished. The new notionally Liberal seat of Dundas was created. The Liberal-held seat of Parramatta and the NCP-held seat of Riverina became notionally Labor, while the Labor-held seat of Robertson became notionally Liberal.
    • The member for Darling, John FitzPatrick (Labor), contested Riverina.
    • The member for Grayndler, Tony Whitlam (Labor), contested St George.
    • The member for Lang, Frank Stewart (Labor), contested Grayndler.
    • The member for Mackellar, Bill Wentworth (Independent Liberal), contested the Senate.
    • The member for Parramatta, Philip Ruddock (Liberal), contested Dundas.
  • In Victoria, the NCP-held seat of Wimmera was abolished.
    • The member for Hotham, Don Chipp (Democrats), contested the Senate.
    • The member for Isaacs, David Hamer (Liberal), contested the Senate.
  • In Queensland, the new notionally Liberal seat of Fadden was created.
    • The member for Griffith, Don Cameron (Liberal), contested Fadden.
  • In Western Australia, the Liberal-held seat of Swan became notionally Labor.
    • The member for Tangney, Peter Richardson (Progress), contested the Senate.
  • In South Australia, the Liberal-held seat of Angas was abolished, and the Labor-held seats of Grey and Hawker became notionally Liberal.
    • The member for Angas, Geoffrey Giles (Liberal), contested Wakefield.
    • South Australian Senator Steele Hall (Liberal) resigned from the Senate to contest Hawker.

Retiring Members and Senators

Labor

• Kim Beazley MP (Fremantle, WA)
• Jim Cairns MP (Lalor, Vic)
• Frank Crean MP (Melbourne Ports, Vic)
• Horrie Garrick MP (Batman, Vic)
• Senator Don Cameron (SA)
• Senator Don Devitt (Tas)

Liberal

• John Abel MP (Evans, NSW)
• Robert Bonnett MP (Herbert, Qld)
• Bert Kelly MP (Wakefield, WA)
• Senator Sir Magnus Cormack (Vic)
• Senator Ian Wood (Qld)
• Senator Reg Wright (Tas) - quit the Liberal Party shortly before his term concluded in June 1978.

National Country

• Robert King MP (Wimmera, Vic)
• Senator Tom Drake-Brockman (WA)

Democrats

• Senator Janine Haines (SA)

House of Representatives

Sitting members at the time of the election are shown in bold text. Successful candidates are highlighted in the relevant colour. Where there is possible confusion, an asterisk (*) is also used.

Australian Capital Territory

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Liberal candidate	Democrats candidate	Independent candidate
		Henry Lawrence		John Haslem	John Bellhouse	Oleg Kavunenko
			Ken Fry	George Mailath

New South Wales

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Coalition candidate	Democrats candidate	Other candidates
			Vince Martin	Paul Hinton (Lib)	Montague Greene
		Ron Cunningham		Jim Bradfield (Lib)		Charles Bellchambers (Ind)
		Noel Welsman		John Howard (Lib)	Bruce Irwin	David Rennie (Prog)
		Michael Jones		Harry Edwards (Lib)	Johannes van Aggele	George Simpson (Prog)
			Paul Keating	Salvatore Napoli (Lib)	Steven Suli	William Haggerty (Ind)
		Pauline Kibble		David Connolly (Lib)	Donald Marrable	Christopher Brown (Prog)
			James Ashton (Lib)	Darvell Baird
						Sandy Mackenzie (NCP)
			John Armitage	Richard Taylor (Lib)	Alfred Tozer	Jack Mundey (CPA)
				Don Dobie (Lib)	Walter Day	Henry Soper (Prog)
		Colin Clague		Ian Robinson (NCP)
			Stewart West	Thomas Griffin (Lib)	Ross Sampson	Noel Dennett (Ind) Rudolph Dezelin (Ind) Mervyn Nixon (CPA)
		Russell Rollason		Philip Ruddock (Lib)	Brendan Mohide	Malcolm McKinnon (Prog)
		Brian Maguire		Murray Sainsbury (Lib)	Norma Helmers	Michael Le Grand (Ind)
		Donald Fleming		Wal Fife (Lib)	Margaret Healey	Thomas Guy (Ind) Maureen Nathan (Prog)
			Frank Stewart	Bill Vasselou (Lib)		Frank Vouros (SPA)
		Francis Fish		Ralph Hunt (NCP)	Heather Howe	Brian Allen (Prog) Lyall Munro (Ind)
			Les Johnson	Henry Halliwell (Lib)	Kenneth Johnson
				Stephen Lusher (NCP)	Mark Richard
			Bert James	Oliver Fennell (Lib)
			Lionel Bowen	Collin O'Neill (Lib)	Edward Ward
				Sir William McMahon (Lib)	Frederick Tross	Charles Bingle (Ind)
		Noel Unicomb		Philip Lucock (NCP)	Allen Edwards
				Michael Baume (Lib)	William Speirs	Victor Thomas (Prog)
		John Barclay		Jim Carlton (Lib)	Robert Williams	John Booth (Prog) Ronald Davis (Ind) Barry Geyle (Ind) Thomas Mellor (Ind)
				Reg Gillard (Lib)	Peter Monaghan	Michael Barratt (Ind) Alyn Foster (Prog)
		Ellen Thompson		Alan Cadman (Lib)	Michael Hartnell	Ronald Allen (Ind) Dimitar Mikulasev (Prog)
		Selby Dean		Ian Sinclair (NCP)	Bradley Mulligan
			Charles Jones	Elaine Samuels (Lib)	Ian Hay	Darrell Dawson (CPA)
		Maurice May		Bill Graham (Lib)	John Pierce	Peter Corrie (Prog) John Maher (Ind)
				Douglas Cox (Lib)	Peter Lukunic
		Kerry Scott		Frank O'Keefe (NCP)	Paul Baker	William O'Donnell (Ind)
				Jack Birney (Lib)	Alan Needham	Barry Elliott (Ind)
			Dick Klugman	Alan Byers (Lib)	Laurence Bourke
			Tom Uren	Terence Shanahan (Lib)	Frederick Bluck
		Josephine Maxwell		Doug Anthony (NCP)	Bernard Walrut	John Mallett (Ind)
			John FitzPatrick	John Sullivan (NCP)		Rodney Lawrence (Ind)
			Barry Cohen	Malcolm Brooks (Lib)	Trevor Willsher
			Peter Morris	Richard Bevan (Lib)	Lionel Lambkin
		Tony Whitlam		Maurice Neil (Lib)	Ronald Kirwood	David Kriss (Prog)
			Les McMahon	Andrew Morrison (Lib)	Judith Roberts	Aileen Beaver (CPA) Harry Black (SPA) Naomi Mayers (Ind)
		Christopher Osborne		Michael MacKellar (Lib)	Anita Stiller	Stephen Keliher (Prog)
		Michael Winters		Bob Ellicott (Lib)		John Curvers (Prog)
			Gough Whitlam	Jonas Abromas (Lib)	Keith Olson	Ross May (Ind)

Queensland

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Coalition candidate	Democrats candidate	Progress candidate	Independent candidate
				David Jull (Lib)	Bryan Grehan	Martin Gant
				Peter Johnson (Lib)	Joan Hadley	John Steele
				Colin Carige (NCP) Douglas Cuddy (Lib)	Edward Batey	Ronald Kitching
		Robert Lingard		Tom McVeigh (NCP)		David Proud
		Michael Goldsborough		Ray Braithwaite (NCP)		Frank Paull
				Don Cameron (Lib)	Janice Barber	Peter Gautrey	Melody Bond
			James Shapcott (NCP)
		Fay Price		Evan Adermann (NCP)	Gillian Newman	Gregory Gaffney
				Stan Fas (NCP) Ronald Palmer (Lib)	Thomas Martin	Barrie Rundle	William Kenney
			Charles Arnold (NCP)	Kenneth Kipping	Coral Finlay	Peter Dunn Grahame Wells
							Gordon Dean (Lib)
		Robert Gleeson		Bob Katter (NCP)	Marelle Hicks Raymond Oldham	Vrettos Cominos
				David Thomson (NCP)	James Foster
				Kevin Cairns (Lib)	Albert Mayne	Gary Sturgess	Frank Andrews
		John Kidman		James Corbett (NCP)	Betty Whitworth	Maurice Fountain	Christopher Caldwell
		Jon Guerson		Eric Robinson (Lib)	Leonard Fairman	Neva Maxim	William Aabraham-Steer
		Barbara Robson		James Killen (Lib)	Dirk Plooy	Frederick Drake	Graham Bell
			Bill Hayden	Robert Walker (Lib)	Rowlynd Jones	Neil Russell
		Gerard Molloy		John Hodges (Lib)	Leslie Mundt	Rodney Jeanneret
		Gailene Harrison		John Moore (Lib)		Jili Boughen
		Frederick Faircloth		Clarrie Millar (NCP)	Douglas Mackenzie

South Australia

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Liberal candidate	Democrats candidate	Other candidates
			Chris Hurford	George Basisovs	Geoffrey Stewart
		Neil Richardson		James Porter	Rodney Roberts
				Brian Marsden	John Longhurst
		Mark Pickhaver		John McLeay	George Nimmo
			Laurie Wallis		Ronald Moulds	John Henderson (NCP)
			Ralph Jacobi		Bruce Miels	Warren Wallace (Ind)
			Clyde Cameron	Gregory Molfetas	James Evans
				Grant Chapman	Christopher Harte
			Mick Young	Jean Lawrie		Donald Sutherland (CPA)
		Ann Pengelly		Ian Wilson	Dean Bendall
		Denis Crisp		Geoffrey Giles	Kenneth Maguire

Tasmania

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Liberal candidate	Democrats candidate
				Kevin Newman	Dennis Cartledge
				Ray Groom
				Michael Hodgman	Robert McFie
		Peter Colquhoun		Bruce Goodluck
				Max Burr	Leon Gourlay

Victoria

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Coalition candidate	Democrats candidate	DLP candidate	Other candidates
		Robert Steele		Ian Macphee (Lib)	Zelma Furey	Peter Lawlor
		Norman Baker		Jim Short (Lib)	Graham Gough	William Griffin
				Gillford Brown (Lib)	Mario Piraino	Phillip Lorenz
		Dennis Muldoon		John Bourchier (Lib)	Ian Price	Paul Brennan
		Timothy Burke		Billy Snedden (Lib)	John Sutcliffe	John Mulholland
			Keith Johnson	Mihaly Lengyel (Lib)	Eric Spencer	Colin Walsh
		Peter Watson		Peter Falconer (Lib)	Malcolm Whittle	Francis Feltham	Martin Hetherich (Ind) Stanley Hillman (Ind) Henry Leggett (Ind)
				Tony Staley (Lib)	Robert Caulfield	Joe Stanley
		Shirley Ambrose		Tony Street (Lib)	Kathleen May	Francis O'Brien	Neil McDonald (Ind)
			Gordon Scholes	Clive Bubb (Lib)	Guenter Sahr	James Jordan
		Neville Gay		Alan Jarman (Lib)	Alan Teed	Daniel Condon
		Jean Downing		Neil Brown (Lib)	Ronald Goldman	Christopher Curtis
		Geoffrey Eastwood		Phillip Lynch (Lib)	Harold Fraser	John Cass	Monty Hollow (Ind)
			Ralph Willis	Anton Zajc (Lib)	June Smith
		William Switzer		Peter Nixon (NCP)	Thomas Reid	Robert McMahon	Bruce Ingle (Ind)
				Ken Aldred (Lib)	Fred Ingamells	Terence Farrell	Tony Dear (Ind)
		Ann Jackson		Roger Shipton (Lib)	Jim Thornley	Martin Cahill
				William Yates (Lib)	Brian Stockton	Kevin Leydon
		Tony Ross		Roger Johnston (Lib)	Kenneth Weaver	Edward Woods
		John Dennis		Ewen Cameron (Lib)	Neil Savage	Christopher Cody
			Mac Holten (NCP)
		Kenneth Williams		Bill Burns (Lib)	Francis McLeod	Ralph Cleary
		John Wilkinson		Andrew Peacock (Lib)	Michael McBride	Bernie Gaynor
				Harley Dickinson (Lib)	Charles Skidmore	Denis Bilston	Jeffrey Day (Ind) Rosalba Vicari (Ind)
				Marshall Baillieu (Lib)	Andrew McCann	James Penna	Cornelus Hellema (Ind)
		Geoffrey Ferns		Peter Fisher (NCP)		John Cotter
			Warwick Hincksman (Lib)
			Moss Cass	Philip Fitzherbert (Lib)	Alan Brass	Alan Tait
		Richard Elkington		Barry Simon (Lib)	Ronald Dent	Brian Handley	Norman Holyoak (Ind)
			Ted Innes	Robert Fallshaw (Lib)	Veronica Schwarz	Desmond Burke	Roger Wilson (CPA)
				Daniel Hill (Lib)	Valina Rainer	Gordon Haberman
		Graeme Macartney		Bruce Lloyd (NCP)	George Murray	Patrick Payne
			Robert Love (Lib)
			Harry Jenkins	Gerard Clarke (Lib)	George Samargis	Bernard McGrath
		Andrew Frost		Malcolm Fraser (Lib)	Thelma Trayling	John Casanova
			Gordon Bryant	Thomas Burrowes (Lib)	Vernon Weaver	John Flint

Western Australia

Electorate	Held by	Labor candidate	Liberal candidate	Democrats candidate	NCP candidate	Progress candidate	Other candidates
		Charles Savage		Mel Bungey	Velibor Debeljakovic	Marie Dilley	Douglas Joyce	John English (Ind)
				Victor Garland	Richard Bunting		James MacDonald
		Allan Drake-Brockman		Peter Drummond	Donald Stewart	John Gardiner	Reginald Crabb
				Peter Ramshaw	John Kernot		David Lavater	Vic Slater (CPA)
		Brian Conway		Mick Cotter	Edwin Routley	Squire Fletcher	Graham Mills
		James Hansen		John Hyde	Patricia Edward	Roy Clarke	Maurice Brockwell
				Ross McLean	Thomas Garrick		Lawrence Curtis
		Graham Reece		Ian Viner	Scott Christie		James Jamieson
		Patricia Fowkes		John Martyr	Hubert Lennerts		Bryan Scott-Courtland	William Deller (Ind)
		Duncan Graham			Geoffrey Taylor		Geoffrey McNeil

Senate

Sitting Senators are shown in bold text. Tickets that elected at least one Senator are highlighted in the relevant colour. Successful candidates are identified by an asterisk (*).

Australian Capital Territory

Two seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending one seat. The Liberal Party was defending one seat.

New South Wales

Five seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending three seats. The Liberal-NCP Coalition was defending two seats. Senators John Carrick (Liberal), Bob Cotton (Liberal), Doug McClelland (Labor), Jim McClelland (Labor) and Douglas Scott (National Country) were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	Coalition candidates	Democrats candidates	CTA candidates	Australia candidates	Progress candidates
valign=top	Tony Mulvihill Arthur Gietzelt Kerry Sibraa	valign=top	Peter Baume (Lib) Misha Lajovic (Lib) Dorothy Ross (NCP)	valign=top	Colin Mason Paul McLean Malcolm Hilbery Ronald Mallett Patricia Clark	valign=top	Fred Nile Reuben Scarf Patricia Judge	valign=top	John Notary Clifford Willard Allan Jones	valign=top	Barry Bracken Robert Howard Robert Schollbach
Marijuana candidates	Socialist candidates	Group C candidates	Group E candidates	Group G candidates	Ungrouped candidates
valign=top	James Billington Diana Fuller Peter Livesey	valign=top	Edgar Woodbury Pat Clancy	valign=top	Allan Chan Chan Chung Ling	valign=top	Shirley Smith Bruce Miles Cecil Patten Christos Roumeliotis	valign=top	Bill Wentworth Leah Young	valign=top	Henry Harding John Esposito

Northern Territory

Two seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending one seat. The Country Liberal Party was defending one seat.

Queensland

Five seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending two seats. The Liberal-NCP Coalition was defending three seats. Senators Neville Bonner (Liberal), Jim Keeffe (Labor), Ron Maunsell (National Country), Ron McAuliffe (Labor) and Glen Sheil (National Country) were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	Coalition candidates	Democrats candidates	Progress candidates	Socialist candidates	Group C candidates
valign=top	George Georges Mal Colston Verona Wake	valign=top	Kathy Martin (Lib) Stan Collard (NCP) David MacGibbon (Lib)	valign=top	Paul Griffin Michael Macklin Maureen Burton	valign=top	Vivian Forbes Owen Pershouse Suzanne Ham Barrie Fulcher	valign=top	Charles Murphy David Ryan Ivan Ivanoff	valign=top	Anne Glew Geoffrey Crouch
Group D candidates	Ungrouped candidates
valign=top	James Drabsch Lloyd Drabsch Ace Drabsch	valign=top	John Jones Bruce Chambers	valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top

South Australia

Five seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending two seats. The Liberal Party was defending two seats. One seat had been held by the Australian Democrats following its resignation by the Liberal Movement's Steele Hall. Senators Reg Bishop (Labor), Jim Cavanagh (Labor), Gordon Davidson (Liberal), Don Jessop (Liberal) and Condor Laucke (Liberal) were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	Liberal candidates	Democrats candidates	Australia candidates	Progress candidates	Socialist candidates
valign=top	Geoff McLaren Ron Elstob Nick Bolkus	valign=top	Tony Messner Harold Young Baden Teague	valign=top	Ian Gilfillan Michael Lee Nicholas Theologou	valign=top	Colyn van Reenen Kathy Dancer	valign=top	John Whiting Verna Oakley	valign=top	Alan Miller Muriel Goss
Group F candidates	Ungrouped candidates
valign=top	George Jukes Jean Jukes	valign=top	Stephen Dimitriou (MAR) Andrew Jones (Ind)	valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top

Tasmania

Five seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending two seats. The Liberal Party was defending three seats, although retiring Senator Reg Wright had become an independent at the end of his term. Senators Brian Harradine (Independent), Justin O'Byrne (Labor), Peter Rae (Liberal), Michael Townley (Liberal) and Ken Wriedt (Labor) were not up for re-election.

Victoria

Five seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending two seats. The Liberal-NCP Coalition was defending three seats. Senators Ivor Greenwood (Liberal), Margaret Guilfoyle (Liberal), Jean Melzer (Labor), Cyril Primmer (Labor) and James Webster (National Country) were not up for re-election.

Labor candidates	Coalition candidates	Democrats candidates	DLP candidates	Australia candidates	Socialist candidates
valign=top	Gareth Evans John Button Bill Brown	valign=top	Alan Missen (Lib) David Hamer (Lib) Tom Tehan (NCP)	valign=top	Don Chipp John Siddons Janice Bateman Harold Jeffrey Neil Sleep	valign=top	Jim Brosnan Les Hilton Paul McManus	valign=top	Derek Kruse David Heath Gail Farrell	valign=top	Ron Hearn Trevor McCandless Hariklia Kokkinos
Marijuana candidates	Group B candidates	Ungrouped candidates
valign=top	Jay McRoach Peter McKenzie	valign=top	Carolyn Ingvarson Elizabeth Morton Marie Quinn	valign=top	Shane Watson Ronald Batey Peter Kavanagh Terence Vine	valign=top		valign=top		valign=top

Western Australia

Five seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending two seats. The Liberal Party was defending two seats. The National Country Party was defending one seat. Senators Peter Durack (Liberal), Gordon McIntosh (Labor), Peter Sim (Liberal), John Wheeldon (Labor) and Reg Withers (Liberal) were not up for re-election.

Summary by party

Beside each party is the number of seats contested by that party in the House of Representatives for each state, as well as an indication of whether the party contested the Senate election in the respective state.

Party	NSW		Vic		Qld		WA		SA		Tas		ACT		NT		Total
	HR	S	HR	S	HR	S	HR	S	HR	S	HR	S	HR	S	HR	S	HR	S
Australian Labor Party	43		33		19		10		11		5		2		1		124	8
Liberal Party of Australia	35		32		12		10		11		5		2				107	7
National Country Party	9		4		11		4		1								29	4
Country Liberal Party															1		1	1
Australian Democrats	41		32		17		10		11		3		1		1		116	8
Progress Party	15				16		10								1		42	5
Democratic Labor Party			33														33	1
Communist Party of Australia	4		1				1		1								7
Socialist Party of Australia	2																2	4
Australian Marijuana Party																		4
Australia Party																		3
Call to Australia																		1
Independent and other	20		11		8		2		1				1				43

See also

• 1977 Australian federal election
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1975–1977
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1977–1980
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1975–1978
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1978–1981
• List of political parties in Australia

References

• Adam Carr's Election Archive - House of Representatives 1977
• Adam Carr's Election Archive - Senate 1977