Australia 1972 federal election
What was the result of the 1972 federal election in Australia?
Australian Labor Party won 67 of 125 seats with 49.6% of the vote. 95.4% of registered voters cast a ballot.
Australia- Held:
- Final result
- ParlGov, read 5 October 2026
Which party won the most seats?
Final results from ParlGov, read : Australian Labor Party won 67 of 125 seats with 49.6% of the vote; 95.4% of registered voters cast a ballot, up 0.4 points on 1969.
- Australian Labor Party 67 +8 seats 49.6% +2.6 points
- Liberal Party of Australia 38 −8 seats 32.0% −2.8 points
- National (Country) Party / National Party of Australia 20 0 seats 9.4% +0.8 points
- Democratic Labour Party 0 0 seats 5.2% −0.8 points
- Australia Party 0 2.4%
- Seats won
- Change on the previous election at the right
- Share of the vote
- Share at the previous election
- Change in points at the right
Changes are against the Australia 1969 federal election, party by party.
- Australian Labor Party67
- Liberal Party of Australia38
- National (Country) Party / National Party of Australia20
Key numbers
49.6%
Share of the vote won by Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party won 67 of 125 seats. A majority needs 63.
+8 seats
Seats gained by Australian Labor Party
The largest gain in seats compared with 1969. Liberal Party of Australia lost 8 seats.
95.4%
Voter turnout
Up 0.4 points on 1969.
Seats and votes by party
| Party | Seats | ± seats | % | ± points | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Labor Party | 67 | +8 | 49.6 | +2.6 | 3,273,549 |
| Liberal Party of Australia | 38 | −8 | 32.0 | −2.8 | 2,115,085 |
| National (Country) Party / National Party of Australia | 20 | 0 | 9.4 | +0.8 | 622,826 |
| Democratic Labour Party | 0 | 0 | 5.2 | −0.8 | 346,415 |
| Australia Party | 0 | 2.4 | 159,916 | ||
| Independents | 0 | 0 | 1.3 | −1.5 | 83,259 |
± is the change against the Australia 1969 federal election, party by party.
Votes by party
- Australian Labor Party 3,273,549
- Liberal Party of Australia 2,115,085
- National (Country) Party / National Party of Australia 622,826
- Democratic Labour Party 346,415
- Australia Party 159,916
- Independents 83,259
ParlGov lists parties with at least 1 percent of the vote or 2 seats, so the rows do not add up to the valid votes.
How many people voted?
95.4% of the 7,073,930 registered voters cast a ballot (6,747,244 ballots), up 0.4 points on 1969. 6,601,050 of them were valid votes. The highest turnout since 1963 in our data.
How do the votes compare with the seats?
- Australian Labor Party49.6% of votes53.6% of seats
- Liberal Party of Australia32.0% of votes30.4% of seats
- National (Country) Party / National Party of Australia9.4% of votes16.0% of seats
- Democratic Labour Party5.2% of votes0.0% of seats
- Australia Party2.4% of votes0.0% of seats
The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 7.0 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.8 by votes and 2.5 by seats; Australian Labor Party led Liberal Party of Australia by 17.6 points of the vote.
Time and source Data as of