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Mr Whitlam
leads ALP
Mr Whitlam, right, and Mr Barnard at a press conference after ■ the clcction. Help
Mr Whitlam, right, and Mr Barnard at a press conference after
the election.
By Jonathan Gaul, Political Correspondent
Labor's leadership
ballots yesterday ended
in an unexpected com-
promise. Mr Gough
Whitlam and his nomi-
nee, Mr Lance Barnard,
soundly defeated the
left-wing candidates for
Leader and Deputy
Leader of the party.
Their victory was tem-
pered by the success of the
two left-wing supported can-
didates for the Senate posi-
tions. Senator Murphy,
NSW, and Senator Cohen,
Victoria, were elected
Leader and Deputy Leader
in the Senate.
Mr Whitlam defeated Dr
Jim Cairns, of Victoria, for
the leadership by 39 votes
to 15 on second preferences.
There were five candi-
dates for the leadership —
Mr Whitlam and Mr Daly,
NSW, Dr Cairns and Mr
Crean, Victoria, and Mr
Beazley, WA.
With one member of the
Caucus absent because of
the Hobart fires, Mr Whit-
lam received 32 of the 68
first preference votes,
against 15 for Dr Cairns
and 12 for the other left-
wing candidate, Mr Crean.
On the first preference
vote count Mr Whitlam re-
ceived one vote from Mr
Beazley's total of three, the
other two going to Mr Daly.
On the next count Mr
Daly was eliminated with
six of his eight preferences
going to Mr Whitlam. Dr
Cairns had received no pre-
ferences at that final stage.
Three votes
short
Last night Mr Whitlam
announced the results of the
four leadership ballots but
would answer only one or
two questions. He will give
a full-scale news conference
this afternoon.
The Caucus began almost
1½ hours late. It had been
scheduled for 2.30pm but
was adjourned to allow two
delayed Tasmanian mem-
bers, Mr Duthie and Sena-
tor Poke, to attend. A third
Tasmanian, Mr Davies, re-
turned to Tasmania from
Melbourne when he heard
that a relative's property had
been destroyed in the fires.
The meeting took only
about 15 minutes to elect
Mr Whitlam. On the first
count he was only three
votes short of an absolute
majority and although the
final result was decided by
preferences it was never in
doubt. Applause at 4.40pm
signalled his victory.
The ballot for the De-
puty Leadership took much
longer and the result was
not announced until 6pm.
Mr Barnard, from Tasmania
won narrowly from Dr
Cairns 35 votes to 33.
There were eight candi-
dates for the Deputy Lead-
ership ballot — Mr Daly
and Mr Stewart, NSW, Dr
Cairns, Mr Crean and Mr
Bryant, Victoria, Dr Patter-
son, Queensland, Mr Beaz-
ley, WA, and Mr Barnard,
Tasmania.
After the dinner-adjourn-
ment the meeting took 15
minutes to elect Senator
Murphy as Senate Leader
by 36 votes to 32 in a
straight-out contest with
Senator Willesee, who has
been Senate Leader since
last August.
Senator Willesee had been
expected to win, particularly
after Mr Whitlam's victory.
However, unofficial caucus-
ing during the dinner break
had produced a reaction to
the Whitlam-Barnard vic-
tory, and this was followed
through with the election of
Senator Cohen as Deputy
Senate Leader.
Executive
ballots
Ten positions then re-
mained to be elected on the
14-man Parliamentary Exe-
cutive. This was in two bal-
lots, one for States not rep-
resented by the four leaders
and another for the seven
remaining positions on an
open basis.
In the first of these Dr
Patterson won the Queens-
land seat from Senator
Dittmer and Mr Hayden by
36 votes to 32 after one
preference count; Mr
Cameron was elected unop-
posed for South Australia,
and Mr Webb for Western
Australia.
Twenty candidates con-
tested the remaining seven
positions on the Executive,
which determines who will
sit on the Opposition front
benches.
Although Senator Murphy
and Cohen were supported
by the left wing observers
say there is not so much of
a division between them and
Mr Whitlam, and they
could form a strong leader-
ship team.
The Executive, too, con-
tains a fair balance of re-
presentation of the various
groups within the party.
Left-wing candidates Mr
Crean, 44 votes, and Dr
Cairns, 43 votes, topped the
poll for the seven remain-
ing posts on the executive.
They were followed by Mr
Daly, 41, Mr Jones, of
NSW, 34, Mr Beaton, Vic-
toria, 33, Mr Connor, NSW,
32, and Mr Luchetti, NSW,
30.
The Caucus sat until 12.30
am today to decide the bal-
lot.
Profiles of leaders.— Page
12
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