The party retained the seat despite a 16.5-point negative swing, with Brian Burke (a future premier) outpolling the Liberal candidate, Neil Beck, by only 30 votes on the two-party-preferred count.
Herb Graham had held Balcatta for the Labor Party since the seat's re-creation at the 1962 state election, and had served in parliament since 1943.
He was made deputy premier under John Tonkin following Labor's victory at the 1971 election, but the pair had frequent differences of opinion.
[2] On the same day that Graham announced his retirement, Brian Burke made his decision to seek Labor preselection for Balcatta.
Having undertaken an opinion poll of the seat, Burke realised he was most likely not going to win, so he asked acting state secretary Kim Beazley for money to fund his campaign.