Gough Whitlam had been an active prime minister since his party's victory in the 1972 election, and his government had pursued many socially progressive reforms and policies over its first term.

After a great deal of legalistic argumentation in both houses about the Gair Affair, and justified by the failure of six (non-supply) bills to pass the Senate, Whitlam requested and was granted by Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck a double dissolution under section 57 of the Constitution.

The election focused on Whitlam's first 1+1⁄2 years in office and whether the Australian public was willing to continue with his reform agenda.

Members of the House of Representatives were elected one per division (electoral district) using full-preferential instant-runoff voting.

The ALP and the coalition each won 29 seats in the 60 member Senate, with the balance of power held by Steele Hall of the Liberal Movement, and Michael Townley, a conservative independent.

The Democratic Labor Party, which had been rendered obsolete by the election of the Whitlam government in 1972, lost all five of its Senate seats.

Partly as a result, Grassby was defeated by the National Party candidate, John Sullivan, by just 792 votes.

This gave the Coalition an effective majority, holding 30 of the 59, allowing them to block supply in the Senate to pave the way for the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis.