The Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon, appointed Frank Gill, National Party MP for East Coast Bays since the 1972 election, to take up a position as New Zealand's ambassador to the United States.

Hoadley, a barrister and adult education lecturer at University of Auckland, was Labour's candidate for North Shore in 1975.

As there was already speculation at the time about Gill's retirement, media commented that Chapman was hinting as East Coast Bays.

It was not only a surprise for him to win, especially on the first ballot, but also to media as he had only joined the National Party six months earlier and was publicly critical of Muldoon's last budget.

[13] Labour attempted to discredit Social Credit with a pamphlet that set out the movement's founder, Major C. H. Douglas, antisemitic views.

Many also believed that Muldoon, who had no time for his economist candidate, put up the tolls on the harbour bridge just before the contest with the intention of derailing Brash's campaign.