Editing William McMahon (section)

==Later parliamentary career (1972–1982)==
[[File:William McMahon 1973.jpg|thumb|left|Official portrait, 1973]]
McMahon's term as prime minister ended on 5 December 1972. He did not immediately resign as Liberal leader, but it soon became clear that there was no support for him to continue.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]]|date=4 December 1972|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110623612|title=LOBBYING FOR LIBERAL LEADERSHIP BEGINS|access-date=16 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317040017/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110623612|archive-date=17 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]]|date=16 December 1972|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110625657|title=Former PM not to run as leader|access-date=16 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317040020/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110625657|archive-date=17 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> 

McMahon became the first Prime Minister to have lost an election and had retained his seat who did not then serve as Leader of the Opposition.

On 20 December, the Liberal Party elected [[Billy Snedden]] as his successor. As a mark of respect for his past service, McMahon was included in Snedden's new shadow cabinet (as was John Gorton). However, at his own request he was not allocated a specific portfolio.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]]|date=22 December 1972|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110626649|title=Liberals' executive|access-date=16 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317035922/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110626649|archive-date=17 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]]|date=30 January 1973|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110704896|title=Snedden names 'Shadow' team|access-date=16 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317035846/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110704896|archive-date=17 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> In an interview with [[HSV7]] in June 1973, McMahon stated that "disloyalty within our own party" was the main reason the Liberals had lost the election. He also said that he had three regrets from his time as prime minister – that he failed to abolish national service, that he had mishandled the 1971 budget, and that he had been a poor communicator.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110713877|newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]]|title=McMahon blames 'disloyal' party|date=11 June 1973|access-date=16 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317035723/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110713877|archive-date=17 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

After the [[1974 Australian federal election|1974 election]], McMahon returned to the backbench for the first time since 1951.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]]|date=10 June 1974|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110782595|title=McMahon out of Liberal executive|access-date=16 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317035719/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110782595|archive-date=17 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> In the lead-up to [[1975 Australian constitutional crisis|the dismissal]] of the Whitlam government in 1975, he strongly defended the power of the Senate to block [[confidence and supply|supply]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110660633|title=The power of the Senate|newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]]|date=1 October 1975|access-date=16 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317040030/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110660633|archive-date=17 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> However, he believed that Governor-General [[John Kerr (governor-general)|John Kerr]] had acted unconstitutionally in dismissing the prime minister, and said that he would have challenged the decision in the [[High Court of Australia|High Court]] if he had been in Whitlam's position.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/136978682|newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]]|date=5 February 1979|title=Act brought greatest disrepute: McMahon|access-date=16 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317035902/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/136978682|archive-date=17 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> McMahon believed that those responsible for the "[[loans affair]]" – including Whitlam and several of his ministers – had acted illegally and should be prosecuted for their involvement. He assisted Danny Sankey (a private citizen) in bringing a [[private prosecution]] against Whitlam, which eventually came before the High Court as ''[[Sankey v Whitlam]]''. [[Malcolm Fraser]] had promised Kerr that his government would bring no action against its predecessor, and was frustrated by McMahon's actions. In his memoirs, he said: "I knew McMahon was running around up to his tricks ... I couldn't control what he did, but I could make damn sure that the government, my government, did not get involved".<ref>{{cite book|title=Malcolm Fraser: The Political Memoirs|author=[[Malcolm Fraser]] and [[Margaret Simons]]|publisher=The Miegunyah Press|year=2010|pages=337–338}}</ref>

Prior to the [[1977 Australian federal election|1977 election]], McMahon was unsuccessfully challenged for Liberal preselection by [[John Abel (politician)|John Abel]], whose [[Division of Evans]] had been abolished in an electoral redistribution.<ref>{{cite news|title=McMahon retains preselection|newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]]|date=8 November 1977|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110876729|access-date=16 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317040020/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110876729|archive-date=17 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> After being re-elected, he became the joint [[Father of the Australian House of Representatives|Father of the House of Representatives]] with [[Clyde Cameron]].<ref>{{cite news|title=McMahon, 71, fighting for another term|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110572515|newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]]|date=5 August 1979|access-date=16 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317040025/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110572515|archive-date=17 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> He was the sole Father of the House after the [[1980 Australian federal election|1980 election]], winning election for a fourteenth and final time at the age of 72. In his final years in parliament he was often critical of the [[Fraser government]]. McMahon left parliament in January 1982, citing dissatisfaction with the 1981 budget as a major factor in his decision to retire before a general election.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126869668|title=Stinging exit by McMahon|newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]]|date=5 January 1982|access-date=16 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317035941/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126869668|archive-date=17 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> He nominated future prime minister [[Malcolm Turnbull]] as his preferred successor in Lowe,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126869850|title=McMahon's 'suggestion for Lowe candidate'|newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]]|date=6 January 1982|access-date=16 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317040028/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126869850|archive-date=17 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> but the Liberal Party chose another candidate Philip Taylor. [[1982 Lowe by-election|The by-election]] was won by the Labor Party on a 9.4-point swing.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/1980/1980repsby.txt |title=Lowe by-election result |access-date=16 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317035805/http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/1980/1980repsby.txt |archive-date=17 March 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>

He was the last former Prime Minister to be reelected to Parliament until Kevin Rudd in 2010.