Editing Liberal Party of Australia (section)

===McMahon government and Snedden's opposition leadership===
{{Main|McMahon government}}
[[File:William McMahon 1972 b&w.jpg|left|100px|thumb|[[William McMahon]], Prime Minister 1971–72]]
[[File:McMahon Springvale Election Rally (2).jpg|thumb|150px|McMahon at a campaign rally in [[Springvale, Victoria]] during the 1972 federal election.]]
[[File:Billy Snedden 1973 (1).jpg|left|thumb|100px|[[Billy Snedden]], Opposition Leader 1972–75]]
Foreign Affairs minister [[William McMahon]] replaced Gorton as prime minister. Gorton initially served as McMahon's deputy leader as well as Defence Minister, although Gorton would be forced to resign in August 1971 by McMahon on the grounds of "disloyalty". Treasurer [[Billy Snedden]] replaced Gorton as deputy and Fraser was reinstated into the ministry, although Fraser remained unpopular within Liberal ranks for some time over the events of March 1971; Gorton never forgave Fraser and never spoke to him again.

The economy was weakening as the post-war economic boom was drawing to a close. McMahon withdrew Australia's remaining combat troops from Vietnam, but criticised Opposition leader [[Gough Whitlam]] for visiting the communist [[People's Republic of China]] in July 1971 — only to have the US President [[Richard Nixon]] and his National Security Advisor [[Henry Kissinger]] announce a planned visit soon after.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/mcmahon/in-office.aspx |title=In office – William McMahon – Australia's PMs – Australia's Prime Ministers |publisher=Primeministers.naa.gov.au |access-date=21 June 2012 |archive-date=15 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110315154636/http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/mcmahon/in-office.aspx |url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Billy Snedden and Andrew Peacock in 1973 (1).jpg|thumb|150px|[[Billy Snedden]] and [[Andrew Peacock]] on 12 October 1973. They were the first two Liberal leaders who never got to serve as Prime Minister.]]
During McMahon's period in office, [[Neville Bonner]] joined the Senate and became the first [[Indigenous Australian]] in the [[Australian Parliament]].<ref name="Primeministers.naa.gov.au-2">{{cite web |url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/timeline/results.aspx |title=Timeline – Australia's Prime Ministers |publisher=Primeministers.naa.gov.au |access-date=21 June 2012 |archive-date=4 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170804142705/http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/timeline/results.aspx |url-status=dead}}</ref> Bonner was chosen by the Liberal Party to fill a Senate vacancy in 1971 and celebrated his maiden parliamentary speech with a boomerang throwing display on the lawns of Parliament. Bonner went on to win election at the 1972 election and served as a Liberal Senator for 12 years. He worked on Indigenous and social welfare issues and proved an independent minded Senator, often crossing the floor on Parliamentary votes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.curriculum.edu.au/cce/default.asp?id=15275 |title=Civics &#124; Neville Bonner (1922–1999) |publisher=Curriculum.edu.au |access-date=21 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120430184401/http://www.curriculum.edu.au/cce/default.asp?id=15275 |archive-date=30 April 2012}}</ref>

The [[McMahon government]] ended when [[Gough Whitlam]] led the [[Australian Labor Party]] out of its 23-year period in Opposition at the 1972 election. Following Whitlam's victory, John Gorton played a further role in reform in October 1973 by successfully moving a motion, seconded by Labor minister [[Moss Cass]], which [[LGBTQ rights in Australia#decriminalisation of homosexuality|decriminalised homosexuality on a federal and territory level]].

[[Billy Snedden]] led the party against Whitlam in the [[1974 Australian federal election|1974 federal election]], which saw a return of the Labor government. When Malcolm Fraser won the Liberal Party leadership from Snedden in 1975, Gorton walked out of the Party Room, and quit the party shortly afterwards; he would go on to denounce the [[1975 Australian constitutional crisis|dismissal of the Whitlam Government]], and endorsed and voted for Labor in the [[1975 election]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/gorton/after-office.aspx |title=After office – John Gorton – Australia's PMs – Australia's Prime Ministers |publisher=Primeministers.naa.gov.au |access-date=21 June 2012 |archive-date=16 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101116024212/http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/gorton/after-office.aspx |url-status=dead}}</ref>