Reece retrospectively commented:

For a while during the 1970s, Reece combined his duties as Premier with a return to the ALP's federal presidency. On 31 March 1975 he resigned as premier and retired from politics; by this stage, the party had introduced a mandatory retirement age of 65. To this day Reece remains one of the few Australian state politicians who never spent a day on the backbench. He spent his entire 28-plus years in the House of Assembly as minister (1946-1958), premier (1958-1969 and 1972-1975) or opposition leader (1969-1972).