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All 75 [lower-alpha 1] seats of the House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House 19 (of the 36) seats of the Senate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Registered | 4,239,346 3.90% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 3,979,009 (94.82%) [lower-alpha 2] (1.31 pp) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1940 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 21 September 1940. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Coalition, consisting of the United Australia Party led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies and the Country Party led by Archie Cameron, defeated the opposition Labor Party under John Curtin despite losing the overall popular vote.
The Coalition won 36 seats, two short of a majority, but formed a government on 28 October 1940 with the support of both independent crossbenchers, Alexander Wilson and Arthur Coles. The four MPs elected to Lang Labor's successor, the Australian Labor Party (Non-Communist), officially re-joined the ALP just months after the election in February 1941, bringing the ALP to 36 seats. The UAP–Country minority government lasted only until October 1941, when the two independents crossed the floor and allowed the ALP to form a minority government with Curtin as prime minister. It remains the only time since the 1910 introduction of the two-party system where the government has changed as the result of a parliamentary confidence vote.
Future opposition leaders H.V. Evatt and Arthur Calwell both entered parliament at this election.
The 15th parliament elected in the 1937 election first sat on 30 November 1937. [1] Under the constitution, the parliament would expire in November 1940 and a general election would have to held by January 1941. [2] [3] Throughout 1940, there were debates on whether the general election should be held or postponed in the midst of a world war. [4] Throughout July and August 1940, Prime Minister Robert Menzies contemplated the prospect of an early election. [5] The loss of three Cabinet ministers in the 1940 Canberra air disaster on 13 August also meant that three by-elections would have been required, followed within a few short months by a general election.
Both the Coalition and Labor supported Australia's ongoing participation in World War II. The Coalition's advertisements asked Australians to "Cast Your Vote for Unity and an All-in War Effort / Back the Government that's Backing Churchill", with a large picture of the British Prime Minister. Labor promised "A New Deal / for the Soldier / for the Soldier's wife / Widows, the Aged and Infirm / the Taxpayer / the Working Man / the Primary Producer". [6]
Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UAP–Country coalition | 1,703,185 | 43.93 | –4.65 | 36 | –8 | ||
United Australia | 1,171,788 | 30.22 | –3.49 | 23 | –5 | ||
Country | 531,397 | 13.71 | –1.84 | 13 | –3 | ||
Labor | 1,556,941 | 40.16 | −3.01 | 32 | +3 | ||
Labor (Non-Communist) | 202,721 | 5.23 | +5.23 | 4 | +4 | ||
State Labor | 101,191 | 2.61 | +2.61 | 0 | 0 | ||
Defence Movement | 15,313 | 0.40 | +0.40 | 0 | 0 | ||
Protestant Labor | 8,300 | 0.21 | +0.21 | 0 | 0 | ||
Independents | 289,335 | 7.46 | +1.90 | 3 [lower-alpha 3] | 0 | ||
Total | 3,876,986 | 75 | |||||
Two-party-preferred (estimated) | |||||||
UAP–Country coalition | 49.70 | −0.90 | 36 | −8 | |||
Labor | 50.30 | +0.90 | 32 | +3 |
Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats won | Seats held | Change | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UAP–Country coalition | 1,831,138 | 50.41 | +3.70 | 16 | 19 | –1 | ||
UAP–Country joint ticket | 1,649,241 | 45.40 | +16.72 | 10 | N/A | N/A | ||
United Australia | 181,897 | 5.01 | –11.12 | 6 | 15 | –1 | ||
Country | N/A | N/A | N/A | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||
Labor | 1,363,072 | 37.52 | –10.96 | 3 | 17 | +1 | ||
Non-Communist Labor | 274,861 | 7.57 | +7.57 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
State Labor | 70,091 | 1.93 | +1.93 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Defence Movement | 9,536 | 0.26 | +0.26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Independents | 84,119 | 2.32 | –1.07 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Total | 3,632,817 | 19 | 36 |
Seat | Pre-1940 | Swing | Post-1940 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Member | Margin | Margin | Member | Party | ||||
Barton, NSW | United Australia | Albert Lane | 1.8 | 13.9 | 12.1 | H. V. Evatt | Labor | ||
Calare, NSW | Country | Harold Thorby | 2.2 | 5.6 | 3.4 | John Breen | Labor | ||
Cook, NSW | Labor | Tom Sheehan | N/A | 33.9 | 13.6 | Tom Sheehan | Labor (N-C) | ||
Dalley, NSW | Labor | Sol Rosevear | N/A | 14.9 | 7.2 | Sol Rosevear | Labor (N-C) | ||
Denison, Tas | Labor | Gerald Mahoney | 3.9 | 5.0 | 1.1 | Arthur Beck | United Australia | ||
Henty, Vic | United Australia | Henry Gullett | N/A | 3.2 | 13.5 | Arthur Coles | Independent | ||
Lang, NSW | Labor | Dan Mulcahy | N/A | 13.4 | 16.0 | Dan Mulcahy | Labor (N-C) | ||
Macquarie, NSW | United Australia | John Lawson | 2.1 | 10.2 | 8.1 | Ben Chifley | Labor | ||
Maranoa, Qld | Country | James Hunter | 4.3 | 5.9 | 1.6 | Frank Baker | Labor | ||
Riverina, NSW | Country | Horace Nock | 7.2 | 8.8 | 1.6 | Joe Langtry | Labor | ||
Wakefield, SA | Labor | Sydney McHugh | 6.7 | 10.0 | 3.4 | Jack Duncan-Hughes | United Australia | ||
Wannon, Vic | United Australia | Thomas Scholfield | 1.3 | 5.0 | 3.7 | Don McLeod | Labor | ||
Warringah, NSW | Independent | Percy Spender | 1.9 | 23.6 | 25.5 | Percy Spender | United Australia | ||
Watson, NSW | United Australia | John Jennings | 3.8 | 5.8 | 2.0 | Max Falstein | Labor | ||
West Sydney, NSW | Labor | Jack Beasley | 100.0 | 64.3 | 14.3 | Jack Beasley | Labor (N-C) | ||
Wilmot, Tas | Labor | Lancelot Spurr | 0.2 | 5.2 | 5.0 | Allan Guy | United Australia | ||
Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page was an Australian politician and surgeon who served as the 11th prime minister of Australia from 7 to 26 April 1939, holding office in a caretaker capacity following the death of Joseph Lyons. He was the leader of the Country Party from 1921 to 1939, and was the most influential figure in its later years.
The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prime ministers: Joseph Lyons (1932–1939) and Robert Menzies (1939–1941).
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Lang Labor was a faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) consisting of the supporters of Jack Lang, who served two terms as Premier of New South Wales and was the party's state leader from 1923 to 1939. It controlled the New South Wales branch of the ALP throughout most of the 1920s and 1930s. The faction broke away to form separate parliamentary parties on several occasions and stood competing candidates against the ALP in state and federal elections.
The 1943 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 21 August 1943. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Labor Party, led by Prime Minister John Curtin, defeated the opposition Country–UAP coalition led by Arthur Fadden in a landslide.
The 1937 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 23 October 1937. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent UAP–Country coalition government, led by Prime Minister Joseph Lyons, defeated the opposition Labor Party under John Curtin.
Sir Philip Albert Martin McBride, was an Australian politician. He was a United Australia Party member of the Australian House of Representatives for Grey from 1931 to 1937 and the Australian Senate from 1937 to 1944, and a Liberal Party of Australia member of the House of Representatives for Wakefield from 1946 to 1958. He served as a minister in both of Robert Menzies' governments, as Minister for the Army and Minister for Repatriation (1940), Minister for Supply and Development and Minister for Munitions (1940–1941), Minister for the Interior (1949–1950), and Minister for Defence (1950–1958).
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The Advisory War Council (AWC) was an Australian Government body during World War II. The AWC was established on 28 October 1940 to draw all the major political parties in the Parliament of Australia into the process of making decisions on Australia's war effort and was disbanded on 30 August 1945.
The Menzies government (1939–1941) refers to the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies. Menzies led the United Australia Party in the Australian Parliament from 1939 to 1941. Menzies served a later and longer term as prime minister as leader of a successor party, the Liberal Party of Australia from 1949 to 1966.
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The Fadden government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Arthur Fadden, as leader of the Country Party. He was appointed prime minister on 29 August 1941, during World War II, following the resignation of Robert Menzies of the United Australia Party (UAP). Fadden continued the coalition government between the Country Party and the UAP, but after just over one month in office the government was defeated on a confidence motion. Fadden was succeeded as prime minister on 7 October 1941 by John Curtin of the Australian Labor Party (ALP).
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