Australian federal election, 1946

Australian federal election, 1946
All 74 seats of the House of Representatives ; 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House ; 19 (of the 36) seats of the Senate
Prime Minister before election; Ben Chifley ; Labor	Subsequent Prime Minister; Ben Chifley ; Labor

Last updated March 12, 2019

Federal elections were held in Australia on 28 September 1946. 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 Ben Chifley defeated the opposition Liberal–Country coalition, led by Robert Menzies. It was the Liberal Party's first federal election since its creation.

Elections in Australia take place periodically to elect the legislature of the Commonwealth of Australia, as well as for each Australian state and territory. Elections in all jurisdictions follow similar principles, though there are minor variations between them. The elections for the Australian Parliament are held under the federal electoral system, which is uniform throughout the country, and the elections for state and territory Parliaments are held under the electoral system of each state and territory.

The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. There are a total of 76 Senators: 12 are elected from each of the six states regardless of population and 2 from each of the two autonomous internal territories. Senators are popularly elected under the single transferable vote system of proportional representation.

Results

House of Representatives

House of Reps (IRV) — 1946–49—Turnout 93.97% (CV) — Informal 2.45%
Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor		2,159,953	49.71	−0.22	43	−6
	Liberal–Country coalition		1,896,349	43.65	+13.20	29	+6
		Liberal	1,431,682	32.95	+11.05	18	+4
		Country	464,667	10.70	+2.16	11	+2
	Lang Labor		69,138	1.59	+0.87	1	+1
	Communist		64,811	1.49	+1.49	0	0
	Services		55,140	1.27	+1.27	0	0
	Protestant People's		20,111	0.46	+0.46	0	0
	Independents		79,040	1.82	−10.34	1	0
	Total		4,344,542			74
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
	Labor		WIN	54.10	−4.10	43	−6
	Liberal–Country coalition			45.90	+4.10	29	+6

Notes

Independent: Doris Blackburn (Bourke, Vic.)
In South Australia, the Liberal Party was known as the Liberal and Country League.

Doris Amelia Blackburn was an Australian social reformer and politician. She served in the House of Representatives from 1946 to 1949, the second woman after Enid Lyons to do so. Blackburn was a prominent socialist and originally a member of the Labor Party. She was married to Maurice Blackburn, a Labor MP, but he was expelled from the party in 1937 and she resigned from the party in solidarity. Her husband died in 1944, and she was elected to his former seat at the 1946 federal election – the first woman elected to parliament as an independent. However, Blackburn served only a single term before being defeated. She later served as president of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

The Division of Bourke was an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division was created in 1900 and was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It was abolished in 1949. It was named for Sir Richard Bourke, who was Governor of New South Wales at the time of the founding of Melbourne. It was based in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, including the suburbs of Brunswick and Coburg. After 1910 it was a safe seat for the Australian Labor Party, but was lost to an independent Labor member in 1946.

South Australia is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of 983,482 square kilometres (379,725 sq mi), it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, and fifth largest by population. It has a total of 1.7 million people, and its population is the second most highly centralised in Australia, after Western Australia, with more than 77 percent of South Australians living in the capital, Adelaide, or its environs. Other population centres in the state are relatively small; Mount Gambier, the second largest centre, has a population of 28,684.

Popular Vote

Labor			49.71%
Liberal			32.95%
Country			10.70%
Lang Labor			1.59%
Independent/Other			1.83%

Two Party Preferred Vote

Labor			54.10%
Coalition			45.90%

Parliament Seats

Labor			58.11%
Coalition			35.14%

Senate

Senate (P BV) — 1946–49—Turnout 93.97% (CV) — Informal 8.01%
		Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held	Change
Labor		2,133,272	52.06	−3.02	16	33	+11
Liberal–Country coalition		1,775,022	43.33	N/A	3	3	–11
	Liberal–Country joint ticket	1,561,718	38.12	N/A	3	N/A	N/A
	Liberal	213,304	5.21	N/A	0	2	–10
	Country	N/A	N/A	N/A	0	1	–1
Protestant People's		123,541	3.02	+3.02	0	0	0
Services		37,724	0.92	+0.92	0	0	0
Independents		27,767	0.68	–3.83	0	0	0
Total		4,097,326			19	36

Notes

Of the three senators elected on Liberal–Country joint tickets, two were Liberal Party members and one was a Country Party member.

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1946				Swing	Post-1946
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	Margin	Member	Party
Bourke, Vic		Labor	Bill Bryson	3.6	4.7	1.1	Doris Blackburn	Independent
Calare, NSW		Labor	John Breen	9.9	11.7	1.8	John Howse	Liberal
Capricornia, Qld		Labor	Frank Forde	5.9	8.8	2.9	Charles Davidson	Liberal
Franklin, Tas		Labor	Charles Frost	9.9	10.0	0.1	Bill Falkinder	Liberal
Henty, Vic		Independent	Arthur Coles	5.5	9.8	4.3	Jo Gullett	Liberal
Reid, NSW		Labor	Charles Morgan	N/A	7.4	4.2	Jack Lang	Lang Labor
Swan, WA		Labor	Don Mountjoy	3.0	3.2	0.2	Len Hamilton	Country
Wakefield, SA		Labor	Albert Smith	1.2	3.9	2.7	Philip McBride	Liberal
Wilmot, Tas		Liberal	Allan Guy	1.7	3.4	1.7	Gil Duthie	Labor

Members in italics did not contest their seat at this election.

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References

University of WA election results in Australia since 1890
Two-party-preferred vote since 1937

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