Australian federal election, 1961

Australian federal election, 1961
All 122 seats of the House of Representatives ; 62 seats were needed for a majority in the House ; 31 (of the 60) seats of the Senate
Prime Minister before election; Robert Menzies ; Liberal/Country coalition	Subsequent Prime Minister; Robert Menzies ; Liberal/Country coalition

Last updated March 12, 2019

Federal elections were held in Australia on 9 December 1961. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives and 31 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies defeated the opposition Labor Party under Arthur Calwell. In his first election as Labor leader, Calwell significantly reduced the Coalition's margin, gaining 15 seats to leave the government with only a one-seat majority.

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.

Issues

Due to a credit squeeze, the economy had gone into a brief recession in 1961 and unemployment had risen to high levels. This saw an increase in popularity for Labor; Menzies’ case was not helped by an approach seen by the press, notably the Sydney Morning Herald , as inappropriately paternalistic.^{[ citation needed ]} The Herald, which had long supported Menzies, switched sides to support Calwell and Labor, which gave Calwell the confidence to mount a spirited campaign. These factors were enough to see a swing against the Menzies Government.

Results

House of Representatives

House of Reps (IRV) — 1961–63—Turnout 95.27% (CV) — Informal 2.57%
Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor		2,512,929	47.90	+5.09	60	+15
	Liberal–Country coalition		2,208,213	42.09	–4.46	62	–15
		Liberal	1,761,738	33.58	–3.65	45	–13
		Country	446,475	8.51	–0.81	17	–2
	Democratic Labor		399,475	7.61	–0.19	0	0
	Queensland Labor		57,487	1.10	–0.50	0	0
	Communist		25,429	0.48	–0.05	0	0
	Commonwealth Centre		6,743	0.13	+0.13	0	0
	Independents		35,757	0.68	+0.05	0	0
	Total		5,246,033			122
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
	Liberal–Country coalition		WIN	49.50	–4.60	62	–15
	Labor			50.50	+4.60	60	+15

Popular Vote

Labor			47.90%
Liberal			33.58%
DLP/QLP			8.71%
Country			8.51%
Other			1.29%

Two Party Preferred Vote

Labor			50.50%
Coalition			49.50%

Parliament Seats

Coalition			50.82%
Labor			49.18%

Senate

Senate (STV) — 1961–64—Turnout 95.27% (CV) — Informal 10.62%
		Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held	Change
Labor		2,151,339	44.71	+1.93	14	28	+2
Liberal–Country coalition		2,025,078	42.08	–3.12	16	30	–2
	Liberal–Country joint ticket	1,595,696	33.16	+9.79	8	*	*
	Liberal (separate ticket)	398,292	8.28	–12.41	7	24	–1
	Country (separate ticket)	31,090	0.65	–0.50	1	6	–1
Democratic Labor		388,466	8.07	+2.25	0	1	–1
Queensland Labor		84,112	1.75	+0.09	0	0	0
Communist		78,188	1.62	–1.29	0	0	0
Social Credit		17,963	0.37	+0.37	0	0	0
Republican		10,589	0.22	+0.14	0	0	0
Other		10,029	0.21	+0.21	0	0	0
Independent		46,499	0.97	+0.54	1	1	+1
Total		4,812,263			31	60

Notes

In New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria, the coalition parties ran a joint ticket. Of the eight senators elected on a joint ticket, five were members of the Liberal Party and three were members of the Country Party. In Western Australia, the coalition parties ran on separate tickets. In South Australia and Tasmania, only the Liberal Party ran a ticket.
The sole independent elected was Reg Turnbull of Tasmania.
"Other" includes 7,430 votes for "Pensioners" and 2,599 votes for the Commonwealth Centre Party.

New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Tasman Sea to the east. The Australian Capital Territory is an enclave within the state. New South Wales' state capital is Sydney, which is also Australia's most populous city. In March 2018, the population of New South Wales was over 7.9 million, making it Australia's most populous state. Just under two-thirds of the state's population, 5.1 million, live in the Greater Sydney area. Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred to as New South Welshmen.

Queensland is the second-largest and third-most populous state in the Commonwealth of Australia. Situated in the north-east of the country, it is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean. To its north is the Torres Strait, with Papua New Guinea located less than 200 km across it from the mainland. The state is the world's sixth-largest sub-national entity, with an area of 1,852,642 square kilometres (715,309 sq mi).

Victoria is a state in south-eastern Australia. Victoria is Australia's smallest mainland state and its second-most populous state overall, thus making it the most densely populated state overall. Most of its population lives concentrated in the area surrounding Port Phillip Bay, which includes the metropolitan area of its state capital and largest city, Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city. Victoria is bordered by Bass Strait and Tasmania to the south, New South Wales to the north, the Tasman Sea to the east, and South Australia to the west.

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1961				Swing	Post-1961
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	Margin	Member	Party
Bowman, Qld		Liberal	Malcolm McColm	6.1	8.0	1.9	Jack Comber	Labor
Canning, WA		Country	Leonard Hamilton	N/A	65.7	15.7	Neil McNeill	Liberal
Capricornia, Qld		Liberal	Henry Pearce	7.7	10.7	5.0	George Gray	Labor
Cowper, NSW		Country	Earle Page	11.1	12.9	1.8	Frank McGuren	Labor
Evans, NSW		Liberal	Frederick Osborne	7.0	7.1	0.1	James Monaghan	Labor
Griffith, Qld		Liberal	Arthur Chresby	0.1	7.4	7.3	Wilfred Coutts	Labor
Herbert, Qld		Liberal	John Murray	1.5	3.8	2.3	Ted Harding	Labor
Hume, NSW		Country	Charles Anderson	2.1	3.0	0.9	Arthur Fuller	Labor
Kalgoorlie, WA		Liberal	Peter Browne	0.3	0.9	0.6	Fred Collard	Labor
Lilley, Qld		Liberal	Bruce Wight	11.9	13.2	1.3	Don Cameron	Labor
Mitchell, NSW		Liberal	Roy Wheeler	8.0	11.4	3.4	John Armitage	Labor
Moore, WA		Liberal	Hugh Halbert	2.9	4.2	1.3	Hugh Leslie	Country
Oxley, Qld		Liberal	Donald Alastair Cameron	5.9	9.4	3.5	Bill Hayden	Labor
Petrie, Qld		Liberal	Alan Hulme	10.5	11.2	0.7	Reginald O'Brien	Labor
Phillip, NSW		Liberal	William Aston	1.9	3.3	1.4	Syd Einfeld	Labor
Stirling, WA		Liberal	Doug Cash	0.2	0.5	0.3	Harry Webb	Labor
Wide Bay, Qld		Country	Henry Bandidt	4.3	9.5	5.2	Brendan Hansen	Labor

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

Significance

For a long time, the 1961 election remained the closest Federal election in Australian history, with the Coalition being reduced to a one-seat majority. The election was decided in the seats of Bruce near Melbourne and Moreton near Brisbane.

The Division of Bruce is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. The division is located in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It covers an area of approximately 73 square kilometres (28 sq mi) including the suburbs of Dandenong North, Glen Waverley, Mulgrave, Noble Park North, Wheelers Hill, and parts of Clayton, Dandenong, Noble Park, Notting Hill and Springvale.

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Its name refers to an urban agglomeration of 9,992.5 km² (3,858.1 sq mi), comprising a metropolitan area with 31 municipalities, and is also the common name for its city centre. The city occupies much of the coastline of Port Phillip bay and spreads into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. It has a population of approximately 4.9 million, and its inhabitants are referred to as "Melburnians".

The Division of Moreton is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was one of the original 65 divisions contested at the first federal election. It is named after Moreton Bay, and originally stretched from southern Brisbane all the way to the Gold Coast. While successive redistributions have left the seat completely landlocked, it has nonetheless retained the name of Moreton, mainly because the Australian Electoral Commission's guidelines on electoral redistributions require it to preserve the names of original electorates where possible.

In Bruce, Labor's Keith Ewert led Liberal Billy Snedden on the first count, but on the second count more than two-thirds of the DLP's preferences flowed to Snedden, enough to give him the victory.^[1]

Keith Walter Wilson Ewert was an Australian politician. Born in Brighton and educated at Melbourne High School and the University of Melbourne, he was an accountant before entering politics. In 1952, Ewert was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Labor member for Flinders, unexpectedly winning the by-election for that seat caused by the death of Rupert Ryan and becoming only the second Labor MP for Flinders. In 1954, he was defeated by Liberal Robert Lindsay.

Sir Billy Mackie Snedden, was an Australian politician who served as the leader of the Liberal Party from 1972 to 1975. He was also a cabinet minister from 1964 to 1972, and Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1976 to 1983.

The Democratic Labor Party (DLP) was an Australian political party. The party came into existence following the 1955 Labor split as the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist), was renamed the Democratic Labor Party in 1957 and continued to exist until 1978.

However, the Coalition was not ensured of a sixth term in government until Jim Killen won Moreton by only 130 votes after receiving 93 vital Communist preferences. ^[2] Labor actually won 62 seats, the same as the Coalition. However, without Bruce, the best Labor could hope for was a hung parliament, since two of its seats were in ACT and Northern Territory. At the time, territorial MPs had limited voting rights and were not counted for the purpose of determining who was to form government. The record for the closest election in Australia's history was eventually beaten by the 2010 election, which was a 72-72 seat draw.

The most notable casualty was Earle Page, the third-longest serving MP in Australia's history, and briefly Prime Minister. He had been the member for Cowper since 1919. Although he was 81 years old and gravely ill with lung cancer, he decided to fight his 17th general election. His Labor opponent, Frank McGuren, needed a seemingly daunting 11-point swing to win the seat, but won by a slim three-point margin on the second count. Page, who had been too sick to actively campaign, died 11 days after the election without ever knowing he had been defeated.

Notes

↑ 1961 election results in Victoria from Adam Carr's election archive
↑ Bartlett, Andrew (17 January 2007). "Sir James Killen: Moreton, Menzies and Mythology". The Bartlett Diaries. Archived from the original on 5 May 2007. Retrieved 15 May 2007.

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References

University of WA election results in Australia since 1890
AEC 2PP vote
Prior to 1984 the AEC did not undertake a full distribution of preferences for statistical purposes. The stored ballot papers for the 1983 election were put through this process prior to their destruction. Therefore, the figures from 1983 onwards show the actual result based on full distribution of preferences.

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[1] 1961 election results in Victoria from Adam Carr's election archive

[2] Bartlett, Andrew (17 January 2007). "Sir James Killen: Moreton, Menzies and Mythology". The Bartlett Diaries. Archived from the original on 5 May 2007. Retrieved 15 May 2007.

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