Australian federal election, 1963

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Australian federal election, 1963

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←  1961 30 November 1963 1966  →
All 122 seats of the Australian House of Representatives
62 seats were needed for a majority

 First partySecond party
  RobertMenzies.jpg Arthur Calwell 1966.jpg
Leader Robert Menzies Arthur Calwell
Party Liberal/Country coalition Labor
Leader since23 September 19437 March 1960
Leader's seat Kooyong (Vic.) Melbourne (Vic.)
Last election62 seats60 seats
Seats won72 seats50 seats
Seat changeIncrease2.svg10Decrease2.svg10
Percentage52.60%47.40%
SwingIncrease2.svg3.10Decrease2.svg3.10
Prime Minister before election

Robert Menzies
Liberal/Country coalition

Subsequent Prime Minister

Robert Menzies
Liberal/Country coalition

Federal elections were held in Australia on 30 November 1963. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition government, led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies, won an increased majority over the opposition Labor Party, led by Arthur Calwell.

Elections in Australia discussion of elections conducted in Australia

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.

Australian House of Representatives Lower house of Australia

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 Coalition is an alliance of centre-right political parties that forms one of the two major groupings in Australian federal politics. Its main opponent is the Australian Labor Party (ALP), and the two forces are often regarded as operating in a two-party system. The Coalition has been in government since the 2013 federal election. The party is currently led by Scott Morrison as Prime Minister of Australia since August 2018.

Contents

Background

The election was held following the early dissolution of the House of Representatives. The Prime Minister of Australia, Robert Menzies, gave as his reason for calling an election within two years that there was an insufficient working majority in the House. [1] The 1961 election had been won with a substantially reduced majority of only two seats. One of the consequences of an early House election was that there were separate Senate and House elections until 1974. This became a factor in the Gair Affair.

Prime Minister of Australia executive head of the Government of Australia

The Prime Minister of Australia is the head of government of Australia. The individual who holds the office is the most senior Minister of State, the leader of the Federal Cabinet. The Prime Minister also has the responsibility of administering the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and is the chair of the National Security Committee and the Council of Australian Governments. The office of Prime Minister is not mentioned in the Constitution of Australia but exists through Westminster political convention. The individual who holds the office is commissioned by the Governor-General of Australia and at the Governor-General's pleasure subject to the Constitution of Australia and constitutional conventions.

Robert Menzies Australian politician, 12th Prime Minister of Australia

Sir Robert Gordon Menzies,, was an Australian politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1939 to 1941 and again from 1949 to 1966. He played a central role in the creation of the Liberal Party of Australia, defining its policies and its broad outreach. He is Australia's longest-serving prime minister, serving over 18 years in total.

The Coalition government of the Liberal Party led by Robert Menzies and the Country Party led by John McEwen was returned with a substantially increased majority over the Australian Labor Party led by Arthur Calwell.

Liberal Party of Australia Australian political party

The Liberal Party of Australia is a major centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party (ALP). It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Australia Party (UAP).

The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party. Traditionally representing graziers, farmers, and rural voters generally, it began as the Australian Country Party in 1920 at a federal level. It would later briefly adopt the name National Country Party in 1975, before adopting its current name in 1982.

John McEwen Australian politician, 18th Prime Minister of Australia

Sir John McEwen, was an Australian politician who served as the 18th Prime Minister of Australia, holding office from 19 December 1967 to 10 January 1968 in a caretaker capacity after the disappearance of Harold Holt. He was the leader of the Country Party from 1958 to 1971.

Indigenous Australians could vote in federal elections on the same basis as other electors for the first time in this election following an amendment to the Commonwealth Electoral Act becoming law on 1 November. The amendment enfranchised Indigenous people in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory. Indigenous voting rights in other states had been in place since 1949.

Indigenous Australians are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia, descended from groups that existed in Australia and surrounding islands before British colonisation. The time of arrival of the first Indigenous Australians is a matter of debate among researchers. The earliest conclusively human remains found in Australia are those of Mungo Man LM3 and Mungo Lady, which have been dated to around 50,000 years BP. Recent archaeological evidence from the analysis of charcoal and artefacts revealing human use suggests a date as early as 65,000 BP. Luminescence dating has suggested habitation in Arnhem Land as far back as 60,000 years BP. Genetic research has inferred a date of habitation as early as 80,000 years BP. Other estimates have ranged up to 100,000 years and 125,000 years BP.

Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 Act of the Parliament of Australia, currently registered as C2018C00259

The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 is an Act of the Australian Parliament passed in 1918 which replaced the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902, which had defined who was entitled to vote in Australian federal elections, and the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1902. The 1902 Franchise Act set uniform national franchise criteria, establishing the voting age at 21 years and women's suffrage at the national level, also a right to stand for election to the Parliament. That Act also disqualified from voting a number of categories of people, including Indigenous peoples from Australian, Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands, even if citizens of the British Empire. A plurality voting system ("first-past-the-post") was established. The 1902 Act also made it clear that no person could vote more than once at each election. The 1902 Act was amended in 1906 to allow postal voting. In 1908, a permanent electoral roll was established and in 1911 it became compulsory for eligible voters to enrol. Compulsory enrolment led to a large increase in voter turnout, even though voting was still voluntary. From 1912, elections have been held on Saturdays.

Results

House of Reps (IRV) — 1963–66—Turnout 95.73% (CV) — Informal 1.82%
PartyVotes%SwingSeatsChange
  Liberal–Country coalition 2,520,32146.04+3.9572+10
  Liberal  2,030,82337.09+3.5152+7
  Country  489,4988.94+0.4320+3
  Labor 2,489,18445.47–2.4350–10
  Democratic Labor 407,4167.44–1.2700
  Communist 32,0530.59+0.1100
  Independents 25,7390.47–0.2100
 Total5,474,713  122
Two-party-preferred
  Liberal–Country coalition WIN52.60+3.1072+10
  Labor 47.40–3.1050–10

See Australian federal election, 1961 and Australian Senate election, 1964 for Senate compositions.

Popular Vote
Labor
 
45.47%
Liberal
 
37.09%
Country
 
8.94%
DLP
 
7.44%
Communist
 
0.59%
Independents
 
0.47%
Two Party Preferred Vote
Coalition
 
52.60%
Labor
 
47.40%
Parliament Seats
Coalition
 
59.02%
Labor
 
40.98%

Seats changing hands

SeatPre-1963SwingPost-1963
PartyMemberMarginMarginMemberParty
Bowman, Qld  Labor Jack Comber 1.93.31.4 Wylie Gibbs Liberal 
Canning, WA  Liberal Neil McNeill N/A17.92.2 John Hallett Country 
Cowper, NSW  Labor Frank McGuren 1.84.83.0 Ian Robinson Country 
Evans, NSW  Labor James Monaghan N/A8.77.8 Malcolm Mackay Liberal 
Hume, NSW  Labor Arthur Fuller 0.91.70.8 Ian Pettitt Country 
Lilley, Qld  Labor Don Cameron 1.34.83.5 Kevin Cairns Liberal 
Mitchell, NSW  Labor John Armitage 3.46.53.1 Les Irwin Liberal 
Parkes, NSW  Labor Les Haylen 4.25.91.7 Tom Hughes Liberal 
Petrie, Qld  Labor Reginald O'Brien 0.74.23.5 Alan Hulme Liberal 
Phillip, NSW  Labor Syd Einfeld 1.44.22.8 William Aston Liberal 
St George, NSW  Labor Lionel Clay 4.97.22.3 Len Bosman Liberal 

Issues

State aid for non-government schools

The toilets of St Brigid's; the reason for the 1962 school strike and the beginning of state aid to non-government schools. GoulburnStBrigid'sToilets.jpg
The toilets of St Brigid's; the reason for the 1962 school strike and the beginning of state aid to non-government schools.

The election was notable for the issue of state aid to non-government schools being finally resolved. There was a school strike in Goulburn, New South Wales in 1962. Health officials had requested the installation of three extra toilets at a Catholic primary school. The Catholic Church declared it had no money to install the extra toilets. The archdiocese closed down its schools and sent the children to government schools. Nearly 1,000 children turned up to be enrolled locally and the state schools were unable to accommodate them. The strike received national attention. The Labor premier of New South Wales, Robert Heffron, had promised money for science labs at non-government schools. This policy was overturned by a meeting of the Labor Party's federal executive. Under ALP rules the federal executive had responsibility for party policy when the party's national conference was out of session. Menzies called a snap election with state aid for science blocks and Commonwealth scholarships for students at both government and non-government schools as part of his party's platform. This tended to woo Catholic voters away from the Labor Party which they traditionally supported; the wedge driven between the ALP and its Catholic constituency took nearly a decade to overcome. Most non-government schools were Catholic. The Labor Party suffered a first-preference swing of −2.43% and the loss of ten seats. The Country Party vote was higher than the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) vote for the first time since 1955; the DLP had evolved from the Catholic wing of the ALP. The Liberal Party was, however, not dependent on the state-aid issue to win the election; [2] other issues, such as the "36 faceless men" gibe, also did damage to the ALP.

Goulburn, New South Wales Town in New South Wales, Australia

Goulburn is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia approximately 195 kilometres (121 mi) south-west of Sydney, Australia, and 90 kilometres (56 mi) north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters patent by Queen Victoria in 1863. Goulburn had a population of 22,890 at the 2016 census. Goulburn is the seat of Goulburn Mulwaree Council.

Democratic Labor Party (historical) former political party in Australia

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.

North-west Cape communications facility

Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt, the North-west Cape communications facility which was built in the 1960s Harold E Holt Naval Base.jpg
Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt, the North-west Cape communications facility which was built in the 1960s

Other key issues in the election included the proposal by the United States to build the North-west Cape communications facility which would support the US nuclear submarine capability. A special federal conference of the ALP was called in March 1963 which, by a narrow margin, supported the base. The Left faction was opposed to a foreign base on Australian soil, especially one which supported America's nuclear weapons capability. [3]

"36 faceless men"

During the ALP Federal Conference in March 1963, journalist Alan Reid commissioned a photograph of Arthur Calwell and Gough Whitlam standing outside the conference venue at Kingston, a suburb of Canberra. Although Calwell was the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives and Whitlam was his deputy, neither man was eligible to attend the conference, which consisted of six members elected by each state ALP branch. Reid jibed that the ALP was ruled by "36 faceless men" – an accusation that was picked up by Menzies and the Liberal Party in its election propaganda, and is still remembered more than 40 years later. [3] [4] [5]

Assassination of US President Kennedy

The week before the election, on 22 November 1963, John F. Kennedy, the President of the United States, was assassinated. It has been suggested that this tragedy helped to consolidate Menzies' position. [6]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "House of Representatives Practice; Chapter 3 Elections and the electoral system". Parliament of Australia, House of Representatives. 2005. Archived from the original on 25 May 2006. Retrieved 4 April 2006.
  2. ↑ "The Battle for State Aid". Timeframe. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 1997. Retrieved 2 April 2006.
  3. 1 2 "Boilermaker Bill's Jakarta jottings; Boilermaker Bill McKell Labor Legend". Crikey. 10 September 2004. Archived from the original on 11 September 2005. Retrieved 3 April 2006.
  4. ↑ Holt, Stephen (July 2006). "The Ultimate Insider" (PDF). National Library Australia News. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
  5. ↑ "Tracking the Red Fox". Media Report. ABC Radio National. 18 December 2008. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
  6. ↑ Farnsworth, Malcolm. "It's Time; 1972 Federal Election: Sound Archives". australianpolitics.com. Archived from the original on 9 May 2006. Retrieved 4 April 2006.

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References

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