Australian federal election, 1966

Australian federal election, 1966
All 124 seats of the Australian House of Representatives ; 63 seats were needed for a majority
Prime Minister before election; Harold Holt ; Liberal/Country coalition	Subsequent Prime Minister; Harold Holt ; Liberal/Country coalition

Last updated March 12, 2019

Federal elections were held in Australia on 26 November 1966. All 124 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition government, led by Prime Minister Harold Holt, won an increased majority over the opposition Labor Party, led by Arthur Calwell.

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 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.

Issues

The new Prime Minister, Harold Holt, was stylish, debonair and popular with the electorate. He cast a sharp contrast with the much rougher figure of Arthur Calwell, who had already lost two elections. Calwell held to the beliefs that had been central to the last Labor Government of 1941–1949, many of which were seen as being old-fashioned in 1966. For example, he was a defender of the White Australia Policy, nationalization. He also came across poorly on television compared to Holt, and looked and sounded older than his 70 years.

Nationalization is the process of transforming private assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets or assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being transferred to the state. The opposites of nationalization are privatization and demutualization. When previously nationalized assets are privatized and subsequently returned to public ownership at a later stage, they are said to have undergone renationalization. Industries that are usually subject to nationalization include transport, communications, energy, banking, and natural resources.

In addition, a strong economy and initial enthusiasm for Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War virtually guaranteed the Coalition the election who campaigned with the slogan "Keep Australia secure and prosperous – play it safe".^[1] Calwell retired a month after the election and was succeeded by Deputy Labor leader Gough Whitlam.

Vietnam War 1955–1975 conflict in Vietnam

The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, and in Vietnam as the Resistance War Against America or simply the American War, was an undeclared war in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union, China, and other communist allies; South Vietnam was supported by the United States, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Thailand and other anti-communist allies. The war is considered a Cold War-era proxy war from some US perspectives. It lasted some 19 years with direct U.S. involvement ending in 1973 following the Paris Peace Accords, and included the Laotian Civil War and the Cambodian Civil War, resulting in all three countries becoming communist states in 1975.

Edward Gough Whitlam was the 21st Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The Leader of the Labor Party from 1967 to 1977, Whitlam led his party to power for the first time in 23 years at the 1972 election. He won the 1974 election before being controversially dismissed by the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, at the climax of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. Whitlam remains the only Australian prime minister to have his commission terminated in that manner.

The election was a landslide win for the Coalition, which won twice as many seats as Labor. Holt's victory was greater than any of Menzies', and it was seen as the electoral high point of both his Prime Ministership and the 23 years of continuous Coalition rule.

Results

House of Reps (IRV) — 1966–69—Turnout 95.13% (CV) — Informal 3.10%
Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Liberal–Country coalition		2,520,321	49.98	+3.94	82	+10
		Liberal	2,291,964	40.14	+3.05	61	+9
		Country	561,926	9.84	+0.90	21	+1
	Labor		2,282,834	39.98	–5.49	41	–9
	Democratic Labor		417,411	7.31	–0.13	0	0
	Liberal Reform		49,610	0.87	+0.87	0	0
	Communist		23,056	0.40	–0.19	0	0
	Independents		82,948	1.45	+0.98	1	+1
	Total		5,709,749			124	+2
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
	Liberal–Country coalition		WIN	56.90	+4.30	82	+10
	Labor			43.10	−4.30	41	−9

Independents: Sam Benson

Popular Vote

Liberal			40.14%
Labor			39.98%
Country			9.84%
DLP			7.31%
Independents			1.45%
Other			1.27%

Two Party Preferred Vote

Coalition			56.90%
Labor			43.10%

Parliament Seats

Coalition			66.13%
Labor			33.06%
Independents			0.81%

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1966				Swing	Post-1966
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	Margin	Member	Party
Adelaide, SA		Labor	Joe Sexton	7.2	10.0	2.8	Andrew Jones	Liberal
Barton, NSW		Labor	Len Reynolds	0.7	2.9	2.2	Bill Arthur	Liberal
Batman, Vic		Labor	Sam Benson	N/A	8.7	7.8	Sam Benson	Independent
Eden-Monaro, NSW		Labor	Allan Fraser	2.7	3.4	0.7	Dugald Munro	Liberal
Grey, SA		Labor	Jack Mortimer	4.8	7.8	3.0	Don Jessop	Liberal
Griffith, Qld		Labor	Wilfred Coutts	5.8	6.9	1.1	Don Cameron	Liberal
Herbert, Qld		Labor	Ted Harding	3.2	4.3	1.1	Robert Bonnett	Liberal
Hughes, NSW		Labor	Les Johnson	2.7	4.7	2.0	Don Dobie	Liberal
Kennedy, Qld		Labor	Bill Riordan	13.5	15.0	1.5	Bob Katter	Country
Kingston, SA		Labor	Patrick Galvin	4.5	12.7	8.2	Kay Brownbill	Liberal
Lalor, Vic		Labor	Reg Pollard	7.0	7.7	0.7	Mervyn Lee	Liberal
Northern Territory, NT		Labor	Jock Nelson	100.0	51.7	1.7	Sam Calder	Country

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

Notes

↑ https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/bitstream/handle/11343/34650/67272_00003244_01_Young004.pdf?sequence=1

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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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