Australian federal election, 1949

Australian federal election, 1949

1946 ← 10 December 1949 → 1951

All 121 seats of the Australian House of Representatives 61 seats were needed for a majority in the House 42 (of the 60) seats of the Australian Senate   First party Second party   Leader Robert Menzies Ben Chifley Party Liberal/Country coalition Labor Leader since 23 September 1943 13 July 1945 Leader's seat Kooyong Macquarie Last election 26 seats 43 seats Seats won 74 seats 47 seats Seat change 48 44 Percentage 51.00% 49.00% Swing +10.81 -3.73

Prime Minister before election Ben Chifley Labor Elected Prime Minister Robert Menzies Liberal/Country coalition

Federal elections were held in Australia on 10 December 1949. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives, and 42 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election, where the single transferable vote was introduced. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister of Australia Ben Chifley was defeated by the opposition Liberal Party of Australia led by Robert Menzies with coalition partner the Country Party led by Arthur Fadden.

House of Reps (IRV) — 1949–51—Turnout 95.97% (CV) — Informal 1.99%

	Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Australian Labor Party	2,117,088	45.98	−3.73	47	+4
	Liberal Party of Australia	1,813,794	39.39	+10.81	55	+40
	Country Party	500,349	10.87	+0.17	19	+8
	Lang Labor	32,870	0.71	−0.88	0	0
	Independents	99,368	2.16	+0.33	0	−1
	Other	40,941	0.89		0	−4
	Total	4,604,410			121	+47
	Liberal/Country coalition	WIN	51.00	*	74	+48
	Australian Labor Party		49.00	*	47	+4

Senate (STV) — 1949–51—Turnout 95.97% (CV) — Informal 10.76%

	Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held
	Australian Labor Party	1,881,956	44.89	−7.18	19	34
	Liberal/Country (Joint Ticket)	1,871,849	44.65	+6.53	16	*
	Liberal Party of Australia	241,598	5.76	+0.56	7	21
	Communist Party of Australia	87,958	2.10	*	0	0
	Country Party	*	*	*	0	5
	Other	109,164	2.60		0	0
	Total	4,192,525			42	60

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1949				Swing	Post-1949
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Australian Capital Territory, ACT		new division				3.8	Lewis Nott	Independent
Ballaarat, Vic		Labor	Reg Pollard	3.1	3.1	0.4	Alan Pittard	Liberal
Bass, Tas		Labor	Claude Barnard	7.0	6.8	0.6	Bruce Kekwick	Liberal
Blaxland, NSW		Lang Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	53.4	3.4	James Harrison	Labor
Bowman, Qld		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	1.4	3.8	Malcolm McColm	Liberal
Corio, Vic		Labor	John Dedman	7.2	6.7	0.3	Hubert Opperman	Liberal
Curtin, WA		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	13.8	11.2	Paul Hasluck	Liberal
Darling Downs, Qld		Country	Arthur Fadden	N/A	1.9	12.5	Reginald Swartz	Liberal
Dawson, Qld		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	9.8	8.6	Charles Davidson	Country
Denison, Tas		Labor	John Gaha	7.0	10.9	5.1	Athol Townley	Liberal
Farrer, NSW		Country	notional - new seat	N/A	58.8	8.8	David Fairbairn	Liberal
Forrest, WA		Labor	Nelson Lemmon	2.3	4.4	2.8	Gordon Freeth	Liberal
Gwydir, NSW		Labor	William Scully	1.2	9.2	5.1	Thomas Treloar	Country
Hume, NSW		Labor	Arthur Fuller	4.2	5.9	1.0	Charles Anderson	Country
Indi, Vic		Country	John McEwen	N/A	59.7	9.7	William Bostock	Liberal
Kingston, SA		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	8.4	1.6	Jim Handby	Liberal
Lawson, NSW		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	7.6	5.8	Laurence Failes	Country
Leichhardt, Qld		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	9.2	1.7	Tom Gilmore	Country
Lowe, NSW		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	9.0	8.5	William McMahon	Liberal
McMillan, Vic		Country	notional - new seat	N/A	6.1	6.9	Geoffrey Brown	Liberal
McPherson, Qld		Liberal	notional - new seat	N/A	5.1	24.2	Arthur Fadden	Country
Mitchell, NSW		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	12.8	6.9	Roy Wheeler	Liberal
Northern Territory, NT		Independent	Adair Blain	N/A	8.6	2.7	John Nelson	Labor
Paterson, NSW		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	8.6	8.5	Allen Fairhall	Liberal
Riverina, NSW		Labor	Joseph Langtry	0.6	3.8	3.5	Hugh Roberton	Country
Robertson, NSW		Labor	Thomas Williams	3.8	11.5	4.2	Roger Dean	Liberal
St George, NSW		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	16.2	2.0	Bill Graham	Liberal
Sturt, SA		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	8.9	2.8	Keith Wilson	Liberal
Swan, WA		Labor	notional	N/A	10.2	2.4	Bill Grayden	Liberal
Wannon, Vic		Labor	Donald McLeod	1.2	3.8	0.8	Daniel Mackinnon	Liberal
Wimmera, Vic		Country	Winton Turnbull	N/A	5.6	14.9	William Lawrence	Liberal

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

Electoral reform

As of this election, single transferrable vote with proportional representation became the method for electing the Senate. This was to try to prevent the Senate from being dominated by one party, which had often occurred previously. For example, coming into this election the ALP held 33 of the 36 Senate seats, whilst the conservatives at the 1919 election held 35 of the 36 Senate seats. In addition, the House of Representatives was enlarged from 74 to 121 seats and the Senate from 36 members to 60 members. All 121 lower house seats, and 42 of the 60 upper house seats, were up for election.

Issues

The election hinged on the policies of the Federal Labor Government, especially bank nationalisation. Prime Minister Chifley intended to bring all of the banks under Government control, a socialist policy which the Coalition argued was not in the country's interest. The Coalition promised to end unpopular wartime rationing. The election took place against the background of the 1949 Australian coal strike, the developing Cold War and growing fears of communism.

Significance

The Chifley Government was defeated, ending the longest period of Labor Federal Government in Australian history up to that date (1941–49). Labor would not return to office until 1972. Robert Menzies became Prime Minister for the second time, and the Liberal Party of Australia won government federally for the first time.

See also

• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1949
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1949-1951
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1950–1951

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. No figure available before 1949.