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1962 Western Australian state election

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1962 Western Australian state election

← 1959 31 March 1962 (1962-03-31) 1965 →

All 50 seats in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
26 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader David Brand Albert Hawke
Party Liberal/Country coalition Labor
Leader since 1 March 1957 3 July 1951
Leader's seat Greenough Northam
Last election 25 seats 23 seats
Seats won 26 seats 24 seats
Seat change Increase1 Increase1
Percentage 46.09% 44.41%
Swing Increase3.07 Decrease0.51

Premier before election

David Brand
Liberal/Country coalition

Elected Premier

David Brand
Liberal/Country coalition

Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 31 March 1962 to elect all 50 members to the Legislative Assembly. The Liberal-Country coalition government, led by Premier Sir David Brand, won a second term in office against the Labor Party, led by Opposition Leader Albert Hawke.

The election resulted in a confirmation of the status quo, with the only apparent seat changes since the 1959 election being due to the changes of affiliation of the two Independent Liberal members. Edward Oldfield, representing Mount Lawley, had joined the Labor Party during the previous term, whilst Bill Grayden, representing South Perth, had joined the Liberal Party. Both were re-elected.

Two seats changed between the Country and LCL Parties. In Avon, the sitting member James Mann (LCL) retired after 32 years in Parliament, and Harry Gayfer, one of the two Country Party candidates, succeeded him in the seat. Meanwhile, in outer-metropolitan Darling Range, LCL candidate Ken Dunn defeated the sitting Country member Ray Owen. The Labor candidate (Jack Metcalfe) narrowly won the primary vote, whilst Dunn polled one vote ahead of Owen, meaning Owen was eliminated and his votes distributed between Dunn and Metcalfe. A petition was filed and the Court of Disputed Returns ordered a fresh election for 22 July 1962, which widened the gap to 15 votes.

Results

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Western Australian state election, 31 March 1962
Legislative Assembly
<< 19591965 >>

Enrolled voters 319,594[1]
Votes cast 297,520 Turnout 93.09% +1.05%
Informal votes 5,324 Informal 1.79% –0.79%
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 129,757 44.41% –0.51% 24 + 1
  Liberal and Country 120,267 41.16% +3.68% 18 + 1
  Country 17,339 5.93% –0.61% 8 ± 0
  Democratic Labor 6,601 2.26% –2.86% 0 ± 0
  Ind. Lib. 4,556 1.56% –2.26% 0 – 2
  Communist 1,201 0.41% –0.43% 0 ± 0
  Independent 12,475 4.27% +2.99% 0 ± 0
Total 292,196     50  
1 381,805 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 11 seats (22% of the total) were uncontested—4 Labor seats (two more than 1959) representing 29,773 enrolled voters, 4 LCL seats (one less than 1959) representing 26,836 enrolled voters, and 3 Country seats (one less than 1959) representing 15,532 enrolled voters.

Post-election pendulum

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LCL/Country seats (26)
Marginal
Karrinyup Les Nimmo LCL 2.5%
Subiaco Hugh Guthrie LCL 2.6%
Bunbury George Roberts LCL 3.7%
Fairly safe
Cottesloe Ross Hutchinson LCL 6.8%
Avon Harry Gayfer CP 7.2% v LCL
Mount Lawley Ray O'Connor LCL 8.4%
Dale Gerald Wild LCL 8.6%
Darling Range Ken Dunn LCL 8.6%
Safe
Murchison Richard Burt LCL 10.9%
Stirling Clayton Mitchell CP 12.7% v IND
East Melville Des O'Neil LCL 13.6%
Claremont Harold Crommelin LCL 18.2% v IND
Toodyay James Craig CP 18.3%
Murray Ross McLarty LCL 18.7% v IND
Roe Tom Hart CP 19.7% v LCL
Nedlands Charles Court LCL 21.4%
Blackwood John Hearman LCL 24.1% v IND
Greenough David Brand LCL 45.4% v COM
South Perth Bill Grayden LCL undist.
Katanning Crawford Nalder CP unopp.
Moore Edgar Lewis CP unopp.
Mount Marshall George Cornell CP unopp.
Narrogin William Manning CP unopp.
Vasse William Bovell LCL unopp.
Wellington Iven Manning LCL unopp.
Wembley Guy Henn LCL unopp.
Labor seats (24)
Marginal
Canning Donald May ALP 1.0%
Maylands Edward Oldfield ALP 1.4%
Perth Stanley Heal ALP 4.3%
Warren Joseph Rowberry ALP 5.9%
Fairly safe
Balcatta Herb Graham ALP 6.0%
Mount Hawthorn Bill Hegney ALP 6.2%
Merredin-Yilgarn Lionel Kelly ALP 8.1%
Beeloo Colin Jamieson ALP 9.7%
Safe
Melville John Tonkin ALP 11.3%
Victoria Park Ron Davies ALP 13.9%
Albany Jack Hall ALP 14.3%
Collie Harry May ALP 15.9%
Cockburn Henry Curran ALP 16.1%
Boulder-Eyre Arthur Moir ALP 16.7%
Fremantle Harry Fletcher ALP 19.0%
Kalgoorlie Tom Evans ALP 26.3%
Kimberley John Rhatigan ALP 28.7% v IND
Swan John Brady ALP 41.8% v COM
Belmont James Hegney ALP undist.
Geraldton Bill Sewell ALP undist.
Bayswater Merv Toms ALP unopp.
Gascoyne Daniel Norton ALP unopp.
Northam Albert Hawke ALP unopp.
Pilbara Arthur Bickerton ALP unopp.

See also

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References

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