1954 Australian federal election

Australian federal election, 1954

29 May 1954
All 121 seats of the Australian House of Representatives 61 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Robert Menzies H.V. Evatt Party Liberal/Country coalition Labor Leader since 23 September 1943 13 June 1951 Leader's seat Kooyong Barton Last election 69 seats 52 seats Seats won 64 seats 57 seats Seat change 5 5 Percentage 49.30% 50.70% Swing 1.40 1.40
Prime Minister before election Robert Menzies Liberal/Country coalition Subsequent Prime Minister Robert Menzies Liberal/Country coalition

Federal elections were held in Australia on 29 May 1954. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election, no Senate election took place. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies with coalition partner the Country Party led by Arthur Fadden defeated the Australian Labor Party led by Herbert Evatt.

Results

House of Reps (IRV) — 1954–55—Turnout 96.09% (CV) — Informal 1.35%

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change	Notes
	Australian Labor Party	2,280,098	50.03	+2.40	57	+5	(1 elected unopposed)
	Liberal Party of Australia	1,745,808	38.31	−2.31	47	−5	(3 elected unopposed)
	Country Party	388,171	8.52	−1.20	17	0	(3 elected unopposed)
	Other	143,211	3.14		0	0
	Total	4,557,288			121
	Liberal/Country coalition	WIN	49.30	−1.40	64	−5
	Australian Labor Party		50.70	+1.40	57	+5

Popular Vote Labor   50.03% Liberal   38.31% Country   8.52% Other   3.14%

Two Party Preferred Vote Labor   50.70% Coalition   49.30%

Parliament Seats Coalition   52.89% Labor   47.11%

See Australian Senate election, 1953 for Senate composition.

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1954				Swing	Post-1954
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Bass, Tas		Liberal	Bruce Kekwick	3.4	4.4	1.0	Lance Barnard	Labor
Flinders, Vic		Labor	Keith Ewert	5.1	4.3	1.6	Robert Lindsay	Liberal
Griffith, Qld		Liberal	Doug Berry	3.7	4.1	0.4	Wilfred Coutts	Labor
St George, NSW		Liberal	Bill Graham	1.6	4.3	2.7	Nelson Lemmon	Labor
Sturt, SA		Liberal	Keith Wilson	2.4	5.4	3.0	Norman Makin	Labor
Swan, WA		Liberal	Bill Grayden	3.3	4.9	1.6	Harry Webb	Labor

History

In 1949, Sir Robert Menzies founded the Liberal Party of Australia (descended from the United Australia Party) and was led by Menzies for 16 years through successive re-elections with the traditional coalition in place with the National Party of Australia (known then as the Country Party). Labor stayed out of government for 23 years after the defeat of the Chifley Government in 1949, largely due to the Australian Labor Party split of 1955 and the subsequent splinter-group Democratic Labor Party. Labor nevertheless won the two-party-preferred vote on three occasions (1954 - where Labor achieved a first preference vote of more than 50% - 1961 and 1969), but these were not enough to win a sufficient number of seats to form government.

The election was complicated by the Petrov Affair, in which Vladimir Petrov, an attache to the Soviet embassy in Canberra, defected amidst a storm of publicity, claiming that there were Soviet spy rings within Australia. Given that the 1951 election had been fought over the issue of banning the Communist Party of Australia altogether, it is unsurprising that such a claim would gain credibility.

See also

• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1954
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1954–1955

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.