1958 Australian federal election

1958 Australian federal election
← outgoing members elected members →
All 124 seats of the House of Representatives; 62 seats were needed for a majority in the House ; 32 (of the 60) seats of the Senate
Registered	5,384,624 4.10%
Turnout	5,141,109 (95.48%); (0.48 pp)
	Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory.
Prime Minister before election; Robert Menzies; Liberal/Country coalition	Subsequent Prime Minister ; Robert Menzies; Liberal/Country coalition

The 1958 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 22 November 1958. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives and 32 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies defeated the opposition Labor Party, led by H. V. Evatt.

Issues

In spite of a major global downturn in early 1958, the Coalition was returned to power and there was an even swing against the Labor Party. This was due largely to support for the breakaway Democratic Labor Party. This was the first Australian election campaign to be fought using television as a medium for communicating with voters. Menzies was interviewed on television, while opposition figures H. V. Evatt and Arthur Calwell took part in debates with ministers Harold Holt and William McMahon. Somewhat surprisingly Menzies emerged as a confident and effective television performer.^{[citation needed]} This may have contributed to the better than expected result for the government.^{[citation needed]}

Results

House of Representatives

House of Reps (IRV) — 1958–61—Turnout 95.48% (CV) — Informal 2.87%
Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Liberal–Country coalition		2,298,512	46.55	–1.12	77	+2
		Liberal	1,859,180	37.23	−2.53	58	+1
		Country	465,320	9.32	+1.41	19	+1
	Labor		2,137,890	42.81	−1.84	47^[b]	−2
	Democratic Labor		389,688	7.80	+2.63	0	0
	Queensland Labor		80,035	1.60	+1.60	0	0
	Communist		26,337	0.53	–0.63	0	0
	Nationalist		3,577	0.07	+0.07	0	0
	Independent		31,466	0.63	–0.74	0	0
	Total		4,993,493			122
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
	Liberal–Country coalition		Win	54.10	−0.10	77	+2
	Labor			45.90	+0.10	45	−2

Popular vote

Labor			42.81%
Liberal			37.23%
DLP/QLP			9.41%
Country			9.32%
Other			1.23%

Two-party-preferred vote

Coalition			54.10%
Labor			45.90%

Parliament seats

Coalition			63.11%
Labor			36.89%

Senate

Senate (STV) — 1958–61—Turnout 95.48% (CV) — Informal 10.29%
		Votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held	Change
Liberal–Country coalition		2,084,193	45.19	–3.49	16	32	+2
	Liberal–Country joint ticket	1,077,586	23.36	–16.02	9	N/A	N/A
	Liberal	953,856	20.68	+12.02	6	25	+1
	Country	52,751	1.14	+0.51	1	7	+1
Labor		1,973,027	42.78	+2.17	15	26	–2
Democratic Labor		314,755	6.82	+0.72	1	2	0
Communist		134,263	2.91	−0.73	0	0	0
Queensland Labor		73,037	1.66	+1.66	0	0	0
Loyalist		4,459	0.10	+0.10	0	0	0
True Democrat		4,337	0.09	+0.09	0	0	0
Republican		3,715	0.08	+0.08	0	0	0
Independents		20,273	0.44	–0.46	0	0	0
Total		4,612,059			32	60

Notes

The Democratic Labor Party was the renamed "Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist)" from the 1955 election.

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1958				Swing	Post-1958
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	Margin	Member	Party
Braddon, Tas		Liberal	Aubrey Luck	8.9	9.3	0.4	Ron Davies	Labor
Griffith, Qld		Labor	Wilfred Coutts	1.3	1.4	0.1	Arthur Chresby	Liberal
Herbert, Qld		Labor	Bill Edmonds	6.6	8.1	1.5	John Murray	Liberal
Indi, Vic		Liberal	William Bostock	N/A	28.6	6.5	Mac Holten	Country
Kalgoorlie, WA		Labor	Herbert Johnson	N/A	11.4	0.3	Peter Browne	Liberal
Moore, WA		Country	Hugh Leslie	100.0	52.9	2.9	Hugh Halbert	Liberal
St George, NSW		Liberal	Bill Graham	2.4	2.5	0.1	Lionel Clay	Labor
Stirling, WA		Labor	Harry Webb	2.8	3.0	0.2	Doug Cash	Liberal
Wimmera, Vic		Liberal	William Lawrence	N/A	22.7	5.9	Robert King	Country

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

Notes

^ The Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory each had one seat, but members for the territories did not have full voting rights until 1966 and did not count toward government formation.
^ Including Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory

References

University of WA Archived 18 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine 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.

[1] The Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory each had one seat, but members for the territories did not have full voting rights until 1966 and did not count toward government formation.

[2] Including Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory

[a]

[b]

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