1961 Australian federal election

Australian federal election, 1961

9 December 1961
All 122 seats of the Australian House of Representatives 62 seats were needed for a majority in the House 31 (of the 60) seats of the Australian Senate
First party Second party   Leader Robert Menzies Arthur Calwell Party Liberal/Country coalition Labor Leader since 23 September 1943 7 March 1960 Leader's seat Kooyong Melbourne Last election 77 seats 45 seats Seats won 62 seats 60 seats Seat change 15 15 Percentage 49.50% 50.50% Swing 4.60 4.60
Prime Minister before election Robert Menzies Liberal/Country coalition Subsequent Prime Minister Robert Menzies Liberal/Country coalition

Federal elections were held in Australia on 9 December 1961. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives, and 31 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies with coalition partner the Country Party led by John McEwen defeated the Australian Labor Party led by Arthur Calwell.

Results

House of Reps (IRV) — 1961–63—Turnout 95.27% (CV) — Informal 2.57%

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Australian Labor Party	2,512,929	47.90	+5.09	60	+15
	Liberal Party of Australia	1,761,738	33.58	−3.65	45	−13
	Democratic Labor Party	456,962	8.71	−0.70	0	0
	Country Party	446,475	8.51	−0.81	17	−2
	Other	67,929	1.29		0	0
	Total	5,246,033			122
	Liberal/Country coalition	WIN	49.50	−4.60	62	−15
	Australian Labor Party		50.50	+4.60	60	+15

Popular Vote Labor   47.90% Liberal   33.58% DLP   8.71% Country   8.51% Other   1.29%

Two Party Preferred Vote Labor   50.50% Coalition   49.50%

Parliament Seats Coalition   50.82% Labor   49.18%

Senate (STV) — 1961–64—Turnout 95.27% (CV) — Informal 10.62%

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held	Change
	Australian Labor Party	2,151,339	44.71	+1.93	14	28	+2
	Liberal/Country (Joint Ticket)	1,595,696	33.16	+9.79	8	*
	Democratic Labor Party	472,578	9.82	+1.40	0	1	−1
	Liberal Party of Australia	398,292	8.28	−12.41	7	24	−1
	Communist Party of Australia	78,188	1.62	−1.29	0	0	0
	Country Party	31,090	0.65	−0.50	1	6	−1
	Independents	46,499	0.97	+0.54	1	1	+1
	Other	38,581	0.80		0	0	0
	Total	4,812,263			31	60

Independent: Reg Turnbull

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1961				Swing	Post-1961
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Bowman, Qld		Liberal	Malcolm McColm	6.1	8.0	1.9	Jack Comber	Labor
Canning, WA		Country	Leonard Hamilton	N/A	65.7	15.7	Neil McNeill	Liberal
Capricornia, Qld		Liberal	Henry Pearce	7.7	10.7	5.0	George Gray	Labor
Cowper, NSW		Country	Earle Page	11.1	12.9	1.8	Frank McGuren	Labor
Evans, NSW		Liberal	Frederick Osborne	7.0	7.1	0.1	James Monaghan	Labor
Griffith, Qld		Liberal	Arthur Chresby	0.1	7.4	7.3	Wilfred Coutts	Labor
Herbert, Qld		Liberal	John Murray	1.5	3.8	2.3	Ted Harding	Labor
Hume, NSW		Country	Charles Anderson	2.1	3.0	0.9	Arthur Fuller	Labor
Kalgoorlie, WA		Liberal	Peter Browne	0.3	0.9	0.6	Fred Collard	Labor
Lilley, Qld		Liberal	Bruce Wight	11.9	13.2	1.3	Don Cameron	Labor
Mitchell, NSW		Liberal	Roy Wheeler	8.0	11.4	3.4	John Armitage	Labor
Moore, WA		Liberal	Hugh Halbert	2.9	4.2	1.3	Hugh Leslie	Country
Oxley, Qld		Liberal	Donald Alastair Cameron	5.9	9.4	3.5	Bill Hayden	Labor
Petrie, Qld		Liberal	Alan Hulme	10.5	11.2	0.7	Reginald O'Brien	Labor
Phillip, NSW		Liberal	William Aston	1.9	3.3	1.4	Syd Einfeld	Labor
Stirling, WA		Liberal	Doug Cash	0.2	0.5	0.3	Harry Webb	Labor
Wide Bay, Qld		Country	Henry Bandidt	4.3	9.5	5.2	Brendan Hansen	Labor

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

Issues

Due to a credit squeeze, the economy had gone into a brief recession in 1961. This combined with initial enthusiasm for the new Opposition Leader, Arthur Calwell, was enough to see a swing against the Menzies Government.

Significance

For a long time, the 1961 election remained the closest Federal election in Australian history, with the Coalition being reduced to a one-seat majority. The election was decided in the seats of Bruce near Melbourne and Moreton near Brisbane.

In Bruce, Labor's Keith Ewert led Liberal Billy Snedden on the first count, but on the second count more than two-thirds of the DLP's preferences flowed to Snedden, enough to give him the victory.

However, the Coalition was not ensured of a sixth term in government until Jim Killen won Moreton by only 130 votes after receiving 93 vital Communist preferences. Labor actually won 62 seats, the same as the Coalition. However, without Bruce, the best Labor could hope for was a hung parliament, since two of its seats were in ACT and Northern Territory. At the time, territorial MPs had limited voting rights and were not counted for the purpose of determining who was to form government. The record for the closest election in Australia's history was eventually beaten by the 2010 election, which was a 72-72 seat draw.

The most notable casualty was Earle Page, the second-longest serving MP and briefly Prime Minister in Australia's history. He had been the member for Cowper since 1919. Although he was 81 years old and gravely ill with lung cancer, he decided to fight his 17th general election. His Labor opponent, Frank McGuren, needed a seemingly daunting 11-point swing to win the seat, but managed to win by a slim three-point margin on the second count. Page, who had been too sick to actively campaign, died 11 days after the election without ever knowing he had been defeated.

See also

• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1961
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1961–1963
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1962–1965

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.