1961 Australian federal election

The 1961 Australian federal election was 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–Country coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies defeated the opposition Labor Party under Arthur Calwell, despite losing the two-party-preferred popular vote. In his first election as Labor leader, Calwell significantly reduced the Coalition's margin, gaining 15 seats to leave the government with only a two-seat majority. This was the first and only time that a Federal Government won a sixth consecutive term in office.

1961 Australian federal election

9 December 1961
All 124 seats of the House of Representatives 62 seats were needed for a majority in the House 31 (of the 60) seats of the Senate
Registered	5,651,561 4.96%
Turnout	5,384,350 (95.27%) (0.21 pp)
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 (Vic.) Melbourne (Vic.) Last election 77 seats 45 seats Seats won 62 60 NT ACT Seat change 15 15 Popular vote 2,208,213 2,512,929 Percentage 42.09% 47.90% Swing 4.46 5.09 TPP 49.50% 50.50% TPP swing 4.60 4.60
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

Future opposition leader and Governor General Bill Hayden entered parliament at this election.

Issues

Due to a credit squeeze, the economy had gone into a brief recession in 1961 and unemployment had risen to high levels. This saw an increase in popularity for Labor; Menzies' case was not helped by an approach seen by the press, notably The Sydney Morning Herald, as inappropriately paternalistic. The Herald, which had long supported Menzies, switched sides to support Calwell and Labor, which gave Calwell the confidence to mount a spirited campaign. These factors were enough to see a swing against the Menzies Government.

Results

House of Representatives

Main article: Results of the 1961 Australian federal election (House of Representatives)

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

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor		2,512,929	47.90	5.09	62	15
	Liberal–Country coalition		2,208,213	42.09	–4.46	62	–15
		Liberal	1,761,738	33.58	–3.65	45	–13
		Country	446,475	8.51	–0.81	17	–2
	Democratic Labor		399,475	7.61	–0.19	0	0
	Queensland Labor		57,487	1.10	–0.50	0	0
	Communist		25,429	0.48	–0.05	0	0
	Commonwealth Centre		6,743	0.13	0.13	0	0
	Independents		35,757	0.68	0.05	0	0
	Total		5,246,033			122
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
	Liberal–Country coalition		Win	49.50	–4.60	62	–15
	Labor			50.50	4.60	60	15

Popular vote Labor   47.90% Liberal   33.58% DLP/QLP   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

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

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held	Change
	Labor		2,151,339	44.71	1.93	14	28	2
	Liberal–Country coalition		2,025,078	42.08	–3.12	16	30	–2
		Liberal–Country joint ticket	1,595,696	33.16	9.79	8	*	*
		Liberal (separate ticket)	398,292	8.28	–12.41	7	24	–1
		Country (separate ticket)	31,090	0.65	–0.50	1	6	–1
	Democratic Labor		388,466	8.07	2.25	0	1	–1
	Queensland Labor		84,112	1.75	0.09	0	0	0
	Communist		78,188	1.62	–1.29	0	0	0
	Social Credit		17,963	0.37	0.37	0	0	0
	Republican		10,589	0.22	0.14	0	0	0
	Other		10,029	0.21	0.21	0	0	0
	Independent		46,499	0.97	0.54	1	1	1
	Total		4,812,263			31	60

Notes

• In New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria, the coalition parties ran a joint ticket. Of the eight senators elected on a joint ticket, five were members of the Liberal Party and three were members of the Country Party. In Western Australia, the coalition parties ran on separate tickets. In South Australia and Tasmania, only the Liberal Party ran a ticket.
• The sole independent elected was Reg Turnbull of Tasmania.
• "Other" includes 7,430 votes for "Pensioners" and 2,599 votes for the Commonwealth Centre Party.

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

Significance

For a long time, the 1961 election remained the closest Federal election in Australian history, with the Coalition being reduced to the barest majority. Despite not having a majority of seats in New South Wales and Queensland the Coalition retained all of their seats in Victoria and could retain power. The election was decided in the seats of Bruce near Melbourne and Moreton near Brisbane where the Liberal Party won the seat by 130 votes due to Communist Party preferences.

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. 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 third-longest serving MP in Australia's history, and briefly Prime Minister. 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 won 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. It is the only time that Labor has won Cowper.

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 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.