Australian federal election, 1951 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Federal elections were held in Australia on 28 April 1951. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

, and all 60 seats in the Senate

Australian Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

were up for election, due to a double dissolution

Double dissolution

A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the Australian Constitution to resolve deadlocks between the House of Representatives and the Senate....

called after the Senate rejected the Commonwealth Bank Bill. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

led by Prime Minister of Australia

Prime Minister of Australia

The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...

Robert Menzies

Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....

with coalition

Coalition (Australia)

The Coalition in Australian politics refers to a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922...

partner the Country Party led by Arthur Fadden

Arthur Fadden

Sir Arthur William Fadden, GCMG was an Australian politician and, briefly, the 13th Prime Minister of Australia.-Introduction:...

defeated the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

led by Ben Chifley

Ben Chifley

Joseph Benedict Chifley , Australian politician, was the 16th Prime Minister of Australia. He took over the Australian Labor Party leadership and Prime Ministership after the death of John Curtin in 1945, and went on to retain government at the 1946 election, before being defeated at the 1949...

House of Reps (IRV
Instant-runoff voting
Instant-runoff voting , also known as preferential voting, the alternative vote and ranked choice voting, is a voting system used to elect one winner. Voters rank candidates in order of preference, and their ballots are counted as one vote for their first choice candidate. If a candidate secures a...

) — 1951–54—Turnout 96.00% (CV
Compulsory voting
Compulsory voting is a system in which electors are obliged to vote in elections or attend a polling place on voting day. If an eligible voter does not attend a polling place, he or she may be subject to punitive measures such as fines, community service, or perhaps imprisonment if fines are unpaid...

) — Informal 1.90%
Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
Australian Labor Party Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	2,174,840	47.63	+1.65	52	+5	^{(2 elected} _unopposed)
Liberal Party of Australia Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	1,854,799	40.62	+1.23	52	−3	^{(1 elected} _unopposed)
Country Party National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	443,713	9.72	−1.15	17	−2
Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... s	46,788	1.02	−1.13	0	0
Other	45,759	1.00		0	0
Total	4,565,899			121
Liberal/Country coalition Coalition (Australia) The Coalition in Australian politics refers to a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922...	WIN	50.70	-0.30	69	−5
Australian Labor Party Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...		49.30	+0.30	52	+5

Senate (STV
Single transferable vote
The single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...

) — 1951–53—Turnout 95.99% (CV
Compulsory voting
Compulsory voting is a system in which electors are obliged to vote in elections or attend a polling place on voting day. If an eligible voter does not attend a polling place, he or she may be subject to punitive measures such as fines, community service, or perhaps imprisonment if fines are unpaid...

) — Informal 7.13%
Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held
Australian Labor Party Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	2,029,751	45.88	+0.99	28	28
Liberal/Country (Joint Ticket)	1,925,631	43.52	−1.12	*	*
Liberal Party of Australia Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	273,056	6.17	+0.41	26	26
Communist Party of Australia Communist Party of Australia The Communist Party of Australia was founded in 1920 and dissolved in 1991; it was succeeded by the Socialist Party of Australia, which then renamed itself, becoming the current Communist Party of Australia. The CPA achieved its greatest political strength in the 1940s and faced an attempted...	93,561	2.11	+0.02	0	0
Country Party National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	*	*	*	6	6
Other	102,238	2.31		0	0
Total	4,424,237			60	60

Seats changing hands

Party, post-1951>

Seat	Pre-1951				Swing	Post-1951
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	Margin	Member	Party
Australian Capital Territory, ACT Division of Australian Capital Territory The Division of Australian Capital Territory was an Australian electoral division in the Territory of the same name. The division was created in 1949 and included the whole of the city of Canberra and surrounding rural areas....		Independent	Lewis Nott Lewis Nott Lewis Windermere Nott was an Australian politician, medical practitioner and hospital superintendent. He represented two federal electorates, more than 1,000 km and 21 years apart.-Early life and war service:...	3.8	6.7	2.9	Jim Fraser Jim Fraser James Reay Fraser was a Member of the Australian House of Representatives for the Australian Capital Territory from 1951 to 1970....	Labor
Ballaarat, Vic Division of Ballarat The Division of Ballarat is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It is named for the provincial city of Ballarat....		Liberal	Alan Pittard Alan Pittard Alan Crocker Pittard, OBE was an Australian politician. Born in Ballarat, Victoria, he attended Ballarat Grammar School before becoming a shoe retailer. He served on Ballarat City Council before serving in the military 1939-45. In 1949, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as...	0.4	1.6	1.2	Robert Joshua Robert Joshua Robert Joshua, MC was an Australian politician, and a key figure in the 1955 split in the Australian Labor Party which led to the formation of the Australian Labor Party and, subsequently, the Democratic Labor Party.-Early life:Joshua was born at Prahran, Victoria, to Edward Cecil Joshua, a...	Labor
Hume, NSW Division of Hume The Division of Hume is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. The Division is located in the central part of the state, just north of the Australian Capital Territory. The Division covers a predominantly rural area, with agriculture and coal mining the main industries...		Country	Charles Anderson Charles Groves Wright Anderson Charles Groves Wright Anderson VC, MC was a South African-born, Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, a member of the Australian House of Representatives, and a farmer.-Early life:...	1.0	1.3	0.3	Arthur Fuller Arthur Fuller Arthur Nieberding Fuller was a long serving member of the Australian House of Representatives.Born in Gundagai to a goldminer and his wife, Fuller spent his childhood in the New South Wales goldfields. He later managed a clothing store in Cobar before moving to Tumut in 1919 to open a clothing...	Labor
Kingston, SA Division of Kingston The Division of Kingston is an Australian Electoral Division in South Australia covering the far-south metropolitan area of Adelaide. The division was first proclaimed in 1949....		Liberal	Jim Handby Jim Handby Herbert Harry "Jim" Handby OBE was a former Australian rules footballer who played in the SANFL in the 1920s and 1930s, achieving several honours in recognition of his playing skills. He was later a federal Liberal politician and businessman.Born Herbert Harry Handby in Adelaide, South Australia,...	1.6	3.4	1.8	Patrick Galvin Patrick Galvin Patrick Galvin was an Irish poet, singer, playwright, and prose and screen writer born in Cork's inner city.-Biography:Galvin was born in Cork in 1927 at a time of great political transition in Ireland...	Labor
Leichhardt, Qld Division of Leichhardt The Division of Leichhardt is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was first proclaimed in 1949. It is one of Australia's largest electorates, covering an area stretching from Cairns to Cape York and the Torres Strait, including the Torres Strait Islands.-About the...		Country	Tom Gilmore Tom Gilmore, senior Thomas Vernon "Tom" Gilmore was an Australian politician. Born in Wolfram, Queensland, he was educated at state schools before becoming a sugarcane and tobacco grower at Babinda. He served in the military 1942–47...	1.0	1.3	0.3	Henry Bruce	Labor
Wannon, Vic Division of Wannon The Division of Wannon is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. It is located in the south-west of the state, and encompasses most of the Western Region of the state. It adjoins the South Australian border in the west, and the Bass Strait coast in the south. The Division...		Liberal	Daniel Mackinnon Daniel Mackinnon (Australian politician) Ewen Daniel Mackinnon was an Australian politician. The son of state MLA Donald Mackinnon, he was born in Melbourne and educated at Geelong Grammar School and then attended Oxford University. He returned to Australia as a grazier at Linton before becoming a company director and serving in the...	0.8	1.9	1.1	Donald McLeod	Labor

History

Although the Coalition had won a comfortable majority in the House in 1949, Labor still had a four-seat majority in the Senate. Chifley thus made it his business to obstruct Menzies' agenda at every opportunity. Realizing this, Menzies sought to call a double dissolution at the first opportunity in hopes of gaining control of both houses. He thought he had his chance in 1950, when he introduced a bill to ban the Australian Communist Party. However, after a redraft, Chifley let the bill pass.

A few months later, the Senate rejected the Commonwealth Banking Bill, finally giving Menzies an excuse to call a double dissolution. While the Coalition lost five House seats to Labor, it still had a solid mandate. More importantly, it picked up six Senate seats, giving it control over both chambers.

Seats changing hands

History

See also