Australian federal election, 1955
Encyclopedia
Federal elections were held in Australia on 10 December 1955. All 122 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 30 of the 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. 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
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 H. V. Evatt
H. V. Evatt
Herbert Vere Evatt, QC KStJ , was an Australian jurist, politician and writer. He was President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1948–49 and helped draft the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights...

.
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...

) — 1955–58—Turnout 95.00% (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 2.88%
  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...

1,961,829 44.63 −5.40 47 −10
  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...

1,746,485 39.73 +1.43 57 +10 (5 elected unopposed)
  Country Party 347,445 7.90 −0.61 18 +1 (5 elected unopposed)
  Anti-Communist Labor Party
Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist)
The Australian Labor Party was the name initially used by the right-wing group which split away from the Australian Labor Party in 1955, and which later became the Democratic Labor Party in 1957....

227,083 5.17 * 0 0
  Other 112,693 2.56 0 0
  Total 4,395,535     122 +1
  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 54.20 +4.90 75 +11
  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...

45.80 −4.90 47 −10


This would be the last federal election where any seat attracted only one candidate, who was elected unopposed.
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...

) — 1955–58—Turnout 95.01% (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 9.63%
  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...

1,803,335 40.61 −10.01 12 28
  Liberal/Country (Joint Ticket) 1,748,878 39.38 +12.93 8 *
  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...

384,732 8.66 −9.32 8 24
  Anti-Communist Labor Party
Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist)
The Australian Labor Party was the name initially used by the right-wing group which split away from the Australian Labor Party in 1955, and which later became the Democratic Labor Party in 1957....

271,067 6.10 * 1 2
  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...

161,869 3.64 +0.59 0 0
  Country Party 27,850 0.63 +0.63 1 6
  Other 43,294 0.97 0 0
  Total 4,612,059     30 60




Seats changing hands

Seat Pre-1955 Swing Post-1955
Party Member Margin Margin Member Party
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....

  Labor 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...

*
2.6 10.7 7.9 Dudley Erwin
Dudley Erwin
Dudley Erwin was an Australian politician and briefly Minister for Air.During World War II, Erwin served as a flight lieutenant in the Royal Australian Air Force as a navigator in No. 31 Squadron and was involved in the South West Pacific. Prior to enter politics, he was an electrical radio...

Liberal  
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...

  Labor 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...

2,2 3.5 2.2 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:...

Country  
Maribyrnong, Vic
Division of Maribyrnong
The Division of Maribyrnong is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. It is located in the north-western suburbs of Melbourne. It covers the suburbs of Moonee Ponds, Essendon, Niddrie, Keilor East, Avondale Heights, Tullamarine, Airport West, Sunshine and Brooklyn. Due to...

  Labor Arthur Drakeford
Arthur Drakeford
Arthur Samuel Drakeford was an Australian politician and was the minister responsible for the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II...

16.1 7.5 0.1 Philip Stokes
Philip Stokes
Philip William Clifford Stokes, OBE was an Australian politician. Born in Melbourne, he attended state schools and then Austral College. He was a bank officer before serving in the military 1940-45. On his return, he was an auctioneer and real estate agent...

Liberal  
Perth, WA
Division of Perth
The Division of Perth is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Western Australia. It is named after Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, where the Division is located...

  Labor Tom Burke 2.3 3.8 1.5 Fred Chaney
Fred Chaney, senior
Sir Frederick Charles Chaney KBE AFC , was an Australian politician and Minister for the Navy.Chaney was born in Fremantle, Western Australia and educated in state and Catholic schools and gained a scholarship as a result of his sporting ability to attend Christian Brothers' College, Perth...

Liberal  
Philip, NSW
Division of Phillip
The Division of Phillip was an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. It was located in the Sydney's eastern suburbs, and was named after Captain Arthur Phillip, captain of the First Fleet and first Governor of New South Wales...

  Labor Joe Fitzgerald 8.9 5.7 1.1 William Aston
William Aston
Sir William John Aston, KCMG was an Australian politician. Born in Sydney, he attended state schools before becoming an accountant and company director. He served in World War II from 1942-44, and was involved in local politics as a member of Waverley Council...

Liberal  
St George, NSW
Division of St George
The Division of St George was an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. It was located in the southern suburbs of Sydney, and covered the suburbs of Hurstville, Rockdale and Arncliffe....

  Labor Nelson Lemmon
Nelson Lemmon
Nelson Lemmon was an Australian politician and government minister. He was responsible for establishing the Snowy Mountains Scheme....

2.7 5.8 3.4 Bill Graham
Bill Graham (Australian politician)
Bruce William "Bill" Graham, OBE was an Australian politician. Born in Sydney, he was educated at Sydney Grammar School before becoming an announcer on the ABC. He served in the military from 1939 to 1948 and was a company director before entering politics in 1949 as the Liberal member for St...

Liberal  
  • *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...

     contested his seat as a candidate for the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist)
    Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist)
    The Australian Labor Party was the name initially used by the right-wing group which split away from the Australian Labor Party in 1955, and which later became the Democratic Labor Party in 1957....

    .

History

In 1949, Robert Menzies
Robert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....

 founded the Liberal Party of Australia (descended from the United Australia Party
United Australia Party
The United Australia Party was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. It was the political successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia and predecessor to the Liberal Party of Australia...

), which was led by Menzies for 16 years through successive elections with the traditional 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...

 in place with the 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...

. Labor stayed out of government for 23 years after the defeat of the 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...

 government in 1949, largely due to the split of the Democratic Labor Party
Democratic Labor Party (historical)
The Democratic Labor Party was an Australian political party that existed from 1955 until 1978.-History:The DLP was formed as a result of a split in the Australian Labor Party that began in 1954. The split was between the party's national leadership, under the then party leader Dr H.V...

 from Labor – also three times the party won the two-party-preferred vote
Two-party-preferred vote
In politics, the two-party-preferred vote , or two-candidate-preferred vote , in an election or opinion poll uses preferential voting to express the electoral result after the distribution of preferences...

 (the 1954, 1961 and 1969 elections), but not enough seats to form government. The election saw the peak of the Communist Party
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...

 Senate vote, with 161,869 at 3.64 percent.

See also

  • Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1955
    Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1955
    This article provides information on candidates who stood for the 1955 Australian federal election. The election was held on 10 December 1955.-By-elections and appointments:...

  • Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1955–1958
    Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1955–1958
    This is a list of the members of the Australian House of Representatives in the 22nd Australian Parliament, which was elected at the 1955 election on 10 December 1955. Three new seats were created and two were abolished...

  • Members of the Australian Senate, 1956–1959
    Members of the Australian Senate, 1956–1959
    This is a list of members of the Australian Senate from 1956 to 1959. Half of its members were elected at the 9 May 1953 election and had terms starting on 1 July 1953 and finishing on 30 June 1959; the other half were elected at the 10 December 1955 election and had terms starting on 1 July 1956...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK