1940 Australian federal election

1940 Australian federal election
	21 September 1940
	21 September 1940
All 74 seats of the House of Representatives; 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House ; 19 (of the 36) seats of the Senate
	Popular vote by state with graphs indicating the number of seats won. As this is an IRV election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote by state but instead via results in each electorate.
Prime Minister before election; Robert Menzies; UAP/Country coalition	Subsequent Prime Minister ; Robert Menzies; UAP/Country coalition

The 1940 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 21 September 1940. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Coalition, consisting of the United Australia Party led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies and the Country Party led by Archie Cameron, defeated the opposition Labor Party under John Curtin despite losing the overall popular vote.

The Coalition had won 36 seats, two short of a majority, but formed a government on 28 October 1940 with the support of both independent crossbenchers, Alexander Wilson and Arthur Coles. The four MPs elected to Lang Labor's successor, the Australian Labor Party (Non-Communist), officially re-joined the ALP just months after the election in February 1941, bringing the ALP seat tally up to 36. The UAP–Country minority government lasted only until October 1941, when the two independents crossed the floor and allowed the ALP to form a minority government with Curtin as prime minister. It remains the only time since the 1910 introduction of an elected two-party system where the government changed as the result of a parliamentary confidence vote.

Future opposition leaders H.V. Evatt and Arthur Calwell both entered parliament at this election.

Background

Until the 1940 Canberra air disaster on 13 August, Menzies was not planning an election so early, as it was not due until December 1940 or even as late as January 1941. However, the loss of three Cabinet ministers meant that three by-elections would have been required, followed within a few short months by a general election. Bringing the general election on earlier than planned was the preferred solution.

Both the Coalition and Labor supported Australia's ongoing participation in World War II. The Coalition's advertisements asked Australians to "Cast Your Vote for Unity and an All-in War Effort / Back the Government that's Backing Churchill", with a large picture of the British Prime Minister. Labor promised "A New Deal / for the Soldier / for the Soldier's wife / Widows, the Aged and Infirm / the Taxpayer / the Working Man / the Primary Producer".[1]

Results

House of Representatives

Australian Federal Election, 1940

House of Reps (IRV) — 1940–43—Turnout 94.82% (CV) — Informal 2.56%
Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	UAP–Country coalition		1,703,185	43.93	–4.65	36	–8
		United Australia	1,171,788	30.22	–3.49	23	–5
		Country	531,397	13.71	–1.84	13	–3
	Labor		1,556,941	40.16	−3.01	32	+3
	Lang Labor		202,721	5.23	+5.23	4	+4
	State Labor		101,191	2.61	+2.61	0	0
	Defence Movement		15,313	0.40	+0.40	0	0
	Protestant Labor		8,300	0.21	+0.21	0	0
	Independents		289,335	7.46	+1.90	2	0
	Total		3,876,986			74
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
	UAP–Country coalition			49.70	−0.90	36	−8
	Labor			50.30	+0.90	32	+3

Notes

Independents: Arthur Coles (Henty, Vic) (see below), Alexander Wilson (Wimmera, Vic)
The Country Party in Victoria was split over membership of the Coalition, with the state party opposing its members taking office. The official United Country Party elected two members, one of whom, George Rankin, sat in the federal Country Party room and the other, Alexander Wilson, sat as an Independent. A breakaway faction, the Liberal Country Party, was formed to support sitting ministers and elected two members, John McEwen and Thomas Paterson, who both sat in the federal Country Party room.

Popular Vote

Labor			40.16%
United Australia			30.22%
Country			13.71%
Lang Labor			5.23%
State Labor			2.61%
Independent/Other			8.07%

Two Party Preferred Vote

Labor			50.30%
Coalition			49.70%

Parliament Seats

Coalition			48.64%
Labor			43.24%
Lang Labor			5.41%
Independent			2.70%

Senate

Senate (P BV) — 1940–43—Turnout 94.75% (CV) — Informal 9.56%
		Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held	Change
UAP–Country coalition		1,831,138	50.41	+3.70	16	19	–1
	UAP–Country joint ticket	1,649,241	45.40	+16.72	10	N/A	N/A
	United Australia	181,897	5.01	–11.12	6	15	–1
	Country	N/A	N/A	N/A	0	4	0
Labor		1,363,072	37.52	–10.96	3	17	+1
Non-Communist Labor		274,861	7.57	+7.57	0	0	0
State Labor		70,091	1.93	+1.93	0	0	0
Defence Movement		9,536	0.26	+0.26	0	0	0
Independents		84,119	2.32	–1.07	0	0	0
Total		3,632,817			19	36

Notes

Of the ten senators elected on UAP–Country joint tickets, seven were UAP members and three were Country Party members.

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1940				Swing	Post-1940
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	Margin	Member	Party
Barton, NSW		United Australia	Albert Lane	1.8	13.9	12.1	H. V. Evatt	Labor
Calare, NSW		Country	Harold Thorby	2.2	5.6	3.4	John Breen	Labor
Cook, NSW		Labor	Tom Sheehan	N/A	33.9	13.6	Tom Sheehan	Labor (N-C)
Dalley, NSW		Labor	Sol Rosevear	N/A	14.9	7.2	Sol Rosevear	Labor (N-C)
Denison, Tas		Labor	Gerald Mahoney	3.9	5.0	1.1	Arthur Beck	United Australia
Henty, Vic		United Australia	Henry Gullett	N/A	3.2	13.5	Arthur Coles	Independent
Lang, NSW		Labor	Dan Mulcahy	N/A	13.4	16.0	Dan Mulcahy	Labor (N-C)
Macquarie, NSW		United Australia	John Lawson	2.1	10.2	8.1	Ben Chifley	Labor
Maranoa, Qld		Country	James Hunter	4.3	5.9	1.6	Frank Baker	Labor
Riverina, NSW		Country	Horace Nock	7.2	8.8	1.6	Joe Langtry	Labor
Wakefield, SA		Labor	Sydney McHugh	6.7	10.0	3.4	Jack Duncan-Hughes	United Australia
Wannon, Vic		United Australia	Thomas Scholfield	1.3	5.0	3.7	Don McLeod	Labor
Warringah, NSW		Independent	Percy Spender	1.9	23.6	25.5	Percy Spender	United Australia
Watson, NSW		United Australia	John Jennings	3.8	5.8	2.0	Max Falstein	Labor
West Sydney, NSW		Labor	Jack Beasley	100.0	64.3	14.3	Jack Beasley	Labor (N-C)
Wilmot, Tas		Labor	Lancelot Spurr	0.2	5.2	5.0	Allan Guy	United Australia

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

gollark: It would probably be possible, except DC is (presumably) made in PHP, which is kind of bad.

gollark: You know what would be pretty cool? A live-updating cave view page, so you wouldn't need to refresh constantly.

gollark: Ah, the joys of the somewhat limited trade system.

gollark: You mean stuff actually happens between those?

gollark: They might arguably be worse, though, as all other rare collectors will go there.

Notes

Hasluck, Paul (1965). Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 4 – Civil - Volume 1, The Government and the People, 1939–1941. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. pp. 256–263.

References

University of WA election results in Australia since 1890
Two-party-preferred vote since 1937

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Hasluck, Paul (1965). Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 4 – Civil - Volume 1, The Government and the People, 1939–1941. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. pp. 256–263.

Elections and referendums in Australia
Federal elections	1901 1903 1906 1910 1913 1914 1917 1919 1922 1925 1928 1929 1931 1934 1937 1940 1943 1946 1949 1951 1953 1954 1955 1958 1961 1963 1964 1966 1967 1969 1970 1972 1974 1975 1977 1980 1983 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 2016 2019 Next by-elections
Referendums	1906 1910 1911 1913 1916 1917 1919 1926 1928 1937 1944 1946 1948 1951 1967 1973 1974 1977 1984 1988 1999 2017
Elections in: Australian Capital Territory New South Wales Northern Territory Queensland South Australia Tasmania Victoria Western Australia