1951 Australian federal election

The 1951 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 28 April 1951. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives and all 60 seats in the Senate were up for election, due to a double dissolution called after the Senate rejected the Commonwealth Bank Bill.[1] The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies defeated the opposition Labor Party led by Ben Chifley with a modestly reduced majority, and secured a majority in the Senate. This was the last time the Labor party ever held a Senate majority. Chifley died just over a month after the election.

1951 Australian federal election

28 April 1951
All 121 seats of the House of Representatives 61 seats were needed for a majority in the House All 60 seats of the Senate
First party Second party   Leader Robert Menzies Ben Chifley Party Liberal/Country coalition Labor Leader since 23 September 1943 13 July 1945 Leader's seat Kooyong (Vic.) Macquarie (NSW) Last election 74 seats 47 seats Seats won 69 seats 52 seats Seat change 5 5 Percentage 50.70% 49.30% Swing 0.30 0.30
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 Liberal/Country coalition Subsequent Prime Minister Robert Menzies Liberal/Country coalition

Issues

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 Bank Bill 1950, in which the Coalition government aimed to establish a "Commonwealth Bank Board", which Labor believed would be filled with private banking interests.[2] This finally gave 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.

Results

House of Representatives

  Labor: 52 seats

  Liberal: 52 seats

  Country: 17 seats

House of Reps (IRV) — 1951–54—Turnout 96.00% (CV) — Informal 1.90%

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Liberal–Country coalition		2,298,512	50.34	+0.08	69	–5
		Liberal	1,854,799	40.62	+1.23	52	–3
		Country	443,713	9.72	–1.15	17	–2
	Labor		2,174,840	47.63	+1.65	52	+5
	Communist		44,782	0.98	+0.09	0	0
	Independents		47,765	1.05	–1.11	0	0
	Total		4,565,899			121
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
	Liberal–Country coalition		WIN	50.70	−0.30	69	−5
	Labor			49.30	+0.30	52	+5

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Notes

• Three members were elected unopposed – two Labor and one Liberal.

Popular Vote Labor   47.63% Liberal   40.62% Country   9.72% Independent   1.05% Communist   0.98%

Two Party Preferred Vote Coalition   50.70% Labor   49.30%

Parliament Seats Coalition   57.02% Labor   42.98%

Senate

Senate (STV) — 1951–53—Turnout 95.99% (CV) — Informal 7.13%

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held	Change
	Liberal–Country coalition		2,198,687	49.70	–0.71	32	32	+6
		Liberal–Country joint ticket	1,925,631	43.52	–1.12	22	N/A	N/A
		Liberal	273,056	6.17	+0.41	10	26	+5
		Country	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	6	+1
	Labor		2,029,751	45.88	+0.99	28	28	−6
	Communist		93,561	2.11	+0.02	0	0	0
	Lang Labor		60,549	1.37	+1.37	0	0	0
	Protestant People's		13,090	0.30	–0.59	0	0	0
	Henry George Justice		6,015	0.14	+0.14	0	0	0
	Independents		22,584	0.51	–1.20	0	0	0
	Total		4,424,237			60	60

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1951				Swing	Post-1951
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Australian Capital Territory, ACT		Independent	Lewis Nott	3.8	6.7	2.9	Jim Fraser	Labor
Ballaarat, Vic		Liberal	Alan Pittard	0.4	1.6	1.2	Bob Joshua	Labor
Hume, NSW		Country	Charles Anderson	1.0	1.3	0.3	Arthur Fuller	Labor
Kingston, SA		Liberal	Jim Handby	1.6	3.4	1.8	Pat Galvin	Labor
Leichhardt, Qld		Country	Tom Gilmore	1.0	1.3	0.3	Harry Bruce	Labor
Wannon, Vic		Liberal	Dan Mackinnon	0.8	1.9	1.1	Don McLeod	Labor

See also

• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1951
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1951-1954
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1951–1953

Notes

1. "Parliament of Australia: Senate: Publications: Odgers' Guide to Australian Senate Practice – Twelfth Edition – Chapter 21 – Relations with the House of Representatives – Simultaneous dissolutions of 1951". Aph.gov.au. Archived from the original on 21 March 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
2. "COMMONWEALTH BANK BILL". Cairns Post. 23 June 1950. p. 1.

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.