1951 Australian federal election

none April 2024 June 2023 1951 Australian federal election Australia parliamentary no 1949 Australian federal election 1949 1954 Australian federal election 1954 Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1949–1951 Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1951–1954 #Opinion polling 4,962,675 1.38% 4,654,406 (96.00%)Turnout in contested seats(0.03 pp) All 123The Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory each had one seat, but members for the territories did not have full voting rights until 1966 and did not count toward government formation. seats of the House of Representatives 61 seats were needed for a majority in the House All 60 seats of the Senate 28 April 1951 Image:Portrait Menzies 1950s.jpg 190x190px Robert Menzies 21 February 1945 Liberal Party of Australia LiberalCountry Kooyong (Vic.) 74 seats 69 5 2,298,512 50.34% 0.08 50.70% 0.30 Image:Benchifley.jpg Ben Chifley 13 July 1945 Australian Labor Party Macquarie (NSW) 47 seats 52 + NT + ACT 6 2,174,840 47.63% 1.65 49.30% 0.30 TPP TPP 1951 Australian federal election.svg 350px Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory. Prime Minister Robert Menzies Liberal/Country coalition Subsequent Prime Minister Robert Menzies Liberal/Country coalition Primary A 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.Odgers' Australian Senate Practice Parliament of Australia 14th Simultaneous dissolutions of 1951 Chapter 21 – Relations with the House of Representatives CITEREFOdgers' Australian Senate Practice 3 September 2022 https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Powers_practice_n_procedures/Odgers_Australian_Senate_Practice/Chapter_21 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,1951 Psephos http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/1951/1951reps1.txt 1951 House of Representatives Psephos Adam Carr's Election Archive 2022-05-29 and secured a majority in the Senate.Federal Election Results 1949-1993 https://www.aph.gov.au/binaries/library/pubs/bp/1993/93bp24.pdf Parliament of Australia 28 June 2018 Chifley died just over a month after the election. 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's 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.23 June 1950 Commonwealth Bank Bill 1 Cairns Post https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article42672133 5 September 2022 Trove 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. The 1951 election was the first double dissolution election since single transferable vote with proportional representation became the method for electing the Senate in 1949. With close opinion polls and no minor parties having a credible chance of winning a seat, it was feared and forecast that under the new system the Senate would finish deadlocked at 30–30, since the 54.55% majority that either major party required to win a sixth Senate seat from any single state was greater than polling margins,The Canberra Times 5 May 1950 4 Referendum to avoid Senate deadlockThe Herald 4 People and Senate 20 March 1951 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/248324145 and there were proposals for further amendments to Senate voting rules ahead of the election, none of which were passed.The Sydney Morning Herald 5 March 1951 1 New deadlock looms In the end, Queensland and Western Australia elected 6–4 Senator majorities to the Coalition; the other states were tied 5–5.The West Australian 25 May 1951 2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/48198279 The Federal mandate Results House of Representatives Results of the 1951 Australian federal election (House of Representatives) thumb|#F00011 Labor: 52 seats #00008B Liberal: 52 seats #008000 Country: 17 seats + House of Reps (IRV) — 1951–54—Turnout 96.00% (CV) — Informal 1.90%alt=|center|300x300px Party First preference votes % Swing Seats Change   Liberal–Country coalition 2,298,512 50.34 +0.08 69 –5  Liberal100px 1,854,799 40.62 +1.23 52 –3  Country100px 443,713 9.72 –1.15 17 –2   Labor 2,174,840 47.63 +1.65 54Including Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory +6   Communist 44,782 0.98 +0.09 0 0   Independents 47,765 1.05 –1.11 0 –1  Total 4,565,899     123 Two-party-preferred (estimated)   Liberal–Country coalition Win 50.70 −0.30 69 −5   Labor 49.30 +0.30 52 +5 Notes Three members were elected unopposed – two Labor and one Liberal. First preference vote var(--background-color-interactive) 600px 410px Labor Australian Labor Party 47.63 Liberal Liberal Party of Australia 40.62 Country National Party of Australia 9.72 Independent Independent (politician) 1.05 Communist #AA0000 0.98 Two-party-preferred vote var(--background-color-interactive) 600px 410px Coalition Coalition (Australia) 50.70 Labor Australian Labor Party 49.30 Parliament seats var(--background-color-interactive) 600px 410px Coalition Coalition (Australia) 57.02 Labor Australian Labor Party 42.98 Senate + Senate (STV) — 1951–53—Turnout 95.99% (CV) — Informal 7.13%alt=|center|300x300px Party First preference 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  Opinion polling Graphical summary thumb|850px|center|Australian opinion polling for the election 18em #1C4F9C solid 5px Liberal–Country Coalition #E13940 solid 5px Labor #888888 solid 5px Other Voting intention Date FirmFirst preference vote white Liberal–National Coalition L/CP white Australian Labor Party ALP OTH Other 28 Apr 19511951 election50.3%47.6%2.0% Apr 1951 Galluphttp://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article265045433 Gallup Poll Gives It To Menzies The Daily News LXIX 23,724 Western Australia, Australia 27 April 1951 15 June 2023 1 National Library of Australia 49%43%1% Mar 1951 Gallup49%44%1% Dec 1950 Galluphttp://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45698713 Gallup Poll The Advertiser 93 28,780 South Australia 6 January 1951 15 June 2023 12 National Library of Australia 52%47%1% Nov 1950 Gallup50%49%1% Aug 1950 Galluphttp://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45670211 Gallup Poll The Advertiser 93 28,743 South Australia 23 November 1950 15 June 2023 4 National Library of Australia 57%42%1% 5 May 1950 Gallup54%46%1% Apr 1950 Gallup54%46% 24 Mar 1950 Galluphttp://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44940909 Gallup Poll The Advertiser 92 28,589 South Australia, Australia 27 May 1950 15 June 2023 3 National Library of Australia 54%46% Feb 1950 Galluphttp://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49742878 Gallup opinion The Courier-Mail 4182 Queensland, Australia 22 April 1950 15 June 2023 5 National Library of Australia 56%44% 10 Dec 19491949 election50.3%46.0%3.8% See also Candidates of the 1951 Australian federal election Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1951–1954 Members of the Australian Senate, 1951–1953 Notes References 30em External links University of WA https://web.archive.org/web/20150118085343/http://elections.uwa.edu.au/ 18 January 2015 election results in Australia since 1890 AEC 2PP vote Adam Carr's Election Archive - Senate 1951 Category:Federal elections in Australia Category:1951 elections in Australia Category:April 1951 in Australia