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1949 Australian federal election

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Field	Value
election_name	1949 Australian federal election
country	Australia
type	parliamentary
ongoing	no
previous_election	1946 Australian federal election
previous_year	1946
next_election	1951 Australian federal election
next_year	1951
outgoing_members	Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1946–1949
elected_members	Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1949–1951
opinion_polls	#Opinion polling
registered	4,895,227 3.28%
turnout	4,697,800 (95.97%)
(2.00 pp)
seats_for_election	All 123 seats of the House of Representatives
61 seats were needed for a majority in the House
42 (of the 60) seats of the Senate
election_date	10 December 1949
<!-- Liberal/Country coalition -->	image1	Image:Portrait Menzies 1950s.jpg
image_size	190x190px
leader1	Robert Menzies
leader_since1	21 February 1945
party1	LiberalCountry Coalition
leaders_seat1	Kooyong (Vic.)
last_election1	26 seats
seats1	74
seat_change1	48
popular_vote1	2,314,143
percentage1	50.26%
swing1	6.61
1data1	51.00%
2data1	5.10
<!-- Labor -->	image2	Image:Benchifley.jpg
leader2	Ben Chifley
leader_since2	[13 July 1945](1945-australian-labor-party-leadership-election)
party2	Australian Labor Party
leaders_seat2	Macquarie (NSW)
last_election2	43 seats
seats2	47 + NT
seat_change2	4
popular_vote2	2,117,088
percentage2	45.98%
swing2	3.73
1data2	49.00%
2data2	5.10
1blank	TPP
2blank	TPP swing
map_image	1949 Australian federal election.svg
map_size	350px
map_caption	Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory.
title	Prime Minister
before_election	Ben Chifley
before_party	Australian Labor Party
posttitle	Subsequent Prime Minister
after_election	Robert Menzies
after_party	Liberal–Country Coalition
vote_type	Primary

(2.00 pp) 61 seats were needed for a majority in the House 42 (of the 60) seats of the Senate

A federal election was held in Australia on 10 December 1949. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives and 42 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Labor Party, led by Prime Minister Ben Chifley, was defeated by the opposition Liberal–Country coalition under Robert Menzies in a landslide. Menzies became prime minister for a second time, his first period having ended in 1941. This election marked the end of the 8-year Curtin-Chifley Labor government that had been in power since 1941 and started the 23-year Liberal–Country Coalition government. This was the first time the Liberal party won government at the federal level.

The number of MPs in both houses had been increased at the election, and single transferable vote under a proportional voting system had been introduced in the Senate. Though Labor lost government, Labor retained a Senate majority at the election. However, this ended at the 1951 election. With the Senate changes in place, Labor has not held a Senate majority since.

Future Prime Ministers William McMahon and John Gorton both entered parliament at this election.

Issues

The election hinged on the policies of the Federal Labor government, especially bank nationalisation. Prime Minister Chifley intended to bring all of the banks under Government control, a socialist policy which the Coalition argued was not in the country's interest. The Coalition promised to end unpopular wartime rationing. The election took place against the background of the 1949 Australian coal strike, the developing Cold War and growing fears of communism.

Robert Menzies broke new ground in using the radio as his primary method of reaching voters.

Electoral reform

As of this election, single transferable vote with proportional representation became the method for electing the Senate. This was to try to prevent the Senate from being dominated by one party, which had often occurred previously. For example, coming into this election the ALP held 33 of the 36 Senate seats, whilst the Nationalist Party at the 1919 election held 35 of the 36 Senate seats. In addition, the House of Representatives was enlarged from 74 to 121 seats and the Senate from 36 to 60 members. All 121 lower house seats, and 42 of the 60 upper house seats, were up for election.

Opinion polling

Primary vote

Results

House of Representatives

Main article: Results of the 1949 Australian federal election (House of Representatives)

Country: 19 seats}}

First preference votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change	Two-party-preferred (estimated)
Liberal–Country coalition	2,314,143	50.26	+6.61	74	+45
	Liberal	1,813,794	39.39	+6.44	55	+37
	Country	500,349	10.87	+0.17	19	+8
	Labor	2,117,088	45.98	–3.73	48	+4
	Communist	40,941	0.89	–0.60	0	0
	Labor (Non-Communist)	32,870	0.71	–0.88	0	–1
	Independents	99,368	2.16	+0.34	1	–1
Total	4,604,410			123	+48
	Liberal–Country coalition	Win	51.00	+5.10	74	+45
	Labor		49.00	−5.10	47	+4

Senate

First preference votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held	Change
Liberal–Country coalition	2,113,447	50.41	+7.08	23	26
Liberal–Country joint ticket	1,871,849	44.65	+6.53	16	N/A
	Liberal	241,598	5.76	+0.55	7	21
	Country	N/A	N/A	N/A	0	5
	Labor	1,881,956	44.89	–7.17	19	34
	Communist	87,958	2.10	+2.10	0	0
	Protestant People's	37,441	0.89	–2.13	0	0
	Independents / ungrouped	71,723	1.71	+1.03	0	0
Total	4,192,525			42	60

Seats changing hands

Seat	Swing	Post-1949	Party	Member	Margin	Margin	Member	Party
Australian Capital Territory, ACT	new division				3.8	Lewis Nott	Independent
Ballaarat, Vic		Labor	Reg Pollard	3.1	3.1	0.4	Alan Pittard	Liberal
Bass, Tas		Labor	Claude Barnard	7.0	6.8	0.6	Bruce Kekwick	Liberal
Blaxland, NSW		Lang Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	53.4	3.4	Jim Harrison	Labor
Bowman, Qld		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	1.4	3.8	Malcolm McColm	Liberal
Corio, Vic		Labor	John Dedman	7.2	6.7	0.3	Hubert Opperman	Liberal
Curtin, WA		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	13.8	11.2	Paul Hasluck	Liberal
Darling Downs, Qld		Country	Arthur Fadden	N/A	1.9	12.5	Reginald Swartz	Liberal
Dawson, Qld		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	9.8	8.6	Charles Davidson	Country
Denison, Tas		Labor	Frank Gaha	7.0	10.9	5.1	Athol Townley	Liberal
Farrer, NSW		Country	notional - new seat	N/A	58.8	8.8	David Fairbairn	Liberal
Forrest, WA		Labor	Nelson Lemmon	2.3	4.4	2.8	Gordon Freeth	Liberal
Gwydir, NSW		Labor	William Scully	1.2	9.2	5.1	Thomas Treloar	Country
Hume, NSW		Labor	Arthur Fuller	4.2	5.9	1.0	Charles Anderson	Country
Indi, Vic		Country	John McEwen	N/A	59.7	9.7	William Bostock	Liberal
Kingston, SA		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	8.4	1.6	Jim Handby	Liberal
Lawson, NSW		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	7.6	5.8	Laurie Failes	Country
Leichhardt, Qld		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	9.2	1.7	Tom Gilmore	Country
Lowe, NSW		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	9.0	8.5	William McMahon	Liberal
McMillan, Vic		Country	notional - new seat	N/A	6.1	6.9	Geoffrey Brown	Liberal
McPherson, Qld		Liberal	notional - new seat	N/A	5.1	24.2	Arthur Fadden	Country
Mitchell, NSW		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	12.8	6.9	Roy Wheeler	Liberal
Northern Territory, NT		Independent	Adair Blain	N/A	8.6	2.7	Jock Nelson	Labor
Paterson, NSW		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	8.6	8.5	Allen Fairhall	Liberal
Riverina, NSW		Labor	Joe Langtry	0.6	3.8	3.5	Hugh Roberton	Country
Robertson, NSW		Labor	Thomas Williams	3.8	11.5	4.2	Roger Dean	Liberal
St George, NSW		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	16.2	2.0	Bill Graham	Liberal
Sturt, SA		Labor	notional - new seat	N/A	8.9	2.8	Keith Wilson	Liberal
Swan, WA		Labor	notional	N/A	10.2	2.4	Bill Grayden	Liberal
Wannon, Vic		Labor	Don McLeod	1.2	3.8	0.8	Dan Mackinnon	Liberal
Wimmera, Vic		Country	Winton Turnbull	N/A	5.6	14.9	William Lawrence	Liberal

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

Significance

In this election, the Chifley government was defeated, ending the, then, longest period of Labor federal government in Australian history up to that date (1941–49). Labor would not return to office until 1972. Robert Menzies became Prime Minister for the second time. (Menzies headed the United Australia party the first time he held the office.)

The 1949 election was the first time the Liberal Party of Australia won government federally, and marked the beginning of a long reign in power, stretching from 1949 until 1972.

Notes

References

Sources

University of WA election results in Australia since 1890
Adam Carr's Election Archive - Senate 1949
AEC 2PP vote
Two-party-preferred vote since 1940

References

Ian Ward, "The early use of radio for political communication in Australia and Canada: John Henry Austral, Mr Sage and the Man from Mars," ''Australian Journal of Politics & History'' (1999) 45#3 pp 311–30. [http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=54b593a7-0013-4a92-9472-ffc3ee7f60f7%40sessionmgr4005&vid=0&hid=4104 online]

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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