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1951 Australian federal election

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Field	Value
election_name	1951 Australian federal election
country	Australia
type	parliamentary
ongoing	no
previous_election	1949 Australian federal election
previous_year	1949
next_election	1954 Australian federal election
next_year	1954
outgoing_members	Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1949–1951
elected_members	Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1951–1954
opinion_polls	#Opinion polling
registered	4,962,675 1.38%
turnout	4,654,406 (96.00%)
(0.03 pp)
seats_for_election	All 123 seats of the House of Representatives
61 seats were needed for a majority in the House
All 60 seats of the Senate
election_date	28 April 1951
<!-- 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	74 seats
seats1	69
seat_change1	5
popular_vote1	2,298,512
percentage1	50.34%
swing1	0.08
1data1	50.70%
2data1	0.30
<!-- 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	47 seats
seats2	52 + NT + ACT
seat_change2	6
popular_vote2	2,174,840
percentage2	47.63%
swing2	1.65
1data2	49.30%
2data2	0.30
1blank	TPP
2blank	TPP
map_image	1951 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	Robert Menzies
before_party	Liberal/Country coalition
posttitle	Subsequent Prime Minister
after_election	Robert Menzies
after_party	Liberal/Country coalition
vote_type	Primary

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

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. 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. 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. 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, and there were proposals for further amendments to Senate voting rules ahead of the election, none of which were passed. In the end, Queensland and Western Australia elected 6–4 Senator majorities to the Coalition; the other states were tied 5–5.

Results

House of Representatives

Main article: Results of the 1951 Australian federal election (House of Representatives)

Country: 17 seats}}

First preference votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change	Two-party-preferred (estimated)
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	54	+6
	Communist	44,782	0.98	+0.09	0	0
	Independents	47,765	1.05	–1.11	0	–1
Total	4,565,899			123
	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.

Senate

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

Seats changing hands

Seat	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

Voting intention

Date	Firm	First preference vote	OTH	Coalition}};"
28 Apr 1951	1951 election	50.3%	47.6%	2.0%
Gallup	49%	43%	1%
Gallup	49%	44%	1%
Gallup	52%	47%	1%
Gallup	50%	49%	1%
Gallup	57%	42%	1%
Gallup	54%	46%	1%
Gallup	54%	46%
Gallup	54%	46%
Gallup	56%	44%
10 Dec 1949	[1949 election](1949-australian-federal-election)	50.3%	46.0%	3.8%

Notes

References

"Odgers' Australian Senate Practice". Parliament of Australia.
"Federal Election Results 1949-1993". Parliament of Australia.
(23 June 1950). "Commonwealth Bank Bill". [[Cairns Post]].
(5 May 1950). "Referendum to avoid Senate deadlock". The Canberra Times.
(20 March 1951). "People and Senate". The Herald.
(5 March 1951). "New deadlock looms". The Sydney Morning Herald.
(25 May 1951). "The Federal mandate". The West Australian.
(27 April 1951). "Gallup Poll Gives It To Menzies". [[Daily News (Perth, Western Australia).
(6 January 1951). "Gallup Poll". The Advertiser.
(23 November 1950). "Gallup Poll". The Advertiser.
(27 May 1950). "Gallup Poll". [[The Advertiser (Adelaide).
(22 April 1950). "Gallup opinion". [[The Courier-Mail]].

Info: Wikipedia Source

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