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1954 Australian federal election

Australian federal election

Field	Value
election_name	1954 Australian federal election
country	Australia
type	parliamentary
ongoing	no
previous_election	1951 Australian federal election
previous_year	1951
next_election	1955 Australian federal election
next_year	1955
outgoing_members	Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1951–1954
elected_members	Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1954–1955
registered	5,096,468 2.70%
turnout	4,619,571 (96.09%)
(0.09 pp)
seats_for_election	All 123 seats of the House of Representatives
61 seats were needed for a majority
election_date	29 May 1954
<!-- Liberal/Country coalition -->	image1	File:Robert Menzies headshot (cropped).jpg
image_size	190x190px
leader1	Robert Menzies
leader_since1	21 February 1945
party1	LiberalCountry Coalition
leaders_seat1	Kooyong (Vic.)
last_election1	69 seats
seats1	64
seat_change1	5
popular_vote1	2,117,669
percentage1	47.57%
swing1	2.77
1data1	49.30%
2data1	1.40
<!-- Labor -->	image2	File:Herbert V. Evatt.jpg
leader2	H. V. Evatt
leader_since2	[13 June 1951](1951-australian-labor-party-leadership-election)
party2	Australian Labor Party
leaders_seat2	Barton (NSW)
last_election2	52 seats
seats2	57 + NT + ACT
seat_change2	5
popular_vote2	2,256,164
percentage2	50.07%
swing2	2.44
1data2	50.70%
2data2	1.40
1blank	TPP
2blank	TPP swing
map_image	1954 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

(0.09 pp) 61 seats were needed for a majority

A federal election was held in Australia on 29 May 1954. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election, but no Senate election took place. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies defeated the opposition Labor Party led by H. V. Evatt, despite losing the two-party preferred vote. Although the ALP won the two-party preferred vote, six Coalition seats were uncontested compared to one ALP seat. The Psephos blog makes clear that if all seats had been contested, the Coalition would have recorded a higher primary vote than the ALP and possibly also a higher two-party preferred vote.

This was the first federal election that future Prime Minister Gough Whitlam contested as a member of parliament, having entered parliament at the 1952 Werriwa by-election.

Though they did not win government, this election was the last time that the Labor party would achieve more than 50% of the primary vote. The only other time this happened was in 1914.

This was the first federal election to be held under the reign of Elizabeth II as Queen of Australia just two years after she succeeded her father.

Issues

The election was complicated by the Petrov Affair, in which Vladimir Petrov, an attache to the Soviet embassy in Canberra, defected amidst a storm of publicity, claiming that there were Soviet spy rings within Australia. Given that the 1951 election had been fought over the issue of banning the Communist Party of Australia altogether, it is unsurprising that such a claim would gain credibility.

Results

Country: 17 seats}}

First preference votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change	Two-party-preferred (estimated)
	Labor	2,266,979	50.07	+2.44	59	+5
Liberal–Country coalition	2,153,970	47.57	–2.77	64	–5
	Liberal	1,765,799	39.00	–1.62	47	–5
	Country	388,171	8.57	–1.15	17	0
	Communist	56,675	1.25	+0.27	0	0
	Independents	50,027	1.11	+0.06	0	0
Total	4,527,651			121
	Liberal–Country coalition	Win	49.30	−1.40	64	−5
	Labor		50.70	+1.40	59	+5

Notes

Seven members were elected unopposed – three Liberal, three Country, and one Labor.
See 1953 Australian Senate election for Senate composition.

Seats changing hands

Seat	Post-1954	Party	Member	Margin	Margin	Member	Party
Bass, Tas	Liberal	Bruce Kekwick	3.4	4.4	1.0	Lance Barnard	Labor
Flinders, Vic	Labor	Keith Ewert	5.1	4.3	1.6	Robert Lindsay	Liberal
Griffith, Qld	Liberal	Doug Berry	3.7	4.1	0.4	Wilfred Coutts	Labor
St George, NSW	Liberal	Bill Graham	1.6	4.3	2.7	Nelson Lemmon	Labor
Sturt, SA	Liberal	Keith Wilson	2.4	5.4	3.0	Norman Makin	Labor
Swan, WA	Liberal	Bill Grayden	3.3	4.9	1.6	Harry Webb	Labor

Aftermath

The third session of the 20th Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia was officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia. This was the first time a reigning monarch had opened a session of parliament in Australia. The Queen wore her Coronation Dress to open the 20th session of parliament. The success of the 1954 Royal Tour of Australia (the first by a reigning sovereign), the recovery of the economy from a brief recession in 1951-52 and the Petrov Affair were all credited with assisting in the return of the government.

Notes

References

University of WA election results in Australia since 1890
AEC 2PP vote

References

Carr, Adam. "Legislative election of 29 May 1954: House of Representatives".

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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