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1961 Australian federal election

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Field	Value
election_name	1961 Australian federal election
country	Australia
type	parliamentary
ongoing	no
previous_election	1958 Australian federal election
previous_year	1958
next_election	1963 Australian federal election
next_year	1963
outgoing_members	Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1958–1961
elected_members	Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1961–1963
registered	5,651,561 4.96%
turnout	5,384,350 (95.27%)
(0.21 pp)
seats_for_election	All 124 seats of the House of Representatives
62 seats were needed for a majority in the House
31 (of the 60) seats of the Senate
election_date	9 December 1961
<!-- Liberal/Country coalition -->	image1	File:Robert Menzies 1960 colour (cropped).jpg
image_size	190x190px
leader1	Robert Menzies
leader_since1	[23 September 1943](1943-united-australia-party-leadership-election)
party1	LiberalCountry Coalition
leaders_seat1	Kooyong (Vic.)
last_election1	77 seats
seats1	62
seat_change1	15
popular_vote1	2,208,213
percentage1	42.09%
swing1	4.46
1data1	49.50%
2data1	4.60
<!-- Labor -->	image2	File:Arthur Calwell 1966.jpg
leader2	Arthur Calwell
leader_since2	[7 March 1960](1960-australian-labor-party-leadership-election)
party2	Australian Labor Party
leaders_seat2	Melbourne (Vic.)
last_election2	45 seats
seats2	60 + NT + ACT
seat_change2	15
popular_vote2	2,512,929
percentage2	47.90%
swing2	5.09
1data2	50.50%
2data2	4.60
1blank	TPP
2blank	TPP swing
map_image	1961 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

(0.21 pp) 62 seats were needed for a majority in the House 31 (of the 60) seats of the Senate

A federal election was held in Australia on 9 December 1961. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives and 31 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies defeated the opposition Labor Party under Arthur Calwell, despite losing the two-party-preferred popular vote.

In his first election as Labor leader, Calwell significantly reduced the Coalition's margin, gaining 15 seats to leave the government with only a two-seat majority. This was the first and only time that a Federal Government won a sixth consecutive term in office.

Future opposition leader and Governor General Bill Hayden entered parliament at this election.

Issues

Due to a credit squeeze, the economy had gone into a brief recession in 1961 and unemployment had risen to high levels. This saw an increase in popularity for Labor; Menzies' case was not helped by an approach seen by the press, notably The Sydney Morning Herald, as inappropriately paternalistic. The Herald, which had long supported Menzies, switched sides to support Calwell and Labor, which gave Calwell the confidence to mount a spirited campaign. These factors were enough to see a swing against the Menzies Government.

Results

House of Representatives

Main article: Results of the 1961 Australian federal election (House of Representatives)

First preference votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change	Two-party-preferred (estimated)
	Labor	2,512,929	47.90	+5.09	62	+15
Liberal–Country coalition	2,208,213	42.09	–4.46	62	–15
	Liberal	1,761,738	33.58	–3.65	45	–13
	Country	446,475	8.51	–0.81	17	–2
	Democratic Labor	399,475	7.61	–0.19	0	0
	Queensland Labor	57,487	1.10	–0.50	0	0
	Communist	25,429	0.48	–0.05	0	0
	Commonwealth Centre	6,743	0.13	+0.13	0	0
	Independents	35,757	0.68	+0.05	0	0
Total	5,246,033			122
	Liberal–Country coalition	Win	49.50	–4.60	62	–15
	Labor		50.50	+4.60	60	+15

Senate

First preference votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held	Change
	Labor	2,151,339	44.71	+1.93	14	28
Liberal–Country coalition	2,025,078	42.08	–3.12	16	30
Liberal–Country joint ticket	1,595,696	33.16	+9.79	8	***
	Liberal (separate ticket)	398,292	8.28	–12.41	7	24
	Country (separate ticket)	31,090	0.65	–0.50	1	6
	Democratic Labor	388,466	8.07	+2.25	0	1
	Queensland Labor	84,112	1.75	+0.09	0	0
	Communist	78,188	1.62	–1.29	0	0
	Social Credit	17,963	0.37	+0.37	0	0
	Republican	10,589	0.22	+0.14	0	0
	Other	10,029	0.21	+0.21	0	0
	Independent	46,499	0.97	+0.54	1	1
Total	4,812,263			31	60

Notes

In New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria, the coalition parties ran a joint ticket. Of the eight senators elected on a joint ticket, five were members of the Liberal Party and three were members of the Country Party. In Western Australia, the coalition parties ran on separate tickets. In South Australia and Tasmania, only the Liberal Party ran a ticket.
The sole independent elected was Reg Turnbull of Tasmania.
"Other" includes 7,430 votes for "Pensioners" and 2,599 votes for the Commonwealth Centre Party.

Seats changing hands

Seat	Post-1961	Party	Member	Margin	Margin	Member	Party
Bowman, Qld	Liberal	Malcolm McColm	6.1	8.0	1.9	Jack Comber	Labor
Canning, WA	Country	Len Hamilton	N/A	65.7	15.7	Neil McNeill	Liberal
Capricornia, Qld	Liberal	Henry Pearce	7.7	10.7	5.0	George Gray	Labor
Cowper, NSW	Country	Earle Page	11.1	12.9	1.8	Frank McGuren	Labor
Evans, NSW	Liberal	Frederick Osborne	7.0	7.1	0.1	James Monaghan	Labor
Griffith, Qld	Liberal	Arthur Chresby	0.1	7.4	7.3	Wilfred Coutts	Labor
Herbert, Qld	Liberal	John Murray	1.5	3.8	2.3	Ted Harding	Labor
Hume, NSW	Country	Charles Anderson	2.1	3.0	0.9	Arthur Fuller	Labor
Kalgoorlie, WA	Liberal	Peter Browne	0.3	0.9	0.6	Fred Collard	Labor
Lilley, Qld	Liberal	Bruce Wight	11.9	13.2	1.3	Don Cameron	Labor
Mitchell, NSW	Liberal	Roy Wheeler	8.0	11.4	3.4	John Armitage	Labor
Moore, WA	Liberal	Hugh Halbert	2.9	4.2	1.3	Hugh Leslie	Country
Oxley, Qld	Liberal	Donald Cameron	5.9	9.4	3.5	Bill Hayden	Labor
Petrie, Qld	Liberal	Alan Hulme	10.5	11.2	0.7	Reginald O'Brien	Labor
Phillip, NSW	Liberal	William Aston	1.9	3.3	1.4	Syd Einfeld	Labor
Stirling, WA	Liberal	Doug Cash	0.2	0.5	0.3	Harry Webb	Labor
Wide Bay, Qld	Country	Henry Bandidt	4.3	9.5	5.2	Brendan Hansen	Labor

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

Significance

For a long time, the 1961 election remained the closest Federal election in Australian history, with the Coalition being reduced to the barest majority. Despite not having a majority of seats in New South Wales and Queensland the Coalition retained all of their seats in Victoria and could retain power. The election was decided in the seats of Bruce near Melbourne and Moreton near Brisbane where the Liberal Party won the seat by 130 votes due to Communist Party preferences.

In Bruce, Labor's Keith Ewert led Liberal Billy Snedden on the first count, but on the second count more than two-thirds of the DLP's preferences flowed to Snedden, enough to give him the victory.

However, the Coalition was not ensured of a sixth term in government until Jim Killen won Moreton by only 130 votes. Labor actually won 62 seats, the same as the Coalition. However, without Bruce, the best Labor could hope for was a hung parliament, since two of its seats were in ACT and Northern Territory. At the time, territorial MPs had limited voting rights and were not counted for the purpose of determining who was to form government. The record for the closest election in Australia's history was eventually beaten by the 2010 election, which was a 72-72 seat draw.

The most notable casualty was Earle Page, the third-longest serving MP in Australia's history, and briefly Prime Minister. He had been the member for Cowper since 1919. Although he was 81 years old and gravely ill with lung cancer, he decided to fight his 17th general election. His Labor opponent, Frank McGuren, needed a seemingly daunting 11-point swing to win the seat, but won by a slim three-point margin on the second count. Page, who had been too sick to actively campaign, died 11 days after the election without ever knowing he had been defeated. It is the only time that Labor has won Cowper.

Notes

References

(2023). "Arthur Calwell". Connor Court.
Megalogenis, George. (2021-06-25). "Hard lessons: On unis, Coalition has embraced Howard's way".
[http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/1961/1961repsvic.txt 1961 election results in Victoria] from Adam Carr's election archive
Bartlett, Andrew. (17 January 2007). "Sir James Killen: Moreton, Menzies and Mythology". The Bartlett Diaries.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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