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1966 Australian federal election

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Field	Value
election_name	1966 Australian federal election
country	Australia
type	parliamentary
ongoing	no
previous_election	1963 Australian federal election
previous_year	1963
next_election	1969 Australian federal election
next_year	1969
outgoing_members	Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1963–1966
elected_members	Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1966–1969
registered	6,193,881 6.33%
turnout	5,892,327 (95.13%)
(0.60 pp)
seats_for_election	All 124 seats of the Australian House of Representatives
63 seats were needed for a majority
election_date	26 November 1966
<!-- Liberal/Country coalition -->	image1	File:Harold Holt 1965 01.jpg
image_size	190x190px
leader1	Harold Holt
leader_since1	[20 January 1966](1966-liberal-party-of-australia-leadership-election)
party1	LiberalCountry Coalition
leaders_seat1	Higgins (Vic.)
last_election1	72 seats
seats1	82
seat_change1	10
popular_vote1	2,853,890
percentage1	49.98%
swing1	3.94
1data1	56.90%
2data1	4.30
<!-- 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	50 seats
seats2	41
seat_change2	9
popular_vote2	2,282,834
percentage2	39.98%
swing2	5.49
1data2	43.10%
2data2	4.30
1blank	TPP
2blank	TPP swing
map_image	1966 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	Harold Holt
before_party	Liberal/Country coalition
posttitle	Subsequent Prime Minister
after_election	Harold Holt
after_party	Liberal/Country coalition
vote_type	Primary

(0.60 pp) 63 seats were needed for a majority

A federal election was held in Australia on 26 November 1966. All 124 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election. There was no Senate election until the 1967 Australian Senate election. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition government, led by Prime Minister Harold Holt, won an increased majority over the opposition Labor Party, led by Arthur Calwell, in a landslide. The Liberal–Country coalition two-party-preferred vote was 56.90%, its highest in its history.

This was the first and only time that a Federal Government won an eighth consecutive term in office.

Coalition

Liberal (61)

Country (21)

Opposition (41)

Labor (41)

Crossbench (1)

Independent (1) ]]

Issues

Sir Robert Menzies had retired from politics in January; his successor, former treasurer Harold Holt, was stylish, debonair and popular with the electorate, contrasting sharply with the much rougher figure of Opposition Leader Arthur Calwell, who had already lost two elections.

Calwell also came across poorly on television compared to Holt, looking and sounding older than his 70 years. It did not help that he also held to the beliefs that had been central to the previous Labor Government of 1941–1949, many of which were seen as being long outdated in 1966; for example, he still defended the White Australia policy and nationalisation, and also strongly supported socialism.

These factors, along with a strong economy and initial enthusiasm for Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War, virtually guaranteed the Coalition another term. The Coalition campaigned with the slogan "Keep Australia secure and prosperous – play it safe".

The election was a landslide win for the Coalition, which won twice as many seats as Labor. The Liberals arrived two seats short of a majority in their own right, the closest that the major non-Labor party had come to governing in its own right since adopting the Liberal banner. Holt's victory was also larger than any of Menzies' eight victories, and resulted in the largest majority government in Australian history at the time. It was later seen as the electoral high point of both Holt's prime ministership and the 23 years of continuous Coalition rule.

Calwell retired to the backbench a month after the crushing election loss, and was succeeded by his deputy, Gough Whitlam.

Results

Main article: Results of the 1966 Australian federal election (House of Representatives)

First preference votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change	Two-party-preferred (estimated)
Liberal–Country coalition	2,853,890	49.98	+3.94	82	+10
	Liberal	2,291,964	40.14	+3.05	61	+9
	Country	561,926	9.84	+0.90	21	+1
	Labor	2,282,834	39.98	–5.49	41	–9
	Democratic Labor	417,411	7.31	–0.13	0	0
	Liberal Reform	49,610	0.87	+0.87	0	0
	Communist	23,056	0.40	–0.19	0	0
	Independents	82,948	1.45	+0.98	1	+1
Total	5,709,749			124	+2
	Liberal–Country coalition	Win	56.90	+4.30	82	+10
	Labor		43.10	−4.30	41	−9

Independents: Sam Benson

Seats changing hands

Seat	Post-1966	Party	Member	Margin	Margin	Member	Party
Adelaide, SA	Labor	Joe Sexton	7.2	10.0	2.8	Andrew Jones	Liberal
Barton, NSW	Labor	Len Reynolds	0.7	2.9	2.2	Bill Arthur	Liberal
Batman, Vic	Labor	Sam Benson	N/A	8.7	7.8	Sam Benson	Independent
Eden-Monaro, NSW	Labor	Allan Fraser	2.7	3.4	0.7	Dugald Munro	Liberal
Grey, SA	Labor	Jack Mortimer	4.8	7.8	3.0	Don Jessop	Liberal
Griffith, Qld	Labor	Wilfred Coutts	5.8	6.9	1.1	Don Cameron	Liberal
Herbert, Qld	Labor	Ted Harding	3.2	4.3	1.1	Robert Bonnett	Liberal
Hughes, NSW	Labor	Les Johnson	2.7	4.7	2.0	Don Dobie	Liberal
Kennedy, Qld	Labor	Bill Riordan	13.5	15.0	1.5	Bob Katter	Country
Kingston, SA	Labor	Pat Galvin	4.5	12.7	8.2	Kay Brownbill	Liberal
Lalor, Vic	Labor	Reg Pollard	7.0	7.7	0.7	Mervyn Lee	Liberal
Northern Territory, NT	Labor	Jock Nelson	100.0	51.7	1.7	Sam Calder	Country

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

Notes

References

University of WA election results in Australia since 1890
AEC 2PP vote
Prior to 1984 the AEC did not undertake a full distribution of preferences for statistical purposes. The stored ballot papers for the 1983 election were put through this process prior to their destruction. Therefore, the figures from 1983 onwards show the actual result based on full distribution of preferences.

References

(1996). "Holt's 1966 landslide election victory".
Young, Sally. (2006). "Australian election slogans, 1949-2004". Australian Journal of Communication.

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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