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
+ House of Reps (IRV) — 1961–63—Turnout 95.27% (CV) — Informal 2.57% Party First preference votes % Swing Seats Change 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 Two-party-preferred Liberal–Country coalition Win 49.50 –4.60 62 –15 Labor 50.50 +4.60 60 +15
Senate + Senate (STV) — 1961–64—Turnout 95.27% (CV) — Informal 10.62% Party First preference votes % Swing Seats won Seats held Change Labor 2,151,339 44.71 +1.93 14 28 +2 Liberal–Country coalition 2,025,078 42.08 –3.12 16 30 –2 Liberal–Country joint ticket 1,595,696 33.16 +9.79 8 * * Liberal (separate ticket) 398,292 8.28 7 24 –1 Country (separate ticket) 31,090 0.65 –0.50 1 6 –1 Democratic Labor 388,466 8.07 +2.25 0 1 –1 Queensland Labor 84,112 1.75 +0.09 0 0 0 Communist 78,188 1.62 –1.29 0 0 0 Social Credit 17,963 0.37 +0.37 0 0 0 Republican 10,589 0.22 +0.14 0 0 0 Other 10,029 0.21 +0.21 0 0 0 Independent 46,499 0.97 +0.54 1 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 Pre-1961 Swing 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.1961 election results in Victoria from Adam Carr's election archive
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.
See also Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1961 Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1961–1963 Members of the Australian Senate, 1962–1965
Notes
References
External links University of WA election results in Australia since 1890 AEC 2PP vote Adam Carr's Election Archive - Senate 1961