A federal election was held in Australia on 10 December 1949. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives and 42 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Labor Party, led by Prime Minister Ben Chifley, was defeated by the opposition Liberal–Country coalition under Robert Menzies in a landslide. Menzies became prime minister for a second time, his first period having ended in 1941. This election marked the end of the 8-year Curtin-Chifley Labor government that had been in power since 1941 and started the 23-year Liberal–Country Coalition government. This was the first time the Liberal party won government at the federal level.
The number of MPs in both houses had been increased at the election, and single transferable vote under a proportional voting system had been introduced for the election of the Senate. Though Labor lost government in the House of Representatives, Labor retained a Senate majority after the election, due to the use of PR and also the carry-over from the previous election. However, this majority ended at the 1951 election. With the Senate changes in place, neither Labor nor any other single party has won a Senate majority since.
Future Prime Ministers William McMahon and John Gorton both entered parliament at this election.
Issues The election hinged on the policies of the federal Labor government, especially bank nationalisation. Prime Minister Chifley intended to bring all of the banks under Government control, a socialist policy which the Coalition argued was not in the country's interest. The Coalition promised to end unpopular wartime rationing. The election took place against the background of the 1949 Australian coal strike, the developing Cold War and growing fears of communism.
Robert Menzies broke new ground in using the radio as his primary method of reaching voters.Ian Ward, "The early use of radio for political communication in Australia and Canada: John Henry Austral, Mr Sage and the Man from Mars," Australian Journal of Politics & History (1999) 45#3 pp 311–30. online
Electoral reform As of this election, single transferable vote with proportional representation became the method for electing the Senate. This was to try to prevent the Senate from being dominated by one party, which had often occurred previously. For example, coming into this election the ALP held 33 of the 36 Senate seats, whilst the Nationalist Party at the 1919 election held 35 of the 36 Senate seats. As well, PR was brought in to prevent mass loss of seats as the Labor Party leaders saw their chances plummet as the election approached.Jesse Clark, PRINCIPLES, SELF-INTEREST, AND CONSTITUTIONAL ARCHITECTURE: WHY AUSTRALIA ADOPTED PRCV FOR ITS SENATE https://fairvote.org/report/why-australia-adopted-prcv/?section=executive-summary accessed 2026-08-13 (After 1951, the second election after the change to STV, no party has received a majority of seats in the Senate. An established coalition did win a majority of seats in 2004.)
In addition, the House of Representatives was enlarged from 74 to 121 seats and the Senate from 36 to 60 members. All 121 lower house seats, and 42 of the 60 upper house seats, were up for election in 1949.
Opinion polling Primary vote
Results House of Representatives
+ House of Reps (IRV) — 1949–51—Turnout 95.97% (CV) — Informal 1.99% Party First preference votes % Swing Seats Change Liberal–Country coalition 2,314,143 50.26 +6.61 74 +45 Liberal 1,813,794 39.39 +6.44 55 +37 Country 500,349 10.87 +0.17 19 +8 Labor 2,117,088 45.98 –3.73 48 +4 Communist 40,941 0.89 –0.60 0 0 Labor (Non-Communist) 32,870 0.71 –0.88 0 –1 Independents 99,368 2.16 +0.34 1 –1 Total 4,604,410 123 +48 Two-party-preferred Liberal–Country coalition Win 51.00 +5.10 74 +45 Labor 49.00 −5.10 47 +4
Senate + Senate (STV) — 1949–51—Turnout 95.97% (CV) — Informal 10.76% Party First preference votes % Swing Seats won Seats held Change Liberal–Country coalition 2,113,447 50.41 +7.08 23 26 +23 Liberal–Country joint ticket 1,871,849 44.65 +6.53 16 N/A N/A Liberal 241,598 5.76 +0.55 7 21 +19 Country N/A N/A N/A 0 5 +4 Labor 1,881,956 44.89 –7.17 19 34 +1 Communist 87,958 2.10 +2.10 0 0 0 Protestant People's 37,441 0.89 –2.13 0 0 0 Independents / ungrouped 71,723 1.71 +1.03 0 0 0 Total 4,192,525 42 60 +24
Seats changing hands
Seat Pre-1949 Swing Post-1949 Party Member Margin Margin Member Party Australian Capital Territory, ACT new division 3.8 Lewis Nott Independent Ballaarat, Vic Labor Reg Pollard 3.1 3.1 0.4 Alan Pittard Liberal Bass, Tas Labor Claude Barnard 7.0 6.8 0.6 Bruce Kekwick Liberal Blaxland, NSW Lang Labor notional - new seat N/A 53.4 3.4 Jim Harrison Labor Bowman, Qld Labor notional - new seat N/A 1.4 3.8 Malcolm McColm Liberal Corio, Vic Labor John Dedman 7.2 6.7 0.3 Hubert Opperman Liberal Curtin, WA Labor notional - new seat N/A 13.8 11.2 Paul Hasluck Liberal Darling Downs, Qld Country Arthur Fadden N/A 1.9 12.5 Reginald Swartz Liberal Dawson, Qld Labor notional - new seat N/A 9.8 8.6 Charles Davidson Country Denison, Tas Labor Frank Gaha 7.0 10.9 5.1 Athol Townley Liberal Farrer, NSW Country notional - new seat N/A 58.8 8.8 David Fairbairn Liberal Forrest, WA Labor Nelson Lemmon 2.3 4.4 2.8 Gordon Freeth Liberal Gwydir, NSW Labor William Scully 1.2 9.2 5.1 Thomas Treloar Country Hume, NSW Labor Arthur Fuller 4.2 5.9 1.0 Charles Anderson Country Indi, Vic Country John McEwen N/A 59.7 9.7 William Bostock Liberal Kingston, SA Labor notional - new seat N/A 8.4 1.6 Jim Handby Liberal Lawson, NSW Labor notional - new seat N/A 7.6 5.8 Laurie Failes Country Leichhardt, Qld Labor notional - new seat N/A 9.2 1.7 Tom Gilmore Country Lowe, NSW Labor notional - new seat N/A 9.0 8.5 William McMahon Liberal McMillan, Vic Country notional - new seat N/A 6.1 6.9 Geoffrey Brown Liberal McPherson, Qld Liberal notional - new seat N/A 5.1 24.2 Arthur Fadden Country Mitchell, NSW Labor notional - new seat N/A 12.8 6.9 Roy Wheeler Liberal Northern Territory, NT Independent Adair Blain N/A 8.6 2.7 Jock Nelson Labor Paterson, NSW Labor notional - new seat N/A 8.6 8.5 Allen Fairhall Liberal Riverina, NSW Labor Joe Langtry 0.6 3.8 3.5 Hugh Roberton Country Robertson, NSW Labor Thomas Williams 3.8 11.5 4.2 Roger Dean Liberal St George, NSW Labor notional - new seat N/A 16.2 2.0 Bill Graham Liberal Sturt, SA Labor notional - new seat N/A 8.9 2.8 Keith Wilson Liberal Swan, WA Labor notional N/A 10.2 2.4 Bill Grayden Liberal Wannon, Vic Labor Don McLeod 1.2 3.8 0.8 Dan Mackinnon Liberal Wimmera, Vic Country Winton Turnbull N/A 5.6 14.9 William Lawrence Liberal Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.
Significance In this election, the Chifley government was defeated, ending the, then, longest period of Labor federal government in Australian history up to that date (1941–49). Labor would not return to office until 1972. Robert Menzies became Prime Minister for the second time. (Menzies headed the United Australia party the first time he held the office.)
The 1949 election was the first time the Liberal Party of Australia won government federally, and marked the beginning of a long reign in power, stretching from 1949 until 1972.
See also Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1949 Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1949–1951 Members of the Australian Senate, 1950–1951
Notes
References
Sources
University of WA election results in Australia since 1890 Adam Carr's Election Archive - Senate 1949 AEC 2PP vote Two-party-preferred vote since 1940