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1951 Australian federal election

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1951 Australian federal election
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The 1951 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 28 April 1951. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives and all 60 seats in the Senate were up for election, due to a double dissolution called after the Senate rejected the Commonwealth Bank Bill.[1] The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies defeated the opposition Labor Party led by Ben Chifley with a modestly reduced majority,[2] and secured a majority in the Senate.[3] Chifley died just over a month after the election.

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Issues

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Although the Coalition had won a comfortable majority in the House in 1949, Labor still had a four-seat majority in the Senate. Chifley thus made it his business to obstruct Menzies's agenda at every opportunity. Realizing this, Menzies sought to call a double dissolution at the first opportunity in hopes of gaining control of both houses. He thought he had his chance in 1950, when he introduced a bill to ban the Australian Communist Party. However, after a redraft, Chifley let the bill pass.

A few months later, the Senate rejected the Commonwealth Bank Bill 1950, in which the Coalition government aimed to establish a "Commonwealth Bank Board", which Labor believed would be filled with private banking interests.[4] This finally gave Menzies an excuse to call a double dissolution. While the Coalition lost five House seats to Labor, it still had a solid mandate. More importantly, it picked up six Senate seats, giving it control over both chambers.

The 1951 election was the first double dissolution election since single transferable vote with proportional representation became the method for electing the Senate in 1949. With close opinion polls and no minor parties having a credible chance of winning a seat, it was feared and forecast that under the new system the Senate would finish deadlocked at 30–30, since the 54.55% majority that either major party required to win a sixth Senate seat from any single state was greater than polling margins,[5][6] and there were proposals for further amendments to Senate voting rules ahead of the election, none of which were passed.[7] In the end, Queensland and Western Australia elected 6–4 Senator majorities to the Coalition; the other states were tied 5–5.[8]

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Results

House of Representatives

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  Labor: 52 seats
  Liberal: 52 seats
  Country: 17 seats
More information Party, Votes ...

Notes
  • Three members were elected unopposed – two Labor and one Liberal.
More information Popular vote ...
More information Two-party-preferred vote ...
More information Parliament seats ...

Senate

More information Party, Votes ...
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Seats changing hands

More information Seat, Pre-1951 ...

Opinion polling

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Australian opinion polling for the election
  Liberal–Country Coalition
  Labor
  Other
More information Date published, Pollster ...
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See also

Notes

  1. The Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory each had one seat, but members for the territories did not have full voting rights until 1966 and did not count toward government formation.
  2. Turnout in contested seats

References

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