1951 Australian federal election

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.

1951 Australian federal election

← 1949 28 April 1951 1954 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 123[a] seats of the House of Representatives 61 seats were needed for a majority in the House All 60 seats of the Senate
Opinion polls
Registered	4,962,675 1.38%
Turnout	4,654,406 (96.00%)[b] (0.03 pp)
First party Second party   Leader Robert Menzies Ben Chifley Party Liberal (Coalition) Labor Leader since 21 February 1945 13 July 1945 Leader's seat Kooyong (Vic.) Macquarie (NSW) Last election 74 seats 47 seats Seats won 69 52 + NT + ACT Seat change 5 6 Popular vote 2,298,512 2,174,840 Percentage 50.34% 47.63% Swing 0.08 1.65 TPP 50.70% 49.30% TPP 0.30 0.30
Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory.
Prime Minister before election Robert Menzies Liberal/Country coalition Subsequent Prime Minister Robert Menzies Liberal/Country coalition

Issues

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]

Results

House of Representatives

Main article: Results of the 1951 Australian federal election (House of Representatives)

  Labor: 52 seats

  Liberal: 52 seats

  Country: 17 seats

House of Reps (IRV) — 1951–54—Turnout 96.00% (CV) — Informal 1.90%

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Liberal–Country coalition		2,298,512	50.34	+0.08	69	–5
		Liberal	1,854,799	40.62	+1.23	52	–3
		Country	443,713	9.72	–1.15	17	–2
	Labor		2,174,840	47.63	+1.65	54[c]	+6
	Communist		44,782	0.98	+0.09	0	0
	Independents		47,765	1.05	–1.11	0	–1
	Total		4,565,899			123
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
	Liberal–Country coalition		Win	50.70	−0.30	69	−5
	Labor			49.30	+0.30	52	+5

---

Notes

• Three members were elected unopposed – two Labor and one Liberal.

Popular vote Labor   47.63% Liberal   40.62% Country   9.72% Independent   1.05% Communist   0.98%

Two-party-preferred vote Coalition   50.70% Labor   49.30%

Parliament seats Coalition   57.02% Labor   42.98%

Senate

Senate (STV) — 1951–53—Turnout 95.99% (CV) — Informal 7.13%

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held	Change
	Liberal–Country coalition		2,198,687	49.70	–0.71	32	32	+6
		Liberal–Country joint ticket	1,925,631	43.52	–1.12	22	N/A	N/A
		Liberal	273,056	6.17	+0.41	10	26	+5
		Country	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	6	+1
	Labor		2,029,751	45.88	+0.99	28	28	−6
	Communist		93,561	2.11	+0.02	0	0	0
	Lang Labor		60,549	1.37	+1.37	0	0	0
	Protestant People's		13,090	0.30	–0.59	0	0	0
	Henry George Justice		6,015	0.14	+0.14	0	0	0
	Independents		22,584	0.51	–1.20	0	0	0
	Total		4,424,237			60	60

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1951				Swing	Post-1951
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Australian Capital Territory, ACT		Independent	Lewis Nott	3.8	6.7	2.9	Jim Fraser	Labor
Ballaarat, Vic		Liberal	Alan Pittard	0.4	1.6	1.2	Bob Joshua	Labor
Hume, NSW		Country	Charles Anderson	1.0	1.3	0.3	Arthur Fuller	Labor
Kingston, SA		Liberal	Jim Handby	1.6	3.4	1.8	Pat Galvin	Labor
Leichhardt, Qld		Country	Tom Gilmore	1.0	1.3	0.3	Harry Bruce	Labor
Wannon, Vic		Liberal	Dan Mackinnon	0.8	1.9	1.1	Don McLeod	Labor

Opinion polling

Australian opinion polling for the election

  Liberal–Country Coalition

  Labor

  Other

Date published	Pollster	Liberal–Country	Labor	Other	Lead
28 April 1951	1951 election	50.34%	47.63%	2.03%	2.71%
April 1951[9]	Gallup	49%	43%	1%	6%
March 1951[9]	Gallup	49%	44%	1%	5%
December 1950[10][9]	Gallup	52%	47%	1%	5%
November 1950[11]	Gallup	50%	49%	1%	1%
August 1950[11]	Gallup	57%	42%	1%	15%
5 May 1950[12]	Gallup	54%	46%	1%	9%
April 1950[13]	Gallup	54%	46%	—	8%
24 March 1950[12]	Gallup	54%	46%	—	8%
February 1950[13][12]	Gallup	56%	44%	—	12%
10 December 1949	1949 election	50.26%	45.98%	3.76%	4.28%

See also

• Candidates of the 1951 Australian federal election
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1951–1954
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1951–1953

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
3. Including Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory