Australian federal election, 1949

10 December 1949

All 121 seats of the Australian House of Representatives 61 seats were needed for a majority in the House 42 (of the 60) seats of the Australian Senate

	First party	Second party

Leader	Robert Menzies	Ben Chifley
Party	Liberal/Country coalition	Labor
Leader since	23 September 1943	13 July 1945
Leader's seat	Kooyong	Macquarie
Last election	26 seats	43 seats
Seats won	74 seats	47 seats
Seat change	48	4
Percentage	51.00%	49.00%
Swing	5.10	5.10

Prime Minister before election

Ben Chifley
Labor

Subsequent Prime Minister

Robert Menzies
Liberal/Country coalition

Federal elections were 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 Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister of Australia Ben Chifley was defeated by the opposition Liberal Party of Australia led by Robert Menzies with coalition partner the Country Party led by Arthur Fadden. Menzies broke new ground in using the radio as his primary method of reaching voters.^[1]

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 in the Senate. Though Labor lost government, Labor retained a Senate majority at the election. However, this ended at the 1951 election. With the Senate changes in place, Labor has not held a Senate majority since.

Results

House of Reps (IRV) — 1949–51—Turnout 95.97% (CV) — Informal 1.99%
	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
Australian Labor Party	2,117,088	45.98	−3.73	47	+4
Liberal Party of Australia	1,813,794	39.39	+10.81	55	+40
Country Party	500,349	10.87	+0.17	19	+8
Lang Labor	32,870	0.71	−0.88	0	0
Independents	99,368	2.16	+0.33	0	−1
Other	40,941	0.89		0	−4
Total	4,604,410			121	+47
Liberal/Country coalition	WIN	51.00	+5.10	74	+48
Australian Labor Party		49.00	−5.10	47	+4

Popular Vote

Labor			45.98%
Liberal			39.39%
Country			10.87%
Lang Labor			0.71%
Independent			2.16%
Other			0.89%

Two Party Preferred Vote

Coalition			51.00%
Labor			49.00%

Parliament Seats

Coalition			61.16%
Labor			38.84%

Senate (STV) — 1949–51—Turnout 95.97% (CV) — Informal 10.76%
	Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held	Change
Australian Labor Party	1,881,956	44.89	−7.18	19	34	+1
Liberal/Country (Joint Ticket)	1,871,849	44.65	+6.53	16	*
Liberal Party of Australia	241,598	5.76	+0.56	7	21	+19
Communist Party of Australia	87,958	2.10	*	0	0	0
Country Party	*	*	*	0	5	+4
Other	109,164	2.60		0	0	0
Total	4,192,525			42	60	+24

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1949				Swing	Post-1949
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	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	John 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 in italics did not contest their seat at this election.

Electoral reform

As of this election, single transferrable 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 conservatives at the 1919 election held 35 of the 36 Senate seats. In addition, the House of Representatives was enlarged from 74 to 121 seats and the Senate from 36 members to 60 members. All 121 lower house seats, and 42 of the 60 upper house seats, were up for 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.

Significance

The Chifley Government was defeated, ending the 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, and the Liberal Party of Australia won government federally for the first time.

Notes

↑ 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

Sources

"Commonwealth Parliament, House of Representatives election 1949". University of Western Australia Australian Politics and Elections Database. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
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.
Two-party-preferred vote since 1940

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