1954 Australian federal election

Template:Short description Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates The 1954 Australian federal election were held in Australia on 29 May 1954. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election, but no Senate election took place. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies defeated the opposition Labor Party led by H. V. Evatt, despite losing the two-party preferred vote. Although the ALP won the two-party preferred vote, six Coalition seats were uncontested compared to one ALP seat. The Psephos blog makes clear that if all seats had been contested, the Coalition would have recorded a higher primary vote than the ALP and possibly also a higher two-party preferred vote.

This was the first federal election that future Prime Minister Gough Whitlam contested as a member of parliament, having entered parliament at the 1952 Werriwa by-election.

Though they did not win government, this election was the last time that the Labor party would achieve more than 50% of the primary vote. The only other time this happened was in 1914.

This was the first federal election to be held under the reign of Elizabeth II as Queen of Australia just two years after she succeeded her father.

Issues

The election was complicated by the Petrov Affair, in which Vladimir Petrov, an attache to the Soviet embassy in Canberra, defected amidst a storm of publicity, claiming that there were Soviet spy rings within Australia. Given that the 1951 election had been fought over the issue of banning the Communist Party of Australia altogether, it is unsurprising that such a claim would gain credibility.

Results

File:Australian Federal Election, 1954.svg

  Labor: 57 seats

  Liberal: 47 seats

  Country: 17 seats

House of Reps (IRV) — 1954–55—Turnout 96.09% (CV) — Informal 1.35%

File:1954 Australian House.svg

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
Template:Australian party style |	Labor		2,266,979	50.07	+2.44	59Template:Efn	+5
	Liberal–Country coalition		2,153,970	47.57	–2.77	64	–5
	Template:Australian party style |	Liberal	1,765,799	39.00	–1.62	47	–5
	Template:Australian party style |	Country	388,171	8.57	–1.15	17	0
Template:Australian party style |	Communist		56,675	1.25	+0.27	0	0
Template:Australian party style |	Independents		50,027	1.11	+0.06	0	0
	Total		4,527,651			121
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
Template:Australian party style |	Liberal–Country coalition		Win	49.30	−1.40	64	−5
Template:Australian party style |	Labor			50.70	+1.40	59	+5

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Notes

• Seven members were elected unopposed – three Liberal, three Country, and one Labor.
• See 1953 Australian Senate election for Senate composition.

Popular vote Labor   50.07% Liberal   39.00% Country   8.52% Communist   1.25% Independent   1.10%

Two-party-preferred vote (estimated) Labor   50.70% Coalition   49.30%

Parliament seats Coalition   52.89% Labor   47.11%

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1954				Swing	Post-1954
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Bass, Tas	Template:Australian party style|	Liberal	Bruce Kekwick	3.4	4.4	1.0	Lance Barnard	Labor	Template:Australian party style|
Flinders, Vic	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Keith Ewert	5.1	4.3	1.6	Robert Lindsay	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Griffith, Qld	Template:Australian party style|	Liberal	Doug Berry	3.7	4.1	0.4	Wilfred Coutts	Labor	Template:Australian party style|
St George, NSW	Template:Australian party style|	Liberal	Bill Graham	1.6	4.3	2.7	Nelson Lemmon	Labor	Template:Australian party style|
Sturt, SA	Template:Australian party style|	Liberal	Keith Wilson	2.4	5.4	3.0	Norman Makin	Labor	Template:Australian party style|
Swan, WA	Template:Australian party style|	Liberal	Bill Grayden	3.3	4.9	1.6	Harry Webb	Labor	Template:Australian party style|

Aftermath

The third session of the 20th Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia was officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia. This was the first time a reigning monarch had opened a session of parliament in Australia. The Queen wore her Coronation Dress to open the 20th session of parliament. The success of the 1954 Royal Tour of Australia (the first by a reigning sovereign), the recovery of the economy from a brief recession in 1951-52 and the Petrov Affair were all credited with assisting in the return of the government.

See also

• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1954
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1954–1955

References

• University of WA Template:Webarchive election results in Australia since 1890
• AEC 2PP vote