1958 Australian federal election

Template:Short description Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates The 1958 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 22 November 1958. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives and 32 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies defeated the opposition Labor Party, led by H. V. Evatt.

Issues

In spite of a major global downturn in early 1958, the Coalition was returned to power and there was an even swing against the Labor Party. This was due largely to support for the breakaway Democratic Labor Party. This was the first Australian election campaign to be fought using television as a medium for communicating with voters. Menzies was interviewed on television, while opposition figures H. V. Evatt and Arthur Calwell took part in debates with ministers Harold Holt and William McMahon. Somewhat surprisingly Menzies emerged as a confident and effective television performer. This may have contributed to the better than expected result for the government.

Results

House of Representatives

House of Reps (IRV) — 1958–61—Turnout 95.48% (CV) — Informal 2.87%

File:1958 Australian House.svg

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Liberal–Country coalition		2,298,512	46.55	–1.12	77	+2
	Template:Australian party style |	Liberal	1,859,180	37.23	−2.53	58	+1
	Template:Australian party style |	Country	465,320	9.32	+1.41	19	+1
Template:Australian party style |	Labor		2,137,890	42.81	−1.84	47Template:Efn	−2
Template:Australian party style |	Democratic Labor		389,688	7.80	+2.63	0	0
Template:Australian party style |	Queensland Labor		80,035	1.60	+1.60	0	0
Template:Australian party style |	Communist		26,337	0.53	–0.63	0	0
Template:Australian party style |	Nationalist		3,577	0.07	+0.07	0	0
Template:Australian party style |	Independent		31,466	0.63	–0.74	0	0
	Total		4,993,493			122
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
Template:Australian party style |	Liberal–Country coalition		Win	54.10	−0.10	77	+2
Template:Australian party style |	Labor			45.90	+0.10	45	−2

Popular vote Labor   42.81% Liberal   37.23% DLP/QLP   9.41% Country   9.32% Other   1.23%

Two-party-preferred vote Coalition   54.10% Labor   45.90%

Parliament seats Coalition   63.11% Labor   36.89%

Senate

Senate (STV) — 1958–61—Turnout 95.48% (CV) — Informal 10.29%

File:1958 Australian Senate.svg

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held	Change
	Liberal–Country coalition		2,084,193	45.19	–3.49	16	32	+2
		Liberal–Country joint ticket	1,077,586	23.36	–16.02	9	N/A	N/A
	Template:Australian party style |	Liberal	953,856	20.68	+12.02	6	25	+1
	Template:Australian party style |	Country	52,751	1.14	+0.51	1	7	+1
Template:Australian party style |	Labor		1,973,027	42.78	+2.17	15	26	–2
Template:Australian party style |	Democratic Labor		314,755	6.82	+0.72	1	2	0
Template:Australian party style |	Communist		134,263	2.91	−0.73	0	0	0
Template:Australian party style |	Queensland Labor		73,037	1.66	+1.66	0	0	0
Template:Australian party style |	Loyalist		4,459	0.10	+0.10	0	0	0
Template:Australian party style |	True Democrat		4,337	0.09	+0.09	0	0	0
Template:Australian party style |	Republican		3,715	0.08	+0.08	0	0	0
Template:Australian party style |	Independents		20,273	0.44	–0.46	0	0	0
	Total		4,612,059			32	60

Notes

• The Democratic Labor Party was the renamed "Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist)" from the 1955 election.

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1958				Swing	Post-1958
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Braddon, Tas	Template:Australian party style|	Liberal	Aubrey Luck	8.9	9.3	0.4	Ron Davies	Labor	Template:Australian party style|
Griffith, Qld	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Wilfred Coutts	1.3	1.4	0.1	Arthur Chresby	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Herbert, Qld	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Bill Edmonds	6.6	8.1	1.5	John Murray	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Indi, Vic	Template:Australian party style|	Liberal	William Bostock	N/A	28.6	6.5	Mac Holten	Country	Template:Australian party style|
Kalgoorlie, WA	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Herbert Johnson	N/A	11.4	0.3	Peter Browne	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Moore, WA	Template:Australian party style|	Country	Hugh Leslie	100.0	52.9	2.9	Hugh Halbert	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
St George, NSW	Template:Australian party style|	Liberal	Bill Graham	2.4	2.5	0.1	Lionel Clay	Labor	Template:Australian party style|
Stirling, WA	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Harry Webb	2.8	3.0	0.2	Doug Cash	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Wimmera, Vic	Template:Australian party style|	Liberal	William Lawrence	N/A	22.7	5.9	Robert King	Country	Template:Australian party style|

• Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.

See also

• Candidates of the 1958 Australian federal election
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1958–1961
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1959–1962

References

• University of WA Template:Webarchive election results in Australia since 1890
• AEC 2PP vote
• Adam Carr's Election Archive - Senate 1958