1966 Australian federal election

Template:Short description Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates The 1966 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 26 November 1966. All 124 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election. There was no Senate election until the 1967 Australian Senate election. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition government, led by Prime Minister Harold Holt, won an increased majority over the opposition Labor Party, led by Arthur Calwell, in a landslide. The Liberal–Country coalition two-party-preferred vote was 56.90%, its highest in its history.

This was the first and only time that a Federal Government won an eighth consecutive term in office.

File:Australian House of Representatives 1966.svg

Government (82)
Coalition
  Liberal (61)
  Country (21)

Opposition (41)
  Labor (41)

Crossbench (1)
  Independent (1)  

Issues

Sir Robert Menzies had retired from politics in January; his successor, former treasurer Harold Holt, was stylish, debonair and popular with the electorate, contrasting sharply with the much rougher figure of Opposition Leader Arthur Calwell, who had already lost two elections.

Calwell also came across poorly on television compared to Holt, looking and sounding older than his 70 years. It did not help that also held to the beliefs that had been central to the previous Labor Government of 1941–1949, many of which were seen as being long outdated in 1966; for example, he still defended the White Australia policy and nationalisation, and also strongly supported socialism.

These factors, along with a strong economy and initial enthusiasm for Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War, virtually guaranteed the Coalition another term. The Coalition campaigned with the slogan "Keep Australia secure and prosperous – play it safe".

The election was a landslide win for the Coalition, which won twice as many seats as Labor. The Liberals arrived two seats short of a majority in their own right, the closest that the major non-Labor party had come to governing in its own right since adopting the Liberal banner. Holt's victory was also larger than any of Menzies' eight victories, and resulted in the largest majority government in Australian history at the time. It was later seen as the electoral high point of both Holt's prime ministership and the 23 years of continuous Coalition rule.

Calwell retired to the backbench a month after the crushing election loss, and was succeeded by his deputy, Gough Whitlam.

Results

House of Reps (IRV) — 1966–69—Turnout 95.13% (CV) — Informal 3.10%

File:1966 Australian House.svg

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Liberal–Country coalition		2,853,890	49.98	+3.94	82	+10
	Template:Australian party style |	Liberal	2,291,964	40.14	+3.05	61	+9
	Template:Australian party style |	Country	561,926	9.84	+0.90	21	+1
Template:Australian party style |	Labor		2,282,834	39.98	–5.49	41	–9
Template:Australian party style |	Democratic Labor		417,411	7.31	–0.13	0	0
Template:Australian party style |	Liberal Reform		49,610	0.87	+0.87	0	0
Template:Australian party style |	Communist		23,056	0.40	–0.19	0	0
Template:Australian party style |	Independents		82,948	1.45	+0.98	1	+1
	Total		5,709,749			124	+2
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
Template:Australian party style |	Liberal–Country coalition		Win	56.90	+4.30	82	+10
Template:Australian party style |	Labor			43.10	−4.30	41	−9

Independents: Sam Benson

Popular vote Liberal   40.14% Labor   39.98% Country   9.84% DLP   7.31% Independents   1.45% Other   1.27%

Two-party-preferred vote Coalition   56.90% Labor   43.10%

Parliament seats Coalition   66.13% Labor   33.06% Independents   0.81%

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1966				Swing	Post-1966
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Adelaide, SA	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Joe Sexton	7.2	10.0	2.8	Andrew Jones	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Barton, NSW	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Len Reynolds	0.7	2.9	2.2	Bill Arthur	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Batman, Vic	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Sam Benson	N/A	8.7	7.8	Sam Benson	Independent	Template:Australian party style|
Eden-Monaro, NSW	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Allan Fraser	2.7	3.4	0.7	Dugald Munro	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Grey, SA	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Jack Mortimer	4.8	7.8	3.0	Don Jessop	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Griffith, Qld	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Wilfred Coutts	5.8	6.9	1.1	Don Cameron	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Herbert, Qld	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Ted Harding	3.2	4.3	1.1	Robert Bonnett	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Hughes, NSW	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Les Johnson	2.7	4.7	2.0	Don Dobie	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Kennedy, Qld	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Bill Riordan	13.5	15.0	1.5	Bob Katter	Country	Template:Australian party style|
Kingston, SA	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Pat Galvin	4.5	12.7	8.2	Kay Brownbill	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Lalor, Vic	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Reg Pollard	7.0	7.7	0.7	Mervyn Lee	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Northern Territory, NT	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Jock Nelson	100.0	51.7	1.7	Sam Calder	Country	Template:Australian party style|

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

See also

• 1964 Australian Senate election
• 1967 Australian Senate election
• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1966
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1966–1969

References

• University of WA Template:Webarchive 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.