Australian federal election, 1958

22 November 1958

All 122 seats of the Australian House of Representatives 62 seats were needed for a majority in the House 32 (of the 60) seats of the Australian Senate

	First party	Second party

Leader	Robert Menzies	H.V. Evatt
Party	Liberal/Country coalition	Labor
Leader since	23 September 1943	13 June 1951
Leader's seat	Kooyong	Barton
Last election	75 seats	47 seats
Seats won	77 seats	45 seats
Seat change	2	2
Percentage	54.10%	45.90%
Swing	0.10	0.10

Prime Minister before election

Robert Menzies
Liberal/Country coalition

Subsequent Prime Minister

Robert Menzies
Liberal/Country coalition

Federal elections were 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 Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies with coalition partner the Country Party led by Arthur Fadden defeated the Australian Labor Party led by Herbert Evatt.

Results

House of Reps (IRV) — 1958–61—Turnout 95.48% (CV) — Informal 2.87%
	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
Australian Labor Party	2,137,890	42.81	−1.82	45	−2
Liberal Party of Australia	1,859,180	37.23	−2.50	58	+1
Democratic Labor Party	469,723	9.41	+4.24	0	0
Country Party	465,320	9.32	+1.41	19	+1
Other	61,380	1.23		0	0
Total	4,993,493			122
Liberal/Country coalition	WIN	54.10	−0.10	77	+2
Australian Labor Party		45.90	+0.10	45	−2

Popular Vote

Labor			42.81%
Liberal			37.23%
DLP			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 (STV) — 1958–61—Turnout 95.48% (CV) — Informal 10.29%
	Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held	Change
Australian Labor Party	1,973,027	42.78	+2.17	15	26	−2
Liberal/Country (Joint Ticket)	1,077,586	23.36	−16.02	9	*
Liberal Party of Australia	953,856	20.68	+12.02	6	25	+1
Democratic Labor Party	388,417	8.42	+2.32	1	2	0
Communist Party of Australia	134,263	2.91	−0.73	0	0	0
Country Party	52,751	1.14	+0.52	1	7	+1
Independents	19,648	0.43		0	0	0
Other	12,511	0.27		0	0	0
Total	4,612,059			32	60

Seats changing hands

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

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

History

The Coalition of the Liberal Party, led by Sir Robert Menzies, and the Country Party, had been in power since 1949. In spite of a major global downturn in early 1958, the Coalition was returned to power and there was a swing against the Australian Labor Party (ALP). This was due largely to support for the breakaway Democratic Labor Party. The ALP remained out of office at the national level until 1972.

Notes

References

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.

Elections and referendums in Australia

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