Australian federal election, 1943

Australian federal election, 1943

21 August 1943

All 74 seats in the Australian House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House 19 (of the 36) seats in the Australian Senate   First party Second party   Leader John Curtin Arthur Fadden Party Labor Country/UAP coalition Leader since 1 October 1935 29 August 1941 Leader's seat Fremantle Darling Downs Last election 32 seats 37 seats Seats won 49 seats 19 seats Seat change 17 18 Percentage 58.20% 41.80% Swing 7.90% 7.90%

Prime Minister before election John Curtin Labor Elected Prime Minister John Curtin Labor

Federal elections were held in Australia on 21 August 1943. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister of Australia John Curtin defeated the opposition Country Party led by Arthur Fadden and coalition partner the United Australia Party led by Billy Hughes.

Although the UAP was the nominal senior partner in the Coalition and had been in government since 1931, it found itself bereft of leadership following the forced resignation of its leader, Robert Menzies. Hughes succeeded him as UAP leader, which would have normally positioned him to become Prime Minister for a second time. However, Hughes was a month shy of 78 and already in declining health. With Hughes deemed too frail to lead the country in war, Country Party leader Fadden was thus forced to take over as Prime Minister. Fadden only stayed in office for six weeks before the two independents who had been keeping the UAP in office since 1940 joined Labor in voting down his budget. Governor-General Lord Gowrie was reluctant to call an election for a Parliament barely a year old, especially considering the international situation. At his urging, the independents threw their support to Labor for the remainder of the parliamentary term.

Over the next two years, Curtin proved to be a very popular and effective leader, and the Coalition was unable to get the better of him. Labor thus went into the election in a strong position, and scored an 18-seat swing on 58 percent of the two-party vote. The Coalition saw its seat count cut in half, to 19 seats--including only seven for the Country Party. Notably, Labor won every seat in Western Australia and all but one in South Australia – Archie Cameron, the member for Barker, was left as the only Coalition MP outside the eastern states.

This election was significant in the fact that it resulted in the election of the first female member of the House of Representatives, the UAP's Enid Lyons for Darwin, Tasmania; and the first female Senator, Labor's Dorothy Tangney in Western Australia. The election remains Labor's greatest federal victory in terms of proportion of seats and two-party votes in the lower house, and primary vote in the Senate.

Results

House of Reps (IRV) — 1943–46 — Turnout 96.32% (CV) — Informal 2.89%

	Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Australian Labor Party	2,058,578	49.94	+9.78	49	+17	^(1 elected unopposed)
	United Australia Party	661,750	16.05	−14.17	12	−11
	Country Party	287,000	6.96	−6.74	7	−7
	Country-National Party (QLD)	166,419	4.04	*	3	+3
	Liberal Country Party (VIC)	145,665	3.53	*	1	+1
	One Parliament for Australia	87,112	2.11	*	0	0
	Country Party (QLD)	61,196	1.48	*	1	+1
	State Labor Party	29,752	0.72	−1.89	0	0
	Independents	501,054	12.15	+4.08	1	0
	Other	123,965	3.01		0	−4
	Total	4,122,491			74
	Australian Labor Party	WIN	58.20	+7.90	49	+17
	Country/UAP coalition		41.80	−7.90	19	−17

Independent: Arthur Coles (Henty, Vic)

Popular Vote
Labor			49.94%
United Australia			16.05%
Country			6.96%
Country National QLD			4.04%
LCP			3.53%
OPfA			2.11%
Country QLD			1.48%
State Labor			0.72%
Independent			12.15%
Other			3.01%

Two Party Preferred Vote
Labor			58.20%
Coalition			41.80%

Parliament Seats
Labor			66.22%
Coalition			25.68%
Country National QLD			4.05%
LCP			1.35%
Country QLD			1.35%
Independent			1.35%

Senate (PBV) — 1943–46 — Turnout 96.31% (CV) — Informal 9.73%

	Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held	Change
	Australian Labor Party	2,139,164	55.09	+17.57	19	22	+5
	Country/UAP (Joint Ticket)	995,910	25.65	−18.05	0
	Country-National Party (QLD)	184,181	4.74	*	0	0	0
	Liberal & Country League (SA)	148,419	3.82	*	0	0	0
	Nationalist Country Party (WA)	101,738	2.62	*	0	0	0
	Christian New Order (NSW)	101,247	2.61	*	0	0	0
	Country Party	37,350	0.96	*	0	2	−2
	United Australia Party	*	*	−6.71	0	12	−3
	Other	175,161	4.51		0	0	0
	Total	3,883,170			19	36

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1943				Swing	Post-1943
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Adelaide, SA		United Australia	Fred Stacey	4.7	20.3	15.6	Cyril Chambers	Labor
Barker, SA		Country	Archie Cameron*	N/A	14.2	1.7	Archie Cameron	United Australia
Boothby, SA		United Australia	Grenfell Price	6.6	16.1	0.9	Thomas Sheehy	Labor
Denison, Tas		United Australia	Arthur Beck	1.1	10.1	9.0	John Gaha	Labor
Eden-Monaro, NSW		United Australia	John Perkins	4.8	10.8	5.4	Allan Fraser	Labor
Grey, SA		Country	Oliver Badman*	7.7	10.2	2.5	Edgar Russell	Labor
Hume, NSW		Country	Thomas Collins	0.9	7.2	6.3	Arthur Fuller	Labor
Lilley, Qld		United Australia	William Jolly	9.6	9.9	0.4	James Hadley	Labor
Maranoa, Qld		Labor	Frank Baker	1.6	2.6	1.0	Charles Adermann	Country
Martin, NSW		United Australia	William McCall	2.6	8.3	5.7	Fred Daly	Labor
Parkes, NSW		United Australia	Charles Marr	7.4	10.3	2.9	Les Haylen	Labor
Perth, WA		United Australia	Walter Nairn	14.5	20.5	6.0	Tom Burke	Labor
Robertson, NSW		United Australia	Eric Spooner	0.3	9.2	8.9	Thomas Williams	Labor
Swan, WA		Country	Thomas Marwick*	7.5	10.5	3.0	Don Mountjoy	Labor
Wakefield, SA		United Australia	Jack Duncan-Hughes	3.4	4.6	1.2	Albert Smith	Labor

• *Oliver Badman and Archie Cameron ran as candidates for the UAP, Thomas Marwick ran as an independent.

See also

• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1943
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1943–1946
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1944–1947

Notes

References

• University of WA election results in Australia since 1890
• Two-party-preferred vote since 1937