Australian federal election, 1966

26 November 1966

All 124 seats of the Australian House of Representatives 63 seats were needed for a majority

	First party	Second party

Leader	Harold Holt	Arthur Calwell
Party	Liberal/Country coalition	Labor
Leader since	26 January 1966	7 March 1960
Leader's seat	Higgins	Melbourne
Last election	72 seats	50 seats
Seats won	82 seats	41 seats
Seat change	10	9
Percentage	56.90%	43.10%
Swing	4.30	4.30

Prime Minister before election

Harold Holt
Liberal/Country coalition

Subsequent Prime Minister

Harold Holt
Liberal/Country coalition

Federal elections were held in Australia on 26 November 1966. All 124 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia, led by Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt, with coalition partner the Country Party, led by John McEwen, was elected to an eighth term in government, defeating the Australian Labor Party led by Arthur Calwell.

The election was a landslide win for the Coalition, which won twice as many seats as Labor. Holt's victory was greater than any of Menzies', and it was seen as the high point of both his Prime Ministership and the 23 years of continuous Coalition rule.

Results

House of Reps (IRV) — 1966–69—Turnout 95.13% (CV) — Informal 3.10%
	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
Liberal Party of Australia	2,291,964	40.14	+3.05	61	+9
Australian Labor Party	2,282,834	39.98	−5.49	41	−9
Country Party	561,926	9.84	+0.90	21	+1
Democratic Labor Party	417,411	7.31	−0.13	0	0
Independents	82,948	1.45	+1.04	1	+1
Other	72,666	1.27		0	0
Total	5,709,749			124	+2
Liberal/Country coalition	WIN	56.90	+4.30	82	+10
Australian Labor Party		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
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	Margin	Member	Party
Adelaide, SA		Labor	Joe Sexton	7.2	10.0	2.8	Andrew Jones	Liberal
Barton, NSW		Labor	Len Reynolds	0.7	2.9	2.2	Bill Arthur	Liberal
Batman, Vic		Labor	Sam Benson	N/A	8.7	7.8	Sam Benson	Independent
Eden-Monaro, NSW		Labor	Allan Fraser	2.7	3.4	0.7	Dugald Munro	Liberal
Grey, SA		Labor	Jack Mortimer	4.8	7.8	3.0	Don Jessop	Liberal
Griffith, Qld		Labor	Wilfred Coutts	5.8	6.9	1.1	Don Cameron	Liberal
Herbert, Qld		Labor	Ted Harding	3.2	4.3	1.1	Robert Bonnett	Liberal
Hughes, NSW		Labor	Les Johnson	2.7	4.7	2.0	Don Dobie	Liberal
Kennedy, Qld		Labor	Bill Riordan	13.5	15.0	1.5	Bob Katter	Country
Kingston, SA		Labor	Patrick Galvin	4.5	12.7	8.2	Kay Brownbill	Liberal
Lalor, Vic		Labor	Reg Pollard	7.0	7.7	0.7	Mervyn Lee	Liberal
Northern Territory, NT		Labor	Jock Nelson	100.0	51.7	1.7	Sam Calder	Country

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

Issues

The new Prime Minister, Harold Holt, was stylish, debonair and popular with the electorate. He cast a sharp contrast with the much rougher figure of Arthur Calwell, who had already lost two elections. Calwell held to the beliefs that had been central to the last Labor Government of 1941–1949, many of which were seen as being old-fashioned in 1966. For example, he was a defender of the White Australia Policy, nationalization. He also came across poorly on television compared to Holt, and looked and sounded older than his 70 years.

In addition, a strong economy and initial enthusiasm for Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War virtually guaranteed the Coalition the election who campaigned with the slogan "Keep Australia secure and prosperous – play it safe".^[1] Calwell retired a month after the election and was succeeded by Deputy Labor leader Gough Whitlam.

Notes

↑ https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/bitstream/handle/11343/34650/67272_00003244_01_Young004.pdf?sequence=1

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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