Australian federal election, 1940

1937 ←

21 September 1940

→ 1943

All 74 seats of the Australian House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House 19 (of the 36) seats of the Australian Senate

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Robert Menzies	John Curtin	Jack Lang
Party	UAP/Country coalition	Labor	Lang Labor
Leader since	26 April 1939	1 October 1935	1940
Leader's seat	Kooyong	Fremantle	Did not run
Last election	44 seats	29 seats	new party
Seats won	36 seats	32 seats	4
Seat change	8	3	4
Percentage	49.70%	50.30%
Swing	0.90	0.90

Prime Minister before election

Robert Menzies
UAP/Country coalition

Subsequent Prime Minister

Robert Menzies
UAP/Country coalition

Federal elections were held in Australia on 21 September 1940. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Coalition, consisting of the United Australia Party led by Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies and the Country Party led by Archie Cameron, defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by John Curtin. The Coalition won 36 seats, two short of a majority, but formed a government on 28 October 1940 with the support of both independent crossbenchers, Alexander Wilson and Arthur Coles.

A year later in October 1941 the two independents crossed the floor and switched their support to Labor, bringing Curtin to power. It remains the only time in the history of federation since the 1910 introduction of an elected two-party system where the government changed not as the result of an election but as the result of a parliamentary confidence vote.

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