Australian federal election, 1961

1958 ←

9 December 1961

→ 1963

All 122 seats of the Australian House of Representatives 62 seats were needed for a majority in the House 31 (of the 60) seats of the Australian Senate

	First party	Second party

Leader	Robert Menzies	Arthur Calwell
Party	Liberal/Country coalition	Labor
Leader since	23 September 1943	7 March 1960
Leader's seat	Kooyong	Melbourne
Last election	77 seats	45 seats
Seats won	62 seats	60 seats
Seat change	15	15
Percentage	49.50%	50.50%
Swing	4.60	4.60

Prime Minister before election

Robert Menzies
Liberal/Country coalition

Subsequent Prime Minister

Robert Menzies
Liberal/Country coalition

Federal elections were held in Australia on 9 December 1961. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives, and 31 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 John McEwen defeated the Australian Labor Party led by Arthur Calwell.

Independent: Reg Turnbull

Due to a credit squeeze, the economy had gone into a brief recession in 1961. This combined with initial enthusiasm for the new Opposition Leader, Arthur Calwell, was enough to see a swing against the Menzies Government.

For a long time, the 1961 election remained the closest Federal election in Australian history, with the Coalition being reduced to a one-seat majority. The election was decided in the seats of Bruce near Melbourne and Moreton near Brisbane.

In Bruce, Labor's Keith Ewert led Liberal Billy Snedden on the first count, but on the second count more than two-thirds of the DLP's preferences flowed to Snedden, enough to give him the victory.

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