1970 Australian Senate election

An election was held on 21 November 1970 to elect 32 of the 60 seats in the Australian Senate. This is the most recent occasion on which a Senate election has been held with no accompanying election to the House of Representatives; the two election cycles had been out of synchronisation since 1963.

See also: 1969 Australian federal election

1970 Australian Senate election
21 November 1970
32 of the 60 seats in the Senate
16 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Lionel Murphy Ken Anderson Vince Gair
Party Labor Coalition DLP
Seats won 14 13 3
Seats after 26 26 5
Seat change Decrease1 Decrease2 Increase1
Popular vote 2,376,215 2,149,023 625,142
Percentage 42.22% 38.18% 11.11%
Swing Decrease2.81pp Decrease4.59pp Increase1.34pp

Key dates
Date Event
16 October 1970 Writs were issued by the respective State Governors to proceed with an election.[1][2][3]
29 October 1970 Close of nominations, at 12pm.
21 November 1970 Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
17 December 1970 Declaration of the poll for South Australia.[4]
7 January 1971 Return of the writs.

Results

The governing Coalition and the opposition Australian Labor Party won 13 and 14 seats respectively, resulting in a total of 26 seats each, while the Democratic Labor Party and three independents (two newly elected) held the remaining seats.

Senate (STV) — 1970–74—Turnout 93.98% (CV) — Informal 9.41%
Party Votes  % Swing Seats won Seats held Change
  Labor 2,376,215 42.22 –2.81 14 26 –1
  Liberal–Country coalition (total) 2,149,023 38.18 –4.59 13 26 –2
  Liberal–Country joint ticket 1,098,134 19.51 –14.31 4 * *
  Liberal 991,473 17.61 +9.47 8 21 0
  Country 59,416 1.06 +0.24 1 5 –2
  Democratic Labor 625,142 11.11 +1.34 3 5 +1
  Australia 163,343 2.90 +2.90 0 0 0
  Better Education Committee 59,813 1.06 +1.06 0 0 0
  Democratic 52,799 0.94 +0.94 0 0 0
  Pensioner Power 28,983 0.51 +0.51 0 0 0
  Defence of Government Schools 27,796 0.49 +0.49 0 0 0
  National Socialist 24,017 0.43 +0.43 0 0 0
  Conservative Immigration Movement 4,864 0.08 +0.08 0 0 0
  Independent 116,838 2.07 +0.37 2 3 +2
  Total 5,628,833     32 60
Notes
  • In New South Wales and Queensland, the coalition parties ran a joint ticket. Of the four senators elected on a joint ticket, three were members of the Liberal Party and one was a member of the Country Party. In Western Australia, the coalition parties ran on separate tickets. In South Australia, Tasmania, and Victoria, only the Liberal Party ran a ticket.
  • Two independents were elected – Michael Townley of Tasmania and Syd Negus of Western Australia. This brought the total number of independents in the Senate to three, the other being Reg Turnbull of Tasmania.[5]

See also

References
  2. "Senate Elections Act 1958 (No. 6365) (per 9145/70)". Victoria Government Gazette. Victorian Government Printer. 7 October 1970. p. 3309.
  3. "Senators' Elections Act 1903: Order under Section 3 (136)". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. 14 October 1970. p. 4142. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  4. "Election of Senators for the State of South Australia (Proclamation) (44)" (PDF). South Australian Government Gazette. Government of South Australia. 6 October 1970. p. 1501. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  5. Parliamentary Handbook – Members of the Senate since 1901 Archived 25 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
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