1962 Western Australian state election

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| <- 1959 | 31 March 1962 (1962-03-31) | 1965 ->

|
|

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All 50 seats in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
26 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
|  | First party  | Second party

|
|

|  |
Leader  | David Brand | Albert Hawke
Party  | Liberal/Country coalition | Labor
Leader since  | 1 March 1957  | 3 July 1951
Leader's seat  | Greenough | Northam
Last election  | 25 seats  | 23 seats
Seats won  | 26 seats  | 24 seats
Seat change  | 1  | 1
Percentage  | 46.09%  | 44.41%
Swing  | 3.07  | 0.51

* * *

| Premier before election

David Brand
Liberal/Country coalition

| Elected Premier

David Brand
Liberal/Country coalition

|

Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 31 March 1962 to elect all 50 members to the Legislative Assembly. The Liberal-Country coalition government, led by Premier Sir David Brand, won a second term in office against the Labor Party, led by Opposition Leader Albert Hawke.

The election resulted in a confirmation of the status quo, with the only apparent seat changes since the 1959 election being due to the changes of affiliation of the two Independent Liberal members. Edward Oldfield, representing Mount Lawley, had joined the Labor Party during the previous term, whilst Bill Grayden, representing South Perth, had joined the Liberal Party. Both were re-elected.

Two seats changed between the Country and LCL Parties. In Avon, the sitting member James Mann (LCL) retired after 32 years in Parliament, and Harry Gayfer, one of the two Country Party candidates, succeeded him in the seat. Meanwhile, in outer-metropolitan Darling Range, LCL candidate Ken Dunn defeated the sitting Country member Ray Owen. The Labor candidate (Jack Metcalfe) narrowly won the primary vote, whilst Dunn polled one vote ahead of Owen, meaning Owen was eliminated and his votes distributed between Dunn and Metcalfe. A petition was filed and the Court of Disputed Returns ordered a fresh election for 22 July 1962, which widened the gap to 15 votes.

## Results

[edit]

See also: Results of the Western Australian state election, 1962 (Legislative Assembly)

Western Australian state election, 31 March 1962
Legislative Assembly
<< 1959–1965 >>

Enrolled voters  | 319,594[1] |  |
Votes cast  | 297,520  |  | Turnout | 93.09%  | +1.05%
Informal votes  | 5,324  |  | Informal  | 1.79%  | –0.79%
Summary of votes by party
Party  | Primary votes  | %  | Swing  | Seats  | Change
| Labor | 129,757  | 44.41%  | –0.51%  | 24  | \+ 1
| Liberal and Country | 120,267  | 41.16%  | +3.68%  | 18 | \+ 1
| Country | 17,339  | 5.93%  | –0.61%  | 8 | ± 0
| Democratic Labor | 6,601  | 2.26%  | –2.86%  | 0  | ± 0
| Ind. Lib.  | 4,556  | 1.56%  | –2.26%  | 0  | – 2
| Communist | 1,201  | 0.41%  | –0.43%  | 0  | ± 0
| Independent | 12,475  | 4.27%  | +2.99%  | 0  | ± 0
Total  | 292,196  |  |  | 50  |

1 381,805 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 11 seats (22% of the total) were uncontested—4 Labor seats (two more than 1959) representing 29,773 enrolled voters, 4 LCL seats (one less than 1959) representing 26,836 enrolled voters, and 3 Country seats (one less than 1959) representing 15,532 enrolled voters.

## Post-election pendulum

[edit]

LCL/Country seats (26)

Marginal
Karrinyup | Les Nimmo | LCL  | 2.5%
Subiaco | Hugh Guthrie | LCL  | 2.6%
Bunbury | George Roberts | LCL  | 3.7%
Fairly safe
Cottesloe | Ross Hutchinson | LCL  | 6.8%
Avon | Harry Gayfer | CP  | 7.2% v LCL
Mount Lawley | Ray O'Connor | LCL  | 8.4%
Dale | Gerald Wild | LCL  | 8.6%
Darling Range | Ken Dunn | LCL  | 8.6%
Safe
Murchison | Richard Burt | LCL  | 10.9%
Stirling | Clayton Mitchell | CP  | 12.7% v IND
East Melville | Des O'Neil | LCL  | 13.6%
Claremont | Harold Crommelin | LCL  | 18.2% v IND
Toodyay | James Craig | CP  | 18.3%
Murray | Ross McLarty | LCL  | 18.7% v IND
Roe | Tom Hart | CP  | 19.7% v LCL
Nedlands | Charles Court | LCL  | 21.4%
Blackwood | John Hearman | LCL  | 24.1% v IND
Greenough | David Brand | LCL  | 45.4% v COM
South Perth | Bill Grayden | LCL  | undist.
Katanning | Crawford Nalder | CP  | unopp.
Moore | Edgar Lewis | CP  | unopp.
Mount Marshall | George Cornell | CP  | unopp.
Narrogin | William Manning | CP  | unopp.
Vasse | William Bovell | LCL  | unopp.
Wellington | Iven Manning | LCL  | unopp.
Wembley | Guy Henn | LCL  | unopp.
Labor seats (24)

Marginal
Canning | Donald May | ALP  | 1.0%
Maylands | Edward Oldfield | ALP  | 1.4%
Perth | Stanley Heal | ALP  | 4.3%
Warren | Joseph Rowberry | ALP  | 5.9%
Fairly safe
Balcatta | Herb Graham | ALP  | 6.0%
Mount Hawthorn | Bill Hegney | ALP  | 6.2%
Merredin-Yilgarn | Lionel Kelly | ALP  | 8.1%
Beeloo | Colin Jamieson | ALP  | 9.7%
Safe
Melville | John Tonkin | ALP  | 11.3%
Victoria Park | Ron Davies | ALP  | 13.9%
Albany | Jack Hall | ALP  | 14.3%
Collie | Harry May | ALP  | 15.9%
Cockburn | Henry Curran | ALP  | 16.1%
Boulder-Eyre | Arthur Moir | ALP  | 16.7%
Fremantle | Harry Fletcher | ALP  | 19.0%
Kalgoorlie | Tom Evans | ALP  | 26.3%
Kimberley | John Rhatigan | ALP  | 28.7% v IND
Swan | John Brady | ALP  | 41.8% v COM
Belmont | James Hegney | ALP  | undist.
Geraldton | Bill Sewell | ALP  | undist.
Bayswater | Merv Toms | ALP  | unopp.
Gascoyne | Daniel Norton | ALP  | unopp.
Northam | Albert Hawke | ALP  | unopp.
Pilbara | Arthur Bickerton | ALP  | unopp.

## See also

[edit]

* Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1959–1962
* Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1962–1965
* Candidates of the 1962 Western Australian state election

## References

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