1951 Macquarie by-election

1951 Macquarie by-election

28 July 1951

First party Second party Third party   LIB IND Candidate Tony Luchetti William Hannam William Blanchard Party Labor Liberal Independent Labor Popular vote 18,426 12,356 3,853 Percentage 52.3% 35.1% 10.9% Swing 9.5pp 3.1pp 10.9pp

MP before election Ben Chifley Labor Elected MP Tony Luchetti Labor

The 1951 by-election for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Macquarie was held on 28 July after the death of the incumbent Australian Labor Party member, former Prime Minister Ben Chifley, who died on 14 June after suffering a heart attack. Chifley's death came less than three months after the 1951 general election.

Candidates

Contesting the seat for the Labor Party was Tony Luchetti, who had been the Lang Labor candidate in Macquarie in 1931 and 1934, his preferences defeating Chifley in 1931. William Blanchard ran as an independent Labor candidate in protest at Luchetti's selection as Chifley's successor.

Their main opponent was William Hannam of the Liberal Party of Australia. Vernon Moffitt, representing the Communist Party of Australia, also ran.

Results

Macquarie by-election, 1951

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Tony Luchetti	18,426	52.3	−9.5
	Liberal	William Hannam	12,356	35.1	−3.1
	Independent Labor	William Blanchard	3,853	10.9	+10.9
	Communist	Vernon Moffitt	575	1.6	+1.6
Total formal votes			35,210	99.1
Informal votes			325	0.9
Turnout			35,535	90.5

Aftermath

At the following 1954 general election Luchetti retained the seat and was the sole Labor candidate.

See also

• List of Australian federal by-elections