1960 Queensland state election

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 28 May 1960 to elect the 78 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The election followed the enactment of the Electoral Districts Act 1958 which increased the Assembly from 75 to 78 seats and modified the zonal system first established by Labor ahead of the 1950 election.

1960 Queensland state election

← 1957 28 May 1960 1963 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 78 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland 40 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
Registered	813,584 8.9%
Turnout	752,927 (92.54%) (2.04 pp)
First party Second party   Leader Frank Nicklin Jack Duggan Party Country Labor Leader since 21 May 1941 18 August 1958 Leader's seat Landsborough Toowoomba West Last election 24 seats 20 seats Seats before 23 seats^[a] 20 seats Seats won 26 seats 25 seats Seat change 3 5 Popular vote 139,720 296,430 Percentage 19.50% 39.89% Swing 0.49 pp 10.99 pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Kenneth Morris Vince Gair Party Liberal Queensland Labor Leader since 17 August 1954 26 April 1957 Leader's seat Mount Coot-tha South Brisbane (lost seat) Last election 18 seats 11 seats Seats before 18 seats 11 seats Seats won 20 seats 4 seats Seat change 2 7 Popular vote 178,567 91,212 Percentage 24.03% 12.28% Swing 0.8 pp 11.12 pp
Legislative Assembly after the election
Premier before election Frank Nicklin Country Elected Premier Frank Nicklin Country

The major parties contesting the election were the Country Party led by Premier Frank Nicklin, the Liberal Party led by Kenneth Morris, the Labor Party led by Jack Duggan and the Queensland Labor Party led by Vince Gair. The Country and Liberal parties had formed a coalition.

The Country-Liberal coalition won a second term in office at the election, although the Labor Party recovered 5 seats and 11% of its vote from the 1957 election. Still, it was the first time since 1912 that a non-Labor government had been re-elected in Queensland.

Key dates

Date	Event
13 April 1960	The Parliament was dissolved.^[1]
19 April 1960	Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.^[2]
26 April 1960	Close of nominations.
28 May 1960	Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
9 June 1960	The Nicklin Ministry was reconstituted.
8 July 1960	The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
23 August 1960	Parliament resumed for business.^[3]

Results

See also: Results of the Queensland state election, 1960

Queensland state election, 28 May 1960^[4] Legislative Assembly << 1957–1963 >>
Enrolled voters		813,584^[1]
Votes cast		752,927		Turnout	92.54	–2.04
Informal votes		9,897		Informal	1.31	+0.17
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor	296,430	39.89	+11.00	25	+ 5
	Liberal	178,567	24.03	+0.80	20	+ 2
	Country	144,865	19.50	–0.49	26	+ 2
	Queensland Labor	91,212	12.28	–11.12	4	– 7
	Independent	30,897	4.16		3	+ 2
	Other	1,059	0.14		0	± 0
Total		743,030			78

Popular vote Labor   39.89% Liberal   24.03% Country   19.50% Queensland Labor   12.28% Independents   4.16% Others   0.14%

Seats Country   33.33% Labor   32.05% Liberal   25.64% Queensland Labor   5.13% Independents   3.85%

¹ 831,398 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but two Country seats representing 17,814 enrolled voters were unopposed.

Seats changing party representation

There was an extensive redistribution across Queensland prior to this election, increasing the amount of seats from 75 to 78. The seat changes are as follows.

Abolished seats

Seat	Incumbent member	Party
Belyando	Tom Foley		Queensland Labor
Bremer	Jim Donald		Labor
Buranda	Keith Hooper		Liberal
Carpentaria	Norm Smith		Queensland Labor
Charters Towers	Arthur Jones		Queensland Labor
Chermside	Alex Dewar		Liberal
Coorparoo	Thomas Hiley		Liberal
Fitzroy	Jim Clark		Labor
Fortitude Valley	Bob Windsor		Liberal
Haughton	Colin McCathie		Queensland Labor
Ipswich	Ivor Marsden		Labor
Kelvin Grove	Douglas Tooth		Liberal
Keppel	Merv Thackeray		Labor
Marodian	James Heading		Country
Mundingburra	Tom Aikens		NQ Labor
Nash	Max Hodges		Country
North Toowoomba	Jack Duggan		Labor
Rockhampton	Mick Gardner		Queensland Labor
Southport	Eric Gaven		Country
Toowoomba	Mervyn Anderson		Liberal
Townsville	George Keyatta		Labor

• Members listed in italics retired at this election.

New seats

Seat	Party		Elected member
Albert		Country	Cec Carey
Ashgrove		Liberal	Douglas Tooth
Aspley		Liberal	Fred Campbell
Belmont		Labor	Fred Newton
Bowen		Liberal	Peter Delamothe
Burke		Labor	Alec Inch
Burnett		Country	Claude Wharton
Chatsworth		Liberal	Thomas Hiley
Greenslopes		Liberal	Keith Hooper
Gympie		Country	Max Hodges
Hawthorne		Labor	Bill Baxter
Ipswich East		Labor	Jim Donald
Ipswich West		Labor	Ivor Marsden
Nudgee		Labor	Jack Melloy
Redcliffe		Independent	Jim Houghton
Rockhampton North		Labor	Merv Thackeray
Rockhampton South		Liberal	Rex Pilbeam
Salisbury		Labor	Doug Sherrington
South Coast		Country	Eric Gaven
Toowoomba East		Liberal	Mervyn Anderson
Toowoomba West		Labor	Jack Duggan
Townsville North		Labor	Perc Tucker
Townsville South		NQ Labor	Tom Aikens
Wavell		Liberal	Alex Dewar

Seats changing hands

Seat	Incumbent member	Party		New member	Party
Aubigny	Jim Sparkes		Country	Les Diplock		Queensland Labor
Baroona	Bill Power		Queensland Labor	Pat Hanlon		Labor
Condamine	Les Diplock		Queensland Labor	Vic Sullivan		Country
Hinchinbrook	Cecil Jesson		Labor	John Row		Country
Ithaca	Pat Hanlon		Labor	Bob Windsor		Liberal
Sandgate	Thomas Ahearn		Liberal	Harry Dean		Labor
South Brisbane	Vince Gair		Queensland Labor	Col Bennett		Labor

• Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.

See also

• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1957–1960
• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1960–1963
• Candidates of the Queensland state election, 1960
• Nicklin Ministry

Notes

1. Carlisle Wordsworth of Mulgrave died on 7 May 1960, reducing the number of Country MPs by one before the state election three weeks in advance.

References

1. "A Proclamation". Queensland Government Gazette. 13 April 1960. p. 203:1855.
2. "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 19 April 1960. p. 203:1923.
3. "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 21 July 1960. p. 204:1629.
4. Australian Government and Politics Database. "Parliament of Queensland, Assembly election, 28 May 1960". Retrieved 12 February 2010.