1949 Australian federal election 1949 Australian federal election Federal elections were held in Australia on 10 December 1949. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives and 42 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Labor Party, led by Prime Minister Ben Chifley, was defeated by the opposition Liberal–Country coalition under Robert Menzies. Menzies became prime minister for a second time, his first term having ended in 1941. The number of MPs in both houses had been increased at the election, and single transferable vote under a proportional voting system had been introduced in the Senate. Though Labor
Prime Minister of Australia John Curtin, and served until 13 July 1945 when Ben Chifley was elected leader of the Australian Labor Party. The last Prime Minister to serve out a full government term in the office was John Howard, who won the 2004 election and led his party to the 2007 election, but lost. Since then, the five subsequent Prime Ministers have been either voted out of the office mid-term by the caucuses of their own parties, assumed the office mid-term under such circumstances, or both. Prime Minister of Australia The Prime Minister of Australia is the head of government of Australia. The