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.

Quick Facts 32 of the 60 seats in the Senate 16 seats needed for a majority, First party ...

1970 Australian Senate election

← 1967 21 November 1970 1974 →
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 Democratic Labor Party (Australia, 1955) Seats won 14 13 3 Seats after 26 26 5 Seat change 1 2 1 Popular vote 2,376,215 2,149,023 625,142 Percentage 42.22% 38.18% 11.11% Swing 2.81pp 4.59pp 1.34pp

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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.

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]

• Candidates of the Australian Senate election, 1970
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1971–1974