1960 Australian Labor Party leadership election

1960 Australian Labor Party
Leadership election

← 1959 7 March 1960 1966 →

Candidate Arthur Calwell Reg Pollard Caucus vote 42 (58.3%) 30 (41.7%)

Leader before election H. V. Evatt Elected Leader Arthur Calwell

A leadership ballot in the Australian Labor Party, the opposition party in the Parliament of Australia, was held on 7 March 1960. It followed the retirement of previous leader H. V. Evatt. Calwell received 42 votes to Reg Pollard's 30 in a caucus ballot.^[1] Future Prime Minister Gough Whitlam would defeat Eddie Ward to become Calwell's deputy.

This marked the first time that the party elected a new leader which wasn't triggered by the death of an incumbent leader since the retirement of former Prime Minister James Scullin as leader in 1935.