The 1931 Australian federal election was held on 19 December 1931. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election.
The election was held at a time of great social and political upheaval, coming at the peak of the Great Depression in Australia. The UAP had only been formed a few months before the election, when Lyons and a few ALP dissidents joined forces with the Nationalist Party and the Australian Party. Although it was dominated by former Nationalists, Lyons became the merged party's leader, with Nationalist leader John Latham as his deputy.
Scullin's position eroded further when five left-wing Labor MPs from New South Wales who supported NSW Premier Jack Lang broke away and moved to the crossbenches in protest of Scullin's economic policy, reducing Scullin to a minority government. Late in 1931, they supported a UAP no-confidence motion and brought down the government. The two Labor factions were decimated; massive vote-splitting left them with only 18 seats between them (14 for the official ALP and four for the Langites).
Prior to the election, it was assumed that the Country Party, led by Earle Page, would hold the balance of power, and Page tentatively agreed to support the UAP if that were the case. The two parties campaigned separately and stood candidates against each other in the House of Representatives, but ran joint tickets in Senate. However, the UAP came up four seats short of a majority. The five MPs from the Emergency Committee of South Australia, which contested the election in that state in place of the UAP and Country Party, joined the UAP party room, giving the UAP enough numbers to form a majority government by two seats. Page was still willing to form a coalition with the Country Party, but negotiations broke down and Lyons decided the UAP would govern by itself. As a result, the First Lyons Ministry was composed solely of UAP members.[1]
Labor spent the next 10 years in opposition; it did not return to power until 1941.
The election was dominated by the Great Depression in Australia, which was at its height. As the Labor government had come to office two days before the Wall Street Crash of 1929, it was seen as being responsible for many of the economic and social problems Australia faced, which sparked the historic Australian Labor Party split of 1931 in which Lyons and four other Labor dissidents crossed the floor to the opposition, ultimately merging into the UAP. Although the UAP was seen as an upper- and middle-class conservative party, the presence of ex-Labor MPs allowed the party to project an image of national unity.
By the time the writs were issued, official Labor and Lang Labor were in open warfare, making a UAP victory all but certain. Due to the massive vote splitting brought on by a large number of three-cornered contests, Labor tallied its lowest primary vote since Federation, while the two Labor factions, official Labor and Lang Labor, won only 18 seats between them, with official Labor losing a record 32 seats on a massive 15.2% swing to the UAP.
The two Labor factions did not reunite until 1936.
^The Northern Territory had one seat, but members for the territories did not have full voting rights until 1966 and did not count toward government formation.
University of WA 18 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine election results in Australia since 1890
Two-party-preferred vote since 1919
Further readingedit
Cook, Peter. "Labor and the Premiers' Plan." Labour History (1969): 97–110. in JSTOR
Denning, Warren, and Alan Douglas Reid. Caucus crisis: the rise & fall of the Scullin government (Hale & Iremonger, 1982)
Head, Brian. "Economic crisis and political legitimacy: the 1931 federal election." Journal of Australian Studies (1978) 2#3 pp: 14-29. online
Richardson, Nick. "The 1931 Australian Federal Election—Radio Makes History." Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television (2010) 30#3 pp: 377-389. DOI:10.1080/01439685.2010.505037
Roberts, Stephen H. "The Crisis in Australia: September, 1930-January, 1932." Pacific Affairs (1932) 5#4 pp: 319-332. in JSTOR
Robinson, Geoff. "The Australian class structure and Australian politics 1931-40." APSA 2008: Australasian Political Science Association 2008 Conference. Australasian Political Science Association, 2008. online
Robertson, J. R. "Scullin as Prime Minister: seven critical decisions." Labour History (1969): 27–36. in JSTOR
Robertson, John. J.H. Scullin: A political biography (University of Western Australia Press, 1974)
April 26, 2024
1931, australian, federal, election, held, december, 1931, seats, house, representatives, seats, senate, were, election, 1929, december, 1931, 1934, outgoing, memberselected, members, seats, house, representatives38, seats, were, needed, majority, house18, sea. The 1931 Australian federal election was held on 19 December 1931 All 75 seats in the House of Representatives and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election 1931 Australian federal election 1929 19 December 1931 1934 outgoing memberselected members All 76 b seats of the House of Representatives38 seats were needed for a majority in the House18 of the 36 seats of the SenateRegistered3 649 954 3 13 Turnout3 286 474 95 04 a 0 19 pp First party Second party Leader Joseph Lyons Earle Page Party United Australia Country Leader since 7 May 1931 5 April 1921 Leader s seat Wilmot Tas Cowper NSW Last election New party 10 seats Seats before 24 seats 10 seats Seats won 38 c 16 Seat change 14 6 Popular vote 1 155 809 388 544 Percentage 36 4 12 2 Swing New party 1 9 Third party Fourth party Leader James Scullin Jack Lang Party Labor Labor NSW Leader since 26 April 1928 31 July 1923 Leader s seat Yarra Vic Last election 46 seats New party Seats before 36 seats 5 seats Seats won 15 NT 4 Seat change 21 1 Popular vote 860 260 335 309 Percentage 27 1 10 6 Swing 21 7 New partyResults by division for the House of Representatives shaded by winning party s margin of victory Prime Minister before election James Scullin Labor Subsequent Prime Minister Joseph Lyons United AustraliaRed baiting poster from the 1931 election The incumbent first term Australian Labor Party ALP government led by Prime Minister James Scullin was defeated in a landslide by the United Australia Party UAP led by Joseph Lyons As of 2024 this is the last time that a sitting government at federal level has been defeated after a single term The election was held at a time of great social and political upheaval coming at the peak of the Great Depression in Australia The UAP had only been formed a few months before the election when Lyons and a few ALP dissidents joined forces with the Nationalist Party and the Australian Party Although it was dominated by former Nationalists Lyons became the merged party s leader with Nationalist leader John Latham as his deputy Scullin s position eroded further when five left wing Labor MPs from New South Wales who supported NSW Premier Jack Lang broke away and moved to the crossbenches in protest of Scullin s economic policy reducing Scullin to a minority government Late in 1931 they supported a UAP no confidence motion and brought down the government The two Labor factions were decimated massive vote splitting left them with only 18 seats between them 14 for the official ALP and four for the Langites Prior to the election it was assumed that the Country Party led by Earle Page would hold the balance of power and Page tentatively agreed to support the UAP if that were the case The two parties campaigned separately and stood candidates against each other in the House of Representatives but ran joint tickets in Senate However the UAP came up four seats short of a majority The five MPs from the Emergency Committee of South Australia which contested the election in that state in place of the UAP and Country Party joined the UAP party room giving the UAP enough numbers to form a majority government by two seats Page was still willing to form a coalition with the Country Party but negotiations broke down and Lyons decided the UAP would govern by itself As a result the First Lyons Ministry was composed solely of UAP members 1 Labor spent the next 10 years in opposition it did not return to power until 1941 Contents 1 Issues 2 Results 2 1 House of Representatives 2 2 Results by electorate 2 3 Senate 2 4 Results by electorate 3 Seats changing hands 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links 8 Further readingIssues editThe election was dominated by the Great Depression in Australia which was at its height As the Labor government had come to office two days before the Wall Street Crash of 1929 it was seen as being responsible for many of the economic and social problems Australia faced which sparked the historic Australian Labor Party split of 1931 in which Lyons and four other Labor dissidents crossed the floor to the opposition ultimately merging into the UAP Although the UAP was seen as an upper and middle class conservative party the presence of ex Labor MPs allowed the party to project an image of national unity By the time the writs were issued official Labor and Lang Labor were in open warfare making a UAP victory all but certain Due to the massive vote splitting brought on by a large number of three cornered contests Labor tallied its lowest primary vote since Federation while the two Labor factions official Labor and Lang Labor won only 18 seats between them with official Labor losing a record 32 seats on a massive 15 2 swing to the UAP The two Labor factions did not reunite until 1936 Results editHouse of Representatives edit See also Results of the Australian federal election 1931 House of Representatives House of Representatives IRV Turnout 95 04 CV nbsp Party Primary vote Seats Votes Swing pp Seats Change United Australia Party UAP 1 155 809 36 4 36 4 33 c nbsp 15 Country CP 388 544 12 2 1 93 16 nbsp 6 Labor ALP 860 260 27 1 21 74 16 d nbsp 22 Emergency Committee ECSA 174 288 5 5 5 5 5 c nbsp 6 Labor NSW L NSW 335 309 10 6 10 6 4 nbsp 1 Communist CPA 8 511 0 3 0 3 0 nbsp 0 Independent 260 786 6 0 02 3 nbsp 1 Total 3 287 992 100 00 76 Valid votes 3 173 515 96 52 Informal ballots 114 477 3 5 Turnout 3 287 992 90 Registered voters 3 652 196 Popular vote United Australia 36 4 Labor 27 1 Country 12 2 Labor NSW 10 6 Independent 6 0 Emergency Committee 5 5 Communist 0 3 Parliament seats United Australia 43 4 Country 21 1 Labor 19 7 Emergency Committee 6 6 Labor NSW 5 3 Independent 3 9 Results by electorate edit Constituency Totalseats Seats won UAP CP ALP ECSA L NSW Independent New South Wales 28 13 8 3 0 4 0 Victoria 20 12 4 4 0 0 0 Queensland 10 2 2 5 0 0 1 South Australia 7 0 0 1 5 0 1 Western Australia 5 1 2 1 0 0 1 Tasmania 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 Northern Territory 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Total 76 33 16 15 5 4 3 Senate edit Senate P BV 1931 34 Turnout 95 02 CV Informal 9 60 nbsp Party Votes Swing Seats won Seats held Change UAP Country Joint Ticket 945 741 30 16 6 Australian Labor Party 917 218 29 25 19 70 3 10 3 United Australia Party 791 870 25 26 14 02 9 21 3 Australian Labor Party NSW 379 870 12 12 0 0 0 Communist Party of Australia 29 443 0 94 0 0 0 Country Party 11 18 0 5 0 Independents 71 181 2 27 1 68 0 0 0 Total 3 135 323 18 36 Results by electorate edit Constituency Totalseats Seats won UAP CP ALP New South Wales 3 2 1 0 Victoria 3 3 0 0 Queensland 3 0 0 3 South Australia 3 2 1 0 Western Australia 3 2 1 0 Tasmania 3 3 0 0 Total 18 12 3 3Seats changing hands editSeat Pre 1931 Swing Post 1931 Party Member Margin Margin Member Party Adelaide SA Labor George Edwin Yates 11 4 21 0 9 6 Fred Stacey Emergency Committee Angas SA Labor Moses Gabb 4 7 31 5 26 8 Moses Gabb Ind Emergency Committee c Ballaarat Vic Labor Charles McGrath 7 4 20 7 13 3 Charles McGrath United Australia Barton NSW Labor James Tully 17 6 20 8 3 2 Albert Lane United Australia Bass Tas Labor Allan Guy 10 4 24 9 14 5 Allan Guy United Australia Batman Vic Labor Frank Brennan 25 8 26 6 0 8 Samuel Dennis United Australia Bendigo Vic Labor Richard Keane 5 1 14 6 9 5 Eric Harrison United Australia Boothby SA Labor John Price 5 6 29 6 24 0 John Price Emergency Committee Brisbane Qld United Australia Donald Charles Cameron 2 4 3 1 0 7 George Lawson Labor Calare NSW Labor George Gibbons 1 6 11 7 10 1 Harold Thorby Country Corangamite Vic Labor Richard Crouch 2 1 15 0 12 9 William Gibson Country Corio Vic Labor Arthur Lewis 6 0 16 6 10 6 Richard Casey United Australia Dalley NSW Labor Ted Theodore N A 8 9 14 0 Sol Rosevear Labor NSW Darling Downs Qld United Australia Arthur Morgan N A 17 7 9 8 Littleton Groom Independent Denison Tas Labor Charles Culley 9 2 14 2 5 0 Arthur Hutchin United Australia East Sydney NSW Labor NSW Eddie Ward 5 7 11 7 1 7 John Clasby United Australia Eden Monaro NSW Labor John Cusack 0 1 13 7 13 6 John Perkins United Australia Fawkner Vic Independent Nationalist George Maxwell N A 21 7 20 3 George Maxwell United Australia Flinders Vic Labor Jack Holloway 0 2 18 5 18 3 Stanley Bruce United Australia Franklin Tas Labor Charles Frost 1 9 13 0 17 9 Archibald Blacklow United Australia Fremantle WA Labor John Curtin 7 0 13 5 5 5 William Watson United Australia Grey SA Labor Andrew Lacey 9 6 17 1 7 5 Philip McBride Emergency Committee Gwydir NSW Labor Lou Cunningham 3 7 13 5 9 8 Aubrey Abbott Country Hume NSW Labor Parker Moloney 6 6 14 1 7 5 Thomas Collins Country Hunter NSW Labor Rowley James 100 0 57 2 7 2 Rowley James Labor NSW Indi Vic Labor Paul Jones 1 4 14 4 13 0 William Hutchinson United Australia Lang NSW Labor William Long 16 2 20 4 4 2 Dick Dein United Australia Macquarie NSW Labor Ben Chifley 15 6 16 2 0 6 John Lawson United Australia Maribyrnong Vic Labor James Fenton 23 2 23 6 0 4 James Fenton United Australia Martin NSW Labor John Eldridge 6 4 22 7 16 3 William Holman United Australia North Sydney NSW Independent Nationalist Billy Hughes 16 1 23 6 7 5 Billy Hughes United Australia Oxley Qld United Australia James Bayley 0 1 5 9 5 8 Francis Baker Labor Parramatta NSW Labor Albert Rowe 3 3 19 5 16 2 Frederick Stewart United Australia Reid NSW Labor Percy Coleman N A 55 3 5 3 Joe Gander Labor NSW South Sydney NSW Labor Edward Riley 16 3 21 4 5 1 John Jennings United Australia Wannon Vic Labor John McNeill 2 0 14 3 12 3 Thomas Scholfield United Australia Wentworth NSW Independent Nationalist Walter Marks 8 3 58 3 15 8 Eric Harrison United Australia Werriwa NSW Labor Bert Lazzarini 15 4 17 1 1 7 Walter McNicoll Country West Sydney NSW Labor Jack Beasley 36 5 11 4 15 1 Jack Beasley Labor NSW Wimmera Vic Country Progressive Percy Stewart N A 21 8 11 8 Hugh McClelland Country Wilmot Tas Labor Joseph Lyons 2 9 25 0 22 1 Joseph Lyons United Australia Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election See also editCandidates of the Australian federal election 1931 Members of the Australian House of Representatives 1931 1934 Members of the Australian Senate 1932 1935Notes edit Turnout in contested seats The Northern Territory had one seat but members for the territories did not have full voting rights until 1966 and did not count toward government formation a b c d Labor turned Independent MP Moses Gabb was endorsed in the Division of Angas by the Emergency Committee of South Australia formed by the state UAP for this election who did not run their own candidate in Angas Though Gabb is often listed as Emergency Committee he remained an Independent and did not help form or sit with the government and as such has been removed from government tallies meaning that though six MPs are listed elected as Emergency Committee candidates there were only five Emergency Committee MPs Including Northern TerritoryReferences edit Page Sir Earle Christmas 1880 1961 Australian Dictionary of BiographyExternal links editUniversity of WA Archived 18 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine election results in Australia since 1890 Two party preferred vote since 1919Further reading editCook Peter Labor and the Premiers Plan Labour History 1969 97 110 in JSTOR Denning Warren and Alan Douglas Reid Caucus crisis the rise amp fall of the Scullin government Hale amp Iremonger 1982 Head Brian Economic crisis and political legitimacy the 1931 federal election Journal of Australian Studies 1978 2 3 pp 14 29 online Richardson Nick The 1931 Australian Federal Election Radio Makes History Historical Journal of Film Radio and Television 2010 30 3 pp 377 389 DOI 10 1080 01439685 2010 505037 Roberts Stephen H The Crisis in Australia September 1930 January 1932 Pacific Affairs 1932 5 4 pp 319 332 in JSTOR Robinson Geoff The Australian class structure and Australian politics 1931 40 APSA 2008 Australasian Political Science Association 2008 Conference Australasian Political Science Association 2008 online Robertson J R Scullin as Prime Minister seven critical decisions Labour History 1969 27 36 in JSTOR Robertson John J H Scullin A political biography University of Western Australia Press 1974 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 1931 Australian federal election amp oldid 1217775499, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,