1937 Australian federal election

none April 2024 June 2023 1937 Australian federal election Australia parliamentary no 1934 Australian federal election 1934 1940 Australian federal election 1940 Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1934–1937 Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1937–1940 4,080,038 4.54% 3,699,269 (96.13%)Turnout in contested seats(0.96 pp) All 75The 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. seats of the House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House 19 (of the 36) seats of the Senate 23 October 1937 File:JohnCurtin.jpg John Curtin 1 October 1935 Australian Labor Party Fremantle (WA) 18 seats 29 11 1,555,737 43.17% 16.36 File:Joseph Lyons.jpg Joseph Lyons 7 May 1931 United Australia Party Wilmot (Tas.) 28 seats 28 0 1,214,526 33.71% 0.73 File:Earle Page.jpg Earle Page 5 April 1921 Country Party of Australia (1920) Cowper (NSW) 14 seats 15 1 560,279 15.55% 2.93 Prime Minister Joseph Lyons UAP/Country coalition Subsequent Prime Minister Joseph Lyons UAP/Country coalition 1937 Australian federal election.svg Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory. Primary thumb|Poster promoting the return of the Lyons Government at the 1937 federal election; Lyons became the first Australian prime minister to win three elections. A federal election was held in Australia on 23 October 1937. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent UAP–Country coalition government, led by Prime Minister Joseph Lyons, defeated the opposition Labor Party under John Curtin. The election is notable in that the Country Party achieved its highest-ever primary (first preference) vote in the lower house, thereby winning nearly a quarter of all lower-house seats. At the 1934 election nine seats in New South Wales had been won by Lang Labor. Following the reunion of the two Labor parties in February 1936, these were held by their members as ALP seats at the 1937 election. With the party's wins in Ballaarat and Gwydir (initially at a by-election on 8 March 1937), the ALP had a net gain of 11 seats compared with the previous election. Background The UAP and Country Party formed a new coalition a few months after the 1934 election, after the UAP initially attempted to govern in minority.Souter Gavin Acts of Parliament : A Narrative History of the Senate and House of Representatives 1988 Melbourne University Press Carlton, Vic. 0522843670 299 The coalition proved stable throughout the parliamentary term, with Country Party leader Earle Page becoming de facto deputy prime minister.Souter 1988 300 James Scullin retired as leader of the Labor Party in October 1935. John Curtin unexpectedly won the resulting leadership election over Frank Forde, becoming the first Western Australian to lead a major party.Souter 1988 301 In February 1936 the Lang Labor MPs re-joined the parliamentary ALP caucus for the first time since the 1931 party split, in line with the federal conference's decision to readmit the New South Wales branch.Souter 1988 302 Campaign Although Australia was not at war, the 1937 election has been described as a khaki election as the primary issue during the campaign was defence policy.David Bird J. A. Lyons, The Tame Tasmanian: Appeasement and Rearmament in Australia, 1932–39 2008 Australian Scholarly Publishing 9781740971577 204 Both major party leaders launched their campaigns at smaller venues within their electorates. Curtin gave his policy address on 20 September in Fremantle, Western Australia,Ross Lloyd 1977 John Curtin Macmillan 0-522-84734-X 170 while Lyons followed on 28 September in Deloraine, Tasmania. This was the first time Lyons had launched the UAP campaign in his home state, with the party's 1931 and 1934 campaigns launched at the Sydney Town Hall.Bird 2008 206 Results The governing coalition won 43 out of 75 seats in the House of Representatives, with Lyons becoming the first Australian prime minister to win three consecutive federal elections. The position in the House was largely unchanged from the 1934 election, with Labor winning only a single seat (Bendigo) from the UAP. The Country Party won two rural seats from the UAP,Souter 1988 308 although in Grey this was a result of an agreement within South Australia's Liberal and Country League to allow Country Party senator Oliver Badman and UAP MP Philip McBride to swap chambers.https://biography.senate.gov.au/badman-albert-oliver/ Badman, Albert Oliver (1885–1977) The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate 2 Melbourne University Press 2004 Two senior cabinet ministers were unexpectedly defeated at the election. External affairs minister George Pearce lost his Senate seat in Western Australia following a targeted campaign which criticised his earlier opposition to the secession movement. The pro-secession Sunday Times ran an anti-Pearce editorial line, while the Dominion League of Western Australia and the Wheat Growers' Union ran a "Put Pearce Last" campaign.John Connor Anzac and Empire: George Foster Pearce and the Foundations of Australian Defence 2011 Cambridge University Press 165-166 Defence minister Archdale Parkhill was defeated in Warringah by Percy Spender, an "independent UAP" candidate who campaigned on defence preparedness and "the need for youth in government".Lowe D Spender, Sir Percy Claude (1897–1989) 2012 spender-sir-percy-claude-15475 9 July 2013 House of Representatives Results of the Australian federal election, 1937 (House of Representatives) thumb|#F00011 Labor: 29 seats #00008B United Australia: 28 seats #008000 Country: 15 seats #707070 Independent: 2 seats + House of Reps (IRV) — 1937–40—Turnout 96.13% (CV) — Informal 2.59%alt=|center|300x300px Party First preference votes % Swing Seats Change   UAP–Country coalition 1,774,805 49.26 –1.01 43 –4  United Australia100px 1,214,526 33.71 +0.73 28 0  Country 560,279 15.55 +2.93 15 +1   Labor 1,555,737 43.17 +16.36 29 +11   Social Credit 79,432 2.20 −2.49 0 0   Communist 17,153 0.48 +0.48 0 0   Independents 176,214 4.89 +2.38 3Including Northern Territory +2  Total 3,603,223     75 Two-party-preferred (estimated)   UAP–Country coalition Win50.60 −2.90 43 +1  Labor 49.40 +2.90 29 +11 Notes Four members were elected unopposed, all from the Labor Party. Independents: Alexander Wilson (Wimmera, Vic) and Percy Spender (Warringah, NSW). The member for Northern Territory, Adair Blain (independent), had voting rights only for issues relating to the Territory, and so is not included in the table. First preference vote #ddd 600px 410px Labor Australian Labor Party 43.17 United Australia #00008B 33.17 Country National Party of Australia 15.55 Independent Independent (politician) 5.56 Social Credit #B87333 2.20 Communist #AA0000 0.48 Two-party-preferred vote #ddd 600px 410px Coalition #00008B 50.60 Labor Australian Labor Party 49.40 Parliament seats #ddd 600px 410px Coalition #00008B 58.11 Labor Australian Labor Party 38.19 Independent Independent (politician) 2.70 Senate + Senate (P BV) — 1937–40—Turnout 94.75% (CV) — Informal 9.56%alt=|center|300x300px Party First preference votes % Swing Seats won Seats held Change   Labor 1,699,172 48.48 +20.40 16 16 +13   UAP–Country coalition 1,636,889 46.71 –6.51 3 20 –13   UAP–Country joint ticket 1,005,247 28.68 +10.44 0 N/A N/A   United Australia 565,161 16.13 −4.54 3 16 −10   Country 66,481 1.90 −12.41 0 4 −3   Social Credit 49,801 1.42 −1.36 0 0 0   Independent 118,768 3.39 +2.93 0 0 0   Total 3,504,630     19 36 Seats changing hands Seat Pre-1937 Swing Post-1937 Party Member Margin Margin Member Party Ballaarat, Vic  United Australia Archibald Fisken 3.9 3.5 0.6 Reg Pollard Labor  Bendigo, Vic  United Australia Eric Harrison N/A 0.3 6.9 George Rankin Country  Grey, SA  United Australia Philip McBride N/A 2.9 7.1 Oliver Badman Country  Warringah, NSW  United Australia Archdale Parkhill N/A 29.4 1.9 Percy Spender Independent UAP  Wimmera, Vic  Country Hugh McClelland N/A 2.9 1.9 Alexander Wilson Independent  Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election. See also Candidates of the 1937 Australian federal election Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1937–1940 Members of the Australian Senate, 1938–1941 Notes References External links University of WA https://web.archive.org/web/20150118085343/http://elections.uwa.edu.au/ 18 January 2015 election results in Australia since 1890 Two-party-preferred vote since 1937 Category:Federal elections in Australia Category:1937 elections in Australia Category:October 1937 in Australia