1931 Australian federal election

none April 2024 January 2025 1931 Australian federal election Australia parliamentary Primary no 1929 Australian federal election 1929 1934 Australian federal election 1934 Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1929–1931 Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1931–1934 3,649,954 3.13% 3,286,474 (95.04%)Turnout in contested seats(0.19 pp) All 76nt 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. seats of the House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House 18 (of the 36) seats of the Senate 19 December 1931 Joseph Lyons 1932-01 (cropped).jpg 130 130 170 5 0 center Joseph Lyons 7 May 1931 United Australia Party Wilmot (Tas.) New party 33Gabb 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. 1,155,809 14 36.4% New party 24 seats Earle Page 1931 (cropped).jpg 140 130 170 5 3 center Earle Page 5 April 1921 Country Party of Australia (1920) Cowper (NSW) 10 seats 16 388,544 6 12.2% 1.9% 10 seats Portrait of James H. Scullin (cropped).jpg 130 130 170 0 0 center James Scullin 26 April 1928 Australian Labor Party Yarra (Vic.) 46 seats 15 + NTnt 860,260 21 27.1% 21.7% 36 seats Jack Lang 1930 03 (cropped).jpg 130 130 170 0 0 center Jack Lang N/A Lang Labor Lang Labor N/A New party 4 335,309 1 10.6% 10.6% 5 seats United Australia Party ECSA N/A 31 July 1923 Emergency Committee emergency committee N/A New party 5Gabb 174,288 5 5.5% New party 0 seats Independent politicians in Australia N/A N/A Independent politicians in Australia N/A 260,786 6% –0.02 4 seats 3 seats 1 Prime Minister James Scullin Australian Labor Party Subsequent Prime Minister Joseph Lyons United Australia Party 1931_Australian_federal_election.svg Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory.thumb|Red-baiting poster from the 1931 election. The 1931 Australian federal election was held on 19 December 1931 to elect all 75 seats in the House of Representatives and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate. 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 2025, this is the last time that a sitting government at a 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.Page, Sir Earle Christmas (1880–1961), Australian Dictionary of Biography Labor spent the next 10 years in opposition; it did not return to power until 1941. Issues 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, like the Nationalists, was a mostly upper- and middle-class conservative party. However, the presence of Lyons and other 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. Combined with the Labor defections to the UAP, this made 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 (first preference) 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 The UAP emerged with 38 seats in the House of Representatives (including four members elected as candidates of the South Australian Emergency Committee). The Country Party won 17 seats (including the remaining Emergency Committee candidate, Archie Cameron), while the official Labor Party won 14 seats and Lang Labor won 4 seats.Souter Gavin Acts of Parliament : A Narrative History of the Senate and House of Representatives 1988 Melbourne University Press Carlton, Vic. 0522843670 287-288 House of Representatives Results of the Australian federal election, 1931 (House of Representatives) +House of Representatives (IRV) – Turnout: 95.04% (CV) File:1931 Australian House.svg Party First preference vote Seats Votes % Swing (pp percentage points) Seats Change United Australia Party UAP 1,155,809 36.4 +36.4 33Gabb 15 Country CP 388,544 12.2 +1.93 16 6 Labor ALP 860,260 27.1 –21.74 16Including Northern Territory 22 Emergency Committee ECSA 174,288 5.5 +5.5 5Gabb 6 Labor (NSW) L (NSW) 335,309 10.6 +10.6 4 1 Communist CPA 8,511 0.3 +0.3 0 0 Independent 260,786 6 –0.02 3 1 Total 3,287,992 100.00 76 Valid votes 3,173,515 96.52 rowspan=4 rowspan=4 rowspan=4 Informal ballots 114,477 3.5 Turnout 3,287,992 90 Registered voters 3,652,196 First preference vote #ddd 600px 410px United Australia #00008B 36.4 Labor Australian Labor Party 27.1 Country National Party of Australia 12.2 Labor (NSW) #E2725B 10.6 Independent Independent (politician) 6.0 Emergency Committee #00008B 5.5 Communist #AA0000 0.3 Parliament seats #ddd 600px 410px United Australia #00008B 43.4 Country National Party of Australia 21.1 Labor Australian Labor Party 19.7 Emergency Committee #00008B 6.6 Labor (NSW) #E2725B 5.3 Independent Independent (politician) 3.9 Results by electorate ConstituencyTotalseatsSeats wonUAPCPALP ECSAL (NSW)IndependentNew South Wales281383040Victoria201244000Queensland10225001South Australia7 001501Western Australia5121001Tasmania55 0 0 0 0 0 Northern Territory100 10 0 0 Total76331615543 Senate + Senate (P BV) — 1931–34—Turnout 95.02% (CV) — Informal 9.60%alt=|center|300x300px Party First preference 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 ConstituencyTotalseatsSeats wonUAPCPALP New South Wales32 1 0Victoria3300Queensland3003South Australia3210Western Australia3210Tasmania3300Total181233 Seats changing hands Seat 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 CommitteeGabb  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  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  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  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. Government formation Lyons government After the election, Lyons offered three minor cabinet portfolios to the Country Party, but this offer was rejected by Country Party leader Earle Page and Lyons refused to entertain the full coalition Page sought along the lines of the Bruce–Page government of the 1920s. Lyons formed a UAP-only ministry on 6 January 1932, with Page publicly promising the cooperation of the Country Party in parliament.Souter 1988 290-291 Lyons and the UAP initially expected to hold a narrow working majority in the House of Representatives, with 38 out of 75 voting members. However, UAP MP John Clasby died in office in January 1932, less than a month after the election. Lang Labor candidate Eddie Ward won the resulting 1932 East Sydney by-election, with the government reduced to a minority after the election of George Mackay as speaker.Souter 1988 290 See also Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1931 Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1931–1934 Members of the Australian Senate, 1932–1935 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 1919 Further reading 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) Category:Federal elections in Australia Category:1931 elections in Australia Category:December 1931 in Australia