Australian federal election, 1931

Australian federal election, 1931

19 December 1931

All 75 seats of the Australian House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House 18 (of the 36) seats of the Australian Senate   First party Second party Third party   Leader Joseph Lyons James Scullin Jack Lang Party UAP/Country coalition Labor Labor (NSW) Leader since 7 May 1931 26 April 1928 31 July 1923 Leader's seat Wilmot Yarra Did not run Last election 24 seats 46 seats new party Seats won 56 seats 14 seats 4 seats Seat change 32 32 4 Percentage 58.50% 41.50% Swing 15.20 15.20

Prime Minister before election James Scullin Labor Elected Prime Minister Joseph Lyons UAP/Country coalition

Federal elections were held in Australia 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 incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister of Australia James Scullin was defeated by the newly formed opposition United Australia Party--a merger of the Nationalist Party of Australia with several Labor dissidents led by Joseph Lyons, who became leader of the merged party. The UAP fought the election in the traditional non-Labor Coalition with the Country Party, led by Earle Page, but won enough seats to form an exclusively UAP government. Scullin for the first time in Australian politics made heavy use of the radio to reach voters.^[1] It was not nearly enough to stave off defeat, however; the two wings of the Labor Party were reduced to only 18 seats between them. To date, it is the last time that a sitting government in Australia has been denied a second term.

Results

Independent: Littleton Groom (Darling Downs, Qld)

Seats changing hands

• Members in italics did not contest their seat at this election.

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. Lang Labor also split from the Labor Party. The result was Labor's primary vote dropping to its lowest level since 1901. The two Labor factions won only 18 seats between them.

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

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)

References

• University of WA election results in Australia since 1890
• Two-party-preferred vote since 1919

Elections and referendums in Australia Federal elections 1901 1903 1906 1910 1913 1914 1917 1919 1922 1925 1928 1929 1931 1934 1937 1940 1943 1946 1949 1951 1953 1954 1955 1958 1961 1963 1964 1966 1967 1969 1970 1972 1974 1975 1977 1980 1983 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 next by-elections Referendums 1906 1910 1911 1913 1916 1917 1919 1926 1928 1937 1944 1946 1948 1951 1967 1973 1974 1977 1984 1988 1999 Elections in: Australian Capital Territory New South Wales Northern Territory Queensland South Australia Tasmania Victoria Western Australia