 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
53 (of the 65) seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 1935 Victorian state election was held in the Australian state of Victoria on Saturday 2 March 1935 to elect 53 of the 65 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. 12 seats were uncontested.
At the 1932 state election, the United Australia Party won 31 seats, the United Country Party won 16 seats, and the Australian Labor Party won 14 seats. Since the election the UAP had lost two seats to the UCP in by-elections: Benambra on 15 October 1932, [1] and Gunbower on 1 May 1934. [2]
On 16 May 1933, the UAP member for Waranga, Ernest Coyle, resigned from that party and defected to the UCP. [3]
James Vinton Smith was unendorsed by the UAP at the time of the 1932 election, and won the seat of Oakleigh as an Independent, but was fully endorsed by the party at the 1935 election. [4]
At the end of the Parliament, the United Australia Party held 29 seats (down from 31), the United Country Party held 19 seats (up from 16), and the ALP held 14 seats (unchanged).
Victorian state election, 2 March 1935 [5] [6] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enrolled voters | 904,191 | |||||
| Votes cast | 853,470 | Turnout | 94.39 | +0.19 | ||
| Informal votes | 14,150 | Informal | 1.65 | +0.24 | ||
| Summary of votes by party | ||||||
| Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
| Labor | 318,390 | 37.93 | +2.79 | 17 | +1 | |
| United Australia | 303,626 | 36.17 | −3.95 | 25 | −4 | |
| United Country | 115,064 | 13.71 | +1.38 | 20 | +3 | |
| Communist | 9,301 | 1.11 | +0.97 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Independent | 92,939 | 11.08 | +1.37 | 3 | ±0 | |
| Total | 839,320 | 65 | ||||
Notes:
The United Australia Party and the United Country Party had entered the election as a Coalition. The coalition won a comfortable majority, winning a total 44 seats in the 65 seat assembly. UAP leader Sir Stanley Argyle was confirmed as Premier, and formed what was known as the National Ministry, which included three members of the Country Party (Albert Dunstan, John Allan and George Goudie).
On 5 March, rumours began to appear which suggested that the Country Party would demand a greater proportion of the ministry, including the Deputy Premiership, four of the eight full portfolios and at least one Honorary Minister, and it was suggested that they would challenge the UAP on the floor of the Assembly if this was not granted. [7]
On 15 March, the United Country Party overthrew leader Murray Bourchier, and replaced him with Albert Dunstan.
On 19 March, a joint conference of the Country Party's central council and the parliamentary party voted in a secret ballot to discontinue the party's association with Argyle's National Ministry, and Dunstan, Allan and Goudie resigned from Argyle's cabinet the next day. [8]
At 10.30pm on Thursday 28 March, after a spirited sixteen-hour debate, Dunstan moved a motion of no confidence against Argyle's government. With the support of the Country Party, the Labor Party and three independents, the motion was carried on division by 40 votes to 23. [9]
Argyle informed the Governor of Victoria, Lord Huntingfield, of his ministry's resignation on 29 March. The Governor sought a meeting with Dunstan, but postponed the decision to commission him as Premier until the following Tuesday (2 April), due to his doubts about Dunstan's ability to form a stable ministry with Labor support. [10] Dunstan was appointed Premier on 2 April 1935 and formed a minority Country Party government with Labor Party support in return for some legislative concessions.
John Cain was an Australian politician, who became the 34th premier of Victoria, and was the first Labor Party leader to win a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. He is the only premier of Victoria to date whose son has also served as premier.
Ian Macfarlan was the Deputy Leader of the Australian Liberal Party in the Australian state of Victoria during 1945. He was briefly commissioned as the 35th Premier of Victoria by the Governor and formed a government which brought about the end of the Dunstan Ministry.
John Allan was an Australian politician who served as the 29th Premier of Victoria. He was born near Lancefield, where his father was a farmer of Scottish origin, and educated at state schools. He took up wheat and dairy farming at Wyuna and was director of a butter factory at Kyabram. In 1892 he married Annie Stewart, with whom he had six children.
Edmond John "Ned" Hogan was an Australian politician who was the 30th Premier of Victoria. He was born in Wallace, Victoria, where his Irish-born parents were small farmers. After attending a Roman Catholic primary school, he became a farm worker and then a timber worker, and spent some time on the goldfields of Western Australia.
Sir Stanley Seymour Argyle KBE, MRCS, LRCP, was an Australian radiologist and politician. He served as premier of Victoria from 1932 to 1935 and was the state leader of the Nationalist Party and United Australia Party from 1930 until his death in 1940.
Sir Albert Arthur Dunstan, KCMG was an Australian politician who served as the 33rd premier of Victoria from 1935 to 1945, and previously as the 3rd deputy premier of Victoria for five days in March 1935. A member of the Country Party, now the National Party, his term as premier was the second-longest in the state's history and the longest of any third-party premier. He was the first person to hold the office of premier in its own right, and not an additional duty taken up by the Treasurer, Attorney-General or Chief Secretary.
Thomas Tuke Hollway was the 36th Premier of Victoria, and the first to be born in the 20th century. He held office from 1947 to 1950, and again for a short period in 1952. He was originally a member and the leader of the United Australia Party (UAP) in Victoria, and was the inaugural leader of the UAP's successor, the Victorian division of the Liberal Party, but split from the Liberals after a dispute over electoral reform issues.
The Victorian Farmers' Union (VFU) was an association of farmers and primary producers formed in 1914 in the Australian state of Victoria. Although initially formed as an "absolutely non-political" entity, the VFU became a political party in 1916, and nominated candidates for the 1917 state election and subsequent elections. In later years it used the names Victorian Country Party, then United Country Party and is now the National Party of Australia – Victoria. At the 1917 election, because the support for the VFU was concentrated in rural seats, it won four of the 11 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly it contested, gaining about 6% of the vote state-wide. In 1918 it also won its first seat in the federal parliament, after preferential voting was introduced. At the 1920 state election the VFU vote increased to 8% and the number of seats to 13, giving the VFU the balance of power in the state Legislative Assembly.
This is a list of members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1932 to 1935, as elected at the 1932 state election.
Thomas Tunnecliffe was an Australian politician. Representing the Australian Labor Party, he was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the electorates of West Melbourne (1903–1904), Eaglehawk (1907–1920) and Collingwood (1921–1947).
The 1950 Victorian state election was held in the Australian state of Victoria on Saturday 13 May 1950 to elect 65 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.
George Hamilton Lamb was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1935 until his death in 1943, representing the electorate of Lowan for the Country Party.
The 1943 Victorian state election was held in the Australian state of Victoria on Saturday 12 June 1943 to elect 65 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.
The 1940 Victorian state election was held in the Australian state of Victoria on Saturday 16 March 1940 to elect 44 of the 65 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.
The 1937 Victorian state election was held in the Australian state of Victoria on Saturday 2 October 1937 to elect 45 of the 65 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.
James Taylor Vinton Smith, was an Australian politician. He was the Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Oakleigh from 1932 to 1937, for the United Australia Party.
The 1932 Victorian state election was held in the Australian state of Victoria on Saturday 14 May 1932 to elect 44 of the 65 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The other 21 seats were uncontested.
Major Sir Thomas Karran Maltby was a politician in Victoria, Australia. He was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for nearly 32 years from 1929 to 1961, served in several ministries and was Speaker of the assembly from 1947 to 1950.
Clive Shields was an Australian politician. He was a United Australia Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1932 to 1940, representing the electorate of Castlemaine and Kyneton. He was Assistant Minister in Charge of Sustenance from 1933 to 1935 and briefly Minister for Agriculture in 1935 under Sir Stanley Argyle.
The Victorian Liberal Party, officially known as the Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division) and branded as Liberal Victoria, is the state division of the Liberal Party of Australia in Victoria. It was formed in 1944. It became the Liberal and Country Party (LCP) in 1949, and simplified its name to the Liberal Party in 1965.
