1938 New South Wales state election

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1938 New South Wales state election
Flag of New South Wales.svg
  1935 26 March 1938 (1938-03-26) 1941  

All 90 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
46 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
 First partySecond party
  Bertram Stevens.jpg JackLang.jpg
Leader Bertram Stevens Jack Lang
Party UAP/Country coalition Labor
Leader since5 April 193231 July 1923
Leader's seat Croydon Auburn
Last election61 seats29 seats
Seats won5928
Seat changeDecrease2.svg2Decrease2.svg1
Percentage49.6%34.8%
SwingIncrease2.svg3.6Decrease2.svg7.6

New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1938.svg
Legislative Assembly after the election

Premier before election

Bertram Stevens
UAP/Country coalition

Elected Premier

Bertram Stevens
UAP/Country coalition

The 1938 New South Wales state election was held on 26 March 1938. This election was for all of the 90 seats in the 32nd New South Wales Legislative Assembly and was conducted in single member constituencies with compulsory preferential voting.

Contents

The result of the election was:

The UAP/Country Party coalition of Bertram Stevens and Michael Bruxner had a majority of 28 (down 2). Stevens continued as Premier until 5 August 1939 when he resigned after being censured by the Legislative Assembly, with 10 United Australia members crossing the floor. He was replaced as Premier by Alexander Mair.

Lang Labor reconciled with Labor in February 1936, [1] however Labor's primary vote continued to decline. [2] Labor's continued poor showing in this election was seen as evidence of Jack Lang's inability to appeal to the middle ground of the electorate. As a result, moves to dispose Lang intensified.[ citation needed ] The Industrial Labor Party led by Lang rival Bob Heffron was re-absorbed into the Labor on 26 August 1939 and Lang was replaced as party leader by William McKell on 5 September 1939. [1]

During this parliament Labor and Industrial Labor each won 2 by-elections from the United Australia Party. [3] This reduced the Government's majority to 20 when the parliament was dissolved.

Key dates

DateEvent
24 February 1938The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.
4 March 1938Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon.
26 March 1938Polling day.
13 April 1938 Third Stevens–Bruxner ministry sworn in.
26 April 1938The writs were returned and the results formally declared.
12 April 1938Opening of 32nd Parliament.

Results

New South Wales state election, 26 March 1938
Legislative Assembly
<< 19351941 >>

Enrolled voters1,607,833 [lower-alpha 1]
Votes cast1,183,257 Turnout 95.79–0.27
Informal votes32,237Informal2.65–0.39
Summary of votes by party
PartyPrimary votes %SwingSeatsChange
  United Australia 424,27535.86+2.7637– 1
  Labor 412,06334.82–7.6028–1
  Country 164,04513.86+0.9422–1
  Industrial Labor 43,7353.70+3.702+2
  Communist 10,3860.88–0.60±0
  Independents 128,75310.88+6.41+1
Total1,183,257  90 
Popular vote
United
35.86%
Labor
34.82%
Country
13.86%
Industrial Labor
3.7%
Independents
6.4%
Parliamentary seats
United
37
Labor
28
Country
22
Industrial Labor
2
Independents
1

Retiring members

Changing seats

Seats changing hands
Seat19351938
PartyMemberMemberParty
Botany   Labor Bob Heffron Bob Heffron [lower-alpha 2] Industrial Labor  
Corowa   Country Richard Ball [lower-alpha 3] Christopher Lethbridge Independent  
Granville   United Australia Claude Fleck Bill Lamb Labor  
Marrickville   Labor Carlo Lazzarini Carlo Lazzarini [lower-alpha 2] Industrial Labor  

The member for Woollahra, Sir Daniel Levy (United Australia), died in 1937. The resulting by-election was won by Harold Mason (Independent UAP) however he did not contest the election and the seat was regained by Vernon Treatt (United Australia).

See also

Notes

  1. A total of 19 electorates (six UAP, three Country, and ten Labor) were uncontested, representing 338,853 voters. [2]
  2. 1 2 Bob Heffron (Botany) and Carlo Lazzarini (Marrickville) were expelled from Labor in 1936 and formed the Industrial Labor Party.
  3. Richard Ball (Country) died and Christopher Lethbridge (Independent) won the resulting by-election, retaining the seat at this election.

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References

  1. 1 2 Nairn, Bede. "Lang, John Thomas (Jack) (1876–1975)". Australian Dictionary of Biography . National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN   1833-7538 . Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 Green, Antony. "1938 election totals". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales . Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  3. Green, Antony. "1938-1941 By elections". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales . Retrieved 25 May 2020.