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1937 Australian federal election

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1937 Australian federal election
← 1934
23 October 1937
1940 →
All 75[a] seats of the House of Representatives
38 seats were needed for a majority in the House
19 (of the 36) seats of the Senate
Registered4,080,038 Increase4.54%
Turnout3,699,269 (96.13%)[b]
(Increase0.96 pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader John Curtin Joseph Lyons Earle Page
Party Labor United Australia Country
Leader since 1 October 1935 7 May 1931 5 April 1921
Leader's seat Fremantle (WA) Wilmot (Tas.) Cowper (NSW)
Last election 18 seats 28 seats 14 seats
Seats won 29 28 15
Seat change Increase11 Steady0 Increase1
Primary vote 1,555,737 1,214,526 560,279
Percentage 43.17% 33.71% 15.55%
Swing Increase 16.36 Increase 0.73 Increase 2.93
Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory.
Prime Minister before election

Joseph Lyons
UAP/Country coalition

 Subsequent Prime Minister

Joseph Lyons
UAP/Country coalition

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

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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.[1] The coalition proved stable throughout the parliamentary term, with Country Party leader Earle Page becoming de facto deputy prime minister.[2]

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.[3] 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.[4]

Campaign

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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.[5]

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,[6] 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.[7]

Results

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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,[8] 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.[9]

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.[10] 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".[11]

House of Representatives

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  Labor: 29 seats
  United Australia: 28 seats
  Country: 15 seats
  Independent: 2 seats
House of Reps (IRV) — 1937–40—Turnout 96.13% (CV) — Informal 2.59%
Party First preference votes % Swing Seats Change
  UAP–Country coalition 1,774,805 49.26 –1.01 43 –4
  United Australia  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 3[c] +2
  Total 3,603,223     75
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
  UAP–Country coalition Win 50.60 −2.90 43 +1
  Labor 49.40 +2.90 29 +11

Notes

First preference vote
Labor
 
 43.17%
United Australia
 
 33.17%
Country
 
 15.55%
Independent
 
 5.56%
Social Credit
 
 2.20%
Communist
 
 0.48%
Two-party-preferred vote
Coalition
 
 50.60%
Labor
 
 49.40%
Parliament seats
Coalition
 
 58.11%
Labor
 
 38.19%
Independent
 
 2.70%

Senate

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Senate (P BV) — 1937–40—Turnout 94.75% (CV) — Informal 9.56%
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

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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

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Notes

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  1. ↑ 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.
  2. ↑ Turnout in contested seats
  3. ↑ Including Northern Territory

References

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  1. ↑ Souter, Gavin (1988). Acts of Parliament : A Narrative History of the Senate and House of Representatives. Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press. p. 299. ISBN 0522843670.
  2. ↑ Souter 1988, p. 300.
  3. ↑ Souter 1988, p. 301.
  4. ↑ Souter 1988, p. 302.
  5. ↑ Bird, David (2008). J. A. Lyons, The Tame Tasmanian: Appeasement and Rearmament in Australia, 1932–39. Australian Scholarly Publishing. p. 204. ISBN 9781740971577.
  6. ↑ Ross, Lloyd (1977). John Curtin. Macmillan. p. 170. ISBN 0-522-84734-X.
  7. ↑ Bird 2008, p. 206.
  8. ↑ Souter 1988, p. 308.
  9. ↑ "Badman, Albert Oliver (1885–1977)". The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Vol. 2. Melbourne University Press. 2004.
  10. ↑ Connor, John (2011). Anzac and Empire: George Foster Pearce and the Foundations of Australian Defence. Cambridge University Press. pp. 165–166.
  11. ↑ D, Lowe (2012). "Spender, Sir Percy Claude (1897–1989)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
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