Western Australian state election, 1933
Encyclopedia
Elections were held in the state
of Western Australia
on 8 April 1933 to elect all 50 members to the Legislative Assembly
. The one-term Nationalist
-Country
coalition government, led by Premier
Sir James Mitchell
, was defeated by the Labor Party
, led by Opposition Leader
Philip Collier
.
The election occurred at the height of the Great Depression
, and was notable for four reasons. Firstly, it is, to date, the only Western Australian election at which a sitting Premier has been defeated in his own seat, with Sir James Mitchell
losing his Northam
seat to Albert Hawke
. It has also been the only election (apart from the ministerial by-elections in December 1901) where over half a Ministry have been defeated at an election—apart from Mitchell, Hubert Parker
, John Scaddan
and John Lindsay all lost their parliamentary seats. Secondly, three future Premiers, Frank Wise
(1943–1945), Albert Hawke
(1953–1959) and John Tonkin
(1971–1974), were elected to Parliament on the same day. Thirdly, it was held on the same day as the secession referendum
, which was passed by 68% of voters despite their choice of a party to lead the State who had persistently opposed secession. Finally, the Nationalists fell to third place at the election in terms of seats, meaning that the Country Party
, who had more seats in parliament, were able to name the Opposition Leader until Labor's eventual defeat in the 1947 election
. This result was in part possible due to the malapportionment in the Western Australian parliament which created more seats in mining areas, where the Labor Party was dominant, and in agricultural areas, where the Country Party was dominant.
Two changes of affiliation had occurred in the previous term, which resulted in the Country Party increasing their parliamentary strength in the Assembly to 12 members. Arnold Piesse, who as an independent had defeated former Country Party leader Alec Thomson
in his Katanning
seat at the 1930 election, joined the Country Party, as did Richard Sampson, the long-serving member for Swan
who had been elected a Nationalist.
At the time of the election, the seat of West Perth
was vacant. Its previous member, former Attorney-General
and Nationalist MLA Thomas Davy, died suddenly on 18 February 1933, aged 42, while playing bridge with his wife and two friends at the Savoy Hotel. He was succeeded at the election by Robert Ross McDonald, who went on to lead the Nationalist Party from 1938 and was instrumental in forming the Western Australian branch of the Liberal Party
in 1945.
was won by fellow Nationalist Edward Brockman, and in Mount Marshall
, Independent candidate Frederick Warner defeated Country member and Minister John Lindsay. (Warner went on to join the Country Party.) The only loss to Labor was the seat of Pilbara, which had been vacated by retiring member Alfred Lamond, and was won by the Nationalists' Frank Welsh
.
|}
States and territories of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a union of six states and various territories. The Australian mainland is made up of five states and three territories, with the sixth state of Tasmania being made up of islands. In addition there are six island territories, known as external territories, and a...
of Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
on 8 April 1933 to elect all 50 members to the Legislative Assembly
Western Australian Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Perth....
. The one-term Nationalist
Nationalist Party of Australia
The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...
-Country
National Party of Western Australia
The National Party of Western Australia is a political party in Western Australia. It is affiliated with the National Party of Australia but maintains a separate structure and identity....
coalition government, led by Premier
Premier of Western Australia
The Premier of Western Australia is the head of the executive government in the Australian State of Western Australia. The Premier has similar functions in Western Australia to those performed by the Prime Minister of Australia at the national level, subject to the different Constitutions...
Sir James Mitchell
James Mitchell (Australian politician)
Sir James Mitchell GCMG was the 13th Premier of Western Australia, serving on two occasions, the Lieutenant-Governor of Western Australia for 15 years and the 22nd Governor of Western Australia....
, was defeated by the Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
, led by Opposition Leader
Leader of the Opposition (Western Australia)
The Leader of the Opposition in Western Australia is the leader of the largest minority political party or coalition of parties in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia. By convention, he or she is generally a member of the Legislative Assembly...
Philip Collier
Philip Collier
Philip Collier was Premier of Western Australia for nine years, the longest ever term for an Australian Labor Party premier....
.
The election occurred at the height of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, and was notable for four reasons. Firstly, it is, to date, the only Western Australian election at which a sitting Premier has been defeated in his own seat, with Sir James Mitchell
James Mitchell (Australian politician)
Sir James Mitchell GCMG was the 13th Premier of Western Australia, serving on two occasions, the Lieutenant-Governor of Western Australia for 15 years and the 22nd Governor of Western Australia....
losing his Northam
Electoral district of Northam
Northam was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia from 1890 to 1974.The district was based on the town of Northam lying to the east of Perth. It was one of the original 30 seats contested at the 1890 state election. The district was abolished...
seat to Albert Hawke
Albert Hawke
Albert Redvers George Hawke was the 18th Premier of Western Australia.Hawke was born to James Renfrey Hawke and Eliza Ann Blinman Pascoe, both of Cornish descent, in Kapunda, South Australia...
. It has also been the only election (apart from the ministerial by-elections in December 1901) where over half a Ministry have been defeated at an election—apart from Mitchell, Hubert Parker
Hubert Parker
Hubert Stanley Wyborn Parker DSO VD was an Australian politician who represented the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of North-East Fremantle from 1930 until 1933, and one of the three Legislative Council seats for Metropolitan-Suburban Province from 1934 until 1954...
, John Scaddan
John Scaddan
John Scaddan, CMG , popularly known as "Happy Jack", was Premier of Western Australia from 7 October 1911 until 27 July 1916.- Biography :...
and John Lindsay all lost their parliamentary seats. Secondly, three future Premiers, Frank Wise
Frank Wise
Frank Joseph Scott Wise AO was an Australian Labor Party politician and the 16th Premier of Western Australia. He took office on 31 July 1945 in the closing stages of the Second World War, following the resignation of his predecessor due to ill health...
(1943–1945), Albert Hawke
Albert Hawke
Albert Redvers George Hawke was the 18th Premier of Western Australia.Hawke was born to James Renfrey Hawke and Eliza Ann Blinman Pascoe, both of Cornish descent, in Kapunda, South Australia...
(1953–1959) and John Tonkin
John Tonkin
John Trezise Tonkin AC , popularly known as "Honest John", was the 20th Premier of Western Australia , taking power after the almost 12 year term of Liberal Sir David Brand....
(1971–1974), were elected to Parliament on the same day. Thirdly, it was held on the same day as the secession referendum
Secessionism in Western Australia
Secessionism has been a recurring feature of Western Australia's political landscape since shortly after European settlement in 1829. The idea of self governance or secession has often been discussed through local newspaper articles and editorials and on a number of occasions has surfaced as very...
, which was passed by 68% of voters despite their choice of a party to lead the State who had persistently opposed secession. Finally, the Nationalists fell to third place at the election in terms of seats, meaning that the Country Party
National Party of Western Australia
The National Party of Western Australia is a political party in Western Australia. It is affiliated with the National Party of Australia but maintains a separate structure and identity....
, who had more seats in parliament, were able to name the Opposition Leader until Labor's eventual defeat in the 1947 election
Western Australian state election, 1947
Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 15 March 1947 to elect all 50 members to the Legislative Assembly. The result was a hung parliament—the four-term Labor government, led by Premier Frank Wise, was defeated with a swing of approximately 7%, but the Liberal-Country Party...
. This result was in part possible due to the malapportionment in the Western Australian parliament which created more seats in mining areas, where the Labor Party was dominant, and in agricultural areas, where the Country Party was dominant.
Two changes of affiliation had occurred in the previous term, which resulted in the Country Party increasing their parliamentary strength in the Assembly to 12 members. Arnold Piesse, who as an independent had defeated former Country Party leader Alec Thomson
Alec Thomson
Alexander Thomson , known as Alec Thomson, was an Australian politician, and a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1914 until 1930 representing the seat of Katanning, and a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council representing the South Province from 1931 until...
in his Katanning
Electoral district of Katanning
Katanning was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia from 1904 to 1989.The district was based around the town of Katanning in the southern part of the state...
seat at the 1930 election, joined the Country Party, as did Richard Sampson, the long-serving member for Swan
Electoral district of Swan
Swan was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia from 1890 to 1950 and again from 1962 to 1983....
who had been elected a Nationalist.
Retiring members
- Edwin CorboyEdwin CorboyEdwin Wilkie "Ted" Corboy was an Australian politician. From 1918 until 2010 Corboy held the record as the youngest ever Australian Member of Parliament.-Early life:...
(Labor, Yilgarn-CoolgardieElectoral district of Yilgarn-CoolgardieYilgarn-Coolgardie was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia from 1930 to 1950.Located in the Goldfields region, the district was an amalgamation of the former districts of Yilgarn and Coolgardie. Created for the 1930 state election, its...
) - Alfred Lamond (Labor, Pilbara)
- Henry Brown (Country, PingellyElectoral district of PingellyPingelly was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia from 1911 to 1950.The district was located in the Western Australia's Wheatbelt region, based on the town of Pingelly. Though won by the Liberal member for Beverley at its first contest at...
)
At the time of the election, the seat of West Perth
Electoral district of West Perth
The Electoral district of West Perth was a Legislative Assembly electorate in the state of Western Australia. The district was named for its location immediately to the west of the central business district of Perth....
was vacant. Its previous member, former Attorney-General
Attorney-General of Western Australia
The Attorney-General of Western Australia is the member of the Government of Western Australia responsible for maintenance and improvement of Western Australia's system of law and justice. Before the advent of representative government in 1870, the title was Advocate-General of Western Australia...
and Nationalist MLA Thomas Davy, died suddenly on 18 February 1933, aged 42, while playing bridge with his wife and two friends at the Savoy Hotel. He was succeeded at the election by Robert Ross McDonald, who went on to lead the Nationalist Party from 1938 and was instrumental in forming the Western Australian branch of the Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
in 1945.
Results
At the election, 10 sitting members were defeated—nine Nationalists and one Country member. 8 of these seats were won by Labor, while SussexElectoral district of Sussex
Sussex was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia from 1890 to 1950.The district was based in south-western Western Australia, including areas such as Busselton and Margaret River, and was named for the Sussex land district which formed its...
was won by fellow Nationalist Edward Brockman, and in Mount Marshall
Electoral district of Mount Marshall
Mount Marshall was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia from 1930 to 1989.-History:The seat was created under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1929 and was first contested in the 1930 state election...
, Independent candidate Frederick Warner defeated Country member and Minister John Lindsay. (Warner went on to join the Country Party.) The only loss to Labor was the seat of Pilbara, which had been vacated by retiring member Alfred Lamond, and was won by the Nationalists' Frank Welsh
Frank Welsh (politician)
Frank Robert Welsh was an Australian politician who represented the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Pilbara from 1933 until 1939, and one of the three Legislative Council seats for North Province from 1940 until 1954...
.
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- 237,197 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 9 of the 50 seats were uncontested—6 Labor seats representing 20,069 enrolled voters, 1 Nationalist seat representing 4,139 voters and 2 Country seats representing 7,677 voters.
See also
- Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1930–1933Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1930–1933This is a list of members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly between the 1930 election and the 1933 election, together known as the 14th Parliament. It took place under radically altered boundaries as enacted within the Redistribution of Seats Act 1929, whose effect had been exaggerated...
- Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1933–1936Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1933–1936This is a list of members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly between the 1933 election and the 1936 election, together known as the 15th Parliament.-Notes:...
- Second Mitchell MinistrySecond Mitchell MinistryThe Second Mitchell Ministry was the 17th Ministry of the Government of Western Australia and was led by Nationalist Premier Sir James Mitchell. It succeeded the First Collier Ministry on 23 April 1930, following the defeat of the Labor government at the 1930 election on 26 March.The ministry...
- Second Collier MinistrySecond Collier MinistryThe Second Collier Ministry was the 18th Ministry of the Government of Western Australia and was led by Labor Premier Philip Collier. It succeeded the Second Mitchell Ministry on 24 April 1933, following the defeat of the Nationalist government at the 1933 election on 8 April.The ministry was...