Queensland state election, 1938

Queensland state election, 1938
Queensland
2 April 1938 (1938-04-02)
All 62 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland
  First party Second party
 
Leader William Forgan Smith Ted Maher
Party Labor Country/UAP coalition
Leader since 27 May 1929 (1929-05-27) 15 July 1936
Leader's seat Mackay West Moreton
Last election 46 seats 16 seats
Seats won 44 seats 17 seats
Seat change Decrease2 Increase1
Percentage 47.17% 36.62%
Swing Decrease6.26 Increase2.82
Premier before election

William Forgan Smith
Labor

 Elected Premier

William Forgan Smith
Labor

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 2 April 1938 to elect the 62 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The Labor government of Premier William Forgan Smith was seeking a third term in office. During the previous term, the Country and United Australia parties had emerged from the united Country and Progressive National Party, which had represented conservative forces for over a decade.

The most notable feature of the election campaign was the Protestant Labor Party, established in 1937, which claimed that the Forgan Smith Ministry was disproportionately Catholic and made extravagant claims that three-quarters of all police and public servants in the State were Catholic.[1] Despite the campaign, Labor only lost one seat, Kelvin Grove, to the party.

The unsuccessful Protestant Labor candidate for Ithaca, George Webb, lodged a petition against the return of Labor member Ned Hanlon.[2] He was initially successful in the Supreme Court when the case was heard by Justice E.A. Douglas, who voided the election result on 12 October on the basis of a finding that two men who had acted improperly were Hanlon's agents, but Hanlon appealed to the Full Bench of the Supreme Court and on 16 December 1938, his appeal was allowed.[3] A further appeal by Webb to the High Court was refused leave on 31 March 1939.[4]

Key dates

Date Event
5 March 1938 The Parliament was dissolved.[5]
7 March 1938 Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.[6]
14 March 1938 Close of nominations.
2 April 1938 Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
12 April 1938 The Forgan Smith Ministry was re-sworn in.[7]
16 April 1938 The poll was retaken in Gregory.[8]
30 April 1938 The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
9 August 1938 Parliament resumed for business.[9]

Results

Queensland state election, 2 April 1938[10]
Legislative Assembly
<< 1935 — 1941 >>

Enrolled voters 582,711[1]
Votes cast 539,037 Turnout 92.51% –0.19
Informal votes 7,058 Informal 1.31% –0.43
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 250,943 47.17% –6.26 44 – 2
  Country 120,469 22.65% · 13 ·
  United Australia 74,328 13.97% · 4 ·
  Protestant Labor 46,568 8.75% +8.75% 1 + 1
  Social Credit 27,758 5.22% –1.80% 0 ± 0
  Communist 8,510 1.60% +0.28 0 ± 0
  Independent 3,403 0.64% –2.73 0 ± 0
Total 531,979     62  
1 606,559 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 3 seats were uncontested—2 Labor seats (4 less than in 1935) representing 15,007 enrolled voters and one Country seat (one less than in 1935) representing 8,841 enrolled voters.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Evans, Raymond (2007). A History of Queensland. Cambridge University Press. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-521-87692-6.
  2. ↑ "In the Supreme Court of Queensland - The Election Acts 1915–1936". Queensland Government Gazette. 4 June 1938. p. 150:2012–2013.
  3. ↑ The Ithaca Election Petition: Webb v Hanlon (1939) St. R. Qd. 90, heard by Blair CJ, Douglas J and Hart AJ (dissenting).
  4. ↑ Webb v Hanlon (1939) 61 CLR 313.
  5. ↑ Queensland Government Gazette. 5 March 1938. p. 150:591. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ↑ Queensland Government Gazette. 7 March 1938. p. 150:595. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ↑ Queensland Government Gazette. 12 April 1938. p. 150:1371. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. ↑ "Order in Council". Queensland Government Gazette. 7 May 1938. p. 150:1585. The cause of the delayed poll was that a poll could not be held at Arrabury.
  9. ↑ Queensland Government Gazette. 11 July 1938. p. 151:109. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. ↑ Australian Government and Politics Database. "Parliament of Queensland, Assembly election, 11 May 1935". Retrieved 23 December 2009.
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