New South Wales state election, 1938

New South Wales state election, 1938

1935 ← 26 March 1938 (1938-03-26) → 1941

All 90 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.   First party Second party   Leader Bertram Stevens Jack Lang Party UAP/Country coalition Labor Leader since 5 April 1932 31 July 1923 Leader's seat Croydon Auburn Last election 61 seats 29 seats Seats won 59 seats 28 seats Seat change 2 1 Percentage 49.6% 34.8% Swing 3.6 7.6

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.

The result of the election was:

• United Australia Party 37 seats
• Country Party 22 seats
• Australian Labor Party 28 seats
• Industrial Labor Party 2 seats
• Independent 1 seat.

The UAP/Country Party coalition of Bertram Stevens/Michael Bruxner had a majority of 28 (down 2). Stevens continued as Premier until 5 August 1939 when he was deposed by his party and replaced by Alexander Mair.

Labor's continued poor showing in this election was seen as evidence of Jack Lang (Australian politician)|Jack Lang's inability to appeal to the middle ground of the electorate. As a result moves to dispose Lang intensified. The Industrial Labor Party led by Lang rival Bob Heffron was re-absorbed into the ALP on 26 August 1939 and Lang was replaced as party leader by William McKell on 5 September 1939.

During this parliament the ALP and Industrial Labor each won 2 by-elections from the UAP. This reduced the Government's majority to 20 when the parliament was dissolved.

Key dates

Date	Event
24 February 1938	The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.
4 March 1938	Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon.
26 March 1938	Polling day.
26 April 1938	The writs were returned and the results formally declared.
12 April 1938	Opening of 32st Parliament.

Results

New South Wales state election, 26 March 1938 Legislative Assembly << 1935 — 1941 >>
Enrolled Voters		1,607,833[1]
Votes Cast		1,183,257		Turnout	95.79	-0.27
Informal Votes		32,237		Informal	2.65	-0.39
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor	412,063	34.8	-7.6	28	- 1
	United Australia	424,275	35.8	+2.7	37	– 1
	Country	164,045	13.8	+0.9	22	-1
	Industrial Labor	43,735	3.7	+3.7	2	+2
	Independents	128,753	10.9	+6.4	1	+1
	Communist	10,386	0.9	-0.6	0	+0
Total		1,183,257			90

¹ There were 1,528,713 enrolled voters but 338,853 were enrolled in 19 electorates (six UAP, three Country and ten Labor) which were uncontested at the election.

References

• "Former members of the New South Wales Parliament, 1856-2006". New South Wales Parliament. http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/members.nsf/V3ListFormerMembers. Retrieved 2009-01-11. 
• Antony Green. "NSW Elections Analysis". New South Wales Parliament. http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/resources/nswelectionsanalysis/HomePage.htm. Retrieved 12 January 2009. 
• Nairn, Bede (1995)Jack Lang the 'Big Fella':Jack Lang and the Australian Labor Party 1891-1949

Melbourne University Press Melbourne ISBN 052284700

See also

Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, 1938–1941