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.
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All 62 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland 32 Assembly seats were needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 582,711  6.2% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 539,037 (92.51%) (  0.20 pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Legislative Assembly after the election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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
edit| 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
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| Party | Primary vote | Seats | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Swing (pp) | Seats | Change | |||||
| Labor | 250,943 | 47.17 | –6.26 | 43 | 3
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| Country | 120,469 | 22.65 | — | 14[a] | 1
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| United Australia | 74,328 | 13.97 | — | 4[a] | 1
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| Protestant Labour | 46,568 | 8.75 | +8.75 | 1 | 1
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| Social Credit | 27,758 | 5.22 | –1.80 | 0 | 
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| Communist | 8,510 | 1.60 | +0.28 | 0 |
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| Independent | 3,403 | 0.64 | –2.73 | 0 |
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| Total | 531,979 | 100.00 | 62 |
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| Invalid/blank votes | 7,058 | 1.31 | –0.43 | — | |||||
| Turnout | 539,037 | 92.51 | –0.19 | — | |||||
| Registered voters | 582,711 | — | — | ||||||
- 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.
Seats changing party representation
editThis table lists changes in party representation at the 1938 election.
| Seat | Incumbent member | Party | New member | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dalby | Godfrey Morgan | Country | Aubrey Slessar | Labor | ||
| East Toowoomba | James Kane | Labor | Herbert Yeates | Country | ||
| Kelvin Grove | Frank Waters | Labor | George Morris | Protestant Labor | ||
| Toowong | James Maxwell | United Australia | Harry Massey | Independent UAP | ||
| Wynnum | John Donnelly | Labor | Bill Dart | United Australia | ||
- Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ a b c d Seats previously held by members of the Country and Progressive National Party (CPNP).
References
edit- ^ Evans, Raymond (2007). A History of Queensland. Cambridge University Press. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-521-87692-6.
- ^ "In the Supreme Court of Queensland - The Election Acts 1915–1936". Queensland Government Gazette. 4 June 1938. p. 150:2012–2013.
- ^ The Ithaca Election Petition: Webb v Hanlon (1939) St. R. Qd. 90, heard by Blair CJ, Douglas J and Hart AJ (dissenting) LawCite records.
- ^ Webb v Hanlon [1939] HCA 8, (1939) 61 CLR 313 (31 March 1939), High Court (Australia).
- ^ "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 5 March 1938. p. 150:591.
- ^ "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 7 March 1938. p. 150:595.
- ^ "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 12 April 1938. p. 150:1371.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 11 July 1938. p. 151:109.
- ^ Hughes, CA; Graham, BD (1974). Voting for the Queensland legislative assembly, 1890–1964 (PDF). Australia National University (ANU). pp. 178–191.
External links
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