1934 Australian federal election

1934 Australian federal election

15 September 1934
All 74 seats of the Australian House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House 18 (of the 36) seats of the Australian Senate
First party Second party   x150px x150px Leader Joseph Lyons James Scullin Party United Australia Labor Leader since 7 May 1931 26 April 1928 Leader's seat Wilmot (Tas.) Yarra (Vic.) Last election 39 seats 14 seats Seats won 33 seats 18 seats Seat change 6 4 Percentage 53.50% 46.50% Swing 5.00% 5.00%   Third party Fourth party   x150px x150px Leader Earle Page Jack Lang Party Country Labor (NSW) Leader since 5 April 1921 31 July 1923 Leader's seat Cowper (NSW) Did not run Last election 16 seats 4 seats Seats won 14 seats 9 seats Seat change 2 5 Percentage 12.61% 14.37% Swing 0.36% 3.80%
300px Popular vote by state with graphs indicating the number of seats won. As this is an IRV election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote by state but instead via results in each electorate.
Prime Minister before election Joseph Lyons United Australia Subsequent Prime Minister Joseph Lyons United Australia

The 1934 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 15 September 1934. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent United Australia Party led by Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons formed a minority government, with 33 out of 74 seats in the House.

The opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) led by James Scullin saw its share of the primary vote fall to an even lower number than in the 1931 election, due to the Lang Labor split. However, it was able to pick up an extra four seats on preferences and therefore improve on its position.

Almost two months after the election, the UAP entered into a coalition with the Country Party, led by Earle Page.

Future Prime Ministers Robert Menzies and John McEwen both entered parliament at this election.

Results

House of Representatives

See also: Results of the Australian federal election, 1934 (House of Representatives)

300x300px

House of Reps (IRV) — 1934–37—Turnout 95.17% (CV) — Informal 3.44%

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change	Note
	United Australia Party	1,170,978	32.97	−3.13	28	−6
	Australian Labor Party	952,251	26.81	−0.28	18	+4	(1 elected unopposed)
	Australian Labor Party (NSW)	510,480	14.37	+3.80	9	+5
	Country Party	447,968	12.61	+0.36	14	−2
	Social Credit Party	166,589	4.69	*	0	0
	Liberal & Country League (SA)	142,583	4.01	*	5	+5
	Communist Party of Australia	47,499	1.34		0	0
	Independents	113,037	3.18	−5.04	0	−1
	Total	3,551,385			74	−1

The member for Northern Territory, Adair Blain (independent), had voting rights only for issues affecting the Territory, and so is not included in this table.

Popular vote
United Australia			33.17%
Labor			26.81%
Labor (NSW)			14.37%
Country			12.61%
Social Credit			4.69%
LCL			4.01%
Independent			3.18%
Communist			1.34%

Parliament seats
Coalition			56.76%
Labor			24.32%
Labor (NSW)			12.16%
LCL			6.76%

Senate

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Senate (P BV) — 1934–37—Turnout 95.03% (CV) — Informal 11.35%

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held	Change
	Australian Labor Party	923,151	28.08	−1.18	0	3	−7
	United Australia Party	679,422	20.66	−4.59	10	26	+5
	UAP/Country (Joint Ticket)	599,723	18.24	−11.92	6
	Country Party	470,283	14.30	*	2	7	+2
	Australian Labor Party (NSW)	435,045	13.23	+1.12	0	0	0
	Social Credit Party	91,596	2.79	*	0	0	0
	Communist Party of Australia	73,506	2.24	+1.30	0	0	0
	Independents	15,105	0.46	−1.81	0	0	0
	Total	3,287,831			18	36

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1934				Swing	Post-1934
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Barker, SA		United Australia	Malcolm Cameron	N/A	6.4	18.7	Archie Cameron	Country
Bass, Tas		United Australia	Allan Guy	14.5	14.8	0.3	Claude Barnard	Labor
Batman, Vic		United Australia	Samuel Dennis	14.5	14.8	0.3	Frank Brennan	Labor
Corangamite, Vic		Country	William Gibson	N/A	7.2	15.7	Geoffrey Street	United Australia
Darling, NSW		Labor	Arthur Blakeley	N/A	63.5	13.5	Joe Clark	Labor (NSW)
Denison, Tas		United Australia	Arthur Hutchin	5.0	5.3	0.3	Gerald Mahoney	Labor
Franklin, Tas		United Australia	Archibald Blacklow	13.0	15.4	2.4	Charles Frost	Labor
Fremantle, WA		United Australia	William Watson	5.5	6.6	1.1	John Curtin	Labor
Maribyrnong, Vic		United Australia	James Fenton	0.4	7.1	6.7	Arthur Drakeford	Labor
Northern Territory, NT		Labor	H. G. Nelson	N/A	7.5	1.8	Adair Blain	Independent
Werriwa, NSW		Country	Walter McNicoll	1.7	3.2	2.5	Bert Lazzarini	Labor (NSW)

• Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.

See also

• Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1934
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1934–1937
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1935–1938

References

• University of WA Archived 18 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine election results in Australia since 1890
• Two-party-preferred vote since 1919