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 coalition, led by the Liberal Party leader Ross McLarty, won exactly half of the seats, and needed the support of the Independent members Harry Shearn and William Read to obtain a majority in the Assembly.

The election was the Liberal Party's first major showing since its formation in 1944-1945 out of the former Nationalist Party. Coincidental with this, in 1944, was the significant change in the fortunes of the Country Party when the Primary Producers' Association, of which the Party had been the political wing, passed a motion during negotiations with the Wheatgrowers' Union deleting the rule which authorised the Party's existence and its use of PPA branches and funds for party purposes. A new organisation was hastily set up by the Opposition Leader Arthur Watts and the member for Pingelly, Harry Seward, who were very active in setting up branches to endorse local candidates and obtaining donations on which to run the 1947 campaign. This was the start of a significant decline in the Country Party's fortunes over the ensuing decades.

Results

Australian elections/Title row
title = Western Australian state election, 15 March 1947
house = Legislative Assembly
series = Western Australian state election
back = 1943
forward = 1950
enrolled = 194,270ref label|cont|1|1
total_votes = 166,904
turnout % = 85.91%
turnout chg = +10.99%
informal = 3,415
informal % = 2.05%
informal chg = –0.43%Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Labor
votes = 64,377
votes % = 39.38%
votes chg = –3.90%
seats = 23
seats chg = – 7Australian elections/Party summary
government = yes
party_id = Liberal
votes = 57,621
votes % = 35.24%
votes chg = +10.96%
seats = 13
seats chg = + 6Australian elections/Party summary
government = yes
party_id = Nationals
party = Country
votes = 26,416
votes % = 16.16%
votes chg = +3.74%
seats = 12
seats chg = + 2Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Nationalist
party = Ind. Nat.ref label|IndNat|2|2
votes = 2,321
votes % = 1.42%
votes chg =
seats = 1
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Communist
votes = 1,641
votes % = 1.00%
votes chg = +0.60%
seats = 0
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Progressive
party = Progressive
votes = 701
votes % = 0.48%
votes chg = +0.48%
seats = 0
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Independent
votes = 10,324
votes % = 6.31%
votes chg = –4.07%
seats = 1
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Total row
total_votes = 163,489
total_seats = 50

:note label|cont|1|1 297,089 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 20 seats (40% of the total) were uncontested—15 Labor seats (four more than 1943) representing 71,732 enrolled voters, 2 Liberal seats (one more than the Nationalists in 1943) representing 12,765 voters, 2 Country seats representing 8,678 voters, and one Independent Nationalist seat representing 9,644 voters. :note label|IndNat|2|2 The figure for the Independent Nationalist label is likely to be artificially low as the successful candidate for Maylands, Harry Shearn, won unopposed. He won the seat under the same label with 4,966 votes in 1939, 4,342 votes in 1943 and 5,060 votes in 1950.

ee also

* Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1943–1947
* Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1947–1950

References