- New South Wales state election, 1947
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New South Wales state election, 1947 1944 ← 3 May 1947 → 1950 All 90 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. First party Second party Leader James McGirr Vernon Treatt Party Labor Liberal/Country coalition Leader since 6 February 1947 20 March 1946 Leader's seat Bankstown Woollahra Last election 56 seats 26 seats Seats won 52 seats 33 seats Seat change 4
7
Percentage 45.95% 39.82% Swing 0.75
4.22
Premier before election
Elected Premier
The 1947 New South Wales state election was held on 3 May 1947. It was conducted in single member constituencies with compulsory preferential voting and was held on boundaries created at a 1940 redistribution. The election was for all of the 90 seats in the Legislative Assembly.
Contents
Issues
At the beginning of 1947, Labor had been in power for 6 years under the premiership of William McKell. The urban conservative parties, which had been in a state of disarray at the previous election in 1944 had been unified as the Liberal Party under the federal leadership of Robert Menzies. However, in New South Wales the Liberals had lost their two most experienced and capable leaders, Reginald Weaver who had died in November 1945 and Alexander Mair who had resigned from parliament to unsuccessfully contest a NSW senate seat at the 1946 federal election. They had been led by Vernon Treatt since March 1946. In February 1947, 3 moths before the election was due, McKell stunned most people in the Labor Party and general community by announcing that he would resign to take up the position of Governor-General. McKell's preference as a successor was his ally in the struggle against Jack Lang, Bob Heffron. However, revealing the residual influence of Lang, the caucus chose his preferred candidate, the Housing Minister, James McGirr. Both parties went to the election with untried leaders. However, residual respect for McKell, continuing economic growth, the popularity of the federal Labor government and the memory of the factional fights among the state's conservative politicians gave Labor a significant advantage in the campaign [1].
Results
While Labor lost some of the traditionally conservative seats it had picked up at the 1944 election to the Liberal Party, the result of the election was a land-slide victory for Labor. Many of the gains of the Liberal and Country parties were conservative members who had been elected as independents at the previous election. They had rejoined the parties when some degree of order had been restored:
- Australian Labor Party 52 seats
- Lang Labor 2 seats
- Liberal 18 seats
- Country Party 15 seats
- Joint Liberal-Country Party endorsement 1 seat
- Independent 2 seats
Aftermath
McGirr, Treatt and Country Party Leader Michael Bruxner retained their leadership roles throughout the parliament.
There were 11 by-elections during the parliament with a net loss of 3 seats for Labor.
Seats changing party representation
Seat Incumbent member Party New member Party Albury John Hurley Labor Doug Padman Liberal Corowa‡ Independent Ebenezer Kendell Country Drummoyne Robert Greig Labor Robert Dewley Liberal Hornsby Sydney Storey Independent Democrat Sydney Storey Liberal Lachlan John Chanter Labor Robert Medcalf Country Party Lane Cove Henry Woodward Labor Ken McCaw Liberal Mosman Donald Macdonald Independent Pat Morton Liberal Nepean Joseph Jackson Independent Democrat Joseph Jackson Liberal Orange Robert O'Halloran Labor Charles Cutler Country Oxley Les Jordan Independent Les Jordan Country Ryde¶ Independent Democrat Eric Hearnshaw Liberal Tamworth Bill Chaffey Independent Bill Chaffey Country ¶Hearnshaw had won the seat at a 1945 by-election caused by the death of Independent James Shand
‡ Kendell had won the seat at a 1946 by-election caused by the resignation of Independent Christopher Lethbridge
Key dates
Date Event 29 March 1947 The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election. 3 April 1947 Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon. 3 May 1947 Polling day. 127 May 1947 Last day for the writs to be returned and the results formally declared. 28 May 1947 Opening of 35th Parliament. Tabulated Results
New South Wales state election, 3 May 1947
Legislative Assembly
<< 1944 — 1950 >>Enrolled Voters 1,852,787[1] Votes Cast 1,621,257 Turnout 94.61 +3.19 Informal Votes 32,262 Informal 1.99 -1.14 Summary of votes by party Party Primary Votes % Swing Seats Change Labor 730,194 45.95 + 0.75 52 -4 Liberal 470,485 29.60 +4.41 18 +2 Country 162,467 10.22 -0.19 15 +5 Independent 94,163 5.92 +.20 2 -3 Communist 27,237 1.71 -0.03 0 - Independent Labor 13,917 0.88 -0.91 0 - Lang Labor 64,851 4.08 -5.25 2 - Combined Liberal/Country endorsement 14,801 0.93 +0.93 1 +1 All others 11,150 0.70 +0.70 0 - Total 1,589,265 90 - 1 There were 1,713,921 enrolled voters in 82 contested electorates and 138,866 were enrolled in 8 uncontested electorates (5 Labor and 3 Country ).
References
- ^ McMullin, Ross (1991). The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891-1991. Oxford University Press. pp. 244–5. ISBN 019554966X.
- ^ *Antony Green. "1953 New South Wales state election". New South Wales Parliament. http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/resources/nswelectionsanalysis/1953/Home.htm. Retrieved 12 January 2009.
See also
- Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, 1947–1950
- Candidates of the New South Wales state election, 1947
Elections in New South Wales
General
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- 1953 elections in Australia
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