South Australian state election, 1933

South Australian state election, 1933

8 April 1933

All 46 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly 24 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party   Leader Richard L. Butler Edgar Dawes Party Liberal and Country League Labor Leader since 1925 1931 Leader's seat Wooroora Sturt Last election 13 seats 30 seats Seats won 29 seats 6 seats Seat change 16 24 Percentage 34.62% 27.78% Swing 1.04 20.86   Third party Fourth party   Leader Robert Richards Doug Bardolph Party Parliamentary Labor Party Lang Labor Party Leader since 1933 1931 Leader's seat Wallaroo Adelaide Last election new party new party Seats won 4 seats 3 seats Seat change 4 3 Percentage 16.30% 3.68% Swing 16.30 3.68

Premier before election Robert Richards Parliamentary Labor Elected Premier Richard L. Butler Liberal and Country League

State elections were held in South Australia on 8 April 1933. All 46 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party government led by Premier Robert Richards was defeated by the opposition Liberal and Country League led by Leader of the Opposition Richard L. Butler. Each district elected multiple members.

House of Assembly (IRV) — Turnout 59.45% (Non-CV) — Informal 4.87%

	Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Liberal and Country League	60,159	34.62	-1.04	29	+16
	Australian Labor Party	48,273	27.78	-20.86	6	-24
	Premiers Plan Labor	28,319	16.30	*	4	*
	Lang Labor	6,398	3.68	*	3	*
	Single Tax League	5,429	3.12	+1.80	1	0
	Independent	23,303	13.41	+11.09	3	+3
	Other	1,908	1.10
	Total	173,789			46
	Liberal and Country League	WIN			29	+16
	Australian Labor Party				6	-24

Background

After the Labor government of Premier Lionel Hill endorsed the controversial Premiers' Plan following the start of the Great Depression and the subsequent Australian Labor Party split of 1931, the ALP state executive expelled 23 of the 30 members of the ALP caucus. The expelled MPs formed the Parliamentary Labor Party (also known as Premiers Plan Labor), with Hill as leader, and continued in office with the support of the Liberal Federation under Butler.

Amid increasing riots and protests, as well as skyrocketing unemployment, Hill left politics to become Australian Agent-General to the United Kingdom. He was succeeded by Robert Richards, who had the impossible task of leading the party into the election.

With three Labor factions—the official ALP, Premiers Plan Labor and Lang Labor—contesting the election, the result was a landslide victory for the newly created Liberal and Country League, which had formed from a 1932 merger of the Liberal Federation and the Country Party under Butler's leadership. The LCL won 29 seats versus only 13 for the three Labor factions combined. Though the Labor split in South Australia would only last until 1934, this would be the start of 32 years of LCL government in South Australia--one of the longest unbroken runs for a governing party in the Commonwealth. The LCL would stay in office with the assistance of a pro-LCL electoral malapportionment known as the Playmander, which would be introduced in 1936.

See also

• Candidates of the South Australian state election, 1933
• Members of the South Australian House of Assembly, 1933-1938
• Members of the South Australian Legislative Council, 1933–1938

References

• History of South Australian elections 1857-2006, volume 1: ECSA
• State and federal election results in Australia since 1890