Western Australian state election, 1947

Western Australian state election, 1947

15 March 1947

All 50 seats in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly   First party Second party   Leader Ross McLarty Frank Wise Party Liberal/Country coalition Labor Leader since 14 December 1946 31 July 1945 Leader's seat Murray-Wellington Gascoyne Last election 17 seats 30 seats Seats won 25 seats 23 seats Seat change 8 7 Percentage 51.40% 39.38% Swing 14.70 3.90

Premier before election Frank Wise Labor Resulting Premier Ross McLarty Liberal/Country coalition

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, Harrie 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

Western Australian state election, 15 March 1947 Legislative Assembly << 1943 — 1950 >>
Enrolled voters		194,270^[1]
Votes cast		166,905		Turnout	85.91%	–0.63%
Informal votes		3,415		Informal	2.05%	–0.43%
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor	64,377	39.38%	–3.90%	23	– 7
	Liberal	57,621	35.24%	+10.96%	13	+ 6
	Country	26,416	16.16%	+3.74%	12	+ 2
	Ind. Nat.^[2]	2,321	1.42%		1	± 0
	Communist	1,641	1.00%	+0.60%	0	± 0
	Progressive	701	0.48%	+0.48%	0	± 0
	Independent	10,324	6.31%	–4.07%	1	± 0
Total		163,490			50

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.

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.

See also

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

References