New South Wales state election, 1941

New South Wales state election, 1941

10 May 1941 (1941-05-10)

All 90 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 46 Assembly seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party   Leader William McKell Alexander Mair Party Labor UAP/Country coalition Leader since 23 September 1939 5 August 1939 Leader's seat Redfern Albury Last election 28 seats 59 seats Seats won 54 seats 26 seats Seat change 26 33 Percentage 50.8% 31.3% Swing 16.0 18.3

Legislative Assembly after the election

Premier before election Alexander Mair UAP/Country coalition Elected Premier William McKell Labor

The 1941 New South Wales state election was held on 10 May 1941. This election was for all of the 90 seats in the 33rd New South Wales Legislative Assembly and was conducted in single-member constituencies with compulsory preferential voting.

Background

The replacement of Jack Lang by William McKell as leader of the Labor Party in 1939 reunited and rejuvenated the party. A small number of Labor party members continued to support the far left wing State Labor Party (Hughes-Evans) but this had minimal impact on the election results. The party moved away from Lang's populist, inflationary policies, which were seen as extremist by many voters in the middle ground of the political spectrum. McKell also improved the party's standing in rural electorates by personally selecting locally well-known candidates.

By contrast, the internal party divisions and lack of policy direction affecting the United Australia Party (UAP) had resulted in Alexander Mair replacing Bertram Stevens as leader of the UAP and Premier in August 1939. The problems continued in the period prior to the election and throughout the course of the new parliament. These divisions were reflected federally in the forced resignation of Robert Menzies as the Prime Minister in August 1941, and the UAP disintegrated at a state level in 1943. The remnants of the UAP combined with the newly formed Commonwealth Party to form the Democratic Party in that year. Mair remained Leader of the Opposition until 10 February 1944 when he was replaced by Reginald Weaver.

The result of the election was a landslide victory for the Labor Party:

• Australian Labor Party 54 seats
• Independent Labor 1 seat
• United Australia Party 14 seats
• Independent UAP 5 seats
• Country Party 12 seats
• Independent 4 seats.

The Labor Party government of McKell had a majority of 18 and McKell remained Premier throughout the term of the Parliament. The Labor Party won two further seats from the Country Party at by-elections during the parliament. Jack Lang was expelled from the Labor Party in 1943, having persistently attacked the governments of McKell and Australian Prime minister John Curtin. Lang remained in parliament as the sole representative of Lang Labor.

Key dates

Results

¹ There were 1,540,974 enrolled voters in contested electorates and 143,807 were enrolled in 7 uncontested electorates (four UAP and three Labor).

References

See also

• Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, 1941–1944
• Candidates of the New South Wales state election, 1941

Elections and referendums in New South Wales
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