1929 Queensland state election

1929 Queensland state election
All 72 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland; 37 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	89.15 ( 0.42 pp)
Premier before election; William McCormack; Labor	Elected Premier ; Arthur Edward Moore; CPNP

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 11 May 1929 to elect the 72 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. In this election, Irene Longman became the first woman to both stand and be elected into the Queensland Parliament.

The Labor government was seeking its sixth continuous term in office since the 1915 election; it would be Premier William McCormack's second election. His main opponent was the Country and Progressive National Party (CPNP), led by Arthur Edward Moore. The term had not gone well for McCormack's government, including a railway lock-out in 1927 which pitted the Labor Party against the union movement, restrictive financial policies and attempts to sell off state-owned enterprises, as well as suggestions of corruption which later came to be known as the Mungana affair.

The election resulted in the defeat of the McCormack government in a landslide, and the first non-Labor ministry since 1915.

Key dates

Date	Event
11 April 1929	The Parliament was dissolved.^[1]
12 April 1929	Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.^[2]
19 April 1929	Close of nominations.
11 May 1929	Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
21 May 1929	The McCormack Ministry resigned and the Moore Ministry was sworn in.^[3]
15 June 1929	The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
29 June 1929	The writ was returned for the seat of Gregory.
20 August 1929	Parliament resumed for business.^[4]

Results

The election saw the defeat of the Labor government by the CPNP.

Queensland state election, 11 May 1929^[5] Legislative Assembly << 1926–1932 >>
Enrolled voters		491,589^[1]
Votes cast		438,248		Turnout	89.15%	+0.42
Informal votes		6,836		Informal	1.56%	+0.33
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	CPNP	233,977	54.23%	+5.03	43	+15
	Labor	173,242	40.16%	–7.80	27	–16
	Communist	2,890	0.67%	+0.67	0	± 0
	Independent	21,303	4.94%	+3.33	2	+ 1
Total		431,412			72

Popular vote

CPNP			54.23%
Labor			40.16%
Communist			0.67%
Independents			4.94%

Seats

CPNP			59.72%
Labor			37.50%
Independents			2.78%

¹ 517,466 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 4 seats (5.6% of the total) were uncontested—2 Labor seats (3 less than 1926) representing 9,041 enrolled voters and two CPNP seats (one more than 1926) representing 16,536 enrolled voters.

Seats changing party representation

This table lists changes in party representation at the 1929 election.

Seat	Incumbent member		New member

Bulimba	Harry Wright	Labor	Irene Longman	CPNP
Chillagoe	John O'Keefe	Labor	Ernest Atherton	CPNP
Cook	Henry Ryan	Labor	James Kenny	CPNP
Dalby	Wilfred Russell	Independent	Wilfred Russell	CPNP
Eacham	Cornelius Ryan	Labor	George Duffy	CPNP
Fitzroy	Harry Hartley	Labor	William Carter	CPNP
Gympie	Thomas Dunstan	Labor	Vivian Tozer	CPNP
Ipswich	David Gledson	Labor	James Walker	CPNP
Kelvin Grove	William Lloyd	Labor	Richard Hill	CPNP
Keppel	James Larcombe	Labor	Owen Daniel	CPNP
Lockyer	George Logan	CPNP	Charles Jamieson	Independent
Maree	William Bertram	Labor	George Tedman	CPNP
Merthyr	Peter McLachlan	Labor	Patrick Kerwin	CPNP
Port Curtis	George Carter	Labor	Frank Butler	CPNP
Rockhampton	George Farrell	Labor	Thomas Dunlop	Independent
Rosewood	William Cooper	Labor	Ted Maher	CPNP
South Brisbane	Myles Ferricks	Labor	Neil MacGroarty	CPNP
Toowoomba	Evan Llewelyn	Labor	James Annand	CPNP

Aftermath

The CPNP found itself in power as the Great Depression took hold. It lost power after one term.

References

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

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