Global Information1929 Australian federal election information
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All 76[b] seats in the Australian House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 3,539,120  2.74% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 2,957,549 (94.85%)[a] ( 1.21 pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1929 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 12 October 1929. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election, but there was no Senate election. The election was caused by the defeat of the Stanley Bruce-Earle Page Government in the House of Representatives over the Maritime Industries Bill, Bruce having declared that the vote on the bill would constitute a vote of confidence in his government.
With senators having fixed six-year terms, the terms of those senators elected in 1926 were not due to expire until 1932. Under the Constitution of Australia, no election for their replacement could occur more than a year prior to their terms expiring, except in the case of a double dissolution; since the constitutional conditions for a double dissolution did not exist, it was not possible to hold a half-Senate election in 1929. This was the first Commonwealth election for the House of Representatives only.
In the election, the incumbent Nationalist-Country Coalition, led by Bruce and Page, was defeated in a landslide by the opposition Labor Party under James Scullin. Labor ended 13 years in opposition, having lost government two years after its previous election victory in 1914. James Scullin become Australia's first Catholic prime minister,.[1]
Labor won what was then its largest-ever majority in the House, but held only a minority of Senate seats as a result of the House-only election. The Nationalists had been in power since 1917, and in Coalition with the Country Party since 1923. This was the first and only time the Nationalists lost, as they merged to form the United Australia Party in 1931.
It was the only federal election in Australia's history at which no sitting members retired. It also saw the defeat of Prime Minister Stanley Bruce in his own seat of Flinders, the first time that an incumbent Prime Minister had been defeated for re-election in his own seat. That did not occur again until 2007, when John Howard lost his seat.
Future Prime Minister Joseph Lyons entered parliament at this election.
Although a non-Labor government was in office between 1932 and 1941, the 1929 election also marked the last time that a non-Labor government was voted out of office until 1972.
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- ^ "Fast facts – James Scullin – Fast facts – Australia's Prime Ministers". Primeministers.naa.gov.au. Archived from the original on 26 June 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.