1938 Queensland state election

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 2 April 1938 to elect the 62 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The Labor government of Premier William Forgan Smith was seeking a third term in office. During the previous term, the Country and United Australia parties had emerged from the united Country and Progressive National Party, which had represented conservative forces for over a decade.

1938 Queensland state election

← 1935 2 April 1938 1941 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 62 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland 32 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
Registered	582,711 6.2%
Turnout	539,037 (92.51%) (0.20 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader William Forgan Smith Ted Maher Hugh Russell Party Labor Country United Australia Leader since 27 May 1929 15 July 1936 July 1936 Leader's seat Mackay West Moreton Hamilton Last election 46 seats, 53.43% New party New party Seats before 46 seats 13 seats[a] 3 seats[a] Seats won 43 14 4 Seat change 3 1 1 Popular vote 250,943 120,469 74,328 Percentage 47.17% 22.65% 13.97% Swing 3.26pp New party New party
Legislative Assembly after the election
Premier before election William Forgan Smith Labor Elected Premier William Forgan Smith Labor

The most notable feature of the election campaign was the Protestant Labor Party, established in 1937, which claimed that the Forgan Smith Ministry was disproportionately Catholic and made extravagant claims that three-quarters of all police and public servants in the State were Catholic.^[1] Despite the campaign, Labor only lost one seat, Kelvin Grove, to the party.

The unsuccessful Protestant Labor candidate for Ithaca, George Webb, lodged a petition against the return of Labor member Ned Hanlon.^[2] He was initially successful in the Supreme Court when the case was heard by Justice E.A. Douglas, who voided the election result on 12 October on the basis of a finding that two men who had acted improperly were Hanlon's agents, but Hanlon appealed to the Full Bench of the Supreme Court and on 16 December 1938, his appeal was allowed.^[3] A further appeal by Webb to the High Court was refused leave on 31 March 1939.^[4]

Key dates

Date	Event
5 March 1938	The Parliament was dissolved.[5]
7 March 1938	Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.[6]
14 March 1938	Close of nominations.
2 April 1938	Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
12 April 1938	The Forgan Smith Ministry was re-sworn in.[7]
16 April 1938	The poll was retaken in Gregory.[8]
30 April 1938	The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
9 August 1938	Parliament resumed for business.[9]

Results

See also: Results of the Queensland state election, 1938

Legislative Assembly (IRV) – Turnout: 92.51% (CV)^[10]

Party			Primary vote			Seats
			Votes	%	Swing (pp)	Seats	Change
	Labor		250,943	47.17	–6.26	43	3
	Country		120,469	22.65	—	14[a]	1
	United Australia		74,328	13.97	—	4[a]	1
	Protestant Labour		46,568	8.75	+8.75	1	1
	Social Credit		27,758	5.22	–1.80	0
	Communist		8,510	1.60	+0.28	0
	Independent		3,403	0.64	–2.73	0
Total			531,979	100.00		62
Invalid/blank votes			7,058	1.31	–0.43	—
Turnout			539,037	92.51	–0.19	—
Registered voters			582,711	—		—

Popular vote Labor   47.17% Country   22.65% United Australia   13.97% Protestant Labor   8.75% Social Credit   5.22% Communist   1.60% Independents   0.64%

Seats Labor   70.97% Country   20.97% United Australia   6.45% Protestant Labor   1.61%

¹ 606,559 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 3 seats were uncontested—2 Labor seats (4 less than in 1935) representing 15,007 enrolled voters and one Country seat (one less than in 1935) representing 8,841 enrolled voters.

Seats changing party representation

This table lists changes in party representation at the 1938 election.

Seat	Incumbent member	Party		New member	Party
Dalby	Godfrey Morgan		Country	Aubrey Slessar		Labor
East Toowoomba	James Kane		Labor	Herbert Yeates		Country
Kelvin Grove	Frank Waters		Labor	George Morris		Protestant Labor
Toowong	James Maxwell		United Australia	Harry Massey		Independent UAP
Wynnum	John Donnelly		Labor	Bill Dart		United Australia

• Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.

See also

• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1935–1938
• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1938–1941
• Candidates of the Queensland state election, 1938
• Forgan Smith Ministry

Notes

1. Seats previously held by members of the Country and Progressive National Party (CPNP).