1953 New South Wales state election

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1953 New South Wales state election

← 1950 14 February 1953 (1953-02-14) 1956 →

All 94 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
48 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Joseph Cahill Vernon Treatt
Party Labor Coalition
Leader since 2 April 1952 20 March 1946
Leader's seat Cook's River Woollahra
Last election 46 seats 46 seats
Seats won 57 36
Seat change Increase11 Decrease10
Percentage 55.03% 39.54%
Swing Increase8.3 Decrease6.9

Legislative Assembly after the election

Premier before election

Joseph Cahill
Labor

Elected Premier

Joseph Cahill
Labor

The 1953 New South Wales state election was held on 14 February 1953. It was conducted in single member constituencies with compulsory preferential voting and was held on boundaries created at a 1952 redistribution.[1] The election was for all of the 94 seats in the Legislative Assembly.

Issues[edit]

In February 1953, the ALP had been in power for 12 years and James McGirr, who had led the party to a near defeat in 1950, had lost the premiership to Joe Cahill 10 months earlier. McGirr's period as the Labor leader had been marked by policy indecisiveness, budget overspending and internal conflict. Cahill, by contrast, had won popular support as a vigorous and impressive minister who had resolved problems with New South Wales' electricity supply. During his first 10 months as premier, he had reinvigorated the party. He appeared decisive and brought order to the government's chaotic public works program. In addition, he astutely attacked the increasingly unpopular federal Coalition government of Robert Menzies.[2]

By contrast, the Liberal Party and Country Party coalition led by Vernon Treatt and Michael Bruxner was racked with internal divisions. Treatt himself, despite having been opposition leader for seven years, remained little known to the public. Whereas in 1950 his coalition had achieved a big swing against the ALP, in 1953 he was unable to convince voters that he possessed a coherent alternative policy to the government.[2]

Key dates[edit]

Date Event
14 January 1953 The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.
19 January 1953 Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon.
14 February 1953 Polling day.
23 February 1953 Second Cahill ministry sworn in
14 March 1953 Last day for the writs to be returned and the results formally declared.
11 March 1953 Opening of 37th Parliament.

Results[edit]

The result of the election was a landslide victory for Labor. Labor's vote was particularly strong in the Western and Southern suburbs of Sydney. It won the seats of Concord, Coogee, Drummoyne, Kogarah, Parramatta, Ryde and Sutherland from the Liberal Party and picked up the new suburban seats of East Hills and Fairfield. Labor's vote was resurgent in rural New South Wales where it won the seats of Armidale, Dubbo and Mudgee from the Country party. Labor also picked up the seat of North Sydney from Independent member James Geraghty who was the last of the 4 Independent members of parliament who had been expelled from the Labor party for disloyalty during an indirect election of the Legislative Council in 1949. John Seiffert, another rebel from 1949 and the member for Monaro, had been readmitted to the party in 1950 and retained the seat at this election, giving a further boost to Labor's numbers. Labor's losses included Ashfield which had been won from the Liberal Party at the 1952 by-election and Hartley which was retained by Jim Chalmers who stood as an Independent Labor candidate after he resigned from the party over a pre-selection dispute. The Minister for Labour, Industry and Social Welfare, Frank Finnan was unseated when his electorate of Darlinghurst was abolished,[1] he lost a preselection contest for Concord,[3] and he failed in an attempt to win Albury.


New South Wales state election, 14 February 1953
Legislative Assembly
<< 19501956 >>

Enrolled voters 1,953,953[a]
Votes cast 1,548,877 Turnout 93.86 +1.11
Informal votes 39,416 Informal 2.48 +0.71
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 852,276 55.03 +8.28 57 +11
  Liberal 432,739 27.94 −9.57 22 −7
  Country 179,680 11.60 +2.63 14 −3
  Independent 38,822 2.51 +0.20 0
  Communist 21,421 1.38 +0.54 0
  Independent Labor 16,533 1.07 −0.58 1 − 1
  Lang Labor 7,046 0.48 −0.74 0
Total 1,588,293     94  

Retiring members[edit]

Labor[edit]

Liberal[edit]

Country[edit]

Seats changing party representation[edit]

Seat 1950 1953
Party Member Member Party
Armidale   Country Davis Hughes Jim Cahill Labor  
Ashfield[b]   Liberal Richard Murden Liberal  
Concord   Liberal John Adamson Thomas Murphy Labor  
Coogee Kevin Ellis Lou Walsh
Darlinghurst   Labor Frank Finnan[c] Seat abolished
Drummoyne   Liberal Robert Dewley Roy Jackson Labor  
Dubbo   Country Robert Medcalf Clarrie Robertson
East Hills New seat[d] Arthur Williams
Fairfield New seat[d] Clarrie Earl
Hartley   Labor Jim Chalmers Independent Labor  
Kogarah   Liberal Douglas Cross Bill Crabtree Labor  
Monaro   Independent Labor John Seiffert
Mudgee   Country Frederick Cooke Leo Nott
Newtown-Annandale   Labor Arthur Greenup[e] Seat abolished
North Sydney   Independent Labor James Geraghty Ray Maher Labor  
Parramatta   Liberal George Gollan Kevin Morgan
Ryde Ken Anderson Frank Downing
Sutherland Cecil Monro Tom Dalton

Aftermath[edit]

Joe Cahill's triumph at this election ensured that he remained premier during the course of the parliament. Treatt faced increasing opposition within the Liberal Party and was replaced as Leader of the Opposition by Murray Robson in August 1954. Bruxner continued as the Leader of the Country Party, a position he had held since 1932. During the parliament there were 7 by-elections with no change of party representation except for Kahibah where an Independent Labor candidate Tom Armstrong defeated the endorsed Labor candidate.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ There were 1,692,231 enrolled voters in 81 contested electorates and 261,722 were enrolled in 13 uncontested electorates (9 Labor, 3 Liberal and 1 Country ).[4]
  2. ^ Athol Richardson (Liberal) held the seat at the 1950 election, however he was appointed to the Supreme Court and Jack Richardson (Labor) won the seat at the 1952 by-election.[9]
  3. ^ Frank Finnan unsuccessfully contested Albury.
  4. ^ a b East Hills and Fairfield were notionally Labor seats.[1]
  5. ^ Arthur Greenup was defeated in the preselection contest for Marrickville.[3]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "1952 Redistribution". Atlas of New South Wales. NSW Land & Property Information. Archived from the original on 23 June 2015.
  2. ^ a b McMullin, Ross (1991). The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891-1991. Oxford University Press. pp. 266–7. ISBN 0-19-554966-X.
  3. ^ a b c "Finnan, Greenup in A.L.P sensation". Truth. 21 December 1952. p. 1. Retrieved 11 December 2021 – via Trove.
  4. ^ Green, Antony. "1953 election totals". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  5. ^ Nairn, Bede. "Lazzarini, Carlo Camillo (1880–1952)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  6. ^ "Mr (Harry) Henry Basil Turner". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  7. ^ "The Hon. George Charles Gollan (1886-1957)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  8. ^ "Mr Roy Stanley Vincent (1892-1965)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  9. ^ Green, Antony. "1952 Ashfield by-election". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 28 July 2020.