This is the full list of members who served in the twelfth House of Representatives from 1929 until 1931.
The Nationalist-Country Party Bruce-Page coalition government was decisively defeated at the October 12, 1929 election. In a 75-member chamber, the ALP won 46 seats (+15). The Nationalist Party won 14 seats (-15). The Country Party won 10 (-3) seats and there were 5 crossbenchers. The new Prime Minister, James Scullin, led a government with an overall majority of 17 seats.
The ALP polled 48.84% (+4.20%) of the primary vote, whilst the The Nationalists secured 33.90% (-5.20%). The Country Party won 10.27% (-0.20%). On a two-party-preferred basis, the ALP polled 56.70% (+8.30%) to the Coalition’s 43.30%.
Because the election was called early, there was no constitutional provision for a half-Senate election in 1929. This was the first time a House-only election was held.
There were three by-elections in the Twelfth Parliament:
- 1929: Franklin (Vic) – William McWilliams (Ind) died; replaced by Charles Frost (ALP).
- 1931: Parkes (NSW) – Edward McTiernan (ALP) resigned to take up a position as Justice of the High Court; replaced by Charles Marr (Nat).
- 1931: East Sydney (NSW) – John West (ALP) died; replaced by Eddie Ward (ALP).
The Downfall of the Scullin Government; The Second Labor Split
The second major split in the Australian Labor Party took place during this Parliament. Two groups of defectors voted to bring down the government on November 26, 1931.
The Scullin government’s Treasurer, Ted Theodore, supported an inflationary policy to manage the Depression. He proposed increased government spending to stimulate the economy. Theodore was an early supporter of the stimulatory policies of John Maynard Keynes.
A group of six Labor members (Joe Lyons, James Fenton, Moses Gabb, Allan Guy, Charles McGrath and John Price) was critical of the government’s handling of the economic problems of the Depression. They supported the Premiers’ Plan, a set of deflationary measures, including large spending cuts and reductions in bank interest rates. Lyons, a former Labor Premier of Tasmania, emerged as the leader of this group.
The Lang Labor forces supported a third approach to the Depression. Supporters of the NSW Labor Premier, Jack Lang, they proposed defaulting on interest repayments on British debts. Lang’s policy led directly to his dismissal by the NSW Governor in 1932. The NSW ALP was split between the Lang supporters and the mainstream party, a split that was not resolved until the 1940s. At the federal level, the four Lang Labor members elected in 1929 (Jack Beasley, John Eldridge, Rowley James and Bert Lazzarini) were joined by Eddie Ward in 1931. They withdrew their support for the government early in 1931, although they did not support the no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition in March, thus allowing the government to survive.
Elected with 46 members, the Scullin government could survive without the support of one of the two groups but it could not survive if both opposed it. On November 26, 1931, the two groups joined with the coalition parties to defeat the government. An early election was held on December 19, 1931.
Five of the six members of the Lyons group joined the Nationalists. The leader of the Nationalists, John Latham, stood aside and Joe Lyons became leader of a new party called the United Australia Party. Latham was later appointed Chief Justice of the High Court.
All five members of the Lang Labor group voted to bring down the government. After the election, they all returned to the ALP fold, even though the Lang Labor forces continued to divide the NSW ALP throughout the 1930s.
The renegade Hughes-led members in the Australian Party all moved to the United Australia Party in 1931. The UAP won 55 of 75 seats at the election. The ALP was reduced to 14 members, with 4 members of Lang Labor.
Scullin remained leader of the ALP, losing another election in 1934. After losing his seat at the 1931 election, John Curtin returned to the parliament in 1934 and was elected leader of the party in 1935.
Studying the composition of the various parliaments from 1901 reveals interesting patterns. For example, some members of the ALP split from the party over conscription in 1916. Others stayed and split in 1931. Interestingly, some members (eg. Paul Jones and Parker Moloney) who stayed with the official party on both occasions ended up leaving in the 1950s when the party split a third time.
The first table shows the state-by-state breakdown of the House following the 1928 election.
The second table lists the 79 members who served in the 12th House of Representatives, 76 elected in 1931 and three who entered via a by-election. *The Northern Territory member had voting rights only for matters affecting the territory and is therefore excluded from the calculations of party strength in the House.
| 1929 Federal Election Results | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | NSW | VIC | QLD | SA | WA | TAS | NT | Totals |
| Members of the 12th House of Representatives 1929-1931 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Name | Party | Seat | Term Began | Term Ended |
Birth | Death | Age |
| AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY DEFECTORS | ||||||||
| James Fenton | ||||||||
| Moses Gabb | 12.10.1929 |
07.08.1934 |
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| Allan Guy | Wilmot (Tas) Senate (Tas) |
21.09.1940 22.02.1950 |
28.09.1947 30.06.1956 |
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| Joe Lyons | Wilmot (Tas) |
12.10.1929 |
07.04.1939 |
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| David Charles McGrath | Ballaarat (Vic) Ballaarat (Vic) |
31.05.1913 10.07.1920 |
13.12.1919 31.07.1934 |
|||||
| John Price | Boothby (SA) |
17.11.1928 |
23.04.1941 |
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| LANG LABOR PARTY MEMBERS | ||||||||
| Jack Beasley | Lang (31-36) ALP (36-40) Lang (40-41) ALP (41-46) |
|||||||
| John Eldridge | ||||||||
| Rowley James | ||||||||
| Bert Lazzarini | 15.09.1934 |
01.10.1952 |
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| Eddie Ward | ALP (36-63) |
06.02.1932 |
31.07.1963 |
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| AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY MEMBERS | ||||||||
| Frank Anstey | MLA Brunswick (Vic) Bourke (Vic) |
01.06.1904 13.04.1910 |
01.02.1910 07.08.1934 |
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| Arthur Blakeley | ||||||||
| Frank Brennan | 15.09.1934 |
31.10.1949 |
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| Ben Chifley | 21.09.1940 |
13.06.1951 |
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| Percy Coleman | ||||||||
| Richard Crouch | ALP |
Corangamite (Vic) |
12.10.1929 |
19.12.1931 |
||||
| Charles Culley | Denison (Tas) MHA Denison (Tas) |
17.11.1928 xx.xx.1934 |
19.12.1931 xx.08.1948 |
|||||
| Lucien (Lou) Cunningham | MLA Coogee (NSW) |
12.10.1929 10.05.1941 |
19.12.1931 23.03.1948 |
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| John Curtin | 15.09.1934 |
05.07.1945 |
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| John Cusack | MLA Albury (NSW) Eden-Monaro (NSW) |
20.12.1913 12.12.1929 |
21.02.1917 19.12.1931 |
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| Frank Forde | Capricornia (Qld) MLA Flinders (Qld) |
16.12.1922 12.03.1955 |
28.09.1946 03.08.1957 |
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| Charles Frost | 15.09.1934 |
28.09.1946 |
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| George Gibbons | ||||||||
| Albert Green | MLA Kalgoorlie (WA) Kalgoorlie (WA) |
xx.10.1914 16.12.1922 |
xx.03.1921 02.10.1940 |
|||||
| Jack Holloway | Melbourne Ports (Vic) |
19.12.1931 |
19.03.1951 |
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| Paul Jones | DLP |
MLC Doutta Galla (Vic) |
01.09.1938 |
01.06.1958 |
||||
| Richard Keane | Senate (Vic) |
01.07.1938 |
26.04.1946 |
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| Andrew Lacey | MLA Port Pirie (SA) |
xx.xx.1933 |
24.08.1946 |
|||||
| Arthur Lewis | ||||||||
| William Long | ||||||||
| Norman Makin | Sturt (SA) Bonython (SA) |
29.05.1954 10.12.1955 |
10.12.1955 01.11.1963 |
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| Dr William Maloney | ||||||||
| George Martens | ||||||||
| James Mathews | ||||||||
| John McNeill | 12.10.1929 |
19.12.1931 |
||||||
| (Sir) Edward McTiernan | Parkes (NSW) |
12.10.1929 |
19.12.1930 |
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| Parker Moloney | Indi (Vic) Hume (NSW) |
05.09.1914 13.12.1919 |
05.05.1917 19.12.1931 |
|||||
| Harold (“HG”) Nelson | ||||||||
| Edward Charles Riley | ||||||||
| Edward Riley | ||||||||
| Darby Riordan | Kennedy (Qld) |
12.10.1929 |
15.10.1936 |
|||||
| Albert Rowe | ||||||||
| James Scullin | Yarra (Vic) |
18.02.1922 |
31.10.1949 |
|||||
| Edward (Ted) Theodore | MLA Chillagoe (Qld) Dalley (NSW) |
27.04.1912 26.02.1927 |
22.09.1925 19.12.1931 |
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| James Tully | ||||||||
| David Watkins | ||||||||
| John West | ||||||||
| George Yates | 16.12.1922 |
19.12.1931 |
||||||
| NATIONALIST PARTY MEMBERS | ||||||||
| James Bayley | UAP |
MLA Wynnum (Qld) |
29.04.1933 |
10.05.1935 |
||||
| George Bell | UAP |
14.11.1925 |
07.07.1943 |
|||||
| (Sir) Donald Cameron | UAP |
Lilley (Qld) |
15.09.1934 |
21.09.1937 |
||||
| Malcolm Cameron | ||||||||
| (Sir) Josiah Francis | ||||||||
| Sydney Gardner | ||||||||
| Henry Gullett | ||||||||
| Charles Hawker | ||||||||
| John Latham | ||||||||
| George Mackay | Nat/UAP |
Lilley (Qld) |
05.05.1917 |
07.08.1934 |
||||
| Charles Marr | UAP |
31.01.1931 |
21.08.1943 |
|||||
| Arthur Morgan | ||||||||
| Walter Nairn | ||||||||
| Archdale Parkhill | ||||||||
| Thomas White | ||||||||
| AUSTRALIAN PARTY MEMBERS | ||||||||
| William Morris Hughes | ALP Nat UAP Lib |
West Sydney (NSW) Bendigo (Vic) North Sydney (NSW) Bradfield (NSW) |
29.03.1901 05.05.1917 16.12.1922 10.12.1949 |
05.05.1917 16.12.1922 10.12.1949 28.10.1952 |
||||
| Walter Marks | ||||||||
| George Maxwell | Aust/UAP |
|||||||
| COUNTRY PARTY MEMBERS | ||||||||
| Bernard Corser | Wide Bay (Qld) |
03.09.1928 |
21.04.1954 |
|||||
| Roland Green | ||||||||
| Henry Gregory | Nat Country |
MLA Menzies (WA) Dampier (WA) Swan (WA) |
xx.xx.1901 31.05.1913 16.11.1922 |
xx.xx.1911 16.11.1922 15.11.1940 |
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| William Hill | Country |
|||||||
| James Hunter | ||||||||
| William Killen | ||||||||
| Dr (Sir) Earle Page | Country |
|||||||
| Thomas Paterson | ||||||||
| Jack Prowse | Country |
Forrest (WA) |
16.12.1922 |
21.08.1943 |
||||
| Victor Thompson | ||||||||
| INDEPENDENT MEMBERS | ||||||||
| William McWilliams | Nat Country Ind |
17.11.1928 |
22.10.1929 |
|||||
| Percy Stewart | Country/Ind |
Wimmera (Vic) |
13.12.1919 |
14.10.1931 |
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