1950 New South Wales state election

The 1950 New South Wales state election was held on 17 June 1950. It was conducted in single member constituencies with compulsory preferential voting and was held on boundaries created at a 1949 redistribution. The election was for all of the 94 seats in the Legislative Assembly, which was an increase of 4 seats since the previous election.

1950 New South Wales state election

17 June 1950 (1950-06-17)
All 94 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 48 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader James McGirr Vernon Treatt Party Labor Liberal/Country coalition Leader since 6 February 1947 20 March 1946 Leader's seat Liverpool Woollahra Last election 48 seats 33 seats Seats won 46 seats 46 seats Seat change 2 13 Percentage 46.75% 46.51% Swing 0.8 6.7
Legislative Assembly after the election
Premier before election James McGirr Labor Resulting Premier James McGirr Labor

At the time of the election, Labor had been in power for 9 years, James McGirr had been the Premier for 3 years and Labor had lost power federally to the Liberal Party of Robert Menzies 6 months earlier. The NSW Labor Government, under McGirr, was beginning to show signs of age. Severe divisions had appeared in the party at the beginning of 1950 when the state executive expelled 4 members of the Assembly James Geraghty (North Sydney), John Seiffert (Monaro), Roy Heferen (Barwon) and Fred Stanley (Lakemba) from the parliamentary party for breaking party solidarity during an indirect election of the Legislative Council. They had voted for the businessman Asher Joel instead of the endorsed Labor candidates. All four served out the remainder of their terms as independents and stood in the election as Independent Labor candidates. An attempt by the caucus to overturn the expulsions led to resentment among party branch members which was reflected in the defeat of four members who were standing for pre-selection; Baden Powell, Bob Gorman, Mary Quirk and Kevin Dwyer.[1] Two members of Lang Labor: James Lang (Auburn) and Lillian Fowler (Newtown) were still in the Assembly and they both stood for re-election.

In contrast, the Liberal Party which had been founded by in 1945, continued to consolidate its position as the pre-eminent conservative party. It had been led by Vernon Treatt and presented a solid front to the electorate. The Country Party was led by Michael Bruxner and remained closely aligned to the Liberals.

The result of the election was a hung parliament:

• Australian Labor Party 46 seats
• Independent Labor 2 seat
• Liberal 29 seats
• Country Party 17 seats

The balance of power lay with the two re-elected Independent Labor members, James Geraghty and John Seiffert, who had been expelled from the party for disloyalty during the previous parliament. Under a legalistic interpretation of the ALP rules, Seiffert was readmitted to the party and, together with the support of Geraghty, McGirr and Labor were able to stay in power. Labor gained the two Lang Labor seats and re-gained the Independent Labor seat of Lakemba at the election. It lost the remaining seat held by an Independent Labor member (Barwon) to the Country Party. Labor also lost Hawkesbury, Ryde and Kogarah to the Liberal Party and Mudgee and Dubbo to the Country Party. The sitting Independent members for South Coast and Gloucester changed their allegiance to the Liberal Party and the Country Party respectively at this election. During the parliament there were 4 by-elections with the result of a net gain to Labor of 1 seat (Ashfield).

The near loss of the election weakened McGirr's position and he was replaced as premier by Joseph Cahill in April 1952. Treatt remained the Leader of the Opposition during the period of this parliament and Bruxner continued as the Leader of the Country Party, a position he had held since 1932.