The 1928 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 17 November 1928. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist–Country coalition, led by Prime Minister Stanley Bruce won a record fifth consecutive election defeating the opposition Labor Party led by James Scullin.
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All 76[b] seats in the House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House 19 (of the 36) seats in the Senate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Registered | 3,444,769 4.32% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 2,728,815 (93.64%)[a] (2.25 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 election was held in conjunction with a referendum on Commonwealth–State relations, which was carried.
Future Prime Ministers John Curtin and Ben Chifley both entered parliament at this election. Both then lost their seats in the 1931 election and did not re-enter parliament until 1934 and 1940 respectively.
Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | ||
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Nationalist–Country coalition | 1,286,208 | 49.56 | –3.64 | 42 | –8 | ||
Nationalist | 1,014,522 | 39.09 | –3.37 | 29 | –8 | ||
Country | 271,686 | 10.47 | –0.27 | 13 | 0 | ||
Labor | 1,158,505 | 44.64 | –0.40 | 32[c] | +8 | ||
Country Progressive | 41,713 | 1.61 | +1.61 | 1 | +1 | ||
Protestant Labor | 20,212 | 0.78 | +0.78 | 0 | 0 | ||
Independents | 88,447 | 3.41 | +1.65 | 1 | –1 | ||
Total | 2,595,085 | 76 | |||||
Two-party-preferred (estimated) | |||||||
Nationalist–Country coalition | Win | 51.60 | −2.20 | 42 | –8 | ||
Labor | 48.40 | +2.20 | 31 | +8 |
Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats won | Seats held | Change | ||
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Nationalist–Country coalition | 1,466,323 | 50.46 | –4.35 | 12 | 29 | +1 | ||
Nationalist | 1,141,405 | 39.28 | –6.07 | 10 | 24 | 0 | ||
Country | 324,918 | 11.18 | +1.73 | 2 | 5 | +1 | ||
Labor | 1,422,418 | 48.95 | +3.93 | 7 | 7 | –1 | ||
Independents | 17,092 | 0.59 | +0.42 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Total | 2,905,833 | 19 | 36 |
Seat | Pre-1928 | Swing | Post-1928 | ||||||
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Party | Member | Margin | Margin | Member | Party | ||||
Barton, NSW | Nationalist | Thomas Ley | 1.0 | 7.3 | 6.3 | James Tully | Labor | ||
Boothby, SA | Nationalist | Jack Duncan-Hughes | 7.6 | 7.7 | 0.1 | John Price | Labor | ||
Denison, Tas | Nationalist | John Gellibrand | 2.2 | 2.5 | 0.3 | Charles Culley | Labor | ||
Franklin, Tas | Nationalist | Alfred Seabrook | N/A | 7.2 | 1.6 | William McWilliams | Independent | ||
Fremantle, WA | Independent | William Watson | 8.1 | 1.2 | 2.1 | John Curtin | Labor | ||
Herbert, Qld | Nationalist | Lewis Nott | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | George Martens | Labor | ||
Indi, Vic | Country | Robert Cook | 6.7 | N/A | (Unopposed) | Paul Jones | Labor | ||
Lang, NSW | Nationalist | Elliot Johnson | 5.9 | 9.4 | 3.5 | William Long | Labor | ||
Macquarie, NSW | Nationalist | Arthur Manning | 1.3 | 6.2 | 4.9 | Ben Chifley | Labor | ||
Wakefield, SA | Nationalist | Richard Foster | 14.8 | 24.4 | 9.6 | Maurice Collins | Country | ||
Wilmot, Tas | Country | Llewellyn Atkinson | 7.0 | N/A | 4.6 | Llewellyn Atkinson | Nationalist |
In the Division of Indi, the sitting candidate Robert Cook lost his seat after forgetting to file nomination papers, resulting in Labor candidate Paul Jones winning the seat unopposed.