Western Australian state election, 1933

← 1930

8 April 1933

1936 →

All 50 seats in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly

	First party	Second party

Leader	Philip Collier	James Mitchell
Party	Labor	Nationalist/Country coalition
Leader since	16 April 1917	17 May 1919
Leader's seat	Boulder	Northam (lost seat)
Last election	23 seats	27 seats
Seats won	30 seats	19 seats
Seat change	7	8
Percentage	45.48%	44.82%
Swing	7.08	10.13

Premier before election

James Mitchell
Nationalist/Country coalition

Elected Premier

Philip Collier
Labor

James Mitchell
Nationalist/Country coalition

Philip Collier
Labor

Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 8 April 1933 to elect all 50 members to the Legislative Assembly. The one-term Nationalist-Country coalition government, led by Premier Sir James Mitchell, was defeated by the Labor Party, led by Opposition Leader Philip Collier.

The election occurred at the height of the Great Depression, and was notable for four reasons. Firstly, it is, to date, the only Western Australian election at which a sitting Premier has been defeated in his own seat, with Sir James Mitchell losing his Northam seat to Albert Hawke. It has also been the only election (apart from the ministerial by-elections in December 1901) where over half a Ministry have been defeated at an election—apart from Mitchell, Hubert Parker, John Scaddan and John Lindsay all lost their parliamentary seats. Secondly, three future Premiers, Frank Wise (1943–1945), Albert Hawke (1953–1959) and John Tonkin (1971–1974), were elected to Parliament on the same day. Thirdly, it was held on the same day as the secession referendum, which was passed by 68% of voters despite their choice of a party to lead the State who had persistently opposed secession. Finally, the Nationalists fell to third place at the election in terms of seats, meaning that the Country Party, who had more seats in parliament, were able to name the Opposition Leader until Labor's eventual defeat in the 1947 election. This result was in part possible due to the malapportionment in the Western Australian parliament which created more seats in mining areas, where the Labor Party was dominant, and in agricultural areas, where the Country Party was dominant.

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