Emergency Committee of South Australia
The Emergency Committee of South Australia was the major anti-[Australian Australian Labor Party|Labor Party|Labor] grouping in South Australia at the 1931 federal election.
History
The Emergency Committee arose as a consequence of the financial turmoil brought about by the Great Depression in Australia, and was opposed to what it saw as the "financial extremists" in James Scullin's federal Labor government. The Emergency Committee ran in place of the United Australia Party and the Country Party at the national level, with the assistance of the Liberal Federation and the SA Country Party at the state level, and the additional assistance of the Citizens' League, the Political Reform League, and the Producers and Business Men's Political Committee.1931 federal election
In the House of Representatives, the Emergency Committee took an additional two seats, Adelaide and Grey, to win six of the state's seven seats. Hindmarsh was the only seat in the state retained by Labor. Originally holding just the two seats of Barker and Wakefield, Labor MP John Price had defected and retained Boothby, while Labor-turned-independent MP Moses Gabb retained [Division of Division of Angas (1903–34)|Angas (1903–34)|Angas] with Emergency Committee endorsement. As the Emergency Committee did not run their own candidate in Angas, Gabb was therefore often counted an Emergency Committee MP. However, Gabb remained an independent and neither helped to form or sit with the government. The Emergency Committee's five MPs joined the UAP party room, giving the UAP an outright majority of two seats. UAP leader Joseph Lyons dispensed with the normal Coalition and formed what is to date the last government made up solely of members from the major non-Labor party.In the bloc-voting winner-take-all Senate, the Emergency Committee received a higher vote than Labor in South Australia and therefore won the three state seats up for election.