William McCormack Labor Arthur Edward Moore

His main opponent was the Country and Progressive National Party (CPNP), led by Arthur Edward Moore.

The term had not gone well for McCormack's government, including a railway lock-out in 1927 which pitted the Labor Party against the union movement, restrictive financial policies and attempts to sell off state-owned enterprises, as well as suggestions of corruption which later came to be known as the Mungana affair.

The election resulted in the defeat of the McCormack government in a landslide, and the first non-Labor ministry since 1915.

The CPNP found itself in power as the Great Depression took hold.