Federal Labor retained some seats in the Parliament of Australia but was a minor party in state elections.
The Australian Labor Party was badly divided over how to respond to the Great Depression in Australia.
[1] However Jack Lang, the Premier of New South Wales, opposed the plan and instead advocated defaulting on debt payments and an inflationary approach.
Lang was highly dominant in the New South Wales branch of the party and thus much of the organisation supported him in disputes with the federal leadership.
[4] In November 1931 the Lang Labor MPs joined the opposition in defeating the Scullin government in parliament, causing the 1931 federal election.