1915_Queensland_state_election

1915 Queensland state election

1915 Queensland state election

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Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 22 May 1915 to elect the 72 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.

Quick Facts All 72 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland 37 Assembly seats were needed for a majority, Registered ...

The election was the second for the Liberal government of Digby Denham, who had been premier since 7 February 1911. The opposition Labor Party, led by T. J. Ryan, had two previous Premiers — Anderson Dawson in 1899 and William Kidston in 1906 — but the former did not command a majority of parliamentary support, while the latter maintained it by splitting the Labor Party. Labor had never before held majority government.

The election was the first in Australia to be conducted using compulsory voting due to Denham's concern that Trade Unions were effectively mobilising the ALP vote; he felt that compulsory voting would ensure a more level playing field. However, it turned out that the change to compulsory voting was not enough to save Denham's premiership.[1]

The election resulted in the defeat of the government, and Queensland's first majority Labor government. All except two members of the Ministry up for election, including Denham himself, lost their seats.

Key dates

More information Date, Event ...

Results

See also: Results of the Queensland state election, 1915

The election saw a landslide to Labor from the 1912 election.

Queensland state election, 22 May 1915[6]
Legislative Assembly
<< 1912–1918 >>

Enrolled voters 302,061[1]
Votes cast 266,240 Turnout 88.14 +12.62
Informal votes 4,188 Informal 1.57 +0.38
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes  % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 136,419 52.06 +5.36 45 +20
  Liberals 109,985 41.97 –4.73 21 –25
  Farmers' Union 13,233 5.05 +5.05 5 + 5
  Independent 2,415 0.92 –0.82 1 ± 0
Total 262,052     72  
1 335,195 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 8 seats (11.1% of the total) were uncontested—6 Labor seats representing 24,564 enrolled voters, one Liberal seat representing 3,999 voters, and one Farmers' Union seat representing 4,571 voters.

Seats changing party representation

This table lists changes in party representation at the 1915 election.

More information Seat, Incumbent member ...
  • Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.

Aftermath

This was the start of a period of Labor hegemony over the Assembly which lasted until 1957; the only breach was the Moore ministry of the 1929–1932 period.

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "Compulsory voting in Australia". Australian Electoral Commission. January 2006. Archived from the original on 13 July 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  2. [2]
    "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 15 April 1915. p. 104:1101.
  3. [3]
    "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 15 April 1915. p. 104:1103.
  4. [4]
    "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 1 June 1915. p. 104:1513–1514.
  5. [5]
    "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 13 July 1915. p. 105:141.
  6. [6]
    Australian Government and Politics Database. "Parliament of Queensland, Assembly election, 22 May 1915". Archived from the original on 25 March 2018. Retrieved 14 January 2009.
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