1957 Queensland state election

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1957 Queensland state election
Flag of Queensland.svg
  1956 3 August 1957 1960  

All 75 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland
38 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
Registered747,455 Increase2.svg4.9%
Turnout706,909 (94.58%)
(Increase2.svg1.69 pp)
 First partySecond party
  Frank Nicklin 1959.jpg Jack Duggan.jpg
Leader Frank Nicklin Jack Duggan
Party Country Labor
Leader since21 May 194124 April 1957
Leader's seat Landsborough Toowoomba
(lost seat)
Last election16 seats49 seats
Seats won24 seats20 seats
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 8Decrease2.svg 29
Popular vote139,720201,971
Percentage19.99%28.90%
SwingIncrease2.svg 0.72 pp Decrease2.svg 5.98 pp

 Third partyFourth party
  Queensland State Archives 4750 Hon VC Gair Premier of Queensland c 1953.png
Leader Kenneth Morris Vince Gair
Party Liberal Queensland Labor
Leader since17 August 195426 April 1957
Leader's seat Mount Coot-tha South Brisbane
Last election8 seatsNew party
Seats won18 seats11 seats
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 10Increase2.svg 11
Popular vote162,372163,534
Percentage23.23%23.40%
SwingDecrease2.svg 7.34 pp Increase2.svg 23.40 pp

Queensland Legislative Assembly 1957.svg
Legislative Assembly after the election

Premier before election

Vince Gair
Queensland Labor

Elected Premier

Frank Nicklin
Country

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 3 August 1957 to elect the 75 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The major parties contesting the election were the Queensland Labor Party led by Premier Vince Gair, the Labor Party led by former Deputy Premier Jack Duggan, and the Country-Liberal coalition led by Frank Nicklin.

Contents

The elections, only 15 months into the parliamentary term, were made necessary by the collapse of the nine-term Labor government. Gair had formed the Queensland Labor Party after being expelled from the Labor Party, and attempted to stay in power as a minority government. However, a request for supply was denied on 12 June, forcing the election. The Country-Liberal Coalition won a decisive victory, taking 42 seats against only 31 for the two Labor factions combined.

Key dates

DateEvent
24 April 1957 Vince Gair was expelled from the Labor Party.
26 April 1957The Queensland Labor Party was formed, and Parliament was prorogued to 11 June. [1]
11 June 1957Parliament resumed for business at noon. [2]
13 June 1957The Parliament was dissolved. [3]
2 July 1957Writs were issued by the Administrator to proceed with an election. [4]
12 July 1957Close of nominations.
3 August 1957Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
12 August 1957The Gair Ministry resigned and the Nicklin Ministry was sworn in. [5]
24 August 1957The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
27 August 1957Parliament resumed for business. [6]

Background

On 18 April 1957, the Queensland Central Executive of the Labor Party passed a vote of no confidence in Premier Gair, and on 24 April, despite having gained a unanimous vote of support from the Cabinet, he was expelled from the Labor Party. On 26 April, Gair and 25 MLAs met and formed the Queensland Labor Party (QLP) with those present, with Gair as leader. Those at the meeting included all of the Cabinet except Deputy Premier Jack Duggan and two ex-Labor Independents. All these were also expelled from the party. Duggan resigned from the ministry on 29 April and succeeded Gair as leader of the Labor Party, which commanded the support of 22 MLAs.

Gair almost immediately began talks with Nicklin for confidence and supply support in the legislature. However, Nicklin broke them off on the advice of federal Country Party leader Arthur Fadden, who believed the ructions in Labor gave Nicklin a chance to become Premier himself, ending 22 years in opposition. On 12 June 1957, Lieutenant Governor and Chief Justice of Queensland Alan Mansfield (Governor John Lavarack was indisposed) ordered Parliament to reassemble. Shortly after 10:30 pm that night, Treasurer Ted Walsh moved that supply be granted to the Gair QLP government. The motion was defeated after the ALP and Coalition rose to vote against it, bringing the Gair government down. Gair immediately asked for new elections, which were called for 3 August.

Campaign

On 1 July, Frank Nicklin delivered the Country Party's policy speech at Maroochydore, while Kenneth Morris delivered the Liberal Party's policy speech in Brisbane. The two coalition partners declared to the electorate that only they could deliver unity and effective government, an acceleration of development and civil rights, as well as court supervision of union ballots to limit strike action. [7]

On 4 July, Jack Duggan, the Labor leader, announced Labor's campaign slogan, "A fair go for all", and promised three weeks' annual leave (the issue over which Premier Vince Gair and the party executive had split) would be implemented if his party was elected. On 8 July, Gair, the incumbent Premier representing the Queensland Labor Party (QLP), spent half his speech talking about the dispute that had led to the split, promised an attack upon Communism and a continuance of the previous government's development platform. [7]

Nominations closed on 12 July, with a record total of 219 candidates. Four seats were uncontested, but many seats had both Labor and QLP contestants. Some contests became particularly bitter as the Labor Party accused their QLP opponents of sectarianism and alleged direct interference by ministers of the Catholic Church, despite Archbishop James Duhig's refusal to get involved. The campaigns were strongest in the leaders' and deputy leaders' own seats. [7]

Politicians from around Australia, in particular from the Labor Party, came to Queensland during the campaign, including the federal opposition leader, Dr H. V. Evatt, Arthur Calwell, Clyde Cameron and former Victorian premier John Cain, who died of a stroke on 9 August after giving a speech in Townsville. [7]

Results

When the writs were dropped, the Labor forces were in a precarious position. Every ALP MP faced a QLP challenger, and every QLP MP faced an ALP challenger. This created dozens of three-cornered contests, and the first-past-the-post system left them without the option of directing preferences to each other even if they wanted to do so.

The Coalition actually suffered a swing of 1.2 percent against it. However, the ructions in Labor allowed the Coalition to win a number of three-cornered contests, assuring a comfortable majority for Nicklin, with 42 seats against only 31 for the two Labor factions combined. The ALP lost both Duggan and deputy leader Felix Dittmer, whose seats were won by Liberal candidates. The QLP lost 14 seats (two of them to the ALP), but seven of the ten ministers retained their seats. This began what would be 32 years of non-Labor government in Queensland.

Queensland state election, 3 August 1957 [8]
Legislative Assembly
<< 19561960 >>

Enrolled voters747,455 [1]
Votes cast706,909 Turnout 94.58+1.57
Informal votes8,033Informal1.14–0.07
Summary of votes by party
PartyPrimary votes %SwingSeatsChange
  Labor 201,97128.90–22.3220–29
  Queensland Labor 163,53423.40+23.4011+11
  Liberal 162,37223.23–1.8418+10
  Country 139,72019.99+0.7224+ 8
  NQ Labor 7,4881.07–0.251± 0
 Ind. Labor2,2570.32+0.260± 0
 Ind. Conservative2,7230.39+0.390± 0
  Independent 18,8112.69–0.171± 0
Total698,876  75 
Popular vote
Labor
28.90%
Queensland Labor
23.40%
Liberal
23.23%
Country
19.99%
NQ Labor
1.07%
Independents
3.40%
Seats
Country
32.00%
Labor
26.67%
Liberal
24.00%
Queensland Labor
14.67%
NQ Labor
1.33%
Independents
1.33%
1 791,719 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but three Country seats representing 30,956 enrolled voters and one Liberal seat representing 13,308 voters were unopposed.

Seats changing party representation

This table lists changes in party representation at the 1957 election.

Party changes before election

The following seats changed party representation before the election due to the split of the ALP.

SeatIncumbent memberFormer partyNew party
Baroona Bill Power  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Belyando Tom Foley  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Bulimba Bob Gardner  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Bundaberg Ted Walsh  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Carnarvon Paul Hilton  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Carpentaria Norm Smith  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Charters Towers Arthur Jones  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Condamine Les Diplock  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Cook Bunny Adair  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Fortitude Valley Mick Brosnan  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Gregory George Devries  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Haughton Colin McCathie  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Keppel Viv Cooper  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Kurilpa Tom Moores  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Merthyr Bill Moore  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Mulgrave Charles English  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Nash Greg Kehoe  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Nundah Jim Hadley  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Rockhampton Mick Gardner  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Roma Alfred Dohring  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Sandgate Herbert Robinson  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Somerset Alexander Skinner  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
South Brisbane Vince Gair  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Tablelands Harold Collins  Australian Labor Queensland Labor
Windsor Tom Rasey  Australian Labor Queensland Labor

Seats changing hands at election

SeatIncumbent memberPartyNew memberParty
Balonne John Taylor  Labor Eddie Beardmore  Country
Bulimba Bob Gardner  Queensland Labor Jack Houston  Labor
Buranda Dick Brown  Labor Keith Hooper  Liberal
Flinders Frank Forde  Labor Bill Lonergan  Country
Fortitude Valley Mick Brosnan  Queensland Labor Bob Windsor  Liberal
Gregory* George Devries  Queensland Labor Wally Rae  Country
Kelvin Grove Bert Turner  Labor Douglas Tooth  Liberal
Keppel Viv Cooper  Queensland Labor Merv Thackeray  Labor
Kurilpa Tom Moores  Queensland Labor Peter Connolly  Liberal
Merthyr Bill Moore  Queensland Labor Sam Ramsden  Liberal
Mount Gravatt Felix Dittmer  Labor Graham Hart  Liberal
Mulgrave Charles English  Queensland Labor Bob Watson  Country
Nash Greg Kehoe  Queensland Labor Max Hodges  Country
Nundah Jim Hadley  Queensland Labor William Knox  Liberal
Roma Alfred Dohring  Queensland Labor William Ewan  Country
Sandgate Herbert Robinson  Queensland Labor Thomas Ahearn  Liberal
Somerset Alexander Skinner  Queensland Labor Harold Richter  Country
Tablelands Harold Collins  Queensland Labor Tom Gilmore  Country
Toowoomba Jack Duggan  Labor Mervyn Anderson  Liberal
Windsor Tom Rasey  Queensland Labor Ray Smith  Liberal

Aftermath

The Country Party's win in this election proved to be one of the major turning points in Queensland politics; they remained in power continuously until the 1989 state election.

The ALP elected Les Wood as party leader and Eric Lloyd as deputy leader; neither had previously served in a ministry. Wood, the member for North Toowoomba, died in office on 29 March 1958, and Duggan returned as both a member of Parliament and leader of the party at the by-election on 31 May. Dittmer, meanwhile, was elected to the Australian Senate.

Former Prime Minister Frank Forde, who lost his seat of Flinders by one vote, alleged the wrongful disallowance of some votes and successfully lodged a petition against his opponent's return at the Court of Disputed Returns; however he lost the resulting by-election.

See also

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References

  1. "A Proclamation". Queensland Government Gazette . 26 April 1957. p. 194:1467.
  2. "A Proclamation". Queensland Government Gazette . 24 May 1957. p. 195:347.
  3. "A Proclamation". Queensland Government Gazette . 13 June 1957. p. 195:975.
  4. "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette . 2 July 1957. p. 195:1267.
  5. "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette . 12 August 1957. p. 195:2075–2078.
  6. "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette . 22 August 1957. p. 195:2459.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Morrison, Allan Arthur (May 1958). "Australian Political Chronicle: July–December 1957". Australian Journal of Politics and History. 3 (2): 237–238. ISSN   0004-9522.
  8. Australian Government and Politics Database. "Parliament of Queensland, Assembly election, 3 August 1957". Archived from the original on 13 April 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2010.