Dooley ministry (1921)

Dooley ministry
38th Cabinet of the State of New South Wales
Premier James Dooley
Date formed	10 October 1921 (1921-10-10)
Date dissolved	20 December 1921 (1921-12-20)
People and organisations
Monarch	George V
Governor	Sir Walter Davidson
Head of government	James Dooley
No. of ministers	13
Member party	Labor
Status in legislature	Minority government
Opposition party	Nationalist
Opposition leader	George Fuller
History
Outgoing election	1920 New South Wales election
Predecessor	Storey ministry
Successor	Fuller ministry

The Dooley ministry (1921) or the first Dooley ministry was the 38th ministry of the New South Wales Government, and was led by the 21st Premier, James Dooley. It was the first of two occasions that Dooley was Premier.

Dooley was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1907, serving until 1927, when he fell out with the Labor leadership, lost Labor preselection, and stood unsuccessfully as an Independent Labor candidate for the Senate in the 1931 federal election. Dooley served as Deputy Labor leader to Ernest Durack and then John Storey, when Labor came to power at the 1920 state election, ^[1] with what Storey called "half a mandate". ^[2] The assembly was evenly divided, with Labor having 43 seats and the support of Percy Brookfield (Socialist Labor) and Arthur Gardiner (Independent Labor), while the Nationalists had 28 seats and the support of 15 seats of Progressive Party and 2 independent Nationalists. The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly did not vote unless there was a tie which meant whichever side provided the speaker was unable to command a majority. Nationalist Daniel Levy controversially accepted re-election as speaker, giving Labor an effective majority, ^{[3] [4]} Storey died in office on 5 October 1921. ^[2]

On Storey's death Dooley became Leader and Premier, reconstituting the ministry, which was largely unchanged from the Storey ministry, with the portfolio of Local Government moving from Thomas Mutch to George Cann, the portfolio of Labour and Industry was split into Labour which moved to Greg McGirr and industry becoming State Industrial Enterprises and given to Carlo Lazzarini. ^{[1] [5]}

The ministry covers the period from 10 October 1921, five days after Storey's death, until they resigned on 20 December 1921. Levy had resigned as speaker on 12 December 1921, replaced by Labor's Simon Hickey and the government was defeated on the floor of the house 44 votes to 45. ^{[6] [7]} Levy was re-elected as speaker, which meant new Premier George Fuller could not command a majority in the house and resigned within seven hours of his appointment. Levy remained as speaker as the only way to have a workable parliament, ^[3] allowing Dooley to regain power forming the second Dooley ministry. ^[1]

Composition of ministry

The composition of the ministry was announced by Premier Dooley on 10 October 1921, ^[8] and covers the period up to 20 December 1921, when the ministry resigned.

Portfolio	Minister	Party		Term commence	Term end	Term of office
Premier Chief Secretary	James Dooley		Labor	10 October 1921	20 December 1921	71 days
Treasurer	Jack Lang
Attorney-General	Edward McTiernan
Secretary for Lands Minister for Forests	Peter Loughlin
Secretary for Public Works Minister for Railways	John Estell
Minister of Justice	William McKell
Minister of Public Instruction	Thomas Mutch
Secretary for Mines Minister for Local Government	George Cann
Solicitor General	Robert Sproule MLC
Minister for Agriculture	Bill Dunn
Minister for Public Health and Motherhood Minister for Labour	Greg McGirr
Minister for State Industrial Enterprises	Carlo Lazzarini
Vice-President of the Executive Council Representative of the Government in Legislative Council	Edward Kavanagh MLC

  Ministers are members of the Legislative Assembly unless otherwise noted.

See also

• New South Wales portal
• Politics portal

• Second Dooley ministry
• Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, 1920–1922
• Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council, 1920–1922

References

1. Cunneen, Chris. "Dooley, James Thomas (1877–1950)". Australian Dictionary of Biography . National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN   1833-7538 . Retrieved 2 November 2021.
2. Nairn, Bede. "Storey, John (1869–1921)". Australian Dictionary of Biography . National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN   1833-7538 . Retrieved 10 October 2021.
3. Fredman, L E. "Levy, Sir Daniel (1872–1937)". Australian Dictionary of Biography . National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN   1833-7538 . Retrieved 10 May 2020.
4. Fitzpatrick, John (27 April 1920). "Election of speaker" (PDF). Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . New South Wales: Legislative Assembly. pp. 18–33. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
5. "Part 6 Ministries since 1856" (PDF). NSW Parliamentary Record. Parliament of New South Wales . Retrieved 2 November 2021.
6. "Resignation of speaker" (PDF). Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . New South Wales: Legislative Assembly. 12 December 1921. pp. 2598–2602. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
7. As the speaker did not vote, with Hickey as speaker Labor was reduced to 43 votes, plus the support of Arthur Gardiner (Independent Labor). ^[6]
8. "Appointment of ministers (150)". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales . 10 October 1921. p. 5858. Retrieved 2 November 2021– via Trove.

 

Preceded by Storey ministry	Dooley ministry 1921	Succeeded by Fuller ministry (1921)