Herbert James Mockford Payne (17 August 1866 – 26 February 1944) was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician. Born in Hobart

Hobart

Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...

, Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

, he was educated at state schools before becoming an investor and grazier. In 1903, he was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly

Tasmanian House of Assembly

The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House...

 for Burnie

Electoral district of Burnie

The Electoral district of Burnie was a single-member electoral district of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. It was based around the town of Burnie on Tasmania's northern coast....

, transferring to Darwin in 1909. He was Treasurer, Minister for Agriculture and Minister for Railways 1912-1914. In 1919, he left the Assembly and was elected to the Australian Senate

Australian Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

 as a Nationalist

Nationalist Party of Australia

The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...

 Senator for Tasmania. In 1931, together with the rest of his party, he joined the United Australia Party

United Australia Party

The United Australia Party was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. It was the political successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia and predecessor to the Liberal Party of Australia...

. He held his seat until his defeat in 1937. Payne died in 1944.

Compulsory voting

Payne's lasting legacy to the Australian political system was his Private Senator's Bill proposing the introduction of compulsory voting at Commonwealth elections. He felt some action was required following the record low voter turnout (59.38%) at the 1922 federal election

Australian federal election, 1922

Federal elections were held in Australia on 16 December 1922. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes lost its majority...

. However, neither the government nor the opposition had compulsory voting on their platforms. Senator Payne introduced the Commonwealth Electoral Bill 1924 on 16 July 1924, and it was passed with little debate. The House of Representatives agreed to it in less than an hour, and in neither house was a division required, hence no votes were recorded against the bill. It received Royal Assent on 31 July 1924.