Queensland state election, 1957
Encyclopedia
Elections were held in the Australia
n 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 Australian Labor Party
led by former Deputy Premier John Duggan, and the Country
-Liberal
coalition led by Frank Nicklin
.
The elections, only 15 months into the parliamentary term, were made necessary by the collapse of the nine-term Labor government. 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 convened a meeting of 25 MLAs, including all of the Cabinet except Deputy Premier John Duggan and two ex-Labor Independents, and formed the Queensland Labor Party
(QLP) with those present. All these were also expelled from the party. Duggan resigned from the ministry on 29 April and became leader of the Labor Party, which commanded the support of 22 MLAs. On 13 June, following denial of supply in parliament, an election was called for 3 August.
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.
On 4 July, John 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.
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.
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.
), 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.
|}
The ALP elected Leslie 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.
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 state
States and territories of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a union of six states and various territories. The Australian mainland is made up of five states and three territories, with the sixth state of Tasmania being made up of islands. In addition there are six island territories, known as external territories, and a...
of Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
on 3 August 1957 to elect the 75 members of the state's Legislative Assembly
Queensland Legislative Assembly
The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...
. The major parties contesting the election were the Queensland Labor Party
Queensland Labor Party
The Queensland Labor Party was a political party of Queensland, Australia formed in 1957 by a breakaway group of the then ruling Australian Labor Party Government after the expulsion of Premier Vince Gair...
led by Premier Vince Gair
Vince Gair
Vincent Clare "Vince" Gair was an Australian politician. He served as Premier of Queensland from 1952 until 1957, when his stormy relations with the trade union movement saw him expelled from the Australian Labor Party. He was elected to the Australian Senate and led the Democratic Labor Party...
, the Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
led by former Deputy Premier John Duggan, and the Country
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
-Liberal
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
coalition led by Frank Nicklin
Frank Nicklin
Sir George Francis Reuben Nicklin, KCMG, MM was Premier of the Australian state of Queensland from 1957 to 1968, and the first Country Party Premier since 1932.-Early life and career:...
.
The elections, only 15 months into the parliamentary term, were made necessary by the collapse of the nine-term Labor government. 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 convened a meeting of 25 MLAs, including all of the Cabinet except Deputy Premier John Duggan and two ex-Labor Independents, and formed the Queensland Labor Party
Queensland Labor Party
The Queensland Labor Party was a political party of Queensland, Australia formed in 1957 by a breakaway group of the then ruling Australian Labor Party Government after the expulsion of Premier Vince Gair...
(QLP) with those present. All these were also expelled from the party. Duggan resigned from the ministry on 29 April and became leader of the Labor Party, which commanded the support of 22 MLAs. On 13 June, following denial of supply in parliament, an election was called for 3 August.
Key dates
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 24 April 1957 | Vince Gair Vince Gair Vincent Clare "Vince" Gair was an Australian politician. He served as Premier of Queensland from 1952 until 1957, when his stormy relations with the trade union movement saw him expelled from the Australian Labor Party. He was elected to the Australian Senate and led the Democratic Labor Party... was expelled from the Australian Labor Party Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia... . |
| 26 April 1957 | The Queensland Labor Party Queensland Labor Party The Queensland Labor Party was a political party of Queensland, Australia formed in 1957 by a breakaway group of the then ruling Australian Labor Party Government after the expulsion of Premier Vince Gair... was formed, and Parliament was prorogued to 11 June. |
| 11 June 1957 | Parliament resumed for business at noon. |
| 13 June 1957 | The Parliament was dissolved. |
| 2 July 1957 | Writs were issued by the Administrator to proceed with an election. |
| 12 July 1957 | Close of nominations. |
| 3 August 1957 | Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm. |
| 12 August 1957 | The Gair Ministry Gair Ministry The Gair Ministry was a ministry of the Government of Queensland and was led by Labor Premier Vince Gair. It succeeded the Hanlon Ministry on 17 January 1952 following Ned Hanlon's death two days earlier... resigned and the Nicklin Ministry Nicklin Ministry The Nicklin Ministry was a ministry of the Government of Queensland and was led by Country Party Premier Frank Nicklin. It succeeded the Gair Ministry on 12 August 1957 following the defeat of both Labor and the QLP at the state election held nine days earlier... was sworn in. |
| 24 August 1957 | The writ was returned and the results formally declared. |
| 27 August 1957 | Parliament resumed for business. |
Campaign
On 1 July, Frank NicklinFrank Nicklin
Sir George Francis Reuben Nicklin, KCMG, MM was Premier of the Australian state of Queensland from 1957 to 1968, and the first Country Party Premier since 1932.-Early life and career:...
delivered the Country Party's policy speech at Maroochydore, while Kenneth Morris
Kenneth Morris (Australian politician)
Sir Kenneth James Morris KBE was an Australian politician. Born in Brisbane, he was educated at Brisbane Grammar School before becoming the director of his family's boot manufacturing firm. In 1931, he married Ettie Louise Dunlop. He served in the military 1939-1944, in Britain , Tobruk and Egypt...
delivered the Liberal Party's policy speech in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
. 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.
On 4 July, John 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
Vince Gair
Vincent Clare "Vince" Gair was an Australian politician. He served as Premier of Queensland from 1952 until 1957, when his stormy relations with the trade union movement saw him expelled from the Australian Labor Party. He was elected to the Australian Senate and led the Democratic Labor Party...
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
Queensland Labor Party
The Queensland Labor Party was a political party of Queensland, Australia formed in 1957 by a breakaway group of the then ruling Australian Labor Party Government after the expulsion of Premier Vince Gair...
(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.
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
James Duhig
Sir James Duhig, KCMG was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane from 1917 until his death. At the time of his death he was the longest-serving bishop in the Catholic Church .-Early life:...
's refusal to get involved. The campaigns were strongest in the leaders' and deputy leaders' own seats.
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
H. V. Evatt
Herbert Vere Evatt, QC KStJ , was an Australian jurist, politician and writer. He was President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1948–49 and helped draft the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights...
, Arthur Calwell
Arthur Calwell
Arthur Augustus Calwell Australian politician, was a member of the Australian House of Representatives for 32 years from 1940 to 1972, Immigration Minister in the government of Ben Chifley from 1945 to 1949 and Leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1960 to 1967.-Early life:Calwell was born in...
, Clyde Cameron
Clyde Cameron
Clyde Robert Cameron, AO , Australian politician, was a member of the Australian House of Representatives for 31 years from 1949 to 1980, a Cabinet minister in the Whitlam government and a leading figure in the Australian labour movement for forty years.-Biography:Cameron was born in Murray Bridge,...
and former Victorian premier John Cain
John Cain (senior)
John Cain was an Australian politician, who became the 34th premier of Victoria, and was the first Australian Labor Party leader to win a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. He was the only premier of Victoria whose son also served as premier.-Early life:Cain was born, one of 18...
, who died of a stroke on 9 August after giving a speech in Townsville.
Results
The result was a comprehensive defeat for both the QLP and the ALP, and the Country-Liberal coalition were elected to power with a comfortable majority. The ALP lost both its leader and deputy leader (Felix DittmerFelix Dittmer
Felix Cyril Sigismund Dittmer was an Australian politician. Born in Dugandan, Queensland, he was educated at state schools and then the University of Queensland and the University of Sydney, becoming a doctor. He was an honorary surgeon in Brisbane...
), 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.
|}
- 791,719 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but three Country seats representing 30,956 enrolled voters and one QLP seat representing 13,308 voters were unopposed.
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 Leslie Wood as party leader and Eric Lloyd as deputy leader; neither had previously served in a ministry. Wood, the member for North Toowoomba
Electoral district of North Toowoomba
The electoral district of North Toowoomba was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland. It was created with the 1950 redistribution and removed by the 1960 redistribution....
, 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
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,...
.
Former Prime Minister Frank Forde
Frank Forde
Francis Michael Forde PC was an Australian politician and the 15th Prime Minister of Australia. He was the shortest serving Prime Minister in Australia's history, being in office for only eight days.-Early life:...
, who lost his seat of Flinders
Electoral district of Flinders (Queensland)
The electoral district of Flinders was formerly a state electorate in the Parliament of Queensland covering parts of central Queensland. It was abolished in a redistribution in 1991, effective 1992. The last sitting member of the seat was Bob Katter, who had held it since December 1974.-Members for...
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
- Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1956–1957Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1956–1957This is a list of members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 19 May 1956 to 3 August 1957, as elected at the 1956 state election. The term was cut short by a split within the governing Australian Labor Party—the Premier, Vince Gair, and all but one of his ministers were expelled from the...
- Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1957–1960Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1957–1960This is a list of members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1957 to 1960, as elected at the 1957 state election:-References:* Waterson, D.B. Biographical register of the Queensland Parliament, 1930-1980 Canberra: ANU Press...
- Candidates of the Queensland state election, 1957Candidates of the Queensland state election, 1957This is a list of candidates who stood for the 1957 Queensland state election. The election was held on 3 August 1957.The election followed a split in April 1957 in the Australian Labor Party, which had been in government for 39 of the previous 42 years...
- Gair MinistryGair MinistryThe Gair Ministry was a ministry of the Government of Queensland and was led by Labor Premier Vince Gair. It succeeded the Hanlon Ministry on 17 January 1952 following Ned Hanlon's death two days earlier...
- Nicklin MinistryNicklin MinistryThe Nicklin Ministry was a ministry of the Government of Queensland and was led by Country Party Premier Frank Nicklin. It succeeded the Gair Ministry on 12 August 1957 following the defeat of both Labor and the QLP at the state election held nine days earlier...