|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 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.
Contents |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 24 April 1957 | Vince Gair was expelled from the Australian Labor Party. |
| 26 April 1957 | The Queensland Labor Party was formed, and Parliament was prorogued to 11 June.[1] |
| 11 June 1957 | Parliament resumed for business at noon.[2] |
| 13 June 1957 | The Parliament was dissolved.[3] |
| 2 July 1957 | Writs were issued by the Administrator to proceed with an election.[4] |
| 12 July 1957 | Close of nominations. |
| 3 August 1957 | Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm. |
| 12 August 1957 | The Gair Ministry resigned and the Nicklin Ministry was sworn in.[5] |
| 24 August 1957 | The writ was returned and the results formally declared. |
| 27 August 1957 | Parliament resumed for business.[6] |
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, 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.[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]
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 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.
|
Queensland state election, 3 August 1957[8] |
||||||
| Enrolled Voters | 747,455[1] | |||||
| Votes Cast | 706,909 | Turnout | 94.58 | +1.57 | ||
| Informal Votes | 8,033 | Informal | 1.14 | –0.07 | ||
| Summary of votes by party | ||||||
| Party | Primary Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
| Labor | 201,971 | 28.90 | –22.32 | 20 | – 2 | |
| Queensland Labor | 163,534 | 23.40 | +23.40 | 11 | –14 | |
| Liberal | 162,372 | 23.23 | –1.84 | 18 | +10 | |
| Country | 139,720 | 19.99 | +0.72 | 24 | + 8 | |
| North Queensland Labor | 7,488 | 1.07 | –0.25 | 1 | ± 0 | |
| Ind. Labor | 2,257 | 0.32 | +0.26 | 0 | ± 0 | |
| Ind. Conservative | 2,723 | 0.39 | +0.39 | 0 | ± 0 | |
| Independent | 18,811 | 2.69 | –0.17 | 1 | ± 0 | |
| Total | 698,876 | 75 | ||||
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, 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.
|
||||||||