1944 Queensland state election

1944 Queensland state election
← outgoing members elected members →
All 62 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland; 32 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
Registered	655,984 3.3%
Turnout	512,768 (78.17%) ; (6.44 pp)
	Legislative Assembly after the election
Premier before election; Frank Arthur Cooper; Labor	Elected Premier ; Frank Arthur Cooper; Labor

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 15 April 1944 to elect the 62 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.

The election was the first that Labor had contested under Premier Frank Cooper, who had been in office for 19 months by the time of the poll.

From this election, the voting method was changed from contingency voting to First past the post voting. Queensland retained this method for state elections until Preferential Voting was restored by the Country/Liberal Coalition at the 1963 state election.

The election resulted in Labor receiving a fifth term in office, albeit with a reduced majority.

Key dates

Date	Event
23 February 1944	The Parliament was dissolved.^[2]
24 February 1944	Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.^[3]
3 March 1944	Close of nominations.
15 April 1944	Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
27 April 1944	The Cooper Ministry was reconstituted.^[4]
29 May 1944	The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
1 August 1944	Parliament resumed for business.^[5]

Results

Legislative Assembly (IRV) – Turnout: 84.61%^[6]
Party		Primary vote			Seats

Party		Votes	%	Swing (pp)	Seats	Change
	Labor	237,042	46.23	–3.51	38^[b]	3
	People's Party	124,573	24.29	+24.29	7	7
	Country National	88,608	17.28	–2.93	12	6
	Communist	12,467	2.43	+1.43	1	1
	King O'Malley Labor	5,790	1.13	+1.13	1	1
	Hermit Park Labor	5,521	1.08	+1.08	1	1
	Frank Barnes Labor	4,180	0.82	–0.2	1
	Democratic	999	0.19	-1.75	0	2
	All Services Association of Australia	325	0.06	+0.06	0
	Christian Socialist	230	0.04	+0.04	0
	Independent	23,680	4.62	+0.55	1	1
Total		512,768	100.00		62

Invalid/blank votes		9,352	1.82	–0.29	—
Turnout		512,768	78.17	–6.44	—
Registered voters		655,984	—		—

Popular vote

Labor			46.23%
People's Party			24.29%
Country National			17.28%
Communist			2.43%
King O'Malley Labor			1.13%
Hermit Park Labor			1.08%
Andrew Fisher Labor			0.82%
Democratic			0.19%
ASAA			0.06%
Christian Socialist			0.04%
Independents			4.62%

Seats

Labor			61.29%
People's Party			11.29%
Country National			19.35%
Communist			1.61%
King O'Malley Labor			1.61%
Hermit Park Labor			1.61%
Andrew Fisher Labor			1.61%

Parties and independents

Some ructions had developed between some sections of the Labor Party and the party's AWU-dominated executive, resulting in tiny splinter movements which were, however, locally effective. The Hermit Park branch in Townsville, which had dominated the Townsville City Council since 1939, was expelled from the ALP for alleged disloyalty in 1942,^[7] possibly due to association with Communists. Tom Aikens won the seat of Mundingburra at the election. Similar forces saw sitting left-wing members George Taylor (Enoggera) and George Marriott (Bulimba) expelled from the party; the former lost his seat to a QPP candidate, while the latter retained his at the 1944 and 1947 elections. Frank Barnes, a colourful identity who supported social credit theories popular since the Great Depression and declared himself opposed to the Labor government, retained his seat of Bundaberg.

Various changes were taking place in conservative politics as well, with the dissolution of the United Australia Party and the formation of the Queensland People's Party (QPP), led by the mayor of Brisbane and member for Hamilton, John Beals Chandler. The two independent conservatives elected in 1941 were both out of parliament by the election — Bruce Pie had resigned to contest the 1943 federal election, whilst William Deacon had died. One of the former United Australia Party members, Louis Luckins (Maree), did not join the QPP originally and retained his seat in 1944 as an independent.

Apart from the above, numerous independent candidates contested with a range of banners, including Democrat, Christian Socialist, Servicemen's Association, People's Party and Independent Country Party, none of them achieving more than a few hundred votes.

Fred Paterson was elected in Bowen, the only member of the Communist Party of Australia to be elected to an Australian parliament.

Seats changing party representation

This table lists changes in party representation at the 1944 election.

Seat	Incumbent member		New member
Bowen	Ernest Riordan	Labor	Fred Paterson	Communist
Bulimba	George Marriott	Labor	George Marriott	Independent Labor
Cunningham	William Deacon*	Independent Country	Malcolm McIntyre	Country
Enoggera	George Taylor	Independent Labor	Kenneth Morris	People's Party
Keppel	David Daniel	Country	Walter Ingram	Labor
Logan	John Brown	Labor	Thomas Hiley	People's Party
Maree	Louis Luckins	People's Party	Louis Luckins	Independent
Mundingburra	John Dash	Labor	Tom Aikens	Hermit Park Labor
Sandgate	Eric Decker	Country	Eric Decker	People's Party
Windsor	Harry Moorhouse	Independent Democrat	Bruce Pie	People's Party
Wynnum	Bill Dart	Independent	Bill Gunn	Labor

Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.
The sitting Independent Country member for Cunningham, William Deacon died in 1943. No by-election was held due to the proximity of the state election.
In addition, Frank Barnes Labor held the seat of Cairns, which it had won from Labor at the 1942 by-election.

References

Notes

^ Seats of both the Country and United Australia parties. Both parties merged in April 1941,^[1] following the fourth election loss in a row for the Country Party and the Non-Labor opposition.
^ Includes George Marriott of Bulimba whom was listed as an Independent Labor candidate.

Citations

^ "UAP–CP Form New State Party". The Courier-Mail. No. 2386. Queensland, Australia. 28 April 1941. p. 3. Retrieved 13 October 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "A Proclamation". Queensland Government Gazette. 23 February 1944. p. 162:489.
^ "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 24 February 1944. p. 162:493.
^ "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 27 April 1944. p. 162:830.
^ "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 6 July 1944. p. 163:33.
^ Hughes, CA; Graham, BD (1974). Voting for the Queensland legislative assembly, 1890-1964 (PDF). Australia National University (ANU). pp. 203–210.
^ "JCU Library Archives - A.D. Murgatroyd Collection". Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2009.

[2] Seats of both the Country and United Australia parties. Both parties merged in April 1941,^[1] following the fourth election loss in a row for the Country Party and the Non-Labor opposition.

[8] Includes George Marriott of Bulimba whom was listed as an Independent Labor candidate.

[1] "UAP–CP Form New State Party". The Courier-Mail. No. 2386. Queensland, Australia. 28 April 1941. p. 3. Retrieved 13 October 2022 – via National Library of Australia.

[3] "A Proclamation". Queensland Government Gazette. 23 February 1944. p. 162:489.

[4] "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 24 February 1944. p. 162:493.

[5] "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 27 April 1944. p. 162:830.

[6] "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 6 July 1944. p. 163:33.

[Book-7] Hughes, CA; Graham, BD (1974). Voting for the Queensland legislative assembly, 1890-1964 (PDF). Australia National University (ANU). pp. 203–210.

[9] "JCU Library Archives - A.D. Murgatroyd Collection". Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2009.

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