1909 Tasmanian state election

The Hare-Clark system

The Tasmanian House of Assembly formed in 1856, at first used a plurality voting system, either first-past-the-post voting or plurality block voting, to elect members from one and two-seat electorates. In 1896, the Tasmanian attorney-general, Andrew Inglis Clark, suggested the House adopt a single transferable vote system devised by Englishman Thomas Hare with certain variations devised by himself, which became known as the Hare-Clark system. The system was used on a trial basis in the Hobart and Launceston electorates in 1897 and 1900, but was never used in the country electorates and was repealed in 1901, with the multi-member districts in the cities being broken up at the 1903 election. In order to blunt the emergence of the Labour Party which won eight seats in the 1906 election, Clark convinced the House to apply the Hare-Clark system statewide.

The outgoing House at the election was represented by 35 single-member districts. The adoption of the Hare-Clark system saw the number of seats in the House reduced from 35 to 30, and six members for each of five electorates (corresponding to the federal electoral divisions of Bass, Darwin, Denison, Franklin and Wilmot) were elected using single transferable voting, a form of proportional representation.

Key dates

Results

Distribution of seats

Aftermath

The Anti-Socialist Party (previously known as the Free Trade Party) held a majority of seats. It was a coalition of conservative and Liberal parliamentarians, exhorted by incumbent Premier John Evans to combine their forces against the threat from the Labour Party who had won an unprecedented 12 seats in 1905. Evans offered to resign if asked, and in June was taken to his word, with Elliott Lewis elected as leader and premier with a pledge of twelve months loyalty. A faction of Liberals within the Anti-Socialist Party, led by Norman Ewing, undermined Lewis' leadership, culminating in a no-confidence motion in October 1909, which brought down the government. The Governor of Tasmania Sir Harry Barron then called on John Earle to form Tasmania's first Labour ministry, a minority government that lasted only a week before being voted out by the House.

References

References

1. Farrell and McAllister, Australian Electoral Systems
2. [http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/tpl/Backg/HAElections.htm House of Assembly Elections], [[Parliament of Tasmania]].
3. Moon, Jeremy. (2003). "Australian Politics and Government: The Commonwealth, the States, and the Territories". Cambridge University Press.
4. "Electoral Act 1907: A Proclamation", ''Tasmanian Government Gazette'', 1909:321 (20 March 1909)
5. "Dissolution of the House of Assembly", ''Tasmanian Government Gazette'', 1912:356 (22 March 1912)
6. "Parliament of Tasmania: A Proclamation", ''Tasmanian Government Gazette'', 1909:762 (22 June 1909)
7. Scott Bennett, '[https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lewis-sir-neil-elliott-7188 Lewis, Sir Neil Elliott (1858 - 1935)]', ''[[Australian Dictionary of Biography]]'', Volume 10, Melbourne University Press, 1986, pp 94-95.