1944 Queensland state election

1944 Queensland state election

15 April 1944
All 62 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland 32 seats needed for a majority
Registered	655,984 3.3%
Turnout	78.17% ( 6.44)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Frank Arthur Cooper Frank Nicklin J. B. Chandler Party Labor Country People's Leader since 9 September 1942 18 June 1941 27 October 1943 Leader's seat Bremer Murrumba Hamilton Last election 41 seats 14 seats Did not exist Seats before 40 18 1 Seats won 38 12 7 Seat change 2 6 6 Popular vote 237,042 88,608 124,573 Percentage 46.23% 17.28% 24.29% Swing 3.51 2.93 24.29   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Jack Henry Lou Barnes Tom Aikens Party Communist O'Malley Labor Hermit Park Labor Leader since 3 April 1937 1942 1944 Leader's seat None Cairns Mundingburra (won seat) Last election 0 seats Did not exist Did not exist Seats before 0 1 0 Seats won 1 1 1 Seat change 1 Popular vote 12,467 5,790 5,790 Percentage 2.43% 1.13% 1.13% Swing 1.43 1.13 1.13
Premier before election Frank Arthur Cooper Labor Subsequent Premier Frank Arthur Cooper Labor

The 1944 Queensland state election was held on 15 April 1944 to elect all 62 members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The Labor Party, led by premier Frank Cooper, was elected to a fifth term in office, albeit with a reduced majority.

Prior to the election, the electoral system was changed from contingency voting to first-past-the-post. The change was brought about by the state government three weeks after Labor lost the 1942 Cairns by-election, where it had led on primary votes but lost to King O'Malley Labor in the two-candidate-preferred count. First-past-the-post was in place for Queensland state elections until full preferential voting was introduced by the Country−Liberal coalition in 1963.

Background

Key dates

Date	Event
23 February 1944	The Parliament was dissolved.
24 February 1944	Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.
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.
29 May 1944	The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
1 August 1944	Parliament resumed for business.

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, 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.

Candidates

Main article: Candidates of the 1944 Queensland state election

Results

Main article: Results of the 1944 Queensland state election

Legislative Assembly (FPTP) – Turnout: 78.17%

Party			Primary vote			Seats
			Votes	%	Swing (pp)	Seats	Change
	Labor		237,042	46.23	–3.51	38	3
	People's Party		124,573	24.29	+24.29	7	7
	Country		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%

Seats changing hands

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

Seat	Incumbent member	Party		New member	Party
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.

See also

• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1944–1947
• Cooper Ministry