1956 Queensland state election

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 19 May 1956 to elect the 75 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The Labor government was seeking its ninth continuous term in office since the 1932 election; it would be Vince Gair's second election as Premier.

1956 Queensland state election
19 May 1956 (1956-05-19)
All 75 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland
38 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
Turnout93.01 ( 0.79 pp)
  First party Second party
 
Leader Vince Gair Frank Nicklin
Party Labor Country/Liberal coalition
Leader since 17 January 1952 (1952-01-17) 21 May 1941
Leader's seat South Brisbane Landsborough
Last election 50 seats 23 seats
Seats won 49 seats 24 seats
Seat change 1 1
Percentage 51.22% 44.34%
Swing 1.99 4.30
Premier before election

Vince Gair
Labor

 Elected Premier

Vince Gair
Labor

Key dates
Date Event
17 April 1956 The Parliament was dissolved.[1]
17 April 1956 Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.[2]
27 April 1956 Close of nominations.
19 May 1956 Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
26 May 1956 Polling day in the seat of Warrego, delayed due to absence of the presiding officer.[3]
28 May 1956 The Gair Ministry was re-sworn in.[4]
2 June 1956 Polling day in the seat of Tablelands, delayed due to floods.[3]
30 June 1956 The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
31 July 1956 Parliament resumed for business.[5]

Results

Queensland state election, 19 May 1956[6]
Legislative Assembly
<< 1953–1957 >>

Enrolled voters 712,508[1]
Votes cast 662,680 Turnout 93.01 –0.79
Informal votes 8,006 Informal 1.21 –0.07
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 335,311 51.22 –1.99 49 – 1
  Liberal 164,116 25.07 +3.77 8 ± 0
  Country 126,183 19.27 +0.53 16 + 1
  NQ Labor 8,625 1.32 +0.22 1 ± 0
  Communist 1,332 0.20 –0.45 0 ± 0
  Independent Labor 414 0.06 –0.08 0 ± 0
  Independent 18,693 2.86 –0.26 1 ± 0
Total 654,674     75  
Popular vote
Labor
 
 51.22%
Liberal
 
 25.07%
Country
 
 19.27%
NQ Labor
 
 1.32%
Communist
 
 0.20%
Independents
 
 2.92%
Seats
Labor
 
 65.33%
Country
 
 21.33%
Liberal
 
 10.67%
NQ Labor
 
 1.33%
Independents
 
 1.33%
1 775,258 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 6 seats representing 62,750 enrolled voters were unopposed: three Country seats (28,062 voters), two Liberal seats (23,119 voters) and one Labor seat (11,569 voters).

Seats changing party representation

This table lists changes in party representation at the 1956 election.

SeatIncumbent memberPartyNew memberParty
Mackenzie Paddy Whyte   Labor Nev Hewitt   Country

Aftermath

This was to be Labor's last successful election until the 1989 election. 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, while the Labor Party moved to the opposition benches. All these were also expelled from the party. The resulting government was denied supply in parliament, and an election was called for 3 August, at which the QLP government and the Labor Party were defeated by the Country-Liberal coalition led by Frank Nicklin.

See also

References
  1. "A Proclamation". Queensland Government Gazette. 17 April 1956. p. 191:1397.
  2. "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 17 April 1956. p. 191:1399.
  3. "Order in Council". Queensland Government Gazette. 31 July 1956. p. 192:1408..
  4. "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 28 May 1956. p. 192:612.
  5. "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette. 21 June 1956. p. 192:1011.
  6. Australian Government and Politics Database. "Parliament of Queensland, Assembly election, 19 May 1956". Retrieved 25 January 2010.
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