From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

1928 Tasmanian state election

State election in Australia

Field	Value
election_name	1928 Tasmanian state election
country	Tasmania
type	parliamentary
ongoing	no
previous_election	1925 Tasmanian state election
previous_year	1925
next_election	1931 Tasmanian state election
next_year	1931
seats_for_election	All 30 seats to the House of Assembly
election_date	30 May 1928
image1
leader1	John McPhee
leader_since1	July 1925
party1	Nationalist Party (Australia)
leaders_seat1	Denison
last_election1	11 seats
seats1	15 seats
seat_change1	4
percentage1	42.20%
swing1	2.83
image2
leader2	Joseph Lyons
leader_since2	November 1916
party2	Australian Labor Party (Tasmanian Branch)
leaders_seat2	Wilmot
last_election2	16 seats
seats2	14 seats
seat_change2	2
percentage2	47.15%
swing2	1.32
map_image	1928 Tasmanian state election.svg
map_size	350px
map_caption	Results of the election
title	Premier
posttitle	Resulting Premier
before_election	Joseph Lyons
before_party	Australian Labor Party (Tasmanian Branch)
after_election	John McPhee
after_party	Nationalist Party (Australia)

The 1928 Tasmanian state election was held on Wednesday, 30 May 1928 in the Australian state of Tasmania to elect 30 members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The election used the Hare-Clark proportional representation system — six members were elected from each of five electorates.

Labor had won the 1925 election in a landslide, with the Nationalist Party losing five seats in the House of Assembly. In 1928, leading up to the election, the Nationalists reverted to "hard politics", criticising Labor Premier Joseph Lyons for an increasing unemployment problem and economic stagnation. This shift was much to the chagrin of Lyons, who had encouraged cordial relations with the Nationalists, and referred to their leader John McPhee as a "colleague and mate".

The Labor Party won the largest portion of the vote in the 1928 election, but only fourteen seats. The Nationalist Party held 15 seats, half of the seats in the House of Assembly, and as well had the support of the one elected Independent member, so Nationalist leader McPhee became Premier of Tasmania. He praised Lyons for his statesmanship. The wrong-winner election was likely at least partly caused the use of districts that had an even number of seats. In 1928, the Labor party received either an absolute or relative majority over the Nationalist party in state-wide vote tallies and also in each of the five electorates, yet the Nationalists took more seats. According to Dr. George Howatt, this occurred because the Labor majorities were not large enough to gain the fourth seat in any electorate, and in most districts Nationalists also got three seats. In one electorate (Franklin), an Independent candidate Mr. B.J. Pearsall was elected, causing Labor to capture only two seats in that division. Despite Labor's lead over the Nationalists in popular votes, Labor lost to the Nationalists by 14 seats to 15. Plus Pearsall supported the Nationalists in Government. Howatt presented evidence in the 1950s that the use of districts with an odd number of seats, in particular 7, would be unlikely to produce wrong-winner elections. Tasmania switched to five-seat districts in 1959.

Lyons stood for the federal seat of Wilmot in 1929, and he became Prime Minister of Australia in 1932.

Results

: Prior to the 1925 election, the Nationalist Party had split with a number of candidates, including former Premier Walter Lee, contesting the election under a "Liberal" banner. The grouping subsequently reunited with the Nationalists.

Distribution of votes

Primary vote by division

Darwin	Denison	Franklin	Wilmot
Labor Party	54.6%	46.7%	40.9%	43.5%
Nationalist	45.4%	45.7%	40.4%	37.4%
Other	–	7.5%	18.7%	19.1%

Distribution of seats

Electorate	Seats won
	Bass	Labor}}
	Darwin
	Denison
	Franklin
	Wilmot

	Independent

References

[http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/tpl/Backg/HAElections.htm House of Assembly Elections], [[Parliament of Tasmania]].
P. R. Hart, C. J. Lloyd, [https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lyons-joseph-aloysius-joe-7278 Lyons, Joseph Aloysius (1879 - 1939)], ''[[Australian Dictionary of Biography]]'', Volume 10, Melbourne University Press, 1986, pp 184-189.
Dr. George Howatt, "DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATION UNDER THE HARE-CLARK SYSTEM - The Need for Seven-Member Electorates" https://www.prsa.org.au/58howatt.html accessed October 1, 2025

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

elections-in-tasmania 1928-elections-in-australia 1920s-in-tasmania may-1928

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 1928 Tasmanian state election — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report