The 1928 Tasmanian state election was held on Wednesday, 30 May 1928 in the

Australian state The states and territories are federated administrative divisions in Australia, ruled by regional governments that constitute the second level of governance between the federal government and local governments. States are self-governing ...

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

to elect 30 members of the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. The Assembly has 25 m ...

. The election used the Hare-Clark

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

systemHouse of Assembly Elections

Parliament of Tasmania The Parliament of Tasmania is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Tasmania. It follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system and consists of the Governor of Tasmania, the Tasmanian House of Assembly (the lower house), and T ...

. — 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 Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the List of prime ministers of Australia by time in office, 10th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1932 until his death in 1939. He ...

for an increasing

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (human activity), w ...

problem and

economic stagnation Economic stagnation is a prolonged period of slow economic growth (traditionally measured in terms of the GDP growth), usually accompanied by high unemployment. Under some definitions, "slow" means significantly slower than potential growth as es ...

. This shift was much to the chagrin of Lyons, who had encouraged cordial relations with the Nationalists, and referred to their leader

John McPhee John Angus McPhee (born March 8, 1931) is an American writer. He is considered one of the pioneers of creative nonfiction. He is a four-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the category General Nonfiction, and he won that award on the fourth ...

as a "colleague and mate".P. R. Hart, C. J. Lloyd
Lyons, Joseph Aloysius (1879 - 1939)
''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

'', Volume 10, Melbourne University Press, 1986, pp 184-189. The Labor Party won a slim majority of the vote in the 1928 election, but only fourteen seats. As the Nationalist Party held half the seats in the House of Assembly and had the support of one Independent, Nationalist leader McPhee became

Premier of Tasmania The premier of Tasmania is the head of the executive government in the Australian state of Tasmania. By convention, the leader of the party or political grouping which has majority support in the House of Assembly is invited by the governor of Ta ...

, and praised Lyons for his statesmanship. Lyons stood for the federal seat of

Wilmot Wilmot may refer to: Places Australia *Division of Wilmot, an abolished Australian Electoral Division in Tasmania * Wilmot, Tasmania, a locality in the North-West Region Canada *Wilmot, Nova Scotia, an unincorporated rural community and former t ...

in 1929, and he became

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...

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

Distribution of seats

References

External links

Assembly Election Results, 1928

.
Report on General Election, 1928
Tasmanian Electoral Commission, 24 September 1928. {{Tasmanian elections Elections in Tasmania 1928 elections in Australia 1920s in Tasmania May 1928 events