Charles Stephen McHugh (23 April 1887 – 24 July 1927) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

(ALP) and served as a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

for

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

from 1923 until his death in 1927 at the age of 40.

Early life

McHugh was born on 23 April 1887 in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, the son of Annie (née McNamara) and Edward McHugh. He was educated at Christian Brothers College and worked as a clerk and commercial agent after leaving school. He was interested in public speaking from a young age and served as president of the St Patrick's Literary Society. Before entering the Senate he served on the Thebarton Town Council.

Politics

McHugh joined the

(ALP) in 1909 and eventually became president of the South Australian branch. He was elected to the Senate at the 1922 federal election, to a term beginning on 1 July 1923. In the gap between his election and the start of his term he married Doreen Hogan, with whom he had one son. In his maiden speech McHugh spoke of the need to achieve "practical Socialism by a sensible method of nationalisation". He argued for the re-introduction of

first-past-the-post voting In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

, which he regarded as a fairer system for Senate elections, and called for a referendum to reform or abolish the state

upper house An upper house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smalle ...

s. He was also a strong proponent of the development of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

, but opposed the planned introduction of a

freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple *Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England *Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice p ...

system of land ownership which he believed would primarily benefit wealthy land speculators. McHugh served on the Printing Committee and the Joint Committee of Public Accounts, and was also a member of the Royal Commission on the Navigation Act, which sat from 1923 to 1925 and issued two reports. He was popular within the Labor Party and in July 1926 was elected to the post of

party whip A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ...

Death

In July 1927, McHugh travelled to Tasmania with the Public Accounts Committee. He was due to travel to Scottsdale with the rest of the committee, but was taken ill and chose to remain in Launceston. His condition rapidly deteriorated and he was admitted to Struan Private Hospital, where he died of pneumonia on 24 July. The

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was creat ...

adjourned for two hours to allow members to attend his funeral.

John Verran John Verran (9 July 1856 – 7 June 1932) was an Australian politician and trade unionist. He served as premier of South Australia from 1910 to 1912, the second member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to hold the position. Verran was b ...

of the Nationalist Party was appointed as his replacement.

References

Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for South Australia Members of the Australian Senate 1887 births 1927 deaths 20th-century Australian politicians Deaths from pneumonia in Tasmania Politicians from Adelaide {{Australia-Labor-senator-stub