1928 Tasmanian state election

State election in Australia April 2022 June 2020 1928 Tasmanian state election Tasmania parliamentary no 1925 Tasmanian state election 1925 1931 Tasmanian state election 1931 All 30 seats to the House of Assembly 30 May 1928 Sir John McPhee.jpg 135 130 170 0 0 center John McPhee July 1925 Nationalist Party (Australia) Denison 11 seats 15 seats 4 42.20% 2.83 Joseph Lyons.jpg 135 130 170 5 0 center Joseph Lyons November 1916 Australian Labor Party (Tasmanian Branch) Wilmot 16 seats 14 seats 2 47.15% 1.32 1928 Tasmanian state election.svg 350px Results of the election Premier Resulting Premier Joseph Lyons Australian Labor Party (Tasmanian Branch) John McPhee 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 systemHouse of Assembly Elections https://web.archive.org/web/20180709035743/http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/tpl/Backg/HAElections.htm 9 July 2018 , Parliament of Tasmania. — 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".P. R. Hart, C. J. Lloyd, Lyons, Joseph Aloysius (1879 - 1939), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10, Melbourne University Press, 1986, pp 184-189. 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.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 Lyons stood for the federal seat of Wilmot in 1929, and he became Prime Minister of Australia in 1932. Results Results of the Tasmanian state election, 1928 File:1928 TAS House of Assembly.svg 111956 2973 +14.63 +1.02 #f00011 Labor 41829 -1.32 14 2 NationalistNat a a 37432 +2.83 15 4 Independents 7461 -0.30 1 2 #ed6e6e Independent Labor 1982 -1.22 0 Popular vote #ddd 600px 410px Labor Australian Labor Party 47.15 Nationalist #6495ED 42.20 Independents Independent 10.65 Seats #ddd 600px 410px Nationalist #6495ED 50.00 Labor Australian Labor Party 46.67 Independents Independent 3.33 Nat a a 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 Bass Darwin Denison Franklin Wilmot Labor Party 54.6% 46.7% 40.9% 43.5% 50.9% Nationalist 45.4% 45.7% 40.4% 37.4% 42.0% Other – 7.5% 18.7% 19.1% 7.0% Distribution of seats auto Electorate Seats won Bass             Darwin             Denison             Franklin             Wilmot             5em   Labor   Nationalist   Independent See also Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, 1928–1931 Candidates of the 1928 Tasmanian state election References External links Assembly Election Results, 1928, Parliament of Tasmania. Report on General Election, 1928, Tasmanian Electoral Commission, 24 September 1928. Category:Elections in Tasmania Category:1928 elections in Australia Category:1920s in Tasmania Category:May 1928 in Australia