Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, 1920–1922

Posted on by

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly who served in the 25th parliament of New South Wales held their seats from 1920 to 1922. They were elected at the 1920 state election on 20 March 1920.[1][2][3] The Speaker was Daniel Levy with the exception of 13–20 December 1921 when he was replaced by Simon Hickey.[4]

Between 1920 and 1927 the Legislative Assembly was elected using a form of proportional representation with multi-member seats and a single transferable vote (modified Hare-Clark). There was confusion at the time as to the process to be used to fill the vacancy. When George Beeby resigned on 9 August 1920, in accordance with the practice prior to 1920, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly issued a writ of election requiring a by-election to be conducted, however the Chief Electoral Officer said he couldn’t do so under the law at the time and that a by-election would be contrary to the principle of proportional representation.[10] The vacancies were left unfilled until the Parliament passed the Parliamentary Elections (Casual Vacancies) Act on 10 December 1920,[11] so that casual vacancies were filled by the next unsuccessful candidate on the incumbent member’s party list. If an Independent member retired, the Clerk of the Assembly determined who would fill the vacancy based on the departing members voting record on questions of confidence.

  1. ^ a b c Murray Progressive MLA George Beeby resigned on 9 August 1920 to accept appointment as a Judge of the New South Wales arbitration court. He was replaced by Matthew Kilpatrick on 15 December 1920.
  2. ^ a b c Oxley Progressive MLA George Briner died on 9 September 1920. He was replaced by Theodore Hill on 15 December 1920.
  3. ^ a b c Goulburn Nationalist MLA Gus James resigned on 21 September 1920 to take an appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court. He was replaced by William Millard on 15 December 1920.
  4. ^ a b c Eastern Suburbs Labor MLA James Fingleton died on 13 October 1920. Scott Campbell had been the first unsuccessful candidate at the 1920 election nominated by the Labor Party, however his endorsement was withdrawn before the polling day because he signed a pledge for the unconditional release of twelve imprisoned members of the Industrial Workers of the World. Labor decided that the first unsuccessful party candidate was Daniel Dwyer,[5] and he took his seat on 15 December 1920.[6]
  5. ^ a b c Newcastle Labor MLA William Kearsley died on 19 June 1921. He was replaced by David Murray on 30 August.
  6. ^ a b c The member for Sturt Percy Brookfield was murdered while trying to disarm a deranged man at Riverton on 22 March 1921. Which party interest Brookfield represented was not straightforward. He had been elected under the banner of the Socialist Labor Party at the 1920 election for Sturt, however he formed a new Industrial Labor Party in February 1921, shortly before his death.[7] There was debate concerning who should be appointed. The Industrial Labor Party said that John O’Reilly should be appointed, while The Sydney Morning Herald stated that Thomas Hynes had the greater number of primary votes at the 1920 election and thus he should be appointed.[8] The nomination had to come from the recognised party leader according to votes on any censure motion and Labor leader and Premier John Storey nominated Jabez Wright who took his seat on 30 August 1921.[9]
  7. ^ a b c The premier and Balmain Labor MLA John Storey died on 5 October 1921. He was replaced by Tom Keegan on 18 October.
  8. ^ a b c Goulburn Nationalist MLA William Millard died on 8 October 1921. He had been appointed to replace Augustus James and, as there were no further unsuccessful Nationalist candidates, the Parliamentary Elections (Casual Vacancies) Act was amended to allow his replacement by John Perkins on 22 November 1921.
  9. ^ The changes to the composition of the house, in chronological order, were
    Beeby resigned,[a]
    Briner died,[b]
    James resigned,[c]
    Fingleton died,[d]
    Kearsley died,[e]
    Brookfield murdered,[f]
    Storey died,[g] and
    Millard died.[h]

See also[edit]

References[edit]