Elections were held in the

Australian state The states and territories are the national subdivisions and second level of government of Australia. The states are partially sovereignty, sovereign, administrative divisions that are autonomous administrative division, self-governing polity, ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

on 5 February 1908 to elect the 72 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The election, held less than 9 months after the previous election, was made necessary by a series of events which had seen former

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 govern ...

William Kidston William Kidston (17 August 1849 – 25 October 1919) was an Australian bookseller, politician and Premier of Queensland, from January 1906 to November 1907 and again from February 1908 to February 1911. Early life William Kidston was born in F ...

, who commanded a majority on the floor of the Assembly, resign following an attempt to convince the

governor of Queensland The governor of Queensland is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in the state of Queensland. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia, governor-general at the national level, the governor Governors of ...

to appoint sympathetic members to the

Queensland Legislative Council Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, ...

, which had blocked key legislative measures. Following Kidston's resignation, Opposition leader

Robert Philp Sir Robert Philp, (28 December 1851 – 17 June 1922) was a Queensland businessman and politician who was Premier of Queensland from December 1899 to September 1903 and again from November 1907 to February 1908. Early life Philp was born in G ...

was sent for and formed a ministry, but the ministry almost immediately lost a

vote of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

in the Assembly, and as such, a new election had to be called. This election used

contingent voting The contingent vote is a two-stage electoral system that elects a single representative, in which the winner receives a majority of votes. It uses ranked voting. The voter ranks the candidates in order of preference, and when the votes are f ...

, at least in the single-member districts. Five districts were two-seat districts - Mackay, Marlborough, North Brisbane, Rockhampton and South Brisbane. In the two-member constituencies,

plurality block voting Plurality block voting is a type of block voting method for multi-winner elections. Each voter may cast as many votes as the number of seats to be filled. The candidates with the most votes are elected. The usual result when the candidates div ...

was used -- electors could cast two valid votes but were allowed to "plump".Hughes and Graham, "Voting for the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1890-1964" (online) accessed February 20, 2025

Key dates

Results

The

Kidstonites The Kidstonites, also known as the Kidston Party, was a political party in the Australian state of Queensland in 1907 to 1908, formed by William Kidston. The party resulted from a split in the Queensland Labor Party and spent most of its existenc ...

contested only 32 of the 72 seats, compared to 55 at the previous election. : 205,892 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 12 seats (16.7% of the total) representing 30,069 voters were uncontested—six Labor seats, five Conservatives and one Kidston. : In 11 electorates, voters had two votes each, so the total number of votes exceeds the total number of voters.

References

External links

{{Queensland elections Elections in Queensland 1908 elections in Australia 1900s in Queensland February 1908

Key dates

Results

See also

References

External links