1915 Queensland state election

Queensland state election, 1915

← 1912 22 May 1915 (1915-05-22) 1918 →
All 72 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland
First party Second party   Leader T. J. Ryan Digby Denham Party Labor Liberal Leader since 6 September 1912 (1912-09-06) 7 February 1911 Leader's seat Barcoo Oxley (lost seat) Last election 25 seats 46 seats Seats won 45 seats 21 seats Seat change 20 25 Percentage 52.06% 41.97% Swing 5.36 4.73
Premier before election Digby Denham Commonwealth Liberal Elected Premier T. J. Ryan Labor

Digby Denham
Commonwealth Liberal

T. J. Ryan
Labor

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 22 May 1915 to elect the 72 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.

The election was the second for the Liberal government of Digby Denham, who had been premier since 7 February 1911. The opposition Labor Party, led by T. J. Ryan, had two previous Premiers — Anderson Dawson in 1899 and William Kidston in 1906 — but the former did not command a majority of parliamentary support, while the latter maintained it by splitting the Labor Party. Labor had never before held majority government.

The election was the first in Australia to be conducted using compulsory voting due to Denham's concern that Trade Unions were effectively mobilising the ALP vote; he felt that compulsory voting would ensure a more level playing field. However, it turned out that the change to compulsory voting was not enough to save Denham's premiership.

The election resulted in the defeat of the government, and Queensland's first majority Labor government. All except two members of the Ministry up for election, including Denham himself, lost their seats.

The election saw a landslide to Labor from the 1912 election.

Queensland state election, 22 May 1915
Legislative Assembly
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