Arthur Tonge
| Arthur Tonge | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
18 December 1887 Glebe, New South Wales |
| Died | 1 June 1963 (aged 75) Sydney, New South Wales |
| Political party | Australian Labor Party Australian Labor Party (NSW) Australian Labor Party (Non-Communist) |
Arthur Tonge (18 December 1887 – 1 June 1963) was an Australian politician and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly between 1926 and 1932 and from 1935 to 1962. He was variously a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), the Australian Labor Party (NSW) and the Australian Labor Party (Non-Communist)
Tonge was born in Glebe, New South Wales, the son of a broker, and was educated to intermediate level. He worked as a newspaper clerk and became the secretary of the Federated Clerks' Union. He was involved in community groups including the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Tonge entered the New South Wales Parliament in highly controversial circumstances in 1926. After two unsuccessful attempts, Tonge contested the 1925 state election as the second candidate on the Labor list for the 5 member seat of North Shore. Cecil Murphy, Labor's first candidate was elected but Tonge failed to take a seat.
The result of the election, which was the last election held in New South Wales using multi-member seats and proportional representation, gave a majority of 1 to the Labor Party under premier Jack Lang. However, the Labor government could also generally count on the support of Walter Skelton of the Protestant Labor Party and Alick Kay, the independent member for North Shore. Kay's political ideology was somewhat obscure and he has been described by the Australian Dictionary of Biography as a "harmless ratbag".
To avoid by-elections under the proportional representation voting system, the Parliamentary Casual Vacancies Act ensured that retiring members were replaced by the first unsuccessful candidate from their party list in their electorate. In an attempt to make his majority more secure, Lang offered Kay the position as the consumer representative on the Metropolitan Meat Board. Kay accepted and, as this was a paid government position, he was required to resign from parliament. The method for replacing an independent member, under the act, was not completely clear but the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly ruled that as Kay had supported the government in questions of confidence and supply he could be replaced in parliament by the defeated Labor candidate for North Shore, Arthur Tonge. The reverberations from this piece of sharp political practice continued to disrupt the state Labor party for the next 15 years (see Lang Labor).
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