Bill Aylett

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Bill Aylett
Senator for Tasmania
In office
1 July 1938 – 30 June 1965
Personal details
Born(1900-11-15)15 November 1900
Wynyard, Tasmania, Australia
Died10 August 1976(1976-08-10) (aged 75)
Palm Beach, Queensland, Australia
Political partyLabor
Spouse
Ruby Victoria Gladys Goldsmith
​
​
(m. 1920⁠–⁠1963)​
[1]
RelationsCharley Aylett (brother)

William Edward Aylett (15 November 1900 – 10 August 1976) was an Australian politician who served as a Senator for Tasmania from 1938 to 1965, representing the Labor Party (ALP). He worked as a miner, mail contractor, and farmer before entering politics. He was first elected to the Senate at the age of 36 and won re-election on five more occasions.

Aylett was placed at the bottom of the ALP ticket for the 1953 election, but issued his own campaign material and was re-elected. He was subsequently censured by the ALP state executive for his defiance of the party's instructions. In 1959, a year into his final term, Aylett decided to move to Queensland's Gold Coast, for what he said were health reasons. He kept his office in Launceston, but his decision to move states proved controversial. In 1962, Aylett's frequent absences from the Senate came under public scrutiny. He was censured by the ALP federal executive for his attendance record, although moves to expel him were unsuccessful, and he retired from parliament at the next election.

Early life

Aylett was born on 15 November 1900 in Wynyard, Tasmania. He was the sixth of the twelve children of Harriett Susanna (née Matthews) and Edward Aylett; his younger brother Charley served in the Tasmanian House of Assembly. Aylett's father was a farmer and furrier. His grandfather, William Aylett, arrived in Australia as a convict and was transported to Van Diemen's Land in 1845 after stealing two beehives.[1]

In 1914, Aylett and his family moved to

Burnie in 1936.[2]

Aylett was the founding secretary of the Mole Creek branch of the ALP,

Division of Darwin.[1]

Senate

Aylett in 1938, as a senator-elect

Aylett was elected to the Senate at the 1937 federal election, aged 36, polling the most votes of any Tasmanian candidate. On election day in Launceston he knocked down a woman with his car while she was travelling to a polling booth.[1] She suffered cuts to her leg and was taken to Launceston General Hospital; she was only able to vote when state Labor MP John Madden drove her to a booth shortly before the close of polling.[4]

Aylett's first term began on 1 July 1938. He served on the senate committees for printing (1938–1943), regulations and ordinances (1943–1946), disputed returns and qualifications (1950–1951), and standing orders (1950–1951), as well as the joint committees on rural industries (1941–1942) and public works (1943–1946) and a select committee into road safety (1959). He devoted most of his attention to regional issues, speaking on subjects as trivial as the dangers of the steps at the New Norfolk post office. In 1944, he "produced a neatly packaged rabbit, recommending it as meat for wartime Australians".[1] He took an interest in the remote community of King Island, lobbying on behalf of its residents and serving as a delegate for the local ALP branch.[a]

From March 1942 to February 1943, Aylett was

assistant minister to Eddie Ward, the Minister for Labour and National Service, on issues relating to Tasmania. He was re-elected at the 1943 federal election, again winning the most votes of any Tasmanian candidate. Aylett served two terms on the ALP state executive (1945–1947, 1954–1958), and represented Tasmania at federal conferences and on the federal executive. He was re-elected to a three-year Senate term at the 1951 election, after a double dissolution. In 1954 he travelled outside Australia for the first and only time, as a delegate to a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conference in Kenya.[1]

1953 election

first preference
despite being ranked fourth on the ALP ticket

In 1952, Aylett was defeated in the

George Cole, Justin O'Byrne, and Murray.[1]

Aylett defied the ALP's official campaign material, issuing his own how-to-vote cards and telling voters to rank him first. His campaign was successful, as he out-polled both O'Byrne and Murray by significant margins. This resulted in Murray failing to win a seat, and he subsequently wrote privately to Fred Daly that Aylett had won re-election "by treachery, fraud and wilful deception".[1] In June 1953, he was censured by the ALP state executive for his actions.[11] The following month, the federal executive also debated a resolution of censure, moved by the New South Wales delegation,[12] but decided to refer the case back to the state executive.[13] Until the election of Lisa Singh in 2016, Aylett was the only person to have been elected to the Senate ahead of a higher-ranked candidate on the same ticket.[14][15]

Final term

Aylett towards the end of his career

Aylett was re-elected to a sixth term in the Senate at the

Gold Coast City Council to approve a building application.[18]

In August 1962, the ALP caucus voted to require its members to attend all parliamentary sittings and vote in every

Canberra Times he "repeatedly evaded requests to pinpoint his achievements for Tasmania in his 25 years in the Senate", instead telling the interviewer that "great men such as Sir Winston Churchill had not bragged about their achievements".[22]

Later life

Aylett did not seek re-election

Hobart Mercury noted that he had "upset his party and political tradition" and would be remembered for "controversy about his absenteeism from Parliament and his electorate".[1] In the foreword to the third volume of The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate, Harry Evans describes Aylett as "the outstanding example" of senators "who simply occupied spaces with little or no contribution".[24]

Notes

  1. ^ Issues that Aylett handled for King Islanders included the resumption of the island shipping service during World War II,[5] an oversupply of cheese,[6] the need for daily air services,[7] and wastage of firewood by public-service employees.[8] In 1952 he represented the Grassy branch of the ALP at the state conference.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Marshall, Tony (2010). "AYLETT, William Edward (1900–1976) Senator for Tasmania, 1938–65 (Australian Labor Party)". The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Vol. 3. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  2. ^ "Labor: Mr. W. E. Aylett". The Advocate. 28 January 1937.
  3. ^ "A.L.P. Branch Formed". The Examiner. 4 January 1936.
  4. ^ "Candidates in accidents". The Mercury. 25 October 1937.
  5. ^ "King Island Shipping Service Resumes". The Advocate. 9 February 1942.
  6. ^ "Acculumation of cheese on King Island". The Advocate. 17 February 1945.
  7. ^ "T.A.A. might be asked to open King Island run". The Mercury. 13 December 1952.
  8. ^ "Firewood wasted, senator claims". The Mercury. 13 December 1952.
  9. ^ "Senator Aylett Retains Office". The Mercury. 19 December 1952.
  10. ^ "Aylett reported rebuked". The Advocate. 19 August 1952.
  11. ^ "ALP censures Senator Aylett". The Courier-Mail. 16 June 1953.
  12. ^ "Criticism of Sen. Aylett". The Examiner. 14 July 1953.
  13. ^ "May ask people on sale of assets". The Mercury. 15 July 1953.
  14. ^ Muller, Damon (30 June 2017). "Double, double toil and trouble: the 2016 federal election". Australian Parliamentary Library. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  15. ^ Green, Antony (25 February 2016). "Senate Reform - Why Bother Forcing Below-the-line Votes to be Full Preferential?". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 29 April 2019. The last example I can find where voters elected Senators out of the party's listed order was in Tasmania in 1953 when Labor's fourth candidate William Aylett defeated the party's third candidate.
  16. ^ "Aylett Seeks Protection From Press". The Canberra Times. 8 October 1959.
  17. ^ "No A.L.P. Disciplinary Action Against Aylett". The Canberra Times. 29 September 1959.
  18. ^ "Stormy Petrel Senator Again Is In The Gold Coast Limelight". The Canberra Times. 27 April 1961.
  19. ^ "Labour Ban On Absence From Parlt". The Canberra Times. 31 August 1962.
  20. ^ "Senator's Absences 'Affront To Party'". The Canberra Times. 12 October 1962.
  21. ^ "Aylett not disciplined". The Canberra Times. 16 October 1962.
  22. ^ "Senator Aylett evasive". The Canberra Times. 27 September 1962.
  23. ^ "Former A.L.P. Senator Dies". The Canberra Times. 11 August 1976.
  24. ^ Evans, Harry (2010). "Introduction" (PDF). The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Vol. 3, 1962–1983.

External links

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