Herbert Payne

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"Herbert Payne" was also a pseudonym of singer Ernest Pike.

Herbert Payne
Darwin
In office
2 April 1903 – 30 April 1909
ConstituencyBurnie
Personal details
Born(1866-08-17)17 August 1866
Nationalist (1917–1931)
UAP
(from 1931)
Spouses
Margaret Stones
​
​
(m. 1888; died 1936)​
Constance Rogers
​
(m. 1938)​
RelationsLeslie Payne (son)
OccupationDraper

Herbert James Mockford Payne (17 August 1866 – 26 February 1944) was an Australian politician. He served as a Senator for Tasmania from 1920 to 1938 and as a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly from 1903 to 1920.

Payne was born in

private senator's bill
.

Early life

Payne was born on 17 August 1866 in

Freemason and a member of the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows, holding the rank of pro-grandmaster.[2]

State politics

Payne was elected to the

direct taxation to be reduced. He was re-elected in 1906 and in the same year was appointed to the state government's Royal Commission into Wages and Wage Earners. He submitted a minority report criticising the labour movement and publicly accused the other two commissioners of misrepresenting the evidence presented to them.[1] In 1907 Payne supported the efforts of Premier John Evans to ban public servants from political campaigning, citing schoolteacher Joseph Lyons' public support of the Australian Labor Party.[4]

In 1909 Payne assisted in the creation of the

no-confidence motion in April 1914.[2] During World War I, Payne was a prominent loyalist and supporter of conscription. In November 1918, he challenged George Becker, a Labor MP of German ancestry, to a fistfight following a perceived slight, and subsequently "through the open door from the House . . . [they] could be seen exchanging blows amidst great commotion".[1]

Federal politics

Undated photo

Payne was elected to the

casual vacancy of less than one year. Mulcahy unsuccessfully argued for the shorter term to be assigned to Payne, but his petition was rejected by the High Court.[5] Payne was re-elected to further six-year terms at the 1925 and 1931 elections, joining the new United Australia Party (UAP) upon its creation in early 1931. He was defeated for re-election in 1937, concluding his term on 30 June 1938 at the age of 71.[1]

Payne emerged as a prominent critic of the

chairman of committees (1929–1932).[2] He was an unsuccessful candidate for President of the Senate in 1935.[1]

Electoral reform

Over his political career Payne took a keen interest in electoral issues. He is primarily remembered as the author of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1924, which established

private senator's bill; it was only the third such bill from either house of parliament to become law.[7] Payne's interest in compulsory voting was sparked by the record low voter turnout at the 1922 election,[8] which stood at 59 percent of registered voters nationwide and only 46 percent in Tasmania. After the passage of the bill, turnout increased to 91 percent, an increase of 32 percentage points.[9]

Payne stated that compulsory voting was necessary to counteract "apathy and indolence",

Country Party MPs both voted to support the bill, and compulsory voting already formed part of the Labor platform.[11] Edward Mann sponsored the bill in the House of Representatives, where it was debated for less than an hour and passed without amendment.[12] It was passed by the House eight days after being introduced to the Senate on 16 July, and received royal assent one week later on 31 July.[13]

Outside of compulsory voting, Payne advocated proportional representation for Senate elections[1] and for drawing boundaries so communities were not divided between two House of Representatives electorates.[14] He also supported the creation of "native representative councils" in the Territory of New Guinea. He served on the Joint Select Committee on Commonwealth Electoral Law and Procedure in 1926.[1] In 1934 Payne suggested that circular ballots be used to reduce the donkey vote; his suggestion has been cited as a predecessor of the Robson Rotation system that was adopted in Tasmania in 1979 to address the same issue.[11] Prior to his election to the Senate he had also served on a select committee into Tasmania's Electoral Act, which suggested that party affiliations be listed on ballot papers.[1] This recommendation was eventually adopted at federal level in 1983.[11]

Personal life

Payne married Margaret Stones on 18 January 1888 in Ulverstone. The couple had two sons and two daughters, with his oldest son Leslie (died 1942) also serving in the Tasmanian House of Assembly. After entering politics Payne supplemented his income through investing and land speculation. He was widowed in 1936 and remarried on 30 March 1938 to Constance Rogers. After leaving parliament he retired to the northern suburbs of Melbourne. He died at the Sacred Heart Private Hospital in Coburg on 26 February 1944, aged 77.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Roe, Michael (2004). "PAYNE, Herbert James Mockford (1866–1944)". The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  2. ^
    ISSN 1833-7538
    . Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  3. ^ "Herbert James Mockford Payne". Members of the Parliament of Tasmania. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  4. ISBN 9781742240992
    .
  5. ^ Mulcahy v Payne [1920] HCA 30, 27 CLR 470, High Court
  6. ^ Roe (2004): "Payne is most famous for his introduction in the Senate in July 1924 of a measure for compulsory voting in Commonwealth elections"
  7. ^ Muller, Damon (6 December 2017). "The passage of private members' and senators' bills through the Parliament". FlagPost. Australian Parliamentary Library. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  8. ISBN 9781925603842
    .
  9. ^ a b Bennett, Scott (31 October 2005). "Compulsory voting in Australian national elections". Australian Parliamentary Library. p. 4. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  10. ^ Brett 2019, p. 136.
  11. ^ a b c Brett 2019, p. 135.
  12. ^ Bongiorno, Frank (May 2019). "From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage: How Australia got compulsory voting". Australian Book Review. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  13. ^ "Appendix 5: Private Senators' bills passed into law since 1901". Odgers' Australian Senate Practice (Eleventh ed.). Parliament of Australia. 2004. Archived from the original on 31 December 2004. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  14. ^ "ParlInfo - ELECTORAL DIVISIONS : Redistribution of Tasmania". parlinfo.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
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