The 1942 Cairns state by-election was held on 31 October 1942 to elect the member for Cairns in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, following the death of Labor Party MP John O'Keefe.
Lou Barnes, the brother of Bundaberg MP Frank Barnes, won the seat as a King O'Malley Labor candidate. Labor candidate David Crowley suffered a negative primary vote swing of 23.9%, with Barnes winning on 52.1% of the two-candidate-preferred result.
Following the by-election, the electoral system was changed from contingency voting to first-past-the-post after the Labor government introduced a bill to change the system. First-past-the-post was in place for Queensland state elections until full preferential voting was introduced by the Country−Liberal coalition in 1963.
Independent candidate William Griffin contested the by-election on a platform of abolishing the Queensland state parliament.
Key dates 27 January 1942 − John O'Keefe dies 15 July 1942 − Frank Nicklin says Country Party won't contest by-election 21 October 1942 − Candidate nominations 31 October 1942 − Polling day 11 November 1942 − Return of writ
Candidates Party Candidate Background Lou Barnes Market gardener and former traveler for the Castlemaine Perkins David Crowley President of the Labor Party branch in Cairns Anti-Fascist Alan Tucker Candidate for Cairns in 1935 and 1941 William Griffin Former member of the Cairns Harbour Board
Results
See also Electoral results for the district of Cairns
Notes
References