Herbert Payne

"Herbert Payne" was also a pseudonym of singerErnest Pike.

Herbert Payne
SenatorforTasmania
In office 1 July 1920 – 30 June 1938
Treasurer of Tasmania
In office 14 June 1912 – 6 April 1914
Premier	Albert Solomon
Preceded by	Elliott Lewis
Succeeded by	Joseph Lyons
Member of theTasmanian House of Assembly
In office 30 April 1909 – 28 January 1920
Constituency	Darwin
In office 2 April 1903 – 30 April 1909
Constituency	Burnie
Personal details
Born	(1866-08-17)17 August 1866 Hobart,Tasmania,Australia
Died	26 February 1944(1944-02-26)(aged 77) Coburg, Victoria,Australia
Political party	Liberal(to 1917) Nationalist(1917–1931) UAP(from 1931)
Spouses	Margaret Stones ​ ​ (m.1888; died 1936)​ Constance Rogers ​ (m.1938)​
Relations	Leslie Payne(son)
Occupation	Draper

Herbert James Mockford Payne(17 August 1866 – 26 February 1944) was an Australian politician. He served as aSenatorforTasmaniafrom 1920 to 1938 and as a member of theTasmanian House of Assemblyfrom 1903 to 1920.

Payne was born inHobartand worked as adraperinBurnieprior to entering politics. He was first elected to parliament at the1903 state electionand was known for hisfiscal conservatism.He served asstate treasurerand minister for agriculture and railways from 1912 to 1914. Payne was elected to the Senate at the1919 federal election,representing theNationalist Party.He won re-election twice, joining theUnited Australia Party(UAP) in 1931, but was defeatedin 1937.He is primarily remembered for his role in the introduction ofcompulsory votingforfederal elections,which became law in 1924 through hisprivate senator's bill.

Early life

Payne was born on 17 August 1866 inHobart,Tasmania,the son of Hannah (née Reed) and Henry Payne; his father worked as a gardener. He attended the Central State School in Hobart and by 1888 was working inBurnieas adraper's assistant.In about 1892 he established a clothing emporium,marketing himself as "The People's Draper".He was aFreemasonand a member of theManchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows,holding the rank of pro-grandmaster.

State politics

Payne was elected to theTasmanian House of Assemblyat the1903 state election,running in the seat ofBurnie.He received the endorsement of the Reform League, an organisation advocatingreduced government spendingwhich he had helped to establish in 1902.He subsequently supported the government ofWilliam Propstinguntil its collapse in 1904. Payne's support for spending cuts led him to propose the closure of theUniversity of Tasmania;he also called fordirect taxationto be reduced. He was re-electedin 1906and in the same year was appointed to the state government's Royal Commission into Wages and Wage Earners. He submitted a minority report criticising thelabour movementand publicly accused the other two commissioners of misrepresenting the evidence presented to them.In 1907 Payne supported the efforts of PremierJohn Evansto ban public servants from political campaigning, citing schoolteacherJoseph Lyons' public support of theAustralian Labor Party.

In 1909 Payne assisted in the creation of theLiberal League,winning re-election in the new multi-member seat ofDarwinat that year'sstate election.He served as chairman of committees until 1912, when he joinedAlbert Solomon's new government astreasurer,minister for agriculture and minister for railways. In office he "continued his efforts to shift tax onto 'unearned' wealth and was happy to increase expenditure on education, railways, agricultural improvement and assistance to immigrants".He served as a minister until the government was defeated on ano-confidence motionin April 1914.During World War I, Payne was a prominentloyalistand supporter ofconscription.In November 1918, he challengedGeorge 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".

Federal politics

Undated photo

Payne was elected to theSenateas aNationalistat the1919 federal election,to a six-year term beginning on 1 July 1920. His election was challenged by a fellow Nationalist,Edward Mulcahy,who had been elected to fill a short-termcasual vacancyof less than one year. Mulcahy unsuccessfully argued for the shorter term to be assigned to Payne, but his petition was rejected by theHigh Court.Payne was re-elected to further six-year terms at the1925and1931 elections,joining the newUnited Australia Party(UAP) upon its creation in early 1931. He was defeated for re-electionin 1937,concluding his term on 30 June 1938 at the age of 71.

Payne emerged as a prominent critic of theScullin government's policy of hightariffs.He stated his support for a "sane protective policy" and according to Roe "upheld nineteenth-century ideas as to world-rangingfree tradebeing the best guarantor of peace and prosperity ".He took an interest in international affairs, visiting Europe, North America and Japan while in office and helping establish a local branch of theInter-Parliamentary Union.During theAbyssinia Crisisof 1935 he supported sanctions against Italy.Payne served on the Joint Standing Committee on Public Works (1926–1929) and acted aschairman of committees(1929–1932).He was an unsuccessful candidate forPresident of the Senatein 1935.

Electoral reform

Over his political career Payne took a keen interest in electoral issues. He is primarily remembered as the author of theCommonwealth Electoral Act 1924,which establishedcompulsory votingforfederal elections.He introduced the legislation as aprivate senator's bill;it was only the third such bill from either house of parliament to become law.Payne's interest in compulsory voting was sparked by the record lowvoter turnoutat the1922 election,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.

Payne stated that compulsory voting was necessary to counteract "apathy and indolence",but in hissecond readingspeech also hoped that it would bring "a wonderful improvement in the political knowledge of the people" and lead to a higher quality legislature.His bill, a simply worded amendment to theCommonwealth Electoral Act 1918,was notable for its speedy passage and lack of opposition.Prior to the parliamentary debate Nationalist andCountry PartyMPs both voted to support the bill, and compulsory voting already formed part of the Labor platform.Edward Mannsponsored the bill in theHouse of Representatives,where it was debated for less than an hour and passed without amendment.It was passed by the House eight days after being introduced to the Senate on 16 July, and receivedroyal assentone week later on 31 July.

Outside of compulsory voting, Payne advocatedproportional representationfor Senate electionsand for drawing boundaries so communities were not divided between twoHouse of Representativeselectorates.He also supported the creation of "native representative councils" in theTerritory of New Guinea.He served on the Joint Select Committee on Commonwealth Electoral Law and Procedure in 1926.In 1934 Payne suggested that circular ballots be used to reduce thedonkey vote;his suggestion has been cited as a predecessor of theRobson Rotationsystem that was adopted in Tasmania in 1979 to address the same issue.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.This recommendation was eventually adopted at federal level in 1983.

Personal life

Payne married Margaret Stones on 18 January 1888 inUlverstone.The couple had two sons and two daughters, with his oldest sonLeslie(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 ofMelbourne.He died at the Sacred Heart Private Hospital inCoburgon 26 February 1944, aged 77.