Robert Cosgrove

Robert Cosgrove

Sir Robert Cosgrove KCMG (born December 28, 1884 in Tea Tree , Tasmania , † August 25, 1969 in Hobart , Tasmania) was an Australian politician of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), who was Prime Minister between 1939 and 1947 and again between 1948 and 1958 of Tasmania was. With a total tenure of 18 years, Cosgrove is the longest-serving Prime Minister in Tasmania.

Life

MP and Minister

Cosgrove was elected as a candidate for the Australian Labor Party on May 31, 1919 in the Denison constituency for the first time as a member of the House of Representatives (Tasmanian House of Assembly) , the lower house of the Tasmanian Parliament, and belonged to this until his defeat in the elections on June 10, 1922 on.

In the elections of June 3, 1925, he was re-elected to the House of Assembly in the Denison constituency and represented the constituency until he was defeated again in the May 9, 1931 elections.

Four years later, Cosgrove was re-elected as a member of the House of Representatives in the elections of June 9, 1934, and was a member of the House of Representatives as a representative of the Denison constituency until he voluntarily resigned his mandate for health reasons on August 25, 1958. At the time of his resignation, he had been a Member of Parliament for more than 30 years.

Immediately after the election from June 9, 1934 Cosgrove was on 22 June 1934 by Prime Minister Albert Ogilvie to Minister without Portfolio (Member of the Executive Council without Office) appointed and took over a month later on 26 July 1934, the Office of the Minister of Transport (Minister of Transport) , which he held until March 22, 1938. At the same time he acted between August 7, 1934 and July 6, 1939 as Minister for the Administration of the Agricultural Bank (Minister administering the Agricultural Bank) as well as Forestry Minister (Minister for Forestry) and also as Minister for Agriculture (Minister for Agriculture) .

Subsequently, Cosgrove was appointed Treasurer on July 7, 1939 by the new Prime Minister Edmund Dwyer-Gray and held this office until December 18.

Prime Minister 1939 to 1947

A few months later, on December 18, 1939, Cosgrove succeeded Edmund Dwyer-Gray as Prime Minister of Tasmania and held this office for exactly eight years until December 18, 1947. At the same time he acted from August 19, 1940 to March 29, 1946 as Minister of Education (Minister for Education) .

In the parliamentary elections of December 13, 1941, the Labor Party was able to expand its lead in the House of Assembly and got two seats with 75,544 (62.59 percent), so that it had a clear absolute majority with 20 of the 30 seats. The Nationalist Party, led by Henry Baker , only got 44,158 votes (36.58 percent) and thus only had ten members in the House of Representatives.

During the time of the Second World War , Cosgrove took on a number of other ministerial offices and was Minister for the Administration of the Civil Defense Legion from January 19, 1942 to December 14, 1945, and Minister from January 19, 1942 to December 18, 1947 for the administration of the Hydro-Electric-Commission (Minister administering the Hydro-Electric-Commission) . He also served between November 30, 1943 and December 18, 1947 as Minister for the Administration of the Commerce and Industry Division of the Department of Agriculture (Minister administering the Commerce and Industry Division of the Department of Agriculture) . He also served as Finance Minister from December 14, 1945 to December 18, 1947.

In the parliamentary elections of November 23, 1946, the Labor Party suffered significant losses of 11.63 percentage points, but with 65,843 votes (50.97 percent) was able to achieve 16 seats in the House of Assembly and thus just maintain its absolute majority. The runner-up Liberal Party, led by Neil Campbell , received 44,158 votes (34.25 percent) and had twelve MPs, while the two remaining seats went to an independent Liberal and a non-party .

After Cosgrove was charged with bribery and corruption in December 1947, he resigned as prime minister on December 18, 1947, after which Edward Brooker temporarily took over the office.

Prime Minister 1948 to 1958

In February 1948 the lawsuit was already closed and the allegations against Cosgrove rejected, so that Cosgrove took over from Brooker on February 25, 1948 again the office of Prime Minister. At the same time, from February 25, 1948 to August 25, 1958, he again took over the office of Minister of Education.

In the parliamentary elections that followed on August 21, 1948, the Labor Party received 70,476 votes (49.38 percent) and lost its absolute majority with 15 out of 30 seats in the House of Assembly, while the Liberal Party Campbell's with 54,010 votes (37, 84 percent) were able to defend their mandates. However, Cosgrove subsequently received the support of Bill Wedd , one of the three independent MPs, so that he could continue his government. Wedd later acted during this legislative period from September 13, 1949 to June 6, 1950 as Speaker of the House of Assembly and thus as Speaker of Parliament.

Two years later, parliamentary elections were held again on May 6, 1950, in which the Labor Party again missed an absolute majority with 70,976 votes (48.63 percent) and 15 seats, while the Liberal Party, which was now led by Rex Townley , their result to 69,429 votes (47.57 percent) was able to improve by 9.73 percentage points and with 14 seats was only one seat behind Labor. However, the Cosgrove government again received the support of Bill Wedd, who was now the only non-party MP.

The parliamentary election of February 19, 1955 brought a stalemate: Both the Labor Party with 82,362 votes (52.63 percent) and the Liberals under Townley with 70,959 (45.35 percent) received 15 seats due to the right to vote. After Housing Minister Carrol Bramich resigned from the Labor Party on September 11, 1956 and the Liberal Party had a majority after joining it, Cosgrove asked the Governor of Tasmania , Ronald Cross , to dissolve parliament and call new elections.

These took place on October 13, 1956, but confirmed the existing stalemate of 15 seats each in the House of Assembly. This time the Labor Party received 80,096 votes (50.27 percent) and the Liberal Party, now led by Tim Jackson , received 69,477 votes (43.61 percent). Cosgrove then continued his government, in which he last took over the office of finance minister again from June 12 to August 25, 1958. To avoid stalemates, it was decided that the number of seats in the House of Assembly would be increased from 30 to 35 for the next general election.

On August 26, 1958, after a total of 18 years in office, the longest of a Prime Minister of Tasmania, Cosgrove resigned due to his state of health, and was replaced by Eric Reece , who had previously been Minister of Mines, Minister for Lands and Public Works and Minister for Local Government in the Cosgrove cabinet was.

For his decades of political service, Cosgrove was made Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1959 and from then on carried the suffix "Sir".

Web links

• Entry on the homepage of the Parliament of Tasmania
• Ministers - House of Assembly - 1856 to 1950
• Ministers - House of Assembly - 1950 to 1989