State Government of Victoria beginning 19 November 1900 - period in office of Premier Turner, George ending on 12 February 1901
Period in office of premier (see Glossary entry for 'period in office' and related terms)
Parliamentary support during period
Coalition partner 1
Number of ministers at beginning of period (this may vary during the period)
Assembly elections contested as premier or after which became premier (see Glossary entry for 'after election')
| Election | Premier at election | Premier's party | Premier after election | Premier's party |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VIC 1 November 1900 | Allan McLean | Liberal | George Turner | Liberal |
| VIC 14 October 1897 | George Turner | Liberal | George Turner | Liberal |
| VIC 20 September 1894 | James Brown Patterson | Conservative | George Turner | Liberal |
Previous period in this series for VIC | Next period in this series for VIC
Notes
Defeat in parliament (McLean): Beginning of Turner's second period in office; At the election held in November 1900, McLean led a group of dissident Liberals in combination with some Conservatives. Two ministers in the government were defeated but McLean decided to test the support for the government in the Assembly. In a vote on the address in reply, the government was defeated 51 to 42 votes in the early hours of 15 November 1900; Victoria Parliamentary Debates, 1900 Second Session, vol. 96, 14 November 1900, pp 26-78.
McLean resigned and '... advised the Lieutenant-Governor to send for Turner. Turner included in his cabinet two Labor members, Trenwith and Burton, the former resigning as leader of the parliamentary Labor Party.' Hughes and Graham, p.108 (see 'Sources', below).
Change of party leader (Turner): 'A change in the leadership occurred when Turner accepted the post of Treasurer in the [first] Commonwealth cabinet, and was followed as Premier and Treasurer by Peacock. The succession of ministries in this case was purely formal, the Lieutenant-Governor requesting most of the ministers to retain the offices they had held under Turner.' Hughes and Graham, p.109 (see 'Sources', below).
References: For a study of Turner's period in office, see John Rickard, 'The Quiet Little Man in a Brown Suit: George Turner and the Politics of Consensus', in Strangio and Costar (editors), ch. 7, (see 'Sources', below), and for a review of Victorian parliamentary politics in the 1890s, see, Wright, ch. 6 (in 'Sources', below). A survey of Turner's career can be found in Geoffrey Serle, 'Turner, Sir George (1851–1916)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 12, (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990), on line here [accessed 27 March 2014].
Sources
Colin Hughes and B D Graham (editors), A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1890-1964, (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1968, SBN 708102700); Parliament of Victoria, One Hundred Years of Responsible Government 1856-1956, (Melbourne: Government Printer, 1957, Parliamentary Paper No. 40 of 1956-58); Paul Strangio and Brian Costar (editors), The Victorian Premiers 1856-2006, (Sydney: Federation Press, 2006, ISBN 9781862876019); Raymond Wright, A People's Counsel: A History of the Parliament of Victoria 1856-1990, (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1992, ISBN 0195533593). Victoria Hansard (Record of Parliamentary Debates) on line here .
In consulting these sources, note the difference between ministries and periods in office.