Tom Tunnecliffe

The Honourable Tom Tunnecliffe
Leader of the Opposition of Victoria
In office 13 July 1932 – 2 April 1935
Preceded by	Sir Stanley Argyle
Succeeded by	Sir Stanley Argyle
Personal details
Born	13 July 1869 Coghills Creek, Victoria
Died	2 February 1948 (aged 78) Clifton Hill, Victoria, Australia
Political party	Labor Party
Spouse(s)	Florence Bertha Bishop (1908–1911; her death) Bertha Louise Gross (1913–1948; his death)
Occupation	Bootmaker

Thomas Tunnecliffe (13 July 1869 – 2 February 1948) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, representing the districts of West Melbourne (1903–1904), Eaglehawk (1907–1920) and Collingwood (1921–1947) for the Australian Labor Party.^[1]

In February 1932 Edmond Hogan, the Premier of Victoria and leader of the Labor Party, travelled to London to talk to the banks about Victoria's desperate economic plight during the Great Depression. While he was away Tunnecliffe was acting Premier, and he was much more willing than Hogan to reject the Premiers' Plan. As a result, the Country Party withdrew its support from Hogan's minority government, and in April the government was defeated in a confidence vote.

Tunnecliffe, as acting leader, led the Labor campaign in the May 1932 state election, now completely rejecting the Premiers's Plan, which was the main issue at the election. The Labor Party Executive expelled everyone who had supported the Premier's Plan, including Hogan, although it did not run a candidate against him. Tunnecliffe was elected leader of the party. At the elections the United Australia Party won 31 seats to Labor's 16 and the reunited Country Party's 14. Hogan and one of his ex-ministers were elected as "Premiers' Plan Labor" candidates. The UAP's Stanley Argyle became Premier of Victoria, and Tunnecliffe was Opposition leader until the 1935 state election, when Labor won only 17 seats and finished with-third party status, thereby not even qualifying as the official Opposition. (Due to the weighting of country votes, at the 1935 election the United Country Party polled only 13.7% of the popular vote and won 20 seats, whereas Labor's 37.9% only garnered it 17 seats.) Tunnecliffe was a close friend of the gambling boss John Wren, (in the view of most historians, Tunnecliffe was, in fact, under Wren's control) who was also very close to United Country Party leader Albert Dunstan. Due to Wren's influence, Labor supported Dunstan's minority government from 1935 onwards.

Following the 1937 state election, Tunnecliffe was succeeded as leader of the Labor Party in Victoria by John Cain, Snr. Tunnecliffe was Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1937 to 1940, and continued as the member for Collingwood until August 1947, when he resigned due to ill-health. Labor's support for Dunstan continued until 1943.

References

1. Peter Love, 'Tunnecliffe, Thomas (Tom) (1869 - 1948)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 12, Melbourne University Press, 1990, pp 284-285.