Andrew Inglis Clark - Political Career

Political Career

In 1878, Clark stood for election to the House of Assembly, despite his reputation as an extreme ultra-republican. He was attacked by the Hobart Mercury for "holding such very extreme ultra-republican, if not revolutionary, ideas" that his proper place should be among the 'Communists', and the Launceston Examiner as "stranger from Hobart". He was elected, unopposed to the electorate of Norfolk Plains. His election was largely due to the influence of Thomas Reiby, a political power broker and a recent Premier.

Clark was the founder of the Southern Tasmania Political Reform Association, whose agenda included manhood suffrage, fixed term parliaments, and electoral reform. While a member of the House of Assembly, Clark was regarded as republican and ultra-progressive. He was one of the few members legislate as a backbencher and introduce a private members bill. He failed to reform industrial law by amending the Master and Servant Act, but he succeeded with the Criminal Procedure Amendment Act in 1881. He also assisted with reframing the customs tariff.

In the 1882 election, Clark was defeated. He failed when he stood for election in 1884 (East Hobart) and 1886 (South Hobart). In 1887, Clark was re-elected, in a by-election as member for East Hobart. In 1888, he was re-elected as member for South Hobart and remained there until the seat was abolished 1897. He was then the member for Hobart until he resigned upon his appointment to the Supreme Court in 1898.

In March 1888, he became Attorney General in the government of Sir Philip Fysh. Since the Premier was in the Legislative Council, Clark was responsible for introducing legislation into the Assembly. Over the next five years he shepharded through the lower house much progressive and humanitarian legislation. His goal was to break the power of property in Tasmanian politics. The legislation covered such diverse reforms as legalising trades unions, providing parliamentary salaries, preventing cruelty to animals, reforming laws on lunacy, trusteeship and companies, the custody of children and the protection of children from neglect and abuse. He also introduced laws to restrict the immigration of Chinese. Clark failed in his attempts to impose a land tax, introduce universal (including female) suffrage and centralise the police.

Clark was the most important 19th-century Attorney-General of Tasmania. His considerable drafting skills enabled him to modernise and simplify the law over a number of areas. He introduced a total of 228 bills into the Assembly. His best known achievement as Attorney-General was the introduction of proportional representation based on the Hare-Clark system of the single transferrable vote;

One of the major political issues addressed by Clark during his career concerned the Tasmanian Main Line Railway - a railway which connected the two main cites of Tasmainia, Hobart and Laucestion. In 1873, the Main Line Railway Company began the construction of the line, which opened in 1876. There were a series of disputes between the Company and the government over payments due to the Company under its Deed of Concession. Clark had spoken about the problem, advocating the acquisition of the Company by the government as early as 1878. With his dual qualifications as both an engineer and a lawyer, Clark was in a unique position to understand the issues involved. As Attorney-General, he was the government's chief negotiator.

In 1889, the Supreme Court awarded the Company arrears of interest. Clark urged the government to appeal, and in 1890 he went to England to argue the case before the Privy Council. Clark may have been a poor speaker in court, but he was a superb negotiator. It was his forte. With full powers, he settled the case out of court by arranging the purchase of the Company's property by the government

In 1891, Clark returned to Tasmania from London by way of the United States. It was a fateful choice. He was introducued to a fellow Unitarian Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, with whom he corresponded for the rest of his life. The contacts and people he met in Boston were to profoundly inform his views about political constitutions. Not the least of the consequences was the introduction of the term Commonwealth to describe the Australian polity.

In 1892, the fall of the Fysh government ended Clarks term as Attorney-General. When Sir Edward Braddon formed a government in 1894, Clark again became Attorney-General. He resigned in 1897, when his colleagues failed to consult him over the lease of Crown land to private interests, after which he became Leader of the Opposition. Clark left politics to become a Justice of the Supreme Court of Tasmania in 1898.