Gerald Mahoney

Mahoney was born at Railton, Tasmania and was educated at Latrobe. He worked at the Mount Bischoff mine, where he became a delegate of the Federated Mining Employees Association, and later worked as a builder's painter. He was secretary of the Labor Party's Denison league in the early 1920s, was a Tasmanian delegate to the party's All Australia Congress and nominated for state Labor preselection in 1922.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29908530 |title=THE MEMBERS ELECTED FOR FOUR DIVISIONS |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=15 May 1931 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=10 |via=Trove }}{{cite Tas Parliament |id=mahoneyg415 |title=Mahoney, Gerald |access-date=24 July 2022}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article187561524 |title=Advertising |newspaper=World |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=10 March 1921 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=1 |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148258844 |title=People in the News |newspaper=Westralian Worker |location=Western Australia |date=17 March 1922 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=1 |via=Trove }} He rose through the trade union movement, and was president of the Zinc Workers' Union and secretary and trades hall delegate of the Painters' Union by the mid-1920s; he had also become secretary of the Operative Bricklayers' Union by the time of his election to parliament.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article233522834 |title=LABOR & INDUSTRY |newspaper=The News |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=1 August 1924 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=1 (FIRST EDITION) |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article24264090 |title=Advertising |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=13 May 1929 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=8 |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29908997 |title=Advertising |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=19 May 1931 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=10 |via=Trove }}

In 1922 he was expelled from the Labor Party along with Edmund Dwyer-Gray for disloyalty; Mahoney was alleged to have associated with people who had opposed endorsed Labor candidates, and who had endorsed direct action and "go slow" tactics and supported the Industrial Workers of the World in his presence.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article153327000 |title=EXPELLED FROM THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY. |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=30 June 1922 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=4 |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article153331652 |title=AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=28 June 1922 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=7 |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51208014 |title=LABOUR PARTY'S DECISIONS. |newspaper=The Examiner (Tasmania) |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=2 February 1923 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=4 (DAILY) |via=Trove }} He made annual appeals and requests for readmission to state conferences and state and federal executives between 1922 and 1928, but was unsuccessful on each occasion.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205776982 |title=TASMANIAN LABOR CONFERENCE |newspaper=The Age |location=Victoria, Australia |date=21 July 1922 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=10 |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37194157 |title=CONFERENCE IN LAUNCESTON. |newspaper=The Advertiser |location=South Australia |date=28 July 1923 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=16 |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article233534552 |title=NO JURISDICTION |newspaper=The News |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=12 November 1924 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=7 (FIRST EDITION) |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66976452 |title=LABOR EXPULSION |newspaper=The Advocate (Australia) |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=12 September 1925 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=5 |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article67639088 |title=LABOR CONFERENCE |newspaper=The Advocate (Australia) |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=26 February 1926 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149697219 |title=TASMANIAN ANNUAL LABOR CONFERENCE |newspaper=The Australian Worker |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=20 April 1927 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=8 |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article67568768 |title=FEATURES of the DAY |newspaper=The Advocate (Australia) |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=23 January 1928 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove }} In 1925 he unsuccessfully contested that year's state election as an Industrial Labor candidate against the endorsed Labor candidate, which resulted in his expulsion from the Trades Hall Council.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article233549640 |title=ANOTHER CANDIDATE ANNOUNCED |newspaper=The News |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=19 March 1925 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=3 (FINAL EDITION) |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article233693274 |title=Mr. MAHONEY'S EXPULSION |newspaper=The News |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=11 May 1925 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=4 (FINAL EDITION) |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239951233 |title=EXPELLED |newspaper=The Labor Daily |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=18 May 1925 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=8 |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article153134911 |title=TASMANIAN ELECTIONS. |newspaper=Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser |location=Queensland, Australia |date=6 June 1925 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=9 |via=Trove }} He also contested the 1928 state election as an Independent Labor candidate in light of the continual refusal of his requests for readmission and polled well, but was again defeated.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article67592308 |title=DENISON AND FRANKLIN. |newspaper=The Advocate (Australia) |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=2 June 1928 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=3 |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29907977 |title=Tasmania Repudiates Labour Policy |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=11 May 1931 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=7 |via=Trove }} He was eventually readmitted to the party in December 1928, although on the basis that he did not have continuity of membership, preventing him from standing for party endorsement in the immediate future.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145990463 |title=TASMANIAN TOPICS |newspaper=The Australian Worker |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=19 December 1928 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=16 |via=Trove }} In 1930, he was elected president of the Denison branch of the Labor Party.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29157496 |title=MEETINGS |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=8 March 1930 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=11 |via=Trove }}

In 1931 he was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly as a Labor member for Denison. He was particularly outspoken about issues relating to the unemployed and destitute in his time in state parliament.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article67933529 |title=THE UNEMPLOYED. |newspaper=The Advocate (Australia) |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=24 June 1932 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=5 |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29960256 |title=UNEMPLOYMENT |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=21 June 1932 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=7 |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article24719547 |title=UNEMPLOYMENT |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=22 September 1932 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=3 |via=Trove }} He lost his seat at the 1934 state election.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68174233 |title=SURPRISE OF POLL. |newspaper=The Advocate (Australia) |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=15 June 1934 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=7 |via=Trove }}

Four months after his state defeat, he contested and narrowly won the federal seat of Denison at the 1934 federal election, defeating United Australia Party MP Arthur Beck.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article24966840 |title=TASMANIAN RESULTS |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=25 September 1934 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=7 |via=Trove }} He immediately announced that he would stand "four-square behind" leader James Scullin in a party still dealing with the aftermath of the 1931 Labor split.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article24966838 |title=JUSTICE FOR TASMANIA. |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=25 September 1934 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=7 |via=Trove }} He was re-elected in 1937.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article52167280 |title=NO IMPORTANT CHANGE IN ELECTION FIGURES |newspaper=The Examiner (Tasmania) |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=29 October 1937 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=7 (LATE NEWS EDITION and DAILY) |via=Trove }} Mahoney was defeated by UAP candidate Arthur Beck in 1940.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68382097 |title=To-day's News In Brief |newspaper=The Advocate (Australia) |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=27 September 1940 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove }}

He returned to his old role as secretary of the Painters' Union after his election defeat.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article25893876 |title=PERSONAL FEDERAL MINISTERS' VISIT |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=22 August 1942 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=3 |via=Trove }} He was appointed to the public service role of Tasmanian rehabilitation employment officer for returned soldiers {{circa}} early 1943, which met with strong protests from the Returned and Services League.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92613154 |title=Soldiers Protest |newspaper=The Examiner (Tasmania) |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=24 February 1943 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=4 |via=Trove }} He sought preselection to recontest his old seat at the 1943 federal election, but the state executive refused to endorse his candidacy.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92632637 |title=STATE A.L.P. TEAM |newspaper=The Examiner (Tasmania) |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=8 May 1943 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=4 |via=Trove }} In May 1943, Mahoney announced that he would contest the seat anyway, declared the preselection decision "the greatest outrage ever committed by a Labor executive on any man in the Labor movement" and stated that he "accept[ed] it as an expulsion from the party.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article25956015 |title=MR MAHONEY'S DECISION |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=14 May 1943 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=3 |via=Trove }} He cited "shocking victimisation" in his decision to run as an independent Labor candidate.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68817348 |title=Mr. Mahoney Alleges |newspaper=The Advocate (Australia) |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=14 July 1943 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove }} He lost to the endorsed candidate, and in congratulating the victor, said he had been "weighted out" from the start.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article25979700 |title=DAME ENID LYONS FIRST WOMAN MEMBER |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=14 September 1943 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=6 |via=Trove }} Mahoney sought readmittance to the Labor Party in March 1944 following his automatic removal for opposing an endorsed candidate, but was instead formally expelled.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26013754 |title=Readmittance Sought By Mr Mahoney |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=30 March 1944 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=6 |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91424483 |title=EXPELLED FROM STATE A.L.P. |newspaper=The Examiner (Tasmania) |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=6 June 1944 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=4 |via=Trove }} He applied again and was readmitted by the state conference in 1945.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26056741 |title=Mr Mahoney Readmitted |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=15 March 1945 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=7 |via=Trove }}

In 1950, Mahoney supported the proposed banning of the Communist Party of Australia at the Labor Party conference, declaring that Robert Menzies "should 'do the job'" and described communism as a "bogey brought about by the Menzies Government to crucify the trade union movement".{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article52772919 |title=A.L.P. COMMITTEE TO DISCUSS BANNING OF REDS |newspaper=The Examiner (Tasmania) |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=1 March 1950 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=3 |via=Trove }} Later that month, he was appointed president of the Building Trades Federation.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26688947 |title=Building Industry |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=18 March 1950 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=3 |via=Trove }} He also remained secretary of the Operative Painters and Decorators Union until at least 1954.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27217060 |title=PREFERENCE TO UNIONISTS |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=3 June 1954 |access-date=7 March 2020 |page=21 |via=Trove }}

Mahoney died in Hobart in September 1955.

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{{succession box | title=Member for Denison | before=Arthur Hutchin| after=Arthur Beck| years=1934–1940}}

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Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia

Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Denison

Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives

Category:Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly

Category:1892 births

Category:1955 deaths

Category:House painters

Category:Australian MPs 1934–1937

Category:Australian MPs 1937–1940