Editing Arthur Fadden (section)

=== State politics ===
At the [[1932 Queensland state election]], Fadden was elected to the [[Queensland Legislative Assembly]] as a member of the [[Country and Progressive National Party]] (CPNP). Aided by a favourable redistribution, he won the seat of [[Electoral district of Kennedy|Kennedy]] from the [[Australian Labor Party]] by just 62 votes. He was the only candidate from his party to win a seat from Labor, which won [[majority government]] on a swing of almost 10 points.{{sfn|Arklay|2010|p=58}} In parliament, Fadden came to notice as a critic of the new government's financial operations. He accused the government of lacking transparency and accountability, particularly in its use of trust funds which he said had been used to cover up revenue deficiencies. His speeches impressed both his party and political correspondents, and he was asked to write a series of articles for ''[[The Courier-Mail]]''.<ref>Arklay (2010), pp. 61–64.</ref>

Fadden was the CPNP's lead speaker in the 1934 budget debates, effectively making him the chief financial spokesman for the opposition (which would be considered today as Shadow Treasurer).<ref>Arklay (2010), p. 67.</ref> In the lead-up to the [[1935 Queensland state election|1935 state election]], a redistribution turned Kennedy into a safe Labor seat. It was alleged by the opposition that the government had specifically targeted Fadden's seat in order to remove him as a political threat. Faced with certain defeat, he chose to run in the neighbouring seat of [[Electoral district of Mirani|Mirani]]. However, he lost to Labor's [[Ted Walsh (politician)|Ted Walsh]] by 224 votes, as the government won a landslide victory. In his memoirs, he accused Labor of having [[pork barrel|pork-barreled]] Mirani in the lead-up to the election to ensure his defeat.<ref>Arklay (2010), p. 68.</ref>