Editing Joseph Lyons (section)

===Premier of Tasmania===
Lyons led the Labor opposition in the Tasmanian Parliament until 1923 when he became [[Premier of Tasmania]], leading a minority ALP government. He held office until 1928, also serving as Treasurer during the whole period of his premiership. Lyons's government was cautious and pragmatic, establishing good relations with business and the conservative government in Canberra, but attracting some criticism from unionists within his own party. Labor narrowly lost the 1928 state election to the [[Nationalist Party of Australia|Nationalist Party]].<ref name=dab>{{cite web |first=Percival |last=Serle |title =Lyons, Joseph Aloysius (1879–1939) |publisher =[[Project Gutenberg Australia]] |work=[[Dictionary of Australian Biography]] |url =http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks15/1500721h/0-dict-biogL.html#lyons1 |access-date = 13 January 2008}}</ref><ref name=adb/>

As premier, Lyons faced a [[constitutional crisis]] relating to the powers of the [[Tasmanian Legislative Council]] (the parliament's upper house). The Legislative Council had a limited franchise and was occupied mostly by conservative landowners, and was consequently opposed to much of the government's platform. Historically, it had claimed for itself the power to amend [[money bill]]s, despite having no express constitutional authority to do so. In November 1924, the council returned the government's budget to the Legislative Assembly with a series of proposed reductions in spending. Lyons chose to ignore the amendments, instead sending the bill directly to the Administrator, [[Herbert Nicholls]], who approved it. In 1926, the government amended the state constitution to codify the Legislative Council's powers over money bills, bringing them into line with the other states.{{sfn|Henderson|2011|pp=159–163}}

On 15 July 1926, Lyons suffered severe leg injuries when his car—driven by a chauffeur—collided with a goods train near [[Perth, Tasmania|Perth]]. He came close to death, and stood down from public duties for four months to recover; [[Allan Guy]] was acting premier in his absence. [[Michael O'Keefe (Tasmanian politician)|Michael O'Keefe]], the [[Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly]], was also a passenger in the car, and lingered for several months before dying of his injuries.{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=177}}