William Edward Aylett (15 November 1900 – 10 August 1976) was an Australian politician who served as a Senator for Tasmania from 1938 to 1965, representing the Labor Party (ALP).

He was censured by the ALP federal executive for his attendance record, although moves to expel him were unsuccessful, and he retired from parliament at the next election.

He was the sixth of the twelve children of Harriett Susanna (née Matthews) and Edward Aylett; his younger brother Charley served in the Tasmanian House of Assembly.

His grandfather, William Aylett, arrived in Australia as a convict and was transported to Van Diemen's Land in 1845 after stealing two beehives.

In a speech to the Senate in 1942, he recalled being ordered to lie "in cold water under hanging rock which was likely to fall at any moment and scrape out the mullock which had accumulated there".

[1] She suffered cuts to her leg and was taken to Launceston General Hospital; she was only able to vote when state Labor MP John Madden drove her to a booth shortly before the close of polling.

[1] He took an interest in the remote community of King Island, lobbying on behalf of its residents and serving as a delegate for the local ALP branch.

Aylett publicly criticised the ALP state executive, and his supporters in the labour movement attempted to overturn the result of the ballot.

This resulted in Murray failing to win a seat, and he subsequently wrote privately to Fred Daly that Aylett had won re-election "by treachery, fraud and wilful deception".

In September 1959, it was made public that he had decided to move to the Gold Coast; he and his son purchased four shops and two flats at Palm Beach.

[17] In 1961, Aylett was accused of exerting undue pressure on members of the Gold Coast City Council to approve a building application.

[19] In October, the ALP federal executive unanimously passed a resolution expressing "grave concern" at his "continued and unwarranted absences from Parliament".

[23] His obituary in the Hobart Mercury noted that he had "upset his party and political tradition" and would be remembered for "controversy about his absenteeism from Parliament and his electorate".