Career
He took office on 31 July 1945 in the closing stages of the Second World War, following the resignation of his predecessor due to ill health. He lost the following election two years later to the Liberal Party after Labor had held office for fourteen years previously. Wise was a farmer for several years in Queensland before working in the Department of Agriculture in that state.
He later moved to Western Australia as a technical adviser in the Western Australian Department of Agriculture and in 1928 was commissioned to report and advise on tropical agriculture in the Northern Territory and the North West of Western Australia.
In 1936 he moved to the front bench as Minister for Agriculture and the North-West. Foreign reasons of ill health, John Willcock resigned his premiership on 31 July 1945 and Wise was elected into the position.
Wise held the position for only two years until the 1947 election when his party lost to the Liberals headed by Sir Ross McLarty. He was Leader of the Opposition for the next four years before taking up the position of Administrator of the Northern Territory and President of the Northern Territory Legislative Council (now replaced with the unicameral Northern Territory Legislative Assembly).
In 1942, botanist Charles Gardner named the Australian shrub Acacia wiseana in his honour.