New South Wales state election, 1965

New South Wales state election, 1965

1 May 1965 (1965-05-01)

All 94 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 48 Assembly seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party   Leader Bob Askin Jack Renshaw Party Liberal/Country coalition Labor Leader since 17 July 1959 30 April 1964 Leader's seat Collaroy Castlereagh Last election 39 seats 54 seats Seats won 47 seats 45 seats Seat change 8 9 Percentage 49.82% 43.31% Swing 5.60 5.26

Legislative Assembly after the election

Premier before election Jack Renshaw Labor Elected Premier Bob Askin Liberal/Country coalition

The 1965 New South Wales state election was held on 1 May 1965. It was conducted in single member constituencies with compulsory preferential voting and was held on boundaries created at a 1961 redistribution. The election was for all of the 94 seats in the Legislative Assembly.

Issues

In May 1965, Labor had been in power for 24 years and 54-year-old Jack Renshaw, who had been seen as a generational change for the party leadership had been premier for 1 year. However, Renshaw, had difficulty adjusting to a televised campaign and his manner, the result of spending much of his early life in remote New South Wales, had not resonated with urban voters. The longevity of the government was an issue promoted by the opposition which described it as being composed of "tired old men". Continuing cost overruns and construction delays at the Sydney Opera House detracted from the government's economic management and accusations that the Speaker, Ray Maher had indecently exposed himself to a staff member disrupted the start of the government's campaign. In addition, the government's keynote policy of releasing large tracts of land in Sydney for residential development was leaked to the opposition, which then claimed it as its own policy. Labor continued to have an ideological difficulty matching the Opposition's promises of state aid for non-government schools and this was the most decisive issue in the election. Other government policies included increased high school bursaries, measures to reduce unfair trading, reduced power costs, increased sick leave and reform of Workers' Compensation schemes.^[1][2]

In contrast to Labor the leader of the conservative coalition, Robin Askin was skillful in his use of television and put forward a positive program. Promises for non-government schools included free transport, library grants, low interest loans, textbook subsidies and bursaries. Askin accused the state government of allowing the transport infrastructure of the state to decline and pledge his government to improve the Illawarra and Eastern Suburbs rail lines. He promised to integrate the state's bus and train fares and reduce suburban rail costs. Motor registry costs would be reduced and better rent control was to be introduced for pensioners Askin also promised to recruit more police and give more resources for mental health and district hospitals.^[2][3]

Results

Prior to the election, Independent Frank Purdue had gained the seat of Waratah from the Labor Party at a by-election caused by the death of Edward Greaves. Sam Jones regained the seat for Labor at the general election.

Despite a strong swing of more than 5% to the coalition, the result of the election remained in doubt for 2 weeks. The effects of a long incumbency bolstered by the cumulative effects of a number of re-distributions limited Labor's loss of seats to 9. In several of these the margin of defeat was less than 300 votes. In the final result the Coalition had 47 seats, one short of a majority. However, it could rely on the support of Douglas Darby a former member of the party who had been elected as a Liberal Independent but was subsequently readmitted to the party room and Harold Coates, a conservative independent who had won the seat of Hartley. After providing a Speaker, the coalition was able to form a government with a majority of 3 in the Assembly.

• Liberal 31 seats
• Independent Liberal 1 seat
• Country Party 16 seats
• Australian Labor Party 45 seats
• Independent 1 seat

The DLP contested 28 seats and, while it gained less than 2.5% of the statewide primary vote, its preferences strongly favoured the coalition and were vital to its success. The Communist party was reduced to 13 candidates who received negligible support.

Seats changing party representation

This table lists changes in party representation since the 1965 election

Key dates

Tabulated Results

¹ There were 2,218,550 enrolled voters in 92 contested electorates and 38,018 were enrolled in 2 uncontested electorates (1 Labor, 1 Country).

Aftermath

Robert Askin and Charles Cutler became Premier and Deputy Premier in New South Wales' first conservative government for 24 years. Renshaw became Leader of the Opposition, a post he held throughout the term of the parliament. During this parliament there were 3 by-elections. These resulted in the Country party gaining one seat from Labor and one seat from the Liberal Party.

See also

• Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, 1965–1968

References

Elections and referendums in New South Wales
General elections	Colonial 1856 1858 1859 1860 1864–65 1869–70 1872 1874–75 1877 1880 1882 1885 1887 1889 1891 1894 1895 1898 State 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1917 1920 1922 1925 1927 1930 1932 1935 1938 1941 1944 1947 1950 1953 1956 1959 1962 1965 1968 1971 1973 1976 1978 1981 1984 1988 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019
Referendums	1898 1899 1903 1916 1928 1933 1947 1954 1961 1967 1969 1976 1978 1981 1991 1995
Other	By-elections