1965 Western Australian state election

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1965 Western Australian state election
Flag of Western Australia.svg
  1962 20 February 1965 (1965-02-20) 1968  

All 50 seats in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
and 15 (of the 30) seats to the Western Australian Legislative Council
26 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
 First partySecond party
  DavidBrand1963.jpg Albert Hawke 1965.jpg
Leader David Brand Albert Hawke
Party Liberal/Country coalition Labor
Leader since1 March 19573 July 1951
Leader's seat Greenough Northam
Last election26 seats24 seats
Seats won29 seats21 seats
Seat changeIncrease2.svg3Decrease2.svg3
Percentage52.89%42.64%
SwingIncrease2.svg5.78Decrease2.svg1.77

Premier before election

David Brand
Liberal/Country coalition

Elected Premier

David Brand
Liberal/Country coalition

Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 20 February 1965 to elect all 50 members to the Legislative Assembly and 15 members to the 30-seat Legislative Council. The Liberal-Country coalition government, led by Premier Sir David Brand, won a third term in office against the Labor Party, led by Opposition Leader Albert Hawke.

Contents

Electoral changes

The Legislative Council election held on the same day was the first since significant changes to the Council's structure and manner of voting under the Constitution Acts Amendment Act (No.2) 1963 (No.72 of 1963). The Act abolished the 10 three-member provinces which had existed almost unaltered since 1900, and created 15 new two-member provinces. Voting became compulsory and the property franchise was abolished, and the practice of having separate Legislative Council elections in May of every even-numbered year was abolished—the Council's members would now go to the voters at the same elections as members of the Legislative Assembly, although the rotational system where one member per province would retire at each election remained in effect, and unlike the Assembly, the Council's term expired on 22 May every three years, rather than at the election itself.

A number of transitional arrangements were necessary to put these changes into effect. Those who had terms expiring on 21 May 1964, and five of the ten whose terms were to expire on 21 May 1966 (those who had the lowest winning margins at the 1960 election) would retire on 21 May 1965. The remaining 15 members were eligible to be appointed to new provinces for terms expiring on 21 May 1968.

Results

Legislative Assembly

Western Australian state election, 20 February 1965
Legislative Assembly
<< 19621968 >>

Enrolled voters335,633 [1]
Votes cast309,893 Turnout 92.33%–0.76%
Informal votes9,634Informal3.11%+1.32%
Summary of votes by party
PartyPrimary votes %SwingSeatsChange
  Liberal and Country 144,17848.02%+6.84%21+ 3
  Labor 128,02542.64%–1.77%21– 3
  Country 14,6304.87%–1.06%8± 0
  Democratic Labor 2,8250.94%–1.32%0± 0
  Communist 2840.09%–0.32%0± 0
 Ind. Lib.4,6301.54%–0.02%0± 0
  Independent 5,6871.89%–2.38%0± 0
Total300,259  50 
1 408,462 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 11 seats (22% of the total) were uncontested—3 Labor seats (one less than 1962) representing 23,717 enrolled voters, 3 LCL seats (one less than 1962) representing 22,175 enrolled voters, and 5 Country seats (two more than 1962) representing 26,937 enrolled voters.

Legislative Council

Western Australian state election, 20 February 1965
Legislative Council
<< 19621968 >>

Enrolled voters392,586
Votes cast361,752 Turnout 92.2+50.5
Informal votes346,319Informal4.3+3.9
Summary of votes by party
PartyPrimary votes %SwingSeats
won
Seats
held
  Liberal and Country 176,05150.8–7.6812
  Labor 134,69438.9–2.6410
  Country 20,0305.8*38
  Communist 8,3692.4+2.400
  Independent Liberal 3,5791.0+1.000
 Conservative1,7490.5+0.500
  Independent 1,8470.5+0.500
Total346,319  1530

Post-election pendulum

LCL/Country seats (29)
Marginal
Canning Ross Elliott LCL0.7%
Perth Peter Durack LCL1.1%
Bunbury Maurice Williams LCL2.4%
Maylands Bob Marshall LCL2.6%
Fairly safe
Karrinyup Les Nimmo LCL6.0%
Subiaco Hugh Guthrie LCL8.3%
East Melville Des O'Neil LCL9.4% v IND
Dale Gerald Wild LCL9.8%
Safe
Darling Range Ken Dunn LCL10.9%
Cottesloe Ross Hutchinson LCL11.7%
Murchison Richard Burt LCL13.5%
Mount Lawley Ray O'Connor LCL13.6%
Wellington Iven Manning LCL13.6%
Murray Ewart Runciman LCL13.8% v IND
Moore Edgar Lewis CP18.0% v IND
Wembley Guy Henn LCL19.6%
Vasse Stewart Bovell LCL20.4%
Toodyay James Craig CP24.2% v IND
Claremont Harold Crommelin LCL27.0%
Narrogin William Manning CP30.5% v IND
Nedlands Charles Court LCL30.9%
Avon Harry Gayfer CPunopp.
Blackwood John Hearman LCLunopp.
Greenough David Brand LCLunopp.
Katanning Crawford Nalder CPunopp.
Mount Marshall George Cornell CPunopp.
Roe Tom Hart CPunopp.
South Perth Bill Grayden LCLunopp.
Stirling Clayton Mitchell CPunopp.
Labor seats (21)
Marginal
Belmont James Hegney ALP2.3%
Mount Hawthorn Bill Hegney ALP2.7%
Geraldton Bill Sewell ALP3.0%
Warren Joseph Rowberry ALP3.1%
Balcatta Herb Graham ALP3.7%
Bayswater Merv Toms ALP3.8%
Merredin-Yilgarn Lionel Kelly ALP4.9%
Fairly safe
Melville John Tonkin ALP7.0%
Northam Albert Hawke ALP7.9%
Albany Jack Hall ALP9.6%
Safe
Beeloo Colin Jamieson ALP10.1%
Collie Harry May ALP10.9%
Kimberley John Rhatigan ALP11.6%
Victoria Park Ron Davies ALP14.0%
Gascoyne Daniel Norton ALP15.8%
Pilbara Arthur Bickerton ALP17.2%
Fremantle Harry Fletcher ALP17.4%
Swan John Brady ALP18.7%
Boulder-Eyre Arthur Moir ALPunopp.
Cockburn Henry Curran ALPunopp.
Kalgoorlie Tom Evans ALPunopp.

See also

References