1968 New South Wales state election

Last updated

1968 New South Wales state election
Flag of New South Wales.svg
  1965 24 February 1968 (1968-02-24) 1971  

All 94 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
48 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
 First partySecond party
  Robert Askin 1966.jpg Jack Renshaw.png
Leader Robert Askin Jack Renshaw
Party Liberal–Country Coalition Labor
Leader since17 July 195930 April 1964
Leader's seat Collaroy Castlereagh
Last election47 seats45 seats
Seats won5339
Seat changeIncrease2.svg6Decrease2.svg6
Percentage49.09%43.10%
SwingDecrease2.svg0.73Decrease2.svg0.21

1968 New South Wales state election.svg
Two-candidate-preferred margin by electorate

Premier before election

Bob Askin
Liberal–Country Coalition

Elected Premier

Bob Askin
Liberal–Country Coalition

The 1968 New South Wales state election was held on 24 February 1968. It was conducted in single member constituencies with compulsory preferential voting and was held on boundaries created at a 1966 redistribution. The election was for all of the 94 seats in the Legislative Assembly. The Liberal Party, led by Premier Robert Askin, in Coalition with the Country Party of Deputy Premier Charles Cutler, was elected for a second term—the first time that a non-Labor government had been reelected since before World War II.

Contents

Redistribution

An extensive redistribution of electoral boundaries was undertaken in 1966 by a commission consisting of Judge Amsberg of the District Court, the Surveyor-General, G Prince and the Electoral Commissioner J McDonald. Following instructions from the government of Robin Askin, the redistribution gave an increased weighting to the votes of electors in rural New South Wales . Of the 94 electorates, 48 were to be classified as "urban" with an average enrollment of 27,531 and 46 were "country" with an average enrollment of 20,882. However, a continuing movement of population from rural to urban NSW meant that many of the "country" seats were effectively situated in the outskirts of Sydney, where the Liberal Party traditionally had strong electoral support. Four seats (Casino, Cobar, Dulwich Hill and Redfern) were abolished and four new seats (Campbelltown, Corrimal, Merrylands and Northcott) were created . A further 9 seats, Ashfield-Croydon ( renamed Ashfield), Concord (Yaralla), Hartley (Blue Mountains), Illawarra (Kembla), Kurri Kurri (Wallsend), Mudgee (Burrendong), Ryde (Fuller), Sturt (Broken Hill) and Wollongong-Kembla (Wollongong), were extensively changed and renamed. The notional net result of the redistribution was to reduce the Labor Party's representation by at least 5 and possibly 9 seats and to reduce the Country Party by 1. [1] The redistribution was unsuccessfully opposed by the Labor Party with parliamentary walkouts, legal appeals and public rallies. [2]

Issues

At the beginning of 1968, the Liberal–Country Coalition was widely regarded as a competent, non-controversial first-term government. With the aid of a favourable redistribution, it seemed certain of electoral victory; and as a result the campaign failed to generate significant public interest. [3] Since 1965 the government had resolved the problem of cost over-runs and building delays at the Sydney Opera House by forcing the resignation of the architect, Jørn Utzon. Although in retrospect this move was widely censured, at the time it occurred it was generally well received by the public. [4] New government policies during the campaign included an increase in state aid for private schools, increased spending on hospitals and a consumer affairs agency to monitor prices. [5]

In contrast to the coalition, Labor's leader and former Premier, Jack Renshaw, was unable to appeal much to urban voters and had a hard time adjusting to television. He possessed also the disadvantage of having led to defeat in 1965 an ALP administration widely seen as tired and unfocused. [6] Labor's campaign promises included four weeks of annual leave for all employees on state controlled award wages, the restoration of the Sydney City Council, price controls for basic food items and state control of Credit Unions. Renshaw was unable to match the government's promises of aid for private schools, which was a difficult ideological question for Labor. [7] [8]

Results

Prior to the election the Country Party had gained the seats of Bathurst from the Labor Party and Oxley from the Liberal Party at by-elections caused by the deaths of sitting members. There was a slight swing to the Labor Party in the two party preferred vote at the election. However, the effects of the redistribution resulted in a significant improvement in the position of the coalition government and changes in seats at the election reflected the effects of the re-distribution rather than a swing in voter sentiment. The government had a buffer of 6 seats in the new parliament:

The DLP contested 42 seats but achieved less than 3% of the statewide vote while the Communist party was reduced to 6 candidates who received negligible support. The New State Movement, which had suffered a devastating defeat at a plebiscite on the formation of a new state in New England in 1967, contested 4 seats and gained 0.80% of the total vote but up to 35% in individual seats.

The election marked the first time that a non-Labor government in New South Wales had been reelected since the Coalition won three consecutive elections from 1932 to 1938.

Seats changing party representation

This table lists changes in party representation since the 1965 election

SeatIncumbent memberPartyNew memberParty
Ashfield New seat David Hunter  Liberal
Ashfield-Croydon David Hunter  LiberalAbolished Seat
Bathurst  Labor Clive Osborne  Country
Blue Mountains New seat Harold Coates  Independent
Broken Hill New seat Lew Johnstone  Labor
Burrendong New seat Roger Wotton  Country
Campbelltown New seat Max Dunbier  Liberal
Casino Richmond Manyweathers  CountryAbolished Seat
Cobar Lew Johnstone  LaborAbolished Seat
Concord Thomas Murphy  LaborAbolished seat
Corrimal New seat Laurie Kelly  Labor
Dulwich Hill Cliff Mallam  LaborAbolished seat
Fuller New seat Peter Coleman  Liberal
Hartley Harold Coates  IndependentAbolished seat
Illawarra Howard Fowles  LaborAbolished Seat
Kembla New seat George Petersen  Labor
Kurri Kurri Ken Booth  LaborAbolished seat
Manly Douglas Darby  Independent Liberal Douglas Darby  Liberal
Merrylands New seat Jack Ferguson  Labor
Mudgee Leo Nott  LaborAbolished seat
Murray Joe Lawson  Country Joe Lawson  Independent
Northcott New seat Jim Cameron  Liberal
Oxley  Liberal Bruce Cowan  Country
Redfern Fred Green  LaborAbolished seat
Ryde Frank Downing  LaborAbolished seat
Sturt William Wattison  LaborAbolished seat
Sutherland Tom Dalton  Labor Tim Walker  Liberal
Wallsend New seat Ken Booth  Labor
Wollongong New seat Jack Hough  Liberal
Wollongong-Kembla Jack Hough  LiberalAbolished seat
Yaralla New seat Lerryn Mutton  Liberal

Bathurst was won by the Country Party at a 1967 by-election caused by the death of Labor's Gus Kelly

Oxley was won by the Country Party at a 1965 by-election caused by the death of the Liberal Party's Les Jordan

Key dates

DateEvent
23 January 1968The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.
31 January 1968Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon.
24 February 1968Polling day.
22 March 1968Last day for the writs to be returned and the results formally declared.
26 March 1968Opening of 42nd Parliament.

Results

New South Wales state election, 24 February 1968 [9]
Legislative Assembly
<< 19651971 >>

Enrolled voters2,356,977
Votes cast2,219,979 Turnout 94.19+0.28
Informal votes58,409Informal2.63+0.59
Summary of votes by party
PartyPrimary votes %SwingSeatsChange
  Liberal 831,51438.47−1.1236+5
  Country 229,65610.62+0.3917+1
  Labor 931,56343.10−0.2139−6
  Independent 92,7044.29+1.172+1
  Democratic Labor 49,4572.29+0.180
  New Staters 17,3030.80+0.800
  Communist 5,8280.27−0.370
 All others3,5450.16+0.160
  Independent Liberal 00−1.000−1
Total2,161,570  94 

Popular vote
Labor
43.10%
Liberal
38.47%
Country
10.62%
Independents
4.29%
Democratic Labor
2.29%
Others
1.23%
Parliamentary seats
Labor
39
Liberal
36
Country
17
Independents
2

All electorates were contested

Aftermath

Robert Askin and Charles Cutler remained Premier and Deputy Premier throughout the term of the parliament. Renshaw was replaced as the Leader of the Labor Party by Pat Hills in December 1968. During the parliament there were 5 by-elections. These produced no change in party representation with the exception of the Liberal Party losing Georges River to Labor's Frank Walker.

References

  1. "How the electorate changes will operate". The Sydney Morning Herald. 16 April 1966. p. 16.
  2. "Rally to protest electorate proposal". The Sydney Morning Herald. 18 April 1966. p. 5.
  3. "2 Million vote today". The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 February 1968. p. 1.
  4. "Mr Hughes and Mr Utzon". The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 February 1968. p. 2.
  5. "2 Million vote today". The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 February 1968. p. 1.
  6. Evan Whitton (19 February 1968). "Renshaw: Jack with Beanstalk and Giant". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 2.
  7. "Renshaw: lists his priorities". The Sydney Morning Herald. 19 February 1968. p. 8.
  8. McMullin, Ross (1991). The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891-1991. Oxford University Press. ISBN   0-19-554966-X.
  9. Green, Antony. "1968 election totals". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Archived from the original on 30 April 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2019.

See also