A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Boothby on 21 February 1981. This was triggered by the resignation of Liberal Party MP John McLeay, who subsequently took up the role of Consul General in Los Angeles. It was held on the same day as by-elections for Curtin and McPherson.
This by-election was won by Steele Hall, who was Premier of South Australia from 1968 to 1970.
Date | Event |
---|---|
22 January 1981 | Hon John McLeay resigned from Parliament. [1] |
27 January 1981 | The writ for the by-election was issued. [2] |
13 February 1981 | Close of nominations. |
21 February 1981 | Polling day. [3] |
24 February 1981 | The writ was returned and Steele Hall was sworn in as the member for Boothby. [4] |
27 March 1981 | The original deadline for the writ to be returned. [2] |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | Steele Hall | 36,406 | 56.71 | +0.55 | |
Labor | Bruce Whyatt | 17,108 | 26.65 | -3.09 | |
Democrats | Robert Hercus | 9,188 | 14.31 | +1.25 | |
Independent | Alf Gard | 555 | 0.86 | +0.86 | |
Unemployed Workers | David Arkins | 544 | 0.85 | +0.85 | |
Progressive Conservative | John Herren | 398 | 0.62 | +0.62 | |
Total formal votes | 64,199 | 97.75 | −0.38 | ||
Informal votes | 1,480 | 2.25 | +0.38 | ||
Turnout | 65,679 | 81.69 | −12.67 | ||
Liberal hold | Swing | +1.4 |
Hansard is the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official printer to the Parliament at Westminster.
The speaker of the Australian House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the Australian House of Representatives, the lower house of the Parliament of Australia. The counterpart in the upper house is the president of the Senate. The office of the speakership was established in 1901 by section 35 of the Constitution of Australia. The primary responsibilities of the office is to oversee house debates, determine which members may speak, maintain order and the parliamentary and ministerial codes of conduct during sessions and uphold all rules and standing orders. The current speaker of the House of Representatives is Milton Dick, who was elected on 26 July 2022.
Sir Billy Mackie Snedden, was an Australian politician who served as the leader of the Liberal Party from 1972 to 1975. He was also a cabinet minister from 1964 to 1972, and Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1976 to 1983.
Donald Leslie Chipp, AO was an Australian politician who was the inaugural leader of the Australian Democrats, leading the party from 1977 to 1986. He began his career as a member of the Liberal Party, winning election to the House of Representatives in 1960 and serving as a government minister for a cumulative total of six years. Chipp left the Liberals in 1977 and was soon persuaded to lead a new party, the Democrats who, he famously proclaimed in 1980, would "keep the bastards honest". He was elected to the Senate on 10 December 1977 and led the party at four federal elections. From 1983 it held the sole balance of power in the Senate.
The Joint Sitting of the Parliament of Australiaof 1974 remains the only time that members of both houses of the federal parliament of Australia, the Senate and House of Representatives, have sat together as a single legislative body pursuant to section 57 of the Constitution. The joint sitting was held on 6 and 7 August 1974, following the double dissolution 1974 federal election.
Leslie Harry Ernest Bury CMG was an Australian politician and economist. He was a member of the Liberal Party and served in the House of Representatives between 1956 and 1974, representing the Division of Wentworth. He held ministerial office in Coalition governments for nearly a decade, serving as Minister for Air (1961–1962), Housing (1963–1966), Labour and National Service (1966–1969), Treasurer (1969–1971) and Foreign Affairs (1971).
Sir David Eric Fairbairn, was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Liberal Party and served in the House of Representatives from 1949 to 1975. He held ministerial office as Minister for Air (1962–1964), National Development (1964–1969), Education and Science (1971), and Defence (1971–1972).
Alexander James de Burgh Forbes,, often known as A. J. Forbes, was an Australian politician. He served in the House of Representatives from 1956 to 1975 as a member of the Liberal Party, representing the Division of Barker in South Australia. He held ministerial office in the Coalition governments of the 1960s and 1970s, serving as Minister for the Navy (1963–1964), Army (1963–1966), Health (1966–1971), and Immigration (1971–1972). At his death, Forbes was the last surviving Liberal minister who served in the ministries of Sir Robert Menzies, Harold Holt and John McEwen, as well as the First Gorton Ministry.
This is a list of members of the Australian Senate from 1974 to 1975. The 18 May 1974 election was a double dissolution of both Houses, with all 127 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 60 seats in the Senate up for election. The incumbent Labor Party led by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam defeated the opposition Liberal Party led by Billy Snedden and their Coalition partner the Country Party led by Doug Anthony.
This is a list of members of the Australian Senate from 1914 to 1917. The 5 September 1914 election was a double dissolution called by Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Cook in an attempt to gain control of the Senate. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Commonwealth Liberal Party was defeated by the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Andrew Fisher, who announced with the outbreak of World War I during the campaign that under a Labor government, Australia would "stand beside the mother country to help and defend her to the last man and the last shilling."
Naming is a procedure in some Westminster model parliaments that provides for the speaker to temporarily remove a member of parliament who is breaking the rules of conduct of the legislature. Historically, "naming" refers to the speaker's invocation of the process by calling out the actual name of the member, deliberately breaking the convention of calling on members by the name of their constituency.
A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Curtin on 21 February 1981. This was triggered by the resignation of Liberal MP Victor Garland in order to be appointed High Commissioner of Australia to the United Kingdom. It was held on the same day as by-elections for Boothby and McPherson.
A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of McPherson on 21 February 1981. This was triggered by the sudden death of Liberal Party MP Eric Robinson. It was held on the same day as by-elections for Boothby and Curtin.
A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Bendigo on 7 June 1969. This was triggered by the resignation of Labor MP Noel Beaton. A by-election for the seat of Gwydir was held on the same day.
A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Gwydir on 7 June 1969. This was triggered by the resignation of Country Party MP Ian Allan, who had been appointed Secretary-General and regional director of ANZAC war graves in the Pacific Region of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. As a by-election for the seat of Bendigo had just been called, the two were held on the same day.
A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Curtin on 19 April 1969. This was triggered by the resignation of Liberal MP Sir Paul Hasluck to become Governor-General. It was the first federal by-election to be held in Western Australia since the 1945 Fremantle by-election, and only the seventh since Federation.
The Leader of the Government in the Senate is the government's most senior cabinet minister in the Australian Senate and the main government spokesperson in the Senate. The position's Opposition counterpart is the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate.
In the Parliament of Australia, the political parties appoint party whips to ensure party discipline, help manage legislative business and carry out a variety of other functions on behalf of the party leadership. Additional functions of the government party whips is to ensure that a sufficient number of government members and senators are present in the chamber to ensure passage of government legislation and measures and to prevent censure motions succeeding, and to ensure presence of a parliamentary quorum. Their roles in the chamber include tally votes during divisions, and arranging pairs which affects the ability of members and senators to leave parliament during sittings, as well as the entitlement to be absent during divisions.