1965 Western Australian state election

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.

1965 Western Australian state election

20 February 1965 (1965-02-20)
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 party Second party   Leader David Brand Albert Hawke Party Liberal/Country coalition Labor Leader since 1 March 1957 3 July 1951 Leader's seat Greenough Northam Last election 26 seats 24 seats Seats won 29 seats 21 seats Seat change 3 3 Percentage 52.89% 42.64% Swing 5.78 1.77
Premier before election David Brand Liberal/Country coalition Elected Premier David Brand Liberal/Country coalition

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 << 1962–1968 >>
Enrolled voters		335,633^[1]
Votes cast		309,893		Turnout	92.33%	–0.76%
Informal votes		9,634		Informal	3.11%	+1.32%
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Liberal and Country	144,178	48.02%	+6.84%	21	+ 3
	Labor	128,025	42.64%	–1.77%	21	– 3
	Country	14,630	4.87%	–1.06%	8	± 0
	Democratic Labor	2,825	0.94%	–1.32%	0	± 0
	Communist	284	0.09%	–0.32%	0	± 0
	Ind. Lib.	4,630	1.54%	–0.02%	0	± 0
	Independent	5,687	1.89%	–2.38%	0	± 0
Total		300,259			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 << 1962–1968 >>
Enrolled voters		392,586
Votes cast		361,752		Turnout	92.2	+50.5
Informal votes		346,319		Informal	4.3	+3.9
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held
	Liberal and Country	176,051	50.8	–7.6	8	12
	Labor	134,694	38.9	–2.6	4	10
	Country	20,030	5.8	*	3	8
	Communist	8,369	2.4	+2.4	0	0
	Independent Liberal	3,579	1.0	+1.0	0	0
	Conservative	1,749	0.5	+0.5	0	0
	Independent	1,847	0.5	+0.5	0	0
Total		346,319			15	30

Post-election pendulum

LCL/COUNTRY SEATS (29)
Marginal
Canning	Ross Elliott	LCL	0.7%
Perth	Peter Durack	LCL	1.1%
Bunbury	Maurice Williams	LCL	2.4%
Maylands	Bob Marshall	LCL	2.6%
Fairly Safe
Karrinyup	Les Nimmo	LCL	6.0%
Subiaco	Hugh Guthrie	LCL	8.3%
East Melville	Des O'Neil	LCL	9.4% v IND
Dale	Gerald Wild	LCL	9.8%
Safe
Darling Range	Ken Dunn	LCL	10.9%
Cottesloe	Ross Hutchinson	LCL	11.7%
Murchison	Richard Burt	LCL	13.5%
Mount Lawley	Ray O'Connor	LCL	13.6%
Wellington	Iven Manning	LCL	13.6%
Murray	Ewart Runciman	LCL	13.8% v IND
Moore	Edgar Lewis	CP	18.0% v IND
Wembley	Guy Henn	LCL	19.6%
Vasse	Stewart Bovell	LCL	20.4%
Toodyay	James Craig	CP	24.2% v IND
Claremont	Harold Crommelin	LCL	27.0%
Narrogin	William Manning	CP	30.5% v IND
Nedlands	Charles Court	LCL	30.9%
Avon	Harry Gayfer	CP	unopp.
Blackwood	John Hearman	LCL	unopp.
Greenough	David Brand	LCL	unopp.
Katanning	Crawford Nalder	CP	unopp.
Mount Marshall	George Cornell	CP	unopp.
Roe	Tom Hart	CP	unopp.
South Perth	Bill Grayden	LCL	unopp.
Stirling	Clayton Mitchell	CP	unopp.

LABOR SEATS (21)
Marginal
Belmont	James Hegney	ALP	2.3%
Mount Hawthorn	Bill Hegney	ALP	2.7%
Geraldton	Bill Sewell	ALP	3.0%
Warren	Joseph Rowberry	ALP	3.1%
Balcatta	Herb Graham	ALP	3.7%
Bayswater	Merv Toms	ALP	3.8%
Merredin-Yilgarn	Lionel Kelly	ALP	4.9%
Fairly safe
Melville	John Tonkin	ALP	7.0%
Northam	Albert Hawke	ALP	7.9%
Albany	Jack Hall	ALP	9.6%
Safe
Beeloo	Colin Jamieson	ALP	10.1%
Collie	Harry May	ALP	10.9%
Kimberley	John Rhatigan	ALP	11.6%
Victoria Park	Ron Davies	ALP	14.0%
Gascoyne	Daniel Norton	ALP	15.8%
Pilbara	Arthur Bickerton	ALP	17.2%
Fremantle	Harry Fletcher	ALP	17.4%
Swan	John Brady	ALP	18.7%
Boulder-Eyre	Arthur Moir	ALP	unopp.
Cockburn	Henry Curran	ALP	unopp.
Kalgoorlie	Tom Evans	ALP	unopp.

See also

• Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1962–1965
• Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1965–1968

References