Western Australian state election, 1965

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 Bert Hawke.

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

Australian elections/Title row
title = Western Australian state election, 20 February 1965
house = Legislative Assembly
series = Western Australian state election
back = 1962
forward = 1968
enrolled = 335,633ref label|cont|1|1
total_votes = 309,893
turnout % = 92.33%
turnout chg = –0.76%
informal = 9,634
informal % = 3.11%
informal chg = +1.32%Australian elections/Party summary
government = yes
party_id = Liberal
votes = 144,178
votes % = 48.02%
votes chg = +6.84%
seats = 21
seats chg = + 3Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Labor
votes = 128,025
votes % = 42.64%
votes chg = –1.77%
seats = 21
seats chg = – 3Australian elections/Party summary
government = yes
party_id = Nationals
party = Country
votes = 14,630
votes % = 4.87%
votes chg = –1.06%
seats = 8
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = DLP
votes = 2,825
votes % = 0.94%
votes chg = –1.32%
seats = 0
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Communist
votes = 284
votes % = 0.09%
votes chg = –0.32%
seats = 0
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Nationalist
party = Ind. Lib.
votes = 4,630
votes % = 1.54%
votes chg = –0.02%
seats = 0
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Independent
votes = 5,687
votes % = 1.89%
votes chg = –2.38%
seats = 0
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Total row
total_votes = 300,259
total_seats = 50

:note label|cont|1|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 Liberal seats (one less than 1962) representing 22,175 enrolled voters, and 5 Country seats (two more than 1962) representing 26,937 enrolled voters.

ee also

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

References