Western Australian state election, 1965

Western Australian state election, 1965

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   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

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

Legislative Assembly

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

Post-election pendulum

See also

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

References

Elections and referendums in Western Australia
General elections	1890 1894 1897 1901 1904 1905 1908 1911 1914 1917 1921 1924 1927 1930 1933 1936 1939 1943 1947 1950 1953 1956 1959 1962 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1980 1983 1986 1989 1993 1996 2001 2005 2008 2013 2017 by-elections
Upper House Elections	1894 1896 1897 1898 1900 (Apr) 1900 (Sep) 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962
Referendums	1900 1911 1921 1925 1933 1950 1975 1984 1992 2005 2009