The 1968 New South Wales state election was held on 24 February 1968. It was conducted in single member constituencies with compulsory
preferential voting {{short description, Election systems
Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to different election systems or groups of election systems:
* Ranked voting methods, all election methods that involve ranking candidates in order of pr ...
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
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
, led by
Premier Robert Askin
Sir Robert William Askin, GCMG (4 April 1907 – 9 September 1981), was an Australian politician and the 32nd Premier of New South Wales from 1965 to 1975, the first representing the Liberal Party. He was born in 1907 as Robin William Askin, but ...
, 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
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
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
Sir Robert William Askin, GCMG (4 April 1907 – 9 September 1981), was an Australian politician and the 32nd Premier of New South Wales from 1965 to 1975, the first representing the Liberal Party. He was born in 1907 as Robin William Askin, but ...
, 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
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
traditionally had strong electoral support. Four seats (
Casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
,
Cobar
Cobar is a town in central western New South Wales, Australia whose economy is based mainly upon base metals and gold mining. The town is by road northwest of the state capital, Sydney. It is at the crossroads of the Kidman Way and Barrier H ...
,
Dulwich Hill
Dulwich Hill is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 7.5 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Inner West Council. Dulwich Hill str ...
and
Redfern) were abolished and four new seats (
Campbelltown,
Corrimal
Corrimal is a northern suburb of the city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Corrimal's CBD is situated on the Princes Highway, and several streets adjacent to it. The main shopping centres are Lederer Corrimal and Corrimal Park Mall ne ...
,
Merrylands
Merrylands is a suburb in Western Sydney, Australia. Merrylands is located 25 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is in the local government area of the Cumberland City Council.
History
Merrylands was named after the fo ...
and
Northcott) were created . A further 9 seats,
Ashfield-Croydon ( renamed
Ashfield),
Concord
Concord may refer to:
Meaning "agreement"
* Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony)
* Harmony, in music
* Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
(
Yaralla),
Hartley (
Blue Mountains),
Illawarra
The Illawarra is a coastal region in the Australian state of New South Wales, nestled between the mountains and the sea. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast region. It encompasses the two cities of Wollongo ...
(
Kembla),
Kurri Kurri
Kurri Kurri is a small town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Cessnock LGA. At the , its population was 6,044. Kurri Kurri is the largest town in a group of towns and hamlets, including Stanford Merthyr, Pelaw Main, ...
(
Wallsend
Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne.
History Roman Wallsend
In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This f ...
),
Mudgee
Mudgee is a town in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia. It is in the broad fertile Cudgegong River valley north-west of Sydney and is the largest town in the Mid-Western Regional Council local government area as well as being th ...
(
Burrendong),
Ryde
Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...
(
Fuller),
Sturt (
Broken Hill) and
Wollongong-Kembla (
Wollongong
Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wa ...
), 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. The redistribution was unsuccessfully opposed by the Labor Party with parliamentary walkouts, legal appeals and public rallies.
Issues
At the beginning of 1968, the Liberal/Country Party 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. 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
Jørn Oberg Utzon, , Hon. FAIA (; 9 April 191829 November 2008) was a Danish architect. He was most notable for designing the Sydney Opera House in Australia, completed in 1973. When it was declared a World Heritage Site on 28 June 2007, Utzon ...
. Although in retrospect this move was widely censured, at the time it occurred it was generally well received by the public. 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.
In contrast to the coalition, Labor's leader and former Premier,
Jack Renshaw
John Brophy Renshaw AC (8 August 190928 July 1987) was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of New South Wales from 30 April 1964 to 13 May 1965. He was the first New South Wales Premier born in the 20th century.
Early life
Jack Re ...
, 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. 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.
Results
Prior to the election the Country Party had gained the seats of
Bathurst from the Labor Party and
Oxley Oxley may refer to:
Places
Australia
Australian Capital Territory
* Oxley, Australian Capital Territory is a suburb of Canberra, Australia
Queensland
*Oxley, Queensland is a suburb of Brisbane, Australia
** Oxley railway station, Brisba ...
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:
*
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
36 seats
*
Country Party 17 seats
*
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...
39 seats
* Independent 2 seats
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
†
Bathurst was won by the Country Party at a 1967
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
caused by the death of Labor's
Gus Kelly
‡
Oxley Oxley may refer to:
Places
Australia
Australian Capital Territory
* Oxley, Australian Capital Territory is a suburb of Canberra, Australia
Queensland
*Oxley, Queensland is a suburb of Brisbane, Australia
** Oxley railway station, Brisba ...
was won by the Country Party at a 1965
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
caused by the death of the Liberal Party's
Les Jordan
Leslie Charles Jordan (26 July 1896 – 29 September 1965) was an Australian politician and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1944 until his death in 1965 . He was initially elected as a member of the Country Party but c ...
Key dates
Results
All electorates were contested
Aftermath
Robert Askin
Sir Robert William Askin, GCMG (4 April 1907 – 9 September 1981), was an Australian politician and the 32nd Premier of New South Wales from 1965 to 1975, the first representing the Liberal Party. He was born in 1907 as Robin William Askin, but ...
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
Patrick Darcy Hills (31 December 1917 – 22 April 1992) was a New South Wales politician. He served in various high offices across the state most notably the Deputy Premier of New South Wales, Leader of the Opposition and as the Lord Mayor ...
in December 1968. During the parliament there were 5
by-elections
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election use ...
. These produced no change in party representation with the exception of the Liberal Party losing Georges River to Labor's
Frank Walker.
References
See also
*
Candidates of the 1968 New South Wales state election
This is a list of candidates of the 1968 New South Wales state election. The election was held on 24 February 1968.
Retiring Members
Note: The Liberal MLA for Bligh, Morton Cohen, died shortly before the election. No by-election was held.
Lab ...
*
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, 1968–1971
{{DEFAULTSORT:1968 New South Wales State Election
Elections in New South Wales
1968 elections in Australia
1960s in New South Wales
February 1968 events in Australia