A by-election was held for the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

seat of

Mosman Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local governm ...

on Saturday, 29 July 1972. It was triggered by the retirement of the former

Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party The Liberal Party of Australia (New South Wales Division), commonly known as the New South Wales Liberals, is the state division of the Liberal Party of Australia in New South Wales. The party currently governs in New South Wales in coalition wi ...

and Minister of the Crown,

Pat Morton Philip Henry (Pat) Morton (28 October 191018 January 1999) was an Australian businessman and politician. Born in Lismore in Northern New South Wales to a prominent political family and educated at Lismore High School, Morton left school at f ...

. The seat was subsequently won by

David Arblaster David Amos Arblaster (16 November 192910 August 2006) was a New South Wales politician, Minister for Culture, Sport and Recreation and Minister for Tourism in the cabinet of Sir Eric Willis until the Liberal party lost the 1976 election. Arbl ...

(). Despite Mosman being a safe Liberal seat, the Labor Party fielded a candidate. The Liberal primary vote fell 11.1% compared to the previous year's general election. The same four parties contested both.

Background

The seat of Mosman, a traditionally safe Liberal seat, had been held since 1947 by Pat Morton, who became Leader of the Liberal Party in 1955 until being deposed in 1959 by

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 ...

. As a Minister for Highways and

Local Government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

in the Askin Government from 1965, Morton gained a reputation as being a strong advocate for allowing free enterprise and business to take precedence over planning controls and government regulation. His time as Minister was marked by increasing strains on state infrastructure and his pro-development stance was largely attributed as an attempt to alleviate these problems. Despite this, Morton and his State Planning Authority were continuously criticised for not being totally accountable to the public, particularly as the pro-business Sydney Commissioners worked side by side with the Planning authority to increase developments in the Sydney CBD to their highest levels ever, embodied by the construction of the

MLC Centre 25 Martin Place (formerly the MLC Centre) is a skyscraper in Sydney, Australia. Designed by architect Harry Seidler, it stands at a height of 228 metres (748 ft) with 67 storeys, and remains one of his most definitive works. The building ...

, the demolition of the

Theatre Royal, Sydney Theatre Royal Sydney is a theatre in Sydney, Australia built in 1976 and has offered a broad range of entertainment since the 1990s. The theatre reopened in December 2021 under parent company Trafalgar Entertainment with patrons now able to book ...

and the

Australia Hotel The Australia Hotel was a hotel on Castlereagh Street, Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. From its opening in 1891 until its closure on 30 June 1971 and subsequent demolition, the hotel was considered "the best-known hotel in Australia", "the ...

. Among the most controversial schemes undertaken by his government were also a massive freeway system that was planned to be driven through the hearts of historic inner-city suburbs including

Glebe Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...

and Newtown and an equally ambitious scheme of '

slum clearance Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...

' that would have brought about the wholesale destruction of the historic areas of

Woolloomooloo Woolloomooloo ( ) is a harbourside, inner-city eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Woolloomooloo is 1.5 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney. It is in a low ...

and The Rocks. This eventually culminated in the 1970s

Green ban A green ban is a form of strike action, usually taken by a trade union or other organised labour group, which is conducted for environmentalist or conservationist purposes. They were mainly done in Australia in the 1970s, led by the Builders Labo ...

movement led by the secretary of the NSW Builders' Labourers Federation,

Jack Mundey John Bernard "Jack" Mundey (17 October 1929 – 10 May 2020) was an Australian communist, union and environmental activist. He came to prominence during the 1970s for leading the New South Wales Builders' Labourers Federation (BLF) in the fa ...

, to protect the architectural heritage of Sydney. At the 1971 election, Askin's majority was reduced by four seats to the Labor Party under

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 of ...

. Morton retained his seat, despite his primary vote falling to 62.7% from 73.5% in the 1968 election. Morton remained as member until 16 June 1972, when he retired from parliament. At the time of his departure it had been rumoured that he had been threatening to dismiss

Blacktown City Council Blacktown City Council is a local government area in Western Sydney, situated on the Cumberland Plain, approximately west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1906 as the Blacktow ...

if they did not stop blocking a $200 million development in

Mount Druitt Mount Druitt is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown, and is part of the Greater Western Sydney reg ...

Results

The Liberal Party retained the seat, albeit on a significantly reduced margin, due in part to several major party candidates splitting the Liberal vote. The Liberal candidate, David Arblaster, emerged with 51% of the primary vote against Labor candidate and founding member of the Women's Electoral Lobby, Anne Conlon.

Neil Mackerras Neil Richard Maclaurin Mackerras (20 May 1930 – 1 August 1987) was an Australian barrister and social campaigner. Mackerras was born at Vaucluse to electrical engineer Alan Patrick Mackerras and Catherine Brearcliffe, ''née'' MacLaurin; his bro ...

, brother of prominent psephologist

Malcolm Mackerras Malcolm Hugh Mackerras AO (born 26 August 1939) is an Australian psephologist and commentator and lecturer on Australian and American politics. Education and works Malcolm Mackerras was born at Turramurra in Sydney in August 1939. He is a brot ...

and orchestra conductor

Sir Charles Mackerras file:Sir Charles Mackerras.jpg, Mackerras in 2005 Sir Alan Charles MacLaurin Mackerras (; 1925 2010) was an Australian conducting, conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Leoš Janáček, Janáček and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart, a ...

, stood as the Democratic Labor Party candidate.

() resigned.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mosman 1972 New South Wales state by-elections 1972 elections in Australia 1970s in New South Wales July 1972 events in Australia

Background

Results

See also

References