Parliament of New South Wales, Legislative Assembly election
Election of 1 May 1965
Government in office and parliamentary support before and after the election
Government in office at election
Government in office after election
Enrolment and voting
New South Wales, Legislative Assembly votes and seats won
Election held on 1 May 1965
Criteria for the inclusion of parties in this table are set out in the Glossary under 'listed party'
| Party Name | First preference vote n | First preference vote share % | Change from previous election % | Seats won n | Uncontested seats held n | Seat share % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Labor Party | 883,824 | 43.31 | -5.26 | 45 | 1 | 47.87 |
| Liberal Party | 807,868 | 39.59 | +4.73 | 31 | 0 | 32.98 |
| Country Party | 208,826 | 10.23 | +0.86 | 16 | 1 | 17.02 |
| Independents | 84,080 | 4.12 | -0.96 | 2 | 0 | 2.13 |
| Democratic Labor Party | 43,109 | 2.11 | +0.62 | 0 | ||
| Communist Party | 13,082 | 0.64 | +0.01 | 0 | ||
| Votes for other than listed parties | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | |||
| Totals | 2,040,789 | 100.00 | 94 | 2 | 100.00 |
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Notes
Premier in office at election: There had been a change of Premier since the previous election; 'On 28 April Heffron retired. On 29 April caucus elected Renshaw as leader and filled the vacancy in cabinet', Colin A Hughes and B D Graham, A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1890-1964, p. 84, (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1968, SBN 708102700). For the circumstances of Heffron's retirement, see the notes for the entry 'Heffron' in the 'Governments' section of this database.
Government after election: The Renshaw Labor government was defeated at the election '...but determination of the result was slow. On 11 May, Renshaw saw the Governor and Askin was commissioned;...', Hughes, p. 23 (see Hughes, 1965-1974 in 'Sources', below). Askin formed a Liberal Party and Country Party coalition minority government which held 47 of the 94 seats in the Legislative Assembly, and relied on two conservative independents to maintain a majority. The government won an additional seat from the Labor Party at the Bathurst by-election held on 6 May 1967 and secured majority support for the coalition until the next election in 1968
Reference: For a comprehensive survey of this election, see Chris Puplick, '1965', in Michael Hogan and David Clune (editors), The People's Choice: Electoral Politics in 20th Century New South Wales, vol. 2 (1930 to 1965), pp. 427-463, (Sydney: Parliament of New South Wales and University of Sydney, 2001, ISBN 0909907404).
Sources
Colin A Hughes, A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1965-1974, Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1977 (ISBN 0708113400) [election date corrected by Colin A Hughes, A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1975-1984, p. xii (Rushcutters Bay, NSW: Australian National University Press, 1986 (ISBN 008033038X)]; New South Wales, Parliament, The New South Wales Parliamentary Record: Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly, 1824-1999, vol. VI, pp. 7-15, (Sydney: Parliament of New South Wales, 1999).