Australian Politics and Elections Archive 1856-2018
The University of Western Australia

State Government of Victoria beginning 21 November 1945 - period in office of Premier Cain [snr], John ending on 20 November 1947

Period in office of premier (see Glossary entry for 'period in office' and related terms)

Parliamentary support during period

Number of ministers at beginning of period (this may vary during the period)

Previous period in this series for VIC | Next period in this series for VIC

Notes

Loss of general election (Macfarlan): Beginning of Cain's second period in office; 'Having been disendorsed by the State executive of the Liberal Party, [Macfarlan] contested the general election on 10 November [1945] as leader of the Ministerial Liberals. His ministry was defeated and he lost his seat.' Wright (see 'References', for the previous period in office). 'With 31 seats [Labor] did not win well enough to govern by itself. So, abandoning its ideological objection to holding minority office, Labor sought an alliance with one of the Country Party (18 seats), Liberal Party (10 seats), Ministerialist/Macfarlan Liberals (3 seats) or miscellaneous Independents (3 seats). It failed, but trusted enough in the political nonalignment of metropolitan Independents, Robert Gardner (MLA Ivanhoe) and Ian McLaren (MLA Glen Iris) to claim office.' Wright, p.181 (see 'Sources', below). Cain was commissioned as Premier of an Australian Labor Party minority government on 21 November 1945.

Loss of general election (Cain):The Cain government was forced to the polls by a hostile majority in the Legislative Council. 'On [1] October 1947 the Legislative Council refused Supply because the Opposition parties wishes to test opinion on the Commonwealth Labor Government's bank nationalization policy [Consolidated Revenue Bill (no.1); Victoria Parliamentary Debates,1947 Session, vol. 225, 29 August, pp 78-116]. Cain refused to resign on the ground that the Opposition did not have the numbers to form a government, and obtained a dissolution.' Hughes and Graham, p.131 (see 'Sources', below). The details and context of this episode are described in Strangio, pp 260-261 (see 'References', below), and Wright, pp 182-184 (see, 'Sources', below).

At the general election for the Assembly held on 8 November 1947, the Labor government was defeated, with the Liberal and Country parties winning 47 of the 65 Assembly seats.

References: Kate White provides a political biography of Cain in, John Cain and Victorian Labor 1917-1957, (Sidney: Hale & Iremonger, 1982, ISBN 0868060275), and the wider divisions within the Labor Party and trade union movement during this period are described in Robert Murray, The Split: Australian Labor in the Fifties (Melbourne: Cheshire, 1972, ISBN 0701516755). For a broad historical study of Labor politics in Victoria, see Paul Strangio, Neither Power nor Glory: 100 Years of Political Labor in Victoria, 1856-1956, (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2012, ISBN 9780522861822).

For a study of Cain's periods in office, see Paul Strangio, 'John Cain snr: The Star-crossed Premier', in Strangio and Costar (editors), ch. 20, (see 'Sources', below), and a short survey of Cain's career can be found in Robert Murray and Kate White, 'Cain, John (1882–1957)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 13, (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1993), on line here [accessed 21 April 2014].

Sources

Colin Hughes and B D Graham (editors), A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1890-1964, (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1968, SBN 708102700); Parliament of Victoria, One Hundred Years of Responsible Government 1856-1956, (Melbourne: Government Printer, 1957, Parliamentary Paper No. 40 of 1956-58); Paul Strangio and Brian Costar (editors), The Victorian Premiers 1856-2006, (Sydney: Federation Press, 2006, ISBN 9781862876019); Raymond Wright, A People's Counsel: A History of the Parliament of Victoria 1856-1990, (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1992, ISBN 0195533593). Victoria Hansard (Record of Parliamentary Debates) on line here .

In consulting these sources, note the difference between ministries and periods in office.