By-elections Will Test Australian Govt

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31987, 14 May 1969, Page 11

By-elections Will Test Australian Govt

(X.Z.F.A. Stag Correspondent) SYDNEY. The likelihood of three Federal by-elections in Australia in the next two or three months will sternly test the popularity of the country’s Liberal-Country Party Government One of the elections is for the Liberal seat of Curtain, a prosperous Perth electorate, where the Government is in no danger of defeat But the other two polls, one a certainty, the other a strong probability, are distinctly dangerous and unwelcome to the Government The problem polls are in Victoria—Bendigo, a cityrural seat held by the Australian Labour Party, and Lalor, a Liberal electorate on the fringes of Melbourne. Political commentators prediet that Labour will retain Bendigo and that the Government may lose Lalor. Both electorates are representative of many others across the nation—and thus the outcome of voting will be important, especially for the Government, which is expected to call a General Election about November. Normal by-election swings aside, voting trends may indicate what can be expected at

the General Election. The November campaigns of both parties could be built around the Bendigo and Lalor results. The unexpected Victorian by-elections will also show whether any of the mud ! thrown In the recent St John i rebellion has stuck to the , Prime Minister (Mr J. Gori ton).

Because victory in Bendigo and Lalor will not be easy for either party, the campaigners will be fullblown affairs. Mr Gorton and the Australian Labour Party leader, Mr Gough Whitlam, will be pitched into confrontation far from Canberra. Mr Gorton has not faced the electors in a serious byelection since he became Prime Minister 14 months ago. His ability as a votegetter will be under scrutiny. Curtin is safe for the Government, but its majority could be reduced damagingly. The seat has been vacated by Sir Paul Hashick, who will become Australia’s next Governor-General—and it is by no means certain that his large personal following will automatically support the Liberal candidate. In addition, the Democratic Labour Party is permitting its branches to decide whether they can field candidates and fight by-elections in a General Election year. Curtin Democratic Labour Party officials have chosen not to contest the poll in Curtin, which move could improve the Labour Party vote. Democratic Labour Party

branches in Bendigo and Lalor have not yet announced their position. The Bendigo by-election has been caused by the resignation, because of illhealth, of the sitting Labour Party member, Mr N. L. Beaton. His withdrawal from the scene has led directly to the probable need for a poll in Lalor. The present Liberal member for Lalor, Mr M. W. Lae, had beein endorsed as General Election Liberal candidate for Bendigo before Mr Beaton’s surprise resignation, and he feels obliged to contest the by-election. To fight Bendigo, he must

resign from Lalor, thus causing the second by-elec-tion. Mr Lee won Lalor from the Australian Labour Party with the aid of Democratic Labour preferences, in 1966; but since then there have been major boundary changes which will operate for the first time in November. The revisions are such as to give the Liberals almost no hope of retaining Lalor in November. On that assumption, Mr Lee has been endorsed for Bendigo, an easier target. Although the loss of Lalor at this stage would be a nasty blow, insiders say

that Mr Gorton has agreed to Mr Lee resigning Lalor to contest Bendigo. After the moves in Bendigo and Lalor; political commentators were quick to suggest the possibility of another Victorian by-election, for the Australian Labour Party’s Dr J. F. Cairns, member for Yarra, is the endorsed Labour candidate for Lalor in the General Election. Yarra, another Melbourne electorate, will disappear under boundary revisions. But there will only be two by-elections. Dr Cairns says he will not resign his Yarra seat to contest Lalor at this stage.