Aust. M.P. ousted

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32734, 11 October 1971, Page 13

Aust. M.P. ousted

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) SYDNEY, Oct. 10. ] A veteran Government back-bencher in the Australian Federal Parliament, Mr Henry Jefferson Bate, has been removed from his constituency seat by local members of the ruling Liberal Party. Mr Bate, whose sidewhiskers and booming voice first were seen in the Federal Parliament in 1949, lost preselection for the Federalseat

of Macarthur at a meeting of local Liberty Party members yesterday. They decided that one of the six challengers for the pre-selection, Mr M. J. Dunbier, would contest the seat at the next Federal elections instead of Mr Bate, who is married to the former Dame Zara Holt, widow of the late Prime Minister. The challengers contended that Mr Bate had not taken enough interest in his constituency. Meanwhile, another prominent member of Parliament threatened with dismissal by his local party, a former Federal Attorney-General, Mr T. J. Hughes, has beaten several challengers for Liberal Party pre-selection at his seat of Berowra. Both constituencies are near Sydney.