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1966 Australian Senate Election
Special Senate elections were held on 26 November 1966 to elect members to fill casual vacancies in the Australian Senate for the states of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia. Prior to 29 July 1977, the filing of casual vacancies was complex. While senators were elected for a six-year term, people appointed to a casual vacancy only held office until the earlier of the next election for the House of Representatives or the Senate, at which the vacancy would be filled by the electors of the relevant state. This was one of the few occasions in which there was a special election for the Senate, as the House of Representatives and Senate elections had got out of synchronisation as a result of Robert Menzies calling an early House-only election in 1963. Because of the loss of a seat in Western Australia, the Coalition held less than half of the seats in the chamber; the Democratic Labor Party and independent senator Reg Turnbull held the balance of powe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. There are a total of 76 senators: 12 are elected from each of the six Australian states regardless of population and 2 from each of the two autonomous internal Australian territories (the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory). Senators are popularly elected under the single transferable vote system of proportional representation. Unlike upper houses in other Westminster-style parliamentary systems, the Senate is vested with significant powers, including the capacity to reject all bills, including budget and appropriation bills, initiated by the government in the House of Representatives, making it a distinctive hybrid of British Westminster system, Westminster bicameralism and American-style bicameralism. As a result of propor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Cotton
Sir Robert Carrington Cotton, (29 November 191525 December 2006) was an Australian politician and diplomat. He was a member of the Liberal Party and served as a Senator for New South Wales from 1966 to 1978. He held ministerial office as Minister for Civil Aviation (1969–1972), Science and Consumer Affairs (1975), and Industry and Commerce (1975–1977). He later served as Consul-General in New York (1978–1982) and Ambassador to the United States (1982–1985). Early life Cotton was born in Broken Hill, New South Wales in 1915. He was educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide and trained as a Royal Australian Air Force pilot in 1942 and 1943, but did not participate in action in World War II as he was seconded to the Department of Supply. Instead Cotton established the timber industry in Oberon, New South Wales as a wartime priority. After the war Cotton became a businessman and pastoralist in Oberon. In 1949 and 1950 he was President of Oberon Shire Council. Politi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Sandford (politician)
Charles Walter Sandford (11 September 1895 – 22 October 1966) was an Australian politician. Born in Creswick, Victoria, he received a primary education before becoming a railway worker. He served in the military from 1914 to 1918, and returned as an official with the Australian Railways Union. During World War II he was a public servant. In 1946 he was elected to the Australian Senate as a Labor Senator for Victoria, taking his seat in 1947. He was defeated in 1955 (taking effect in 1956), but on 6 June 1957 he returned to the Senate, appointed to the casual vacancy caused by the death of Labor Senator Jack Devlin. In 1966, Sandford fell ill on board a flight from Hong Kong to Sydney, returning from the Inter-Parliamentary Union conference in Tehran; he died on 22 October at the Royal Brisbane Hospital The Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH) is a tertiary public hospital located in Herston, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is operated by Metro No ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Spooner (politician)
Sir William Henry Spooner, (23 December 1897 – 14 July 1966) was an Australian politician who served as a Senator for New South Wales from 1950 to 1965, representing the Liberal Party. He was a senior minister in the Menzies government, serving as Minister for Social Services from 1949 to 1951 and then Minister for National Development from 1951 to 1964. He was Leader of the Government in the Senate from 1958 to 1964. Early life Spooner was born in Surry Hills, Sydney, New South Wales, the fifth child of Maud Ann (née Dubois) and William Henry Spooner. His older brother Eric Spooner was also a member of parliament. Spooner was educated at Christ Church School. In June 1914, aged 16, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. He served at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, and was awarded the Military Medal in September 1917. In 1918, Spooner joined the Australian Flying Corps and was commissioned a second lieutenant, completing his war service in August 1919. He est ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurie Wilkinson
Lawrence Degenhardt Wilkinson (12 November 1903 – 9 November 1991) was an Australian politician. Born in Fremantle, Western Australia, he was educated at Perth Modern School, then the South Australian School of Mines and finally the University of Adelaide before becoming an electrical engineer. He was also a dairy farmer and telecommunications engineer. In 1966, he won the second of two seats at the special election for the Australian Senate to fill the vacancies caused by the deaths of Liberal Senators Sir Shane Paltridge and Seddon Vincent. Peter Sim and Reg Withers had been appointed to the vacancies, however the Australian Constitution had not been changed since the introduction of proportional representation in 1949 and dictated that an appointment to a casual vacancy was required to be re-contested at the next election. Even though both vacancies were due to the death of Liberal Senators, Labor, with 41.80% of the vote, was able to pick up the second seat, at the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Garland
Sir Ransley Victor Garland KBE (5 May 1934 – 1 January 2022), usually known as Vic Garland, was an Australian politician and diplomat. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 1969 to 1981, representing the Liberal Party, and served as a minister in the McMahon and Fraser Governments. He later served as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1983. Early life Garland was born in 1934 and grew up in Perth, Western Australia. He was educated at Hale School and the University of Western Australia, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Economics. He followed his father into the accounting profession, practising as a chartered accountant from 1958 to 1969. He served as a councillor for the South Ward of the Town of Claremont from 1963 to 1970, finishing as deputy mayor. He joined the Liberal Party in 1957, and served in several branch and administrative roles. He was the Curtin division president in 1960–1961 and president of the Claremont bra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reg Withers
Reginald Greive Withers (26 October 1924 – 15 November 2014) was a long-serving member of the Australian Senate, a government minister, and Lord Mayor of Perth. Early life Withers was born in Bunbury, Western Australia. Withers was the son of Frederick Withers, a former Labor member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. Withers was educated at Perth Technical College. Withers served in the Royal Australian Navy from 1942 until 1946 before returning to Australia to study law at the University of Western Australia under the ex-servicemen's scheme. While at university, Withers opposed what he saw as the authoritarian stance of the Chifley Labor government and joined the Liberal Party of Australia. Career Returning to Bunbury to practise law, first as a solicitor and, from 1953, a barrister, Withers was elected to Bunbury Municipal Council and began to involve himself in Liberal Party affairs, serving at various times as Liberal Party State President and Vice-Preside ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Sim
John Peter Sim, (21 June 1917 – 29 July 2015) was an Australian politician. Born in Colac, Victoria, he was a farmer in Western Australia before serving in the military 1941–1946. He was Vice-President of the Western Australian Liberal Party 1960–1962. On 26 November 1964, he was appointed to the Australian Senate as a Liberal Senator for Western Australia, filling the casual vacancy caused by the death of Senator Seddon Vincent. The Australian Constitution dictated that a special Senate election had to be held at the same time as the lower house 1966 election, but Sim was re-elected. He held the seat until his retirement in 1980. Sim was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ... (CBE) on 31 December 1982 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Little (politician)
John Albert Little (13 October 1914 – 25 November 1988) was an Australian politician. Born in Maryborough, Victoria, he was educated at East Brunswick and Thornbury state primary Schools, before becoming a clicker in a shoe factory in Collingwood, and later an official with the Victorian Boot Employees' Union, of which he was Federal President in 1944 and 1945. In 1952, was awarded a Commonwealth Bank Scholarship for six months, to study unionism and working conditions in the UK, Europe and the US. In 1954, he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council for Melbourne North, representing the Labor Party. He left the Labor Party in 1955 and was one of only two non-Catholic parliamentary members of the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist), the other being Robert Joshua, who became the leader of the party in the Australian House of Representatives. Little led the ALP (Anti-Communist) in the Legislative Council from 1955 until 1958, the last two of those years as l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giuseppe Di Salvo
Giuseppe Di Salvo (19 April 1902 – 27 August 1988) was an Italian-born Australian merchant naval captain and campaigner for immigrants. He was born on Lipari off Sicily to builder Sebastiano Di Salvo and Annunziata Virgona. He became a merchant captain, travelling widely and spending four years (1928–1932) in the United States. He married Elena Maria Rampolla at Palermo on 30 October 1934. He opposed fascism during World War II and was exiled to Lipari, where he joined the Italian resistance movement. He later fought with the Americans during the Allied invasion at Salerno and Anzio. He moved to Melbourne in 1951 and taught English to immigrants before returning to sea in 1954. Naturalised in 1958, Di Salvo joined the Australian Labor Party and founded ''Il Progresso (Italo-Australiano)'', an Italian-language labour newspaper. He ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in 1966 in an unwinnable position. In 1972 he founded the Instituto Nazionale Assistenza Sociale, which s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Poyser (politician)
Arthur George Poyser (13 February 1915 – 5 August 1986) was an Australian politician. Born in Ballarat, Victoria, he was educated at state schools in Geelong, after which he became a textile worker and tramway worker. He served in the military 1940–1941. From 1961 to 1966 he was Secretary of the Geelong Trades Hall Council. In 1966, he was appointed to the Australian Senate as a Labor Senator for Victoria, filling the casual vacancy caused by the death of Senator Charles Sandford. The Australian Constitution dictated that a special Senate election had to be held at the same time as the lower house 1966 election; Poyser and the Country Party's James Webster, appointed after the death of Harrie Wade, were required to stand for election. Both were successful. Poyser was re-elected in 1967 and 1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Webster (Australian Politician)
James Joseph Webster (14 June 1925 – 3 April 2022) was an Australian politician. He was a Senator for Victoria from 1964 to 1980, representing the National Country Party (NCP). He served as Minister for Science (1975–1978) and Science and the Environment (1978–1979) in the Fraser Government. He left politics to become High Commissioner to New Zealand, serving from 1980 to 1983. Early life Webster was born on 14 June 1925 on Flinders Island, Tasmania. He was the youngest of three sons born to Eileen (née Thorne) and Leslie Webster. His father was the chairman of the Flinders Island Butter Factory and served as president of the Flinders Island Municipal Council. In 1929, Webster and his family moved to his father's home state of Victoria. His father ran a timber and hardware business in Melbourne before settling the family on a farm in Greenval in 1932. Webster was educated at state schools before completing his education at Caulfield Grammar School. During World ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
