John William Houston (30 December 1919 – 27 October 2008) was an Australian politician. He was the Labor member for Bulimba in the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...

from 1957 to 1980. He was the

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

in the Queensland Parliament from 11 October 1966 to 22 July 1974.

Early life

Born in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in 1919 to James Houston and Florence (née Tilley) he moved to Australia and became electrical fitter and mechanic and later a teacher of electrical trades subjects.

Political career

He first entered Parliament at the 1957 election that saw Labor swept from office following a split.

Party Leadership

Following the 1966 election deputy leader Eric Lloyd became the subject of attacks from the extra-parliamentary wing of the Labor party, as well as within the caucus. As a result, party leader Jack Duggan supported Houston in challenging Lloyd which he did successfully by 15 votes to 10. Three months later on 11 October 1966 Duggan abruptly resigned as leader due to a "taxation difficulty of some magnitude". In the following ballot Houston defeated Pat Hanlon (son of former Premier Ned Hanlon) by 14 votes to 12 to become the new leader. As opposition leader he established an arrangement of nominating ‘shadow spokespeople’ for specific portfolios which led in 1970 to the formation of Labor's first formal ‘shadow ministry’ of 14 members. After failing to make significant inroads into the coalition's majority at either the 1969 or

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

elections there were reports that Houston would be leaving the leadership either through appointment to the

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board or as High Commissioner to New Zealand, however these never came to pass. Ultimately his deputy Perc Tucker organised a vote of no confidence in his leadership following the poor result in the federal election which was carried by 17 votes to 15, with Tucker defeating Houston by the same margin.

Post Leadership

After the disastrous election of 1974 where the ALP was reduced to just 11 seats, with Tucker and his deputy Newton losing their seats, Houston contested the deputy leadership against Jack Melloy but he was unsuccessful. He served as Shadow Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Police. After Melloy stood down in 1976 he was returned to the deputy leadership where he served until he retired in 1980.

Personal life

He married Joan Catherine Lindsay on 18 March 1942. They had two children, one son & one daughter. Houston died in 2008 and is buried in Brisbane's Balmoral Cemetery.Houston John William
— Brisbane City Council Grave Location Search. Retrieved 11 November 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Houston, Jack 1919 births 2008 deaths Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Leaders of the opposition in Queensland Place of birth missing Burials in Balmoral Cemetery, Brisbane Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland 20th-century Australian politicians Members of the Order of Australia Scottish emigrants to Australia