Melville Harold "Mel" Bungey (born 30 August 1934) is a former Australian politician. He was a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

from 1974 to 1983, representing the seat of

Canning Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container (jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although under ...

for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

Early life

Bungey was born on 30 August 1934 in Gnowangerup, Western Australia. He was educated at

Wesley College, Perth Wesley College, informally known as Wesley, is an independent, Day school, day and boarding school for boys and girls (co-ed to Year 6 and boys only Years 7–12), situated in South Perth, Western Australia, South Perth, a suburb of Perth, Wes ...

, and went on to complete a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

at the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

, majoring in economics. Bungey served in the

Citizen Military Forces The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the military reserve force, reserve units of the Australian Army. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, the reserve military force has been known by many names, including the Citize ...

from 1951 to 1958. After graduating from university he worked for the Prime Minister's Department in Perth and Canberra. He later returned to Western Australia to work on the family property at Borden. Prior to his election to parliament, Bungey was active in the Farmers' Union of Western Australia and served as vice-president of its wool section. He was also a member of the Australian Wool Industry Conference and a delegate to the Australian Wool and Meat Producers' Federation. According to ''

The Beverley Times ''The Beverley Times'' is a defunct English language newspaper that was published weekly in the Wheatbelt town of Beverley, Western Australia, between 1905 and 1977. History ''The Beverley Times'' first circulated on 22 July 1905 and was p ...

'' he was "a vigorous advocate of wool marketing reform and played a prominent part in updating the Farmers' Union wool marketing policy".

Politics

Bungey was elected to the

at the 1974 federal election, winning the seat of

for the

from the incumbent Country Party MP John Hallett. In parliament, Bungey served on a number of committees, notably as chair of the Joint Statutory Committee on Public Works from 1978 to 1983. During the

Fraser government The Fraser government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. It was made up of members of a Liberal–Country party coalition in the Australian Parliament from November 1975 to March 1983. Init ...

he was known for his submission of large numbers of questions on notice, covering a wide range of topics but with a focus on

Australian Public Service The Australian Public Service (APS) is the federal civil service of the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for the public administration, public policy, and public services of the departments and executive and statutory agencies of the G ...

operations. In April 1981 he lodged 691 questions in a single submission. Bungey

crossed the floor In some parliamentary systems (e.g., in Canada and the United Kingdom), politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a political party different from the one they were initially elected under. I ...

fifteen times during his period in parliament. According to a study of parliamentary floor crossings from 1950 to 2019, Bill Wentworth was the only other member of the House of Representatives to cross the floor on more occasions. Bungey's seat became increasingly marginal during his time in parliament, following a series of redistributions that saw Canning lose rural areas and became increasingly urban, taking in Perth's southern suburbs of Armadale and Rockingham. He was defeated by the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

(ALP) candidate Wendy Fatin at the 1983 federal election. During the election campaign he publicly criticised Prime Minister

Malcolm Fraser John Malcolm Fraser (; 21 May 1930 – 20 March 2015) was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, and is the fourth List of ...

for what he viewed as Fraser's negative campaigning style.

Personal life

Bungey and his wife Leith bred prize-winning chihuahuas. He served as president of the Canine Association of Western Australia and was a licensed

dog show judge A dog show judge, sometimes dog judge, is a person that is qualified to evaluate dogs at a conformation show. At small shows, there might be only one judge for all breeds and classes. At larger shows, there might be several judges, with each resp ...

with the Australian National Kennel Council, judging shows in Australia and overseas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bungey, Mel Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Canning Members of the Australian House of Representatives 1934 births Living people People educated at Wesley College, Perth People from Gnowangerup, Western Australia University of Western Australia alumni Farmers from Western Australia Dog breeders Dog judges Australian MPs 1974–1975 Australian MPs 1975–1977 Australian MPs 1977–1980 Australian MPs 1980–1983