A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Curtin on 19 April 1969. This was triggered by the resignation of Liberal MP Sir Paul Hasluck to become Governor-General. It was the first federal by-election to be held in Western Australia since the 1945 Fremantle by-election, and only the seventh since Federation.
The by-election was won by Liberal candidate Victor Garland.
Candidates.
The Liberal Party's candidate was Victor Garland, a 34-year-old chartered accountant who was also deputy mayor of the Town of Claremont and senior vice-president of the Liberal Party in Western Australia. The preselection, which took place on 20 March and was ratified on 24 March by the party's State Council, had approximately 15 contestants, among whom Garland and party president (later Senator) Peter Durack were regarded as the main contenders. Others included lawyer John Huelin, a Methodist minister, a naval commodore and the Moore divisional president.
The Labor Party's candidate was Hayden Jones, a 29-year-old schoolteacher at Swanbourne Senior High School.
Captain Robert Scoggins (37) ran as an independent, backed by the Association for the Abolition of the Means Test, who had campaigned on social welfare issues.
The Democratic Labor Party (DLP) decided not to run in Curtin. The DLP's secretary, John Martyr, asked its supporters in the final week to vote for Scoggins.
Campaign.
As a safe Liberal seat, Labor did not expect to win, but Opposition Leader Gough Whitlam predicted a large swing against the government. In a campaign stop on 1 April, Whitlam said Labor would campaign on the cost of land in Perth — the cheapest in Australia ten years previously but the most expensive by 1969 — and the danger of overseas companies controlling Western Australian mineral resources. Other issues included what he described as a deteriorating standard of Australian schools and the need for an Australian Schools Commission. The Canberra press gallery correspondent of the West Australian, Geoffrey Paddick, believed the three by-elections would be a key test of Prime Minister John Gorton's leadership, amidst allegations about his personal conduct and "one-man-bandmanship", and Whitlam's greater experience and energy in campaigning.
On 17 April, Jones accused Garland of illegal campaigning and spending more than the $500 legal limit on expenses. He also expressed annoyance at Scoggins for what he described as milking protest votes that would otherwise have gone to Labor. Scoggins countered that he hoped to attract votes from both parties as neither of them were dealing adequately with social justice issues.
Results.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total formal votes
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Informal votes
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! colspan="6" style="text-align:left;" |Two-party-preferred result
References.
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