The Government of Victoria

THE GOVERNMENT OF VICTORIA This title is published in a series on the Governments of the AustraHan States and Territories under the general editorship of Colin Hughes, Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University in Canberra. Previous titles The Government of Tasmania: W. A. Townsley Forthcoming titles The Government of South Australia DEAN JAENSCH The Government of the Australian Captial Territory RUTH ATIKINS ITie Government of New South Wales R. S. PARKER The Government of Queensland COLIN HUGHES THE GOVERNMENT OF VICTORIA Jean Holmes UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND PRESS ©University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, \ '^•'//•. Queensland, 1976 ^^ ^^K j,p Oi • This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for purposes of private study, research, criticism, or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be repro duced by any process without written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publishers. Printed and bound by Dai Nippon Printing Co. (HK) Ltd, Hong Kong Distributed in the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Caribbean by Prentice-Hall Inter national, International Book Distributors Ltd, 66 Wood Lane End, Hemel Hempstead, Herts., England National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-publication data Holmes, Marjorie Jean. The government of Victoria. (Governments of the Australian states and territories). Index. ISBN 0 7022 1033 1. ISBN 0 7022 1034 x Paperback. 1. Victoria - Politics and government. I. Title. (Series). 354.945 Contents Illustrations and Maps vi Tables vii Preface ix 1 The Victorian State Stereotype 1 2 Parliament 13 3 The State Executive 34 4 Local Government and Urban PoHtics 61 5 Political Representation and Elections 80 6 Political Parties 98 7 The Political Pressure Group System 130 8 Direct Action Politics and the Media 150 9 Victoria's Future — Demography and Economics 163 10 Federal-State Relations - the Victorian Perspective 181 11 Epilogue 191 Index 201 Illustrations and Maps ILLUSTRATIONS 1 "State characteristics" by Petty 2 2 "Commonwealth-state financial relations," by Pickering 50 3 Parliamentary representation, 1920—73 83 4 Liberal party organization chart 104 5 A.L.P. organization chart, pre—1971 112 6 A.L.P. organization chart, post—1971 112 7 C.P. organization chart 111 8 D.L.P. organization chart 118 9 Age pyramid, 1971 168 10 "Frog Prince", by Collette 191 MAPS 1 Local government 62 2 1943 election results 91 3 1958 election results 92 4 1973 election results 93 5 1973 election results for Melbourne's suburbs 170 6 A social ranking of Melbourne's suburbs 170 1 Migrant distribution 171 Tables 1.1 Class perceptions 4 2.1 Backgrounds of M.P.'s, 1970 18 2.2. Length of service of M.P.'s, 1970 19 2.3 Length of service and type of electorate of M.P.'s, 1970 19 2.4 Length of service and office-holding of Liberal M.P.'s, 1972 20 2.5 M.P.'s participation in parhament, 1970—71 22 2.6 Salaries and expense allowances of M.P.'s 26 2.7 Duration and sittings of each House 28 2.8 Legislation, 1970 spring session 32 3.1 Permanent committees 40 3.2 Public service employees 47 4.1 Government grants to local councils 65 4.2 Victorian municipal expenditure, 1968—69 68 A3 Municipal revenue and expenditure, 1969—70 68 4.4 Municipal road expenditure, 1949-69 69 4.5 Local government revenue and expenditure, 1965-70 69 4.6 Local authorities in Melbourne statistical district 72 5.1 Average enrolment, country and metropoHtan electorates, 1892-1914 85 5.2 Percentage of votes V. seats won, 1937—73 94 6.1 Election results, 1970-73 126 6.2 Election results under alternative systems 127 7.1 Acts passed during spring session, 1970 132 7.2 Amendment of existing legislation 133 13 Membership of V.F.U. 141 lA Frequency of pressure group approaches to Parliament, 1970 147 8.1 Victorian newspaper readership patterns 159 vin Tables 9.1 National origins 164 9.2 Educational Attainment, 1966 172 9.3 Religious groupings 173 9.4 Industry and employment 175 9.5 Rural holdings in Australia 178 10.1 State budgets: receipts and outlay 188 10.2 Federal grants percentage of state receipts 189 10.3 Federal payments to states 189 Appendix Independent authorities in Victorian government 57 Preface The politics of the Australian states are largely an unworked lode, and although this book attempts to chart some of the Victorian structures of government and politics, I am only too aware of its limitations. The starting point was Alan Davies' chapter on Victoria in The Government of the Australian States (edited by S.R. Davis, Longmans, Melbourne, 1960) from which I have expanded and analysed the basic structures and organized them according to their influence, as I see it, on the Victorian political scene. However, because of the time lag between completion of the manuscript and its final production, together with the necessity with a text of this nature to up-date and revise, there is some unevenness in approach, together with some inevitable errors and omissions for which I can only apologize. The last two chapters for instance are descriptive rather than analytical, intended to indicate the most re cent trends in Victorian political structures rather than study of detail or accurate prediction. Many people gave invaluable help along the way. Most of them must remain anonymous—party officials, public servants and parliamentary officers—but I do wish to thank the executive officers of the interest groups who helped me with the case studies, Anthony Whitlock of Newspaper Newsletter who made available to me his files on the media network in Victoria, and Susan Bruce who assisted me editorially. The cartographers of the Department of Human Geography, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, drew the maps and diagrams; the Canberra Times, Mr Larry Pickering, Cheshires and Mr Bruce Petty, and the Melbourne Herald gave permission for the reproduction of the car toons. My thanks are due to all them. Mr Arthur Gardner, chairman of the Victorian Public Service Board guided me through the labyrinths of the structures of government in Victoria, and my col leagues in the Department of Political Science were always ready to discuss my progress with me, and give me much-needed encourage ment when my energies flagged. J.H. 1 The Victorian State Stereotype What is it that distinguishes the politics of one Australian state from that of another? Differences between the six states that make up the Australian federal system shape the outlines of Australian politics in ways as yet only partially understood and difficult to translate into measurable terms, but they are nevertheless substantial. Simple observation suggests that Victorian governments operate in a unique political environment, tangible enough when it comes to hard political in-fighting, but delicate and elusive to pin down in words. Political cartoonists, who use state stereotypes for instant audience identification,' and the vernacular descriptions of those who live in the various states as cabbage-patchers, crow-eaters and banana- landers draw on this core of state-centred identity almost intuitively, but it still lacks a clear definition. Part culture, part geography, part history, it is however, something more than the sum of these. Yet for the moment, analysis of these three factors will have to suffice for understanding. VICTORIAN CULTURE Surprisingly enough, there have been few serious attempts to seek out regional differences in Australia in social attitudes, although awareness of such differences is widespread. A study conducted in 1969 by J.W. Berry,^ categorized recognition of variations through students' choices of words which picked up the different images they held of those who lived in each state. His findings hinted at the ex istence of distinct state loyalties, but few sociologists have explored their significance for Australian social and political relationships. Even though the Australian federal system displays none of the ob vious dividing lines of race, language or religion, the students clearly differentiated between the states, suggesting that differences arising Each State is developing its own social, moral and physical characteristics, due partly to inertia and, in some degree, to poor bar facilities on interstate trains. Fig. 1. "State characteristics" by Bruce Petty from Petty's Australia Fair. 3 Victorian culture out of perceived social characteristics may well be the basis of ter ritorial sovereignty in Australia. For example, Victorians saw themselves as suburban, respectable, conservative, materialistic and conforming, whereas those who lived in the northern states of New South Wales and Queensland saw them as conservative, formal and aloof. Tasmanians, South Australians and West Australians saw Victorians as competitive and commercial as well as agreeing with the northerners. In turn southerners and westerners both described New South Wales as cosmopolitan, commercial, materialistic and aggressive. Berry's study suggests that Victorians see themselves as having a clearly defined state identity, enabling them to distinguish clearly between their own and all other states. The interesting corollary is that those living in other states do not "see" Victorians as sharply as they "see" those who live elsewhere in Australia. This suggests that while Victorians regard their state identity as important, other Australians may not have a clear image of what it means to be a Vic torian. An impressionistic way of expressing this is the view that Sydneysiders often have of the city of Melbourne as a smaller and colder version of Sydney, a judgement that does not do justice to Melbourne's distinctive but private life styles. It may be that the combination of Victoria's small size (the cabbage-patch), and its lack of visibility gives its inhabitants something of a state inferiority complex.

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