The incumbent premier at the election was Ian Macfarlan, the deputy leader of the Liberal Party, who became premier on 2 October 1945 after the Dunstan government was defeated on the floor of parliament.[8] Macfarlan contested the election as a Ministerial Liberal, but lost his seat of Brighton to an endorsed Liberal candidate.[9] This marks the only time in Victorian history where the sitting premier did not lead any of the three largest parties at an election.[10]
On 10 September 1943, the Dunstan government was defeated on the floor of parliament after Labor Party MPs voted for a motion of no confidence brought forward by UAP leader Thomas Hollway on the issue of electoral redistribution.[15][16] Dunstan resigned as premier on 14 September, and Labor leader John Cain was sworn in.[17][18]
Four days later on 18 September 1943, Dunstan was again sworn in as premier after the Country Party formed a coalition government with the UAP.[19][20]
A Victorian division of the Liberal Party of Australia, which had been formed on 13 October 1944, was established between December 1944 and January 1945.[21][22] The Victorian UAP branch and its parliamentary members joined the Liberal Party on 5 March 1945, with the state parliamentary UAP becoming the state parliamentary Liberal Party, prior to the national UAP being absorbed into the Liberal Party of Australia in October 1945.[23][24]
Instead of resigning, Dunstan persuaded governorWinston Dugan to grant him a dissolution of parliament, on the condition that the budget was passed. When it became clear that the Assembly would not grant supply, Dugan commissioned deputy Liberal leader Ian Macfarlan to serve as premier with written assurances from Labor and other non-Country MPs. Macfarlan formed a government on 2 October 1945 and parliament was dissolved, with Macfarlan serving as premier until 21 November 1945, eleven days after the state election.[27]
In Toorak, four different Liberal candidates stood without official party endorsement, in what The Argus described as "probably the most complicated and bewildering [contest] in the history of the electorate".[38] Incumbent Liberal MP Harold Thonemann was endorsed by the local Liberal selection committee, but a number of branch members supported Robert Hamilton as the candidate.[39] Neither candidate was officially endorsed by the Liberals, leaving both to stand as "Unendorsed Liberal" candidates, while Charles Kennett stood as an Independent Liberal and Robert Bruce stood as a Ministerial Liberal (also using the "Liberal and Country League" label).[40][41] Additionally, Albert Nicholls stood as an Independent Labor candidate and John Smith ran under the "Moderate Labor" label.[42][43]
Campaign
Labor announced it would establish a Minister for Employment if elected, with Cain promising a "sane and stable government for the grave years ahead".[44] Dunstan said a Country Party government would support the "full utilisation of our vast coal resources" and oppose further electoral redistributions that would "further deprive country people of their parliamentary representation".[44]
The Liberals focused its campaign around education, including making education free from pre-school to university, raising the school-leaving age to 16 and extending free bus services to cover primary and secondary schools.[45] Although the Ministerial Liberals did not have enough candidates to lead the next government, Macfarlan still campaigned, saying his government had "restored harmony" and "shown its capacity to deal promptly with matters that have long been neglected".[44][46]
The Communist Party called for the immediate improvement in the wages and working conditions of the public service and the police, proportional representation in the Legislative Assembly, the abolition of the Legislative Council, universal suffrage at the age of 18 in state and local elections, and the nationalisation of the Metropolitan Gas Company.[47]
^The Country Party was officially known as the United Country Party (UCP) from October 1930 until March 1947, although it was still commonly referred to as the "Country Party".[1][2][3]
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