Lewis–Cutler ministry

The Lewis–Cutler ministry or First Lewis ministry was the 68th ministry of the New South Wales Government, and was led by the 33rd Premier, Tom Lewis, of the Liberal Party in coalition with the Country Party, led by Sir Charles Cutler. It was the first of two occasions when Lewis was Premier; and the seventh and final occasion when Cutler served as Deputy Premier.

Background

Lewis was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1957 and served continuously until 1978, representing the seat of Wollondilly. When the Askin government came to power in 1965, Lewis was given relatively junior portfolios of Lands and Mines. In 1972, Tourism was added to his ministerial responsibilities when Eric Willis moved to Education. Late in 1974, Askin announced his resignation and Lewis was chosen as leader over Willis and Justice Minister John Maddison.

Cutler was elected to the NSW Legislative Assembly in 1947 and served continuously until 1975, representing the seat of Orange. Elected Deputy Leader of the Country Party in 1958, Cutler was elected as leader of his party following the 1959 state election, replacing Davis Hughes.

Lewis inherited a relatively stable government that had been in power for ten years. However, the Liberal government was engaged in almost daily warfare with the Whitlam Labor federal government, most notably over the Medibank health care scheme, to which New South Wales was the last state to sign.

Composition of ministry

The composition of the ministry was announced by Premier Lewis and sworn in on 3 January 1975, and covers the period from 3 January 1975, when the former Premier, Sir Robert Askin resigned as Premier and as Member for Pittwater, until 17 December 1975,^[1] the day after Cutler resigned as Deputy Premier, the Leader of the Country Party, and as Member for Orange. There were minor rearrangements in June 1975 following the resignation of Milton Morris and in October 1975 when Wal Fife resigned in order to successfully contest the Australian House of Representatives seat of Farrer at the 1975 federal election.

Portfolio	Minister	Party		Term commence	Term end	Term of office
Premier Treasurer	Tom Lewis		Liberal	3 January 1975	17 December 1975	348 days
Deputy Premier Minister for Local Government Minister for Tourism	Sir Charles Cutler [a]		Country		16 December 1975	347 days
Attorney General Minister of Justice	John Maddison		Liberal		17 December 1975	348 days
Minister for Planning and Environment Vice-president of the Executive Council Leader of the Government in Legislative Council	John Fuller, MLC [a]		Country
Minister for Public Works Minister for Ports	Leon Punch
Minister for Education	Eric Willis [a]		Liberal
Minister for Labour and Industry Minister for Consumer Affairs Minister for Federal Affairs	Frederick Hewitt, MLC
Minister for Lands Minister for Forests	Milton Morris [b]				30 June 1975	178 days
	John Mason [b]			30 June 1975	17 December 1975	170 days
Minister for Agriculture	Geoff Crawford [a]		Country	3 January 1975	16 December 1975	347 days
Minister for Transport Minister for Highways	Wal Fife [c]		Liberal		10 October 1975	280 days
	Max Ruddock [c]			10 October 1975	17 December 1975	68 days
Minister for Police Minister for Services	John Waddy			3 January 1975	17 December 1975	348 days
Minister for Mines Minister for Energy	George Freudenstein		Country
Minister for Decentralisation and Development	Tim Bruxner [a]
Minister for Housing Minister for Co-operative Societies	Laurence McGinty [a]		Liberal
Minister for Health	Dick Healey
Minister for Revenue Assistant Treasurer	Max Ruddock [c]				10 October 1975	280 days
	Peter Coleman [c]			10 October 1975	17 December 1975	68 days
Minister for Youth, Ethnic and Community Affairs	Steve Mauger			3 January 1975	17 December 1975	348 days
Minister for Culture, Sport and Recreation	John Barraclough

  Ministers are members of the Legislative Assembly unless otherwise noted.

See also

• Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, 1973–1976
• Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council, 1973–1976

Notes

1. Retained portfolios from the sixth Askin–Cutler ministry.
2. Milton Morris resigned on 30 June 1975 and John Mason was appointed to replace him.
3. Wal Fife resigned on 10 October 1975. His ministerial responsibilities were transferred to Max Ruddock and Peter Coleman was promoted to the ministry, taking on the portfolio responsibilities previously held by Ruddock.

References

1. "Part 6 Ministries since 1856" (PDF). NSW Parliamentary Record. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 12 April 2020.

 

Preceded by Sixth Askin–Cutler ministry (1973–1975)

Lewis–Cutler ministry 1975

Succeeded by Lewis–Punch ministry (1975–1976)