Early Political Career
On 16 February 1959, the Member for Upper Hunter, D'Arcy Rose, retired and Punch was preselcted to contest the seat for the Country Party. He was duly elected on 21 March 1959 at the election, gaining 52.48% of the vote.
He represented Upper Hunter until 5 February 1962 when he contested the nearby seat of Gloucester at the 1962 election, which had been left vacant by the retirement of the sitting member, Ray Fitzgerald. Punch contested preselection for Gloucester against Alan Borthwick, who had contested Gloucester previously 1959 as an Independent candidate. Borthwick won the ballot, but Punch appealed to the State Executive claiming irregularities in the vote. The party eventually resolved the matter by endorsing both Borthwick and Punch for the election, creating the unusual situation where two Country Party candidates contested the same seat. Despite this, Borthwick was excluded on the second count and Punch was elected with 64.09% against Labor. Punch was re-elected a further eight times with a significant majority.
In 1966 he was appointed as a Councillor for the University of Newcastle, an office which he held until 1974. In his early political years he remained on the backbench and gained parliamentary experience as Chairman of Committees from 26 March 1968 to 13 January 1971 and 16 March 1971 to 17 January 1973.
Read more about this topic: Leon Punch
Famous quotes containing the words early, political and/or career:
“It is easy to see that, even in the freedom of early youth, an American girl never quite loses control of herself; she enjoys all permitted pleasures without losing her head about any of them, and her reason never lets the reins go, though it may often seem to let them flap.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
“No political party can ever make prohibition effective. A political party implies an adverse, an opposing, political party. To enforce criminal statutes implies substantial unanimity in the community. This is the result of the jury system. Hence the futility of party prohibition.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“From a hasty glance through the various tests I figure it out that I would be classified in Group B, indicating “Low Average Ability,” reserved usually for those just learning to speak the English Language and preparing for a career of holding a spike while another man hits it.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)