Michael Bruxner - Deputy Premier

Deputy Premier

Not long after, on 13 May Governor Sir Philip Game dismissed the Lang government and called upon the Leader of the Opposition and UAP Leader Bertram Stevens to form a caretaker government. Stevens formed a coalition with Bruxner's Country Party and immediately called an election. Lang's NSW Labor Party was heavily defeated and the Country Party gained eleven seats and held five seats on the cabinet. Bruxner retained his seat again unopposed (he would be elected unopposed a total of five times during his term). This time, the Country Party was an equal partner in the coalition and Bruxner was named as the first Deputy Premier of New South Wales. Sworn in on 16 May 1932 as Minister for Transport, Bruxner also briefly resumed his former Local Government portfolio during the caretaker period until 17 June 1932.

Insistent that his party take an equal role in the coalition government, Bruxner formed a good working relationship and long-lasting friendship with Stevens that would ensure the government's stability. The Stevens government had significant success, reducing Lang's 2 million pound deficit by 75%. However, one significant problem was that Stevens had trouble with an unruly backbench, and increasingly depended upon Bruxner and the Country Party. As Deputy Premier, Bruxner saw himself as loyal to Stevens, but still managed to push through several initiatives that specifically benefited rural areas, including another royal commission on the question of new States in 1935. The May 1935 election saw Stevens and Bruxner retaining government against a divided and fractious Labor opposition and Bruxner was returned unopposed again in his seat.

Bruxner detested the UAP Deputy Leader and Minister for Public Works and Local Government, Eric Spooner, whom Bruxner saw as trying to undermine confidence in Steven's leadership and reducing Country Party influence in the government. When Stevens went on a visit to London in March 1936 for six months until October, Bruxner became Acting Premier, with Spooner as Acting Deputy. The animosity between the two became most pronounced at this time, often over the most petty issues. In May 1937, Bruxner visited the United Kingdom as a member of the NSW parliamentary delegation to the coronation of King George VI. At the March 1938 election, the Stevens-Bruxner government reatined power against Lang and the still-divided Labor Party. Bruxner was reelected with 61% of the vote. Bruxner worked with his long-time friend, now Minister for Education David Drummond, to establish a regional tertiary education institution. After the 1938 election, they moved to establish the New England University College, a constituent college of the University of Sydney in the city of Armidale, and Bruxner was appointed to the first Advisory Council, on which he served until 1951.

In July 1939, Stevens and Colonial Treasurer Alexander Mair attempted to address Spooner's unwillingness to accede to cabinet decisions regarding ministerial expenditure by creating a committee of four, consisting of Mair, Stevens, Spooner and Bruxner, to approve all expenditure. Furious at this gesture, Spooner resigned on 21 July 1939 as Minister and Deputy Leader, citing a 'disagreement in government policy on relief works' as the reason. Despite Spooner's departure, the stability of the government was to be short. On 1 August 1939, Spooner carried a motion of no confidence in Stevens in the house, which unexpectedly passed by two votes, owing to the absence of several ministers. On 3 August Stevens tendered his resignation to the Governor, Lord Wakehurst, but was granted several days to remain until his successor was chosen.

Upon the resignation, Spooner was touted as Stevens' possible successor until Bruxner, who had always detested Spooner, refused to form a coalition government with him. At a UAP party meeting on 5 August, Spooner chose not to nominate and Steven's favoured candidate, Alexander Mair, defeated Athol Richardson 18 votes to 6, becoming Leader of the United Australia Party and was sworn in as Premier by Lord Wakehurst on the same day. Mair, who had got on well with Bruxner, ensured the survival of the coalition government. Mair attempted to shore up unity in his party to save the government. In the last months of government Bruxner was preoccupied with preparation for Australia's entry into the Second World War. He equipped railway workshops with modern machine tools and established National Emergency Services in order to deal with air raids.

However, despite the efforts of Mair and Bruxner, the controversy surrounding Stevens' departure and a resurgent Labor Party, now led by the moderate William McKell, ensured that the popularity of the government never recovered. At the campaign for the 10 May 1941 election, the government performed poorly, finding it difficult to distinguish themselves from the past and proposing policies but only promising action after the war. McKell's Labor Party did the opposite, leaving war matters to the federal government and promising current reforms. At the election, the Labor Party polled more than half the vote while Bruxner's Country Party lost nine seats and Mair's UAP lost twenty seats. Bruxner retained his seat with 56%. Bruxner would never again hold ministerial office and the conservative political forces would not take government again until Robert Askin and Charles Cutler won the 1965 election.