Michael Bruxner - Early Political Career

Early Political Career

As a prominent member of his local community, Bruxner became involved in emerging movements to have a political force for regional areas and joined and was convinced by friends to stand as a Progressive Party candidate in the 1920 New South Wales state election. Bruxner was elected under proportional representation with 23% as the second member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly district of Northern Tablelands alongside his friend David Drummond.

On the 20 December 1920, the Labor Party Premier, James Dooley, and his cabinet resigned after having lost a vote in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly a week before. The Governor, Sir Walter Davidson, then commissioned the Leader of the Opposition, Sir George Fuller, as Premier. As Fuller did not have a majority, he initiated attempts to form a coalition with the Progressive Party. The Progressives split over whether to join the Fuller government into an urban wing, led by Leader Walter Wearne and Deputy Leader Thomas Bavin, which agreed to enter Fuller's coalition and a rural wing ("The True Blues"), led by Bruxner and Ernest Buttenshaw who offered Fuller only conditional support. After seven hours in government, still without a workable majority, Fuller requested a double-dissolution from Davidson. Davidson refused, on the basis that Dooley still had a majority in the lower house, and Fuller resigned.

Davidson then re-commissioned Dooley, who was then granted a dissolution for an election in March 1922. The Progressives were permanently divided and Bruxner and the "True Blues" who had opposed the coalition maintained their separate identity, while the urban members of the party joined Fuller's Nationalist Party. The Rural Progressives then elected Bruxner in 1922 as Leader for the election. The Progressives were reduced to nine rural members at the 1922 election and entered a Coalition with the Nationalists. Bruxner increased his margin to become the first electorate member with 39%. Bruxner also became involved in the New England New State Movement and helped pass a formal request to the Commonwealth by the Legislative Assembly to establish a new state in northern New South Wales. The request resulted in the 1924 Cohen Royal Commission into New States.

At the May 1925 election, Bruxner retained his seat with an increased margin of 41%, while the Nationalist/Progressive Government lost office to Jack Lang and the Labor Party. After the election, the Progressive party renamed themselves the Country Party, reflecting the electoral base of the party. Bruxner resigned the leadership at the end of 1925, citing the difficulty in balancing the needs of his family with the commitments of his political career, and was succeeded by Ernest Buttenshaw.