Alexander Peacock - Premier For The First Time

Premier For The First Time

In 1901, he chose not to stand for new Parliament of Australia. This was partly because the federal electorate covering the area he represented, the seat of Ballaarat, was being contested by Alfred Deakin. Instead, he stayed in Victorian politics and when Premier Turner resigned to contest the first federal elections, Peacock succeeded him and became Premier.

But by this time public support for the liberals was waning, and the new conservative leader, William Irvine, mounted a public campaign for "retrenchment"—reduction in the size of the Parliament and the public service, and cuts to government spending. Peacock as a good liberal resisted this campaign, but in June 1902 Irvine carried a vote of no-confidence in Peacock's government and at the subsequent election the liberals and their Labor allies were heavily defeated. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1902.

Peacock stayed in opposition during Irvine's ministry, but in 1907 he returned to office as Chief Secretary and Minister for Labour in the government of Thomas Bent. By this time the distinction between liberals and conservatives was fading in the face of the rising challenge of the Labor Party, and from about this time the non-Labor members became officially the Liberal Party.