Albert Field

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Albert Patrick Field (11 October 1910 - 1 July 1990) was an Australian french polisher who was plucked from obscurity to become a Senator in 1975. The circumstances of his appointment were instrumental in precipitating the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975, known as The Dismissal.

Following the sudden death of Bertie Milliner on 30 June 1975, the Queensland Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen chose as his replacement Albert Field, a man with no political aspirations or background. The appointment was formally made by the Queensland state parliament.

It was longstanding tradition that the replacement senator should come from the same party as the senator being replaced. Before 1949, each State was divided into senate electorates, which meant that a party could gain a large majority in the senate and casual vacancies were not important. However the introduction of proportional representation in 1949 caused the numbers to be close, and made casual vacancies critical. In 1953, when a Liberal senator died, the Labor premier, Vincent Gair, told the opposition that a Liberal should fill the position, and asked for a list of three nominees from which he could choose to fill the position. This became the convention. When Milliner died, Premier Bjelke-Petersen said that it was a genuine death, not a contrived death, and that a Labor man should fill the vacancy. All he asked Labor to do was what they had asked in 1953; to supply a list of three names. Very unwisely, considering the political situation, Labor stated that they would only supply one candidate. It is presumed that they did this because they knew that their favoured candidate, Mal Colston, would not be chosen. Bjelke-Petersen said that he would find another Labor candidate, and went ahead with Field's appointment. Although nominally a member of the Labor Party, Field was of conservative and religious bent and was openly critical of the Whitlam Government. He was expelled from the party as a result of accepting the appointment.

Field was employed by the Queensland Education Department, and resigned the day before his appointment, although theoretically he was required to give three weeks notice. As a result, Field's appointment came under challenge in the High Court, and he was on leave from the Senate, unable to exercise a vote, for the period of the crisis. However, as would have been expected under the circumstances, (with control of the Senate in the balance) and against tradition, the opposition parties refused to provide a ‘pair’ to maintain the relative positions of the Government and Opposition. This along with New South Wales's earlier appointment of an independent, Cleaver Bunton, to replace Labor Senator Lionel Murphy on his appointment to the High Court, left the Whitlam Government in a precarious position.

Field was defeated in the 1975 election that resulted in part from his appointment.