Malcolm Scott (politician)

Scott was briefly a member of the Labor Party in the 1940s. He left the party after Ben Chifley announced his intention to nationalise the banking sector, and subsequently joined the Liberal Party. Scott contested the preselection process for the Division of Forrest prior to the 1949 federal election, but lost to Gordon Freeth. He was instead endorsed as a senate candidate, and was elected in the fourth position on a combined Liberal–Country ticket. As a backbencher, Scott had a keen interest in national development, particularly in North-West Australia. He toured the region in 1958 with Robert Menzies and Bill Spooner, and was an advocate of the Ord River Scheme. Scott was a proponent of centralisation (an unpopular view amongst many of his constituents) and suggested that the Kimberley should be transferred from Western Australia to the Northern Territory so it could be under federal control.^[1]

In March 1966, Scott was made Government Whip in the Senate. He had shared offices with John Gorton early in his career, and supported his bid for the Liberal leadership after the death of Harold Holt. In February 1968, a month after Gorton became prime minister, Scott was made Minister for Customs and Excise in the new ministry.^[1] Among his duties was the censorship of imported literature and film, where he gained a reputation for puritanism. At one point, Scott had a scene cut from a Czechoslovak film, I Love, You Love, which depicted "a couple lying side-by-side with the husband stroking his wife's face and her pregnant belly". He said that these actions were of "a distinctly sexual nature".^[2]

Scott's career as a minister ended in November 1969, when he was replaced by Don Chipp in a reshuffle. He had been involved in two controversies the previous year, the first was over his shareholdings in mining companies. Because those companies were often involved in leasing government land, it was suggested that a conflict of interest might exist. The second controversy concerned the resignation of an officer of the Department of Customs and Excise (for which Scott was responsible). The officer had resigned after being found guilty of improper conduct, but subsequently received assistance in finding private-sector employment, which was said to be an abuse of power (and contradicted Scott's own statements on the "gravity" of the officer's offence).^[1]

Scott lost Liberal preselection prior to the 1970 half-senate election, with his term ending in June 1971. He had considered running as an independent, but decided against doing so due to a pledge he had made not to oppose endorsed Liberal candidates. Scott had moved his family to Perth soon after entering the senate, and lived there in retirement (while still owning property in the country). He died at his home Booragoon in May 1989, aged 78. He had married Nancy Elizabeth Ozanne in 1936, with whom he had five children.^[1]