[1] While the election was still underway an editorial in The Argus commented that "the Opposition apparently is defunct", adding that "a surprising spirit of concord reigns throughout our political world".

[2] Newspapers made no attempt to classify individual elected members as Ministerialists or Oppositionists.

[1] The members of the Legislative Assembly returned in the 1864 election were overwhelmingly supporters of the protectionist policies of the McCulloch ministry.

Many of those elected were new to the Legislative Assembly, with only thirty-eight of the seventy-eight members having seats in the previous parliament.

[4][5] With the majority of members in the Legislative Assembly supporting protectionist policies, the government's 1865 budget included restructured customs duties that increased the taxation of imports into the colony that competed with local products.