Editing Robert Askin (section)

===Second term===
At the [[1968 New South Wales state election|24 February 1968 election]], Askin increased his previously tenuous majority, scoring a six-seat swing against Labor's Renshaw and an overall majority of 12 over the Labor Party and the two Independents. Askin retained his seat with 70.97%.<ref>{{cite NSW election |year=1968 |district=Collaroy |access-date=22 May 2020}}</ref> It was the first time since the [[United Australia Party|UAP]]/Country Coalition won three consecutive elections from 1932 to 1938 that a non-Labor government in New South Wales had been reelected.

In mid-1968 Askin famously became embroiled in a media controversy over the reporting of several words spoken to the [[United States Chamber of Commerce]] lunch in Sydney on 32 July 1968 (also the day Opposition Leader Renshaw resigned, to be replaced by [[Pat Hills]]), in which he spoke of the October 1966 state visit by United States president [[Lyndon B. Johnson]].{{sfnp|Hancock|2006|pages=347–352}} Askin had joined Prime Minister [[Harold Holt]], President Johnson and the American ambassador, [[Edward Clark (diplomat)|Ed Clark]], in a drive through the Sydney CBD. As Johnson's motorcade drove into [[Liverpool Street, Sydney|Liverpool Street]], several anti-[[Vietnam War]] protesters, including [[Graeme Dunstan]], threw themselves in front of the car carrying them. As Askin later recalled, a police officer had informed him that some communists were obstructing the route. Askin claimed he had instructed the officer to drag them off. As the car moved on, he then said to Johnson "half-jocularly": "what I ought to have told him was to ride over them", to which Johnson replied "a man after my own heart". At the subsequent luncheon, Askin instead reported that he had said the remark to the police officer, which a journalist attending the event later reported it as "Run over the bastards."{{sfnp|Hancock|2006|pages=355-356}}