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In the past, it has been the practice for the Prime Minister in announcing the policy of his party to recite in the greatest detail the record of the Government, to set out a defence of all its actions, and to make elaborate promises which are designed to attract different sections of the electors to support the Government. This practice has led to elections becoming contests in which parties endeavour to outbid each other for the people’s favour, and in which an appeal is made to the cupidity...

Bearing tonight for the first time the responsibility of delivering the policy of Labor as its Leader, I desire to place on record our high appreciation of Mr. Charlton, my predecessor, for his long and invaluable service to the Labor Movement, and to Australia, as well as of the sincerity and honesty which he always manifested in that service. A General Election gives to the people the right once every three years to pronounce judgment upon their representatives, and to determine at the ballot...

After two years of office the Government comes before you asking for an impartial examination of the work it has done, and, on that, to judge accordingly. I make no other appeal. I ask that the people of Australia shall choose wisely by considering only the welfare of our country. The times are too critical to allow any but the highest considerations to weigh in making a choice. I propose to place before you the Government’s outstanding achievements and to outline the problems which still...

A welcome election The United Australia Party, in common, I believe, with the great majority of the electors of Australia, welcomes this election. It gives us an opportunity of placing before the people the choice between sound honest finance and government as against fantastic schemes of inflation and political control of currency and credit. Our kinsmen in Britain have just emerged triumphantly from such a test as that to which our Australian electors are now to be put. I feel sure that the...

Content warning: this article contains language that people may find offensive. When I appeared before you in the Town Hall a little more than two-and-a-half years ago, I told you that if you would entrust the United Australia Party with power we should endeavour to do three things – restore the finances; live within our income and pay our way; and clear the road for the revival of industry. I now appear before the people of Australia to give an account of our stewardship and to ask for a...

The real decision which the people of Australia are called upon to make at this election is one of values. The Labor Party declares that the immediate task of statesmanship is to overcome the forces which are undermining the moral, social and economic foundations of civilisation. It affirms that the level of social well-being is the crucial test of economic policy and that peace is an idle dream without social justice between nations and between individuals. The primary purpose of Governments is...

The country is at war. The Commonwealth of Australia entered this war, not of any act of itself, but because Germany, pursuing a ruthless policy of aggression, forced war on the British Commonwealth of Nations. The entire guilt lies with Germany. The Australian Labor Party stands inflexible in support of the British cause. We are upholding that which is just. We are struggling to maintain the democratic rights of our people and the free institutions of our nation against an enemy that has broken...

Men and women of Australia. As head of the Government which for twenty months has had the solemn duty and grave responsibility of maintaining intact our country, I give you an account of the Government’s trusteeship. The circumstances in which, the Labor Government took, office in October, 1941, were unprecedented. Two Prime Ministers had failed to control the Parliament and the parties comprising the then Government had split into bitter factions, with place and position tussling against duty...

On September 21st, the people of Australia will be asked to elect a new Parliament. The prime responsibility of that Parliament will be to conduct Australia’s part in the most critical war in history, to lead our people to a complete victory, and to lay the foundations of a just peace. You will all realise without words of mine the grave responsibility you will discharge at the polling booths. It is no over-statement to say that our people as electors have never been called upon to make a choice...

Introductory This Commonwealth election will be the first since the war. It will therefore present to the people of Australia their first chance, as voters, of deciding the character and shape of our own portion of the post-war world. The contest will not be one about mere details, nor can it be usefully decided by appeals to personal self-interest. It will be one of those elections at which fundamental principles must be examined and re-examined. We all desire to build a new national structure...

Sixteen months ago, I delivered a policy speech upon which you returned us to office. From all my Cabinet colleagues (with a special mention for my friend Mr. Fadden, the Leader of the Country Party), and the splendid body of private members who sit behind us, I have received most generous loyalty, and you have received constant and laborious service. But we have come back to you, long before our due time simply because the Labor Party refused to recognise the umpire’s decision; used its Senate...

We come before you for a renewed vote of confidence. In this speech I have no intention to rest upon past achievements. But I will speak about our record; partly to give an account of stewardship, and partly because we are willing to be judged, not just upon new promises, but upon past promises faithfully performed. We hand back to your custody as voters a nation more prosperous, more productive, possessed of more social justice, better defended, and with more friends abroad, than ever before...