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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...

Tonight, it is again my duty to announce to the country on behalf of the Government the policy which we propose to carry out should the people continue their confidence in us, by again returning us to power. Nearly six years ago the Government came into office as a result of a working arrangement between the Nationalist and Country Parties. This arrangement has continued ever since and as a result of the co-operation and loyal support accorded to the Government by the members of both parties it...

Tonight, it is again my duty to announce to the country on behalf of the Government the policy which we propose to carry out should the people continue their confidence in us, by again returning us to power. There is one issue and one only involved in this election. That issue has been defined in Parliament, both by the Government and the Opposition. This election is accordingly unique. On every other occasion there have been many questions of policy upon which the judgment of the electorate has...

No full transcript of this speech has yet been located. The following is a press report of Scullin’s speech. Labor Leader Scullin opens up campaign The Richmond Town Hall was crowded to the doors on Thursday night last, and an overflow meeting had to be held outside in the rain, when the Leader of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party (Mr. Scullin) delivered his policy speech. Mr. Scullin was given an enthusiastic hearing. Many of the points he made were cheered. Cr. H. M. Cremean, ex-Mayor of...

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 grave responsibility will rest upon the people of Australia on September 15. At the last election the present Government was swept into office on a wave of credulous optimism originated by artful propagandists. Returning prosperity with the advent to office of the U.A.P. was portrayed to the anxious minds of suffering men and women. The platform, the press, broadcasting stations and city hoardings were employed to proclaim the glad tidings that a change of Government would transform the people...

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...

Three years ago, I came before the people of Australia asking for a continuance of the support they had given my party at the previous election. I was able to refer to the manner in which we had kept our election pledges and to put forward a progressive policy for the next three years. Tonight, I appear once more before the people for the third time as leader of the United Australia Party and for the second time as Prime Minister. Again, I give them an account of the Government’s work, and again...

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...

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...