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Ladies and gentlemen, and fellow-citizens of Australia – fifteen months ago, the Menzies-Fadden coalition took over the reins of Australian government. They were full of promises, they raised false hopes – above all they undertook to put value back into the pound. What has happened in 15 months? Every housewife knows we have suffered the most disastrous inflation in Australian history. Every wage and salary earner knows that the value of the pound has fallen to the lowest point in our history...

Tonight, I place before you Labor’s Programme for the next three years. It is a positive Programme. It is practical. It can and will be given full effect to by a Labor Government. Specific mandate asked for We ask you for a mandate to carry out this Programme. We shall carry out the mandate. Unlike the Menzies/Fadden Government we shall carry out all the promises we make to you. Security is the basis of Labor’s programme The primary aim of Labor will be to provide a government that will give the...

The failure of the Government This is a vital election. The Menzies Government knows that, if it waits until next year, it will be defeated. The result of its mismanagement of the economy cannot be avoided for much longer. So, this Government had decided that the people will be pit to the expense of an early election– the fifth Federal election in six years. The Menzies-Fadden Government was re-elected only last year. It had more than eighteen months of office to serve. Yet it abdicated. Why...

Since its recent and calamitous Budget, the Menzies Government has finally forfeited the respect and lost the confidence of the Australian people. It has broken every major pledge with which it won office in 1949. I name only a few to put value back in the £; to abolish all restrictive controls; that taxation could and would be reduced. Its complete inefficiency and reckless expenditure in the vital matter of the nation’s defences have brought protests even from some of its own supporters in the...

I speak to you tonight as the Leader of the Labor Party in the Commonwealth of Australia. I present the Labor Party’s Policy at this election of the 24th Parliament of the Commonwealth with the firm conviction that it contains practical, down-to-earth, well-considered and feasible proposals which will restore the nation to prosperity and promote its safety. It is important that the issues on which the election will be decided should be clearly stated and clearly understood. The sad thing about...

The dissolution of the 24th Parliament of the Commonwealth was brought about one year ahead of time for reasons other than the false and spurious ones stated by the Prime Minister. There was no pressing national need for the Prime Minister and the Treasurer to precipitate this election and throw the House of Representatives and the Senate out of electoral alignment; and there can be no justification for the waste o£ £500,000 in having two elections where one alone next year would suffice. But...

My fellow Australians, there are many issues in this election which you must consider carefully and well before election day. I shall state the policy of the Labor Party in regard to most of them tonight, and I will deal with the remainder during the course of the very short campaign of less than three weeks which the Government has allowed. The most important issue in this campaign is Conscription, the conscription of a section of our twenty year old youths, against their wishes and their wills...

This Policy Speech – my first as your Prime Minister – outlines the course my Government will follow if you re-elect us on November 26. Between now and polling day, our Australian democracy will be involved in a great debate about many aspects of policy. You will be taking part in a national stock-taking. The policies you support with your vote will bear directly on your well-being and the welfare of the nation. These will be critical years for Australia, but they hold great promise for our...

A little less than twenty years ago the Australian people dismissed a Labor Government and installed a Liberal, Country Party coalition. They were tired of controls, for the sake of controls. They were dismayed by unemployment and general strikes. They were frightened of the doctrinaire socialist approach of a Labor Party strongly influenced by communist unions. They were sick of stagnation. So, they turned to us, who believe the individual is the basis of the State, and that the State will best...

On 25 October Australians will elect a national government to take Australia into the 1970s. The campaign of the Australian Labor Party will have one dominant theme: the theme of opportunities, the taking of opportunities, the making of opportunities for Australia and for all Australians. We wish to renovate, rejuvenate, reinvigorate and liberate. It is not only time, more than time, for a change; it is time to refresh, remould and renew the whole framework of finances and functions and to end...

Men and Women of Australia! The decision we will make for our country on 2 December is a choice between the past and the future, between the habits and fears of the past, and the demands and opportunities of the future. There are moments in history when the whole fate and future of nations can be decided by a single decision. For Australia, this is such a time. It’s time for a new team, a new program, a new drive for equality of opportunities: it’s time to create new opportunities for...

Men and women of Australia, Just 17 months ago, I stood here, and from this place and from this city I asked you to choose for Australia a new team, a new program, a new drive for equality of opportunities. You gave us a clear mandate to go ahead with our program for the next three years. For 17 months we have driven ourselves to carry out your mandate, to carry out the program I placed before you. Now the government you elected for three years has been interrupted in mid-career. Our program has...