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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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

It is only 18 months since you re-elected the Liberal Party and Country Party Government. You may therefore ask why there is a dissolution so soon. I will simply mention the two principal reasons. First, under the Constitution there must be an election for the retiring half of the Senate this financial year; and it is common sense that we should take the opportunity of having the House of Representatives election on the same day. This is economical and makes for stable government. Second, and I...