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On December 9, though you will be voting for individual candidates, the end result will be that you choose a Government for the nation. I do not propose to put before you a long list of promises. After 12 years the A.L.P. can easily make a series of brand new offers without saying where the new hundreds of millions are to come from; though they will, of course, come from you. For governments have no money to spend except that which has been earned and paid over, by tax or loan, by the men and...

This is no ordinary election. It comes at a time when the Government has precariously and unexpectedly survived by one vote for two years. It comes at a time when turbulence and international tension exist nearer to our frontiers than ever before except during the last war; when strength is needed in the voice of Australia; when our country cannot afford to compel its Government to spend a lot of time, week by week, on the problem of domestic political survival. Why did I seek a dissolution? I...

Fellow Australians: I speak to you at one of the most momentous periods in the history of this country. In the very nature of the case, it is a period of the utmost importance to every man and woman – yes, and every child in our community. And when I say, ‘our community’, I do not mean only those of us who have the good fortune to be in Australia today. Every consideration of the present and the future, in relation to our national welfare, must include thought for Australians who have been, and...

Good evening listeners, The Commonwealth Labor Government brings to you, the electors of Australia, an account of its administration during the three years since you returned it to office; a review of how it has sustained the trust you gave to it when the call for national leadership went out in 1941; and its plans for the future, greater Australia. You will recall that in 1941 – after two years of war – the Liberal Party and Country Party coalition Government led by Mr. Menzies came to an...

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...

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...

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 whole future of Australian democracy is in your hands. The decision you make on 13 December goes far beyond who shall govern Australia for a few months or a few years. It goes to the heart of how Australia is to be governed into the Twenty-first Century. Above all, Australia must be re-united about our basic faith in the value of Parliamentary democracy; as a means for change, and as a means for good government. The shame of the past six weeks must be wiped away...