The Last Time We Had a Hung Federal Parliament (1940)
Posted by sapidblog on 7 September, 2010
The Hung Parliament 2010 versus 1940:
With independent politicians Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott siding earlier today with the Australian Labor Party we now have Julia Gillard as Prime Minister of a hung Parliament. The last time we had a hung Federal Parliament was after the 1940 elections when Robert Menzies led the United Australia Party (UAP – to become the Liberal Party in 1947) in coalition with the Country Party (CP – led by Archie Cameron) against the Australian Labor Party (ALP – led by John Curtin). In the 1940 election John Curtin was only narrowly elected in his own seat of Fremantle.
What Happened Last Time (1940)?
I think that it is highly instructive to understand what happened back in 1940 that we might better understand our current unfamiliar situation. The 1940 election returned 36 UAP/CP coalition seats to 36 ALP seats with 2 independent seats belonging to Arthur Coles and Alexander Wilson (in a 74-seat House of Representatives). The independents initially sided with the Coalition which allowed Robert Menzies to retain the office of Prime Minister in 1940. The two independents then switched their support to Labor in 1941, after the coalition became mired in internal divisions, making John Curtin the Prime Minister and bringing the ALP into government. There is little doubt that the independents made the correct decision as John Curtin proved himself the man for the hour once the war spread to the Pacific and began to threaten Australia. General Douglas MacArthur said that Curtin was “one of the greatest of the wartime statesmen.” The hung parliament of 1940 proved to be the crucible from which one of Australia’s greatest leaders in John Curtin was forged. With Curtin as leader, the ALP won the next election in 1943 in a landslide. The 1940 hung parliament was also a crucible for forging Robert Menzies who returned as a much stronger leader to win the 1949 election for the Liberal Party and remained in power until 1966.]
Parallels Between the 2010 and 1940 Elections:
In researching this article I was surprised by some of the parallels between 1940 and 2010 but with names and parties interchanged. As with Julia Gillard, Robert Menzies had previously held the office of Prime Minister, without being elected to that office by the people. In the case of Robert Menzies, he had assumed office after the unexpected death of the previous Prime Minister Joseph Lyons in 1939. Similarly, to Julia Gillard, Menzies elevation to Prime Minister attracted considerable public controversy: between Rudd and Gillard and CP leader Earle Page and Menzies, respectively. The controversy between Rudd and Gillard is still fresh in our memory, though kept to some degree out of the spotlight, it spilled into the public sphere several times during the 2010 election campaign through “leaks” to the media. From about 1938, public animosity developed between Menzies and Page which became more aggravated when Page assumed the role of Acting Prime Minister during Lyons’ illness. In April 1939, Page became caretaker Prime Minster after Lyons’ death, for 3 weeks until the UAP could elect a leader. When Menzies was elected as the leader of the UAP (and automatically the Prime Minister), the acrimony between the two was so great that Page led the Country Party out of the coalition. When war broke out in September, 1939, the Country Party persuaded Page to resign so that the coalition could be resumed. Archie Cameron was elected to lead the Country Party (and became the 2nd-ranking minister of the coalition – the position of Deputy Prime Minister not having been mandated until 1968).
The Role of the Independents in 1940:
Back to the hung Parliament of 1940, the decision of independents Coles and Wilson to support the Menzies-led coalition was made easier than for Windsor and Oakeshott by divisions within the Labor Party. The Labor Party was divided along Federal and NSW State lines by the second Lang-led succession which stood in the 1940 election as ALP (non-communist) and held 4 seats (compared with 32 seats for Federal ALP). When William McKell ousted J. T. “Jack” Lang and subsequently became Premier of NSW in 1941 the Lang-ALP members rejoined the ALP and paved the way for the independents Coles and Wilson to change their support to John Curtin. Interestingly, Arthur Coles was one of the Coles Brothers who formed Coles Variety stores in the 1920s (now the Coles Group).
The Fall of the Coalition 1941:
At the same time that divisions within the ALP began to heal, the wounds within the Coalition parties began to cause serious difficulties. Robert Menzies spent several months in London in 1941 discussing war strategy with the British leaders. When he returned to Australia in August 1941 he found that he had lost all support and was forced to resign first as Prime Minister and then as UAP leader. The Country Party were similarly divided with Archie Cameron having resigned in 1940 and a ballot between Earle Page and John McEwen for his successor becoming deadlocked; resulting in Arthur Fadden being chosen as a compromise leader. After the resignation of Robert Menzies, the UAP resorted to appointing Faddon as Prime Minister, despite the fact that as a Country Party representative he would normally only expect to hold the 2nd-ranking position within a Coalition government. This arrangement didn’t last long and Faddon later joked that like the biblical flood he “reigned for 40 days and 40 nights.”
The Rise of John Curtin 1941:
On October 3, 1941 the Fadden budget was rejected by House of Representatives when the two independents Coles and Wilson voted against it. Faddon resigned later the same day and the Governor-General Lord Gowrie called for Coles and Wilson to assure him of their support for an alternative ALP government to end the instability. Being assured that this was the case, Lord Gowrie commissioned a John Curtin ALP government who were sworn in on October 7. John Curtin remained Prime Minister until July 5, 1945 when he passed away while in office. The second Australian Prime Minister to die in office within six years. He was briefly succeeded as Prime Minister by Frank Forde, then after a party ballot a week later, by Ben Chifley.
Lessons to be Learnt from 1940 for 2010:
One important lesson from the 1940 hung parliament was the way that the two independents Coles and Wilson acted single-mindedly to preserve the stability of government in these crucial war years. When they did act it was in cooperation and only to resolve an untenable government and to restore stability. In many ways Coles and Wilson are unsung heroes and the nation owes them a debt of gratitude for acting unselfishly over these 3 years of our national history. Importantly, they put the welfare of the nation above that of serving their own electorates and their own prospects for re-election. Through their actions they made it easier for the Governor-General to carry out his duties impartially (the question of the use of reserve powers was never raised).
If they were to follow the example of the independents from 1940-3, then it is clear that now that Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott need to stick unwaveringly to their decision to support a Julia Gillard government. Now that that decision has been made, the over-riding issues are stability of government and the welfare of the nation. There needs to be recognition from the major parties, and from the media, that the circumstances for the independents in a hung parliament are fundamentally different in that their duty of serving the nation, through ensuring stability of government, supersedes that of serving their own electorates. It has been mischievously irresponsible for some sections of politics and the media to suggest otherwise over the last week.
Obviously, stability of government requires support during no-confidence motions, budget and supply bills and the independents have undertaken to do so. However, I raise the point exemplified by the hung parliament in 1940-3, that stability of government requires that the independents put their egos aside for a while and support most reasonable legislation raised by the Gillard government in a sensible timeframe.
If it turns out that even with the fullest-support that the independents can offer the Gillard government, that that government succumbs to internal divisions (of a nature typified by that of the Menzies-Faddon governments), then the independents are duty-bound to switch allegiances to support the alternative Abbott Coalition to restore stability to government. Only if that fails should another election be sought within 3 years. Most of all during this precarious situation that we face, we need to keep faith in the Westminster conventions. We must avoid political gamesmanship that leads to disorderly government that raises the question of the use reserve powers by the Governor-General. The worse case scenario is a constitutional crisis that could do irreparable harm to the Australian political system.
