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Introduction to Part III Back in the Wilderness: The Whitlam/Hayden Period (1975–1983)—‘Learning the Lessons’

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Opposition Vanishing

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Abstract

Part III examines the period of Opposition between the dismissal of the Whitlam government in November 1975, and the election of the Hawke Labor government in March 1983. Like the first period examined, the overall political and social environment in which the party operated emerges as the major influence on its policy evolution: in contrast to the optimism and energy that characterised the years 1967–1972, this period was one in which pessimism, caution, and restraint were rife.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Although Whitlam remained FPLP leader until the 1977 election, the term ‘post-Whitlam’ is used henceforth in the sense of the post-Whitlam government (1975–1983) phase of Opposition.

  2. 2.

    The Whitlam government was sensationally dismissed by Queen Elizabeth II’s representative, the governor-general, Sir John Kerr, after a protracted parliamentary deadlock that saw the executive unable to pass its budget, jeopardising its continued functioning. In Australian politics, the governor-general is relegated to the role of a mere figurehead, but the position retains considerable powers under the federal constitution enacted upon federation in 1901 (Singleton, Aitkin, Jinks, & Warhurst, 2003, 31–35).

  3. 3.

    A reference to the military coup in that country in 1973 against the left-wing Allende government (see Chap. 2).

  4. 4.

    Cairns resurfaced to run as an independent candidate in the 1983 federal election (Molloy, 1983: 5). He was not successful in his attempt to re-enter parliament, but perhaps his desire to do so suggested that his disillusionment had as much to do with the direction of the ALP as it had to do with the parliamentary system.

  5. 5.

    For the media’s role, see O’Lincoln (1993: 33–36), Kelly (1976: 151, 152, 267), and the editorials in The Australian (1975: 12) and The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH, 1975: 1) justifying the Dismissal. On the states’ complicity, see Enderby (1976: 37–39), Groenewegen (1979: 55–62), and Sexton (1979: 127). Wilenski (1978) analyses the difficulties for the Whitlam government posed by the entrenched public service bureaucracy. For analyses of the wider power structures involved in the dismissal, see O’Lincoln (1993: 32–43), Enderby (1976), Sexton (1979), and Connell (1977: Chap. 6).

  6. 6.

    Tom Uren was reported to have argued that a campaign of mass strikes and protests should have been waged in response to Whitlam’s ousting (cited in The Australian, 1976: 18). But, in my survey of Labor and media sources around this time, he was inconspicuous in arguing this.

  7. 7.

    The number of seats held by Labor in the House of Representatives fell to 36, down from 66 at the previous election in 1974. Meanwhile, the Coalition increased its seats from 61 to 91 (McAllister, Mackerras, & Boldiston, 1997: 90).

  8. 8.

    Although Uren did not spell out exactly what he had ‘learnt’, we can only assume that he, like his fellow MPs, felt that Labor’s reforms had been implemented in a way that paid insufficient heed to the needs of the Australian economy.

  9. 9.

    The result at the 1977 election was largely the status quo, which was disastrous for Labor given the drubbing it received in 1975: it increased its representation in the House of Representatives from 36 seats to 38 seats (McAllister et al., 1997: 90). Following the poll, Whitlam stood down as leader, before leaving the parliament in 1978.

  10. 10.

    If the Victorian socialist left had its way, the objective would simply read: ‘The socialisation of industry, production, distribution and exchange’, without the qualification that this be done only ‘to the extent necessary to eliminate exploitation and other anti-social features in those fields’ (cited in Galligan, 1981: 8).

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  1. Department of Politics, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Ashley Lavelle

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Correspondence to Ashley Lavelle .

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Lavelle, A. (2018). Introduction to Part III Back in the Wilderness: The Whitlam/Hayden Period (1975–1983)—‘Learning the Lessons’. In: Opposition Vanishing. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5825-7_7

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