The Money Men by Chris Bowen (i wanna iguana read aloud .TXT) 📗

treasurer whom Menzies effectively sacked to make way for Fadden, alleged that Fadden had insisted on taking the Treasury, using his prerogative as leader of the Coalition’s junior party to name his own portfolio. Menzies, on the other hand, said the appointment was due to Fadden’s experience as an accountant and minister assisting the treasurer. Fadden’s memoirs are silent on the issue and treat his selection simply as a fait accompli. Certainly, there was a precedent for the Country Party leader being treasurer (Sir Earle Page in the Bruce–Page government), but there was also a precedent for this not occurring (the Lyons–Page government). In truth, it was probably a combination of factors that led to the appointment: Menzies’ desire to remove the unpopular Spender and also being impressed with Fadden’s abilities, as well as a move by Menzies to foster better relations with the Country Party after the falling-out with Sir Earle Page.

The first of Fadden’s two wartime budgets saw the new treasurer resisting advice that a dramatic increase in taxation was warranted to finance the increasing war effort. Moves to increase the percentage of the economy devoted to winning the war were still relatively haphazard, and of the £150 million of extra revenue Fadden sought for the war effort, only £30 million were earmarked for taxation.4

In the meantime, the government had political problems to deal with as well. Menzies had left for Great Britain for war-related consultations with the Churchill administration, and to attend meetings of the Imperial War Cabinet as a representative of Australia. He was away for four months, leaving Fadden as acting prime minister. When he arrived back in Australia, Menzies did not hide his displeasure at having to return. His attitude towards Fadden was symptomatic of a broader annoyance at not being able to carry on in an enjoyable role in London. As Fadden relates, when he went to greet Menzies on his return at the Sydney flying boat terminal at Rose Bay on Sydney Harbour, Menzies’ demeanour did not convey the appreciation that Fadden was (not unreasonably) expecting for administering the government during his absence:

I was surprised at the cold reception he gave me. He seemed about as happy as a sailor on a horse. After curt greetings he drove away … in the official car in which I had arrived. Left without transport, I obtained a ride back to the city with Senator Harry Foll of Queensland. At the time I put the Prime Minister’s attitude down to tiredness.5

Menzies did not become more communicative with his colleagues in the coming days, but he made his annoyance about having to return to Australia explicit and public. He told a large public meeting at Sydney Town Hall that he was disturbed to have to once again be dealing with ‘the diabolical game of politics in Australia’.6 He repeated the concern in parliament a short time later, causing offence to Curtin, given that the Labor Party had attempted to give the wartime government as much bipartisan support as possible on war-related aims, while maintaining an alternative approach on genuine matters of disagreement. Curtin told the parliament, ‘During the absence of the Prime Minister abroad the Treasurer [Fadden] who served as Acting Prime Minister, set a standard of service to Australia and of association with the Parliament which I greatly admire.’7

Menzies proposed that he return to London as prime minister and sit in the Imperial War Cabinet in London. Given the precarious state of the House of Representatives, he knew he would need the support of the Labor opposition to do this. The parliamentary Labor Party considered the matter and correctly determined that the right place for the prime minister of Australia to be based was in Canberra. Menzies, desperate to return, then offered to vacate the prime ministership and hand it over to a Labor member to head a government of national unity. But Curtin steadfastly refused to join a coalition government in which Labor would not be able to carry out its program. He then showed that his patience with these manoeuvrings was at an end, asserting to Menzies that as he was not able to provide the nation with the wartime stability it required, he should return his commission to the governor-general and make way for a Labor government. Menzies’ misjudgement saw him lose the support of the UAP caucus room, and he accordingly resigned as prime minister. He did not, however, resign the leadership of his party. A joint party room meeting endorsed Fadden as Menzies’ replacement.

Fadden’s commission as a Country Party prime minister was quantitatively different from that of his predecessor Page, as it would be from that of his successor McEwen. Page and McEwen were commissioned as caretaker prime ministers, and although Fadden’s tenure ended up being brief, he was appointed in the expectation that he would be prime minister indefinitely. This was symptomatic of the good relations Fadden had with his UAP colleagues, as well as of a dearth of talent in the UAP, with no member regarded as capable of assuming the prime ministership (Menzies had dispatched his only possible rival, former treasurer Richard Casey, to Washington as an ambassador).

Fadden then went about preparing his next Budget as prime minister and treasurer ‘with no feeling of certainty that it would be adopted by Parliament’.8 Nor did Fadden bother to move into The Lodge, given that he was unsure about the length of his tenure. Perhaps he took on board the advice of his colleague and former leader, the plain-talking Archie Cameron, who told him he would ‘scarcely have time to wear a track from the backdoor to the shithouse before you’ll be out’.9 He was right to be concerned. Fadden was the leader of the minority party in a minority government: his hold on power was tenuous at best. Not only had the political dysfunction and disunity exhibited over recent months exacted a huge political toll on support for the government within parliament and in the community, but the