Ben Chifley - Opposition Again

Opposition Again

Chifley was now aged 64 and in poor health (like Curtin, he was a lifelong smoker), but he refused to retire from politics. Labor had retained control of the Senate, and Chifley, now Leader of the Opposition, took advantage of this to bring misery to the Menzies government at every turn. Menzies responded by introducing a bill to ban the Communist Party of Australia. He expected Chifley to reject it and give him an excuse to call double dissolution election. Menzies apparently hoped to repeat his "soft-on-Communism" theme to win a majority in both chambers. However, Chifley let the bill pass (it was ultimately thrown out by the High Court). However, when Chifley rejected Menzies' banking bill a few months later, Menzies called a double dissolution resulting in the 1951 election. Although Chifley managed to lead Labor to a five-seat swing in the House, Labor lost six seats in the Senate, giving the Coalition control of both chambers. A few months later and after Chifley's death, Menzies held a 1951 referendum to ban the Communist Party, but this was narrowly defeated.

Read more about this topic:  Ben Chifley

Famous quotes containing the word opposition:

    Therefore the love which us doth bind,
    But fate so enviously debars,
    Is the conjunction of the mind,
    And opposition of the stars.
    Andrew Marvell (1621–1678)

    To die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly. Death freely chosen, death at the right time, brightly and cheerfully accomplished amid children and witnesses: then a real farewell is still possible, as the one who is taking leave is still there; also a real estimate of what one has wished, drawing the sum of one’s life—all in opposition to the wretched and revolting comedy that Christianity has made of the hour of death.
    Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)