Don Chipp - Resignation From The Liberal Party

Resignation From The Liberal Party

In his book The Third Man, Chipp considered the effects of a "whispering campaign" to discredit him within the Liberal Party. This came to a head when he spoke at a heavily attended Citizens for Democracy meeting at the Sydney Town Hall with other controversial speakers including Frank Hardy, Patrick White and Faith Bandler. He writes "Liberals thought it was intolerable that any member of the party should appear with 'those people'". The rebellious image was heightened by the fact that Chipp omitted to attend a Parliament House reception for Queen Elizabeth II, having decided to honour his prior speaking engagement, which had been widely publicised. Chipp concluded: "It was then, I believe, that I concluded I could not stay in such a party any longer. I resented the tag of 'rebel' which was being applied to me by my own colleagues."

Chipp decided to resign from the Liberal Party on 24 March 1977 and concluded his speech that day with the following:

I have become disenchanted with party politics as they are practised in this country and with the pressure groups which have an undue influence on the major political parties. The parties seem to polarise on almost every issue, sometimes seemingly just for the sake of it, and I wonder if the ordinary voter is not becoming sick and tired of the vested interests which unduly influence political parties and yearns for the emergence of a third political force, representing middle-of-the-road policies which would owe allegiance to no outside pressure group. Perhaps it may be the right time to test that proposition.