Rex Connor

Rex Connor

Reginald Francis Xavier "Rex" Connor (26 January 1907 – 22 August 1977), Australian politician, was a minister in the Whitlam government and promoted government investment to support national development. Surreptitious attempts to raise foreign loans led to his forced resignation and, indirectly, the fall of the Whitlam Government in 1975.

The journalist Paul Kelly wrote in his book November 1975: "It was the national interest that drove Rex Connor. He can be criticised for his naivety and poor judgement. But there is no charge against Connor's integrity... The Opposition implied in the lobbies that ministers were chasing personal gain. There is no evidence for this." Nevertheless, by the time Labor returned to office in 1983, Connor's economic nationalism and dreams of massive state investment in energy projects had been totally rejected.