Ben Chifley: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
m Robot - Speedily moving category Australians of Irish descent to Australian people of Irish descent per CFD. |
←Replaced content with '{ban is F!@#kin gy' Tag: blanking |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{ban is F!@#kin gy |
|||
{{Infobox Prime Minister |
|||
|honorific-prefix = <small>[[The Right Honourable]]</small><br /> |
|||
|name=Ben Chifley |
|||
|image=benchifley.jpg |
|||
|order=16th [[Prime Minister of Australia]]<br />Elections: [[Australian federal election, 1946|1946]], [[Australian federal election, 1949|1949]] |
|||
|term_start =13 July 1945 |
|||
|term_end =19 December 1949 |
|||
|predecessor =[[Frank Forde]] |
|||
|successor =[[Robert Menzies]] |
|||
|birth_date ={{birth date|1885|9|22|df=y}} |
|||
|birth_place =[[Bathurst, New South Wales|Bathurst]], [[New South Wales]], [[Australia]] |
|||
|death_date ={{death date and age|1951|6|13|1885|9|22|df=y}} |
|||
|party=[[Australian Labor Party|Labor]] |
|||
|constituency = [[Division of Macquarie|Macquarie]] (New South Wales) |
|||
|religion = [[Roman Catholic]]<ref name="Duncan163"/> |
|||
}} |
|||
'''Joseph Benedict Chifley''' ({{IPA-en|ˈtʃɪfli|pron}}; 22 September 1885 – 13 June 1951), Australian politician and the [[List of Prime Ministers of Australia|16th]] [[Prime Minister of Australia]]. Among his government's accomplishments were the post-war immigration scheme under [[Arthur Calwell]], the establishment of [[Australian citizenship]] in 1949, the [[Snowy Mountains Scheme]], over-viewing the foundation of airlines [[Qantas]] and [[TAA]], a social security scheme for the unemployed, reorganising and enlarging the [[CSIRO]], and the founding of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation ([[Australian Security Intelligence Organisation|ASIO]]). One of the few successful [[referendums in Australia|referendums]] to modify the [[Australian Constitution]] took place during his term.<ref name="alp">{{cite web | url = http://www.alp.org.au/people/chifley_ben.php | title = The Rt Hon Ben Chifley | accessdate = 2007-12-11 | publisher = [[Australian Labor Party]] }}</ref><ref name="asio">{{cite web | url = http://www.asio.gov.au/About/Content/History.aspx | title = Significant Events in ASIO's History | accessdate = 2007-12-11 | publisher = [[Australian Security Intelligence Organisation]] }}</ref><ref name="adb">{{cite web | url = http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A130460b.htm | title = Chifley, Joseph Benedict (Ben) (1885 - 1951) | accessdate = 2007-06-30 | publisher = [[Australian Dictionary of Biography]] }}</ref> |
|||
==Early life== |
|||
Born in [[Bathurst, New South Wales]],<ref name="alp"/> Chifley was the son of a [[blacksmith]] of [[Irish Catholic|Irish Roman Catholic]] descent. He was one of four brothers and between the ages of five and 14 was raised mostly by his grandfather, who lost all his savings in the bank crash of 1892: Chifley acquired his lifelong dislike of the private banks early. He was educated at Roman Catholic schools in Bathurst, and joined the New South Wales Railways at 15. |
|||
Ben Chifley became an [[engine driver]]. He was one of the founders of the AFULE (the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.afule.org.au/about.htm#hist |title=A.F.U.L.E. History |publisher=www.afule.org.au |accessdate=2007-09-03}}</ref> and an active member of the [[Australian Labor Party|Labor Party]]. In 1914 he married Elizabeth Mackenzie. Mackenzie was a staunch [[Presbyterian]], and the couple exchanged wedding vows in a Presbyterian church. Chifley remained a practicing Catholic, but his marriage with a non-Catholic ignited criticisms among Catholic circles.<ref name="Duncan163">Duncan (2001), p. 163</ref> In 1917 he was one of the leaders of a prolonged strike which resulted in his being dismissed. He was reinstated by the [[Jack Lang (Australian politician)|Jack Lang]] New South Wales Labor government in 1920. He represented his union before industrial tribunals and taught himself [[industrial law]]. |
|||
==Parliament== |
|||
[[Image:BenChifley2.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Chifley in the 1930s]] |
|||
In 1928, at his second try, Chifley won the Bathurst-based seat of [[Division of Macquarie|Macquarie]] in the [[Australian House of Representatives|House of Representatives]]. He was in general a supporter of the [[James Scullin]] government's economic policies, and in 1931 he became Minister for Defence. At the [[Australian federal election, 1931|1931 general election]], the Scullin government fell and Chifley lost his seat. During the [[Great Depression|Depression]] he survived on his wife's family's money and his part-ownership of the Bathurst newspaper the ''National Advocate''. |
|||
In 1935 the [[Joseph Lyons|Lyons]] government appointed him a member of the [[Royal Commission on Banking]], a subject on which he had become an expert. He submitted a minority report advocating that the private banks be nationalised. |
|||
Chifley finally won his seat back [[Australian federal election, 1940|in 1940]], and the following year he became Treasurer (finance minister) in [[John Curtin]]'s Labor government. Although [[Frank Forde]] was Curtin's deputy, Chifley became the minister Curtin most relied on, and he controlled most domestic policy while Curtin was preoccupied with the war effort. He presided over the massive increases in government expenditure and taxation that accompanied the war, and imposed a regime of economic regulation that made him very unpopular with business and the press. |
|||
==Prime minister== |
|||
[[Image:Norrie Chifley Playford.jpg|left|thumb|Chifley (left) meets with [[Premiers of South Australia|Premier of South Australia]] [[Thomas Playford IV|Tom Playford]] (centre) and [[Governors of South Australia|Governor of South Australia]] [[Willoughby Norrie, 1st Baron Norrie|Sir Willoughby Norrie]] (right) in 1946]][[Image:ChifleyEvatt.jpg|thumb|Chifley (middle) and [[H. V. Evatt|Bert Evatt]] (left) with [[Clement Attlee]] (right) at the Dominion and British Leaders Conference, [[London]], 1946]] |
|||
When Curtin died in July 1945, Forde became (very briefly) Prime Minister, but Chifley defeated him in the leadership ballot and replaced him six days later. Once the war ended, normal political life resumed, and Chifley faced [[Robert Menzies]] and his new [[Liberal Party of Australia|Liberal Party]] in the [[Australian federal election, 1946|1946 election]], which Chifley comfortably won. In the post-war years, Chifley maintained wartime economic controls including the highly unpopular petrol rationing. He did this partly to help [[United Kingdom|Britain]] in its postwar economic difficulties. |
|||
Feeling secure in power, Chifley decided it was time to advance towards Labor's objective of [[democratic socialism]]. Amongst other measures, Chifley passed legislation to establish a free formulary of essential medicines.<ref>Sloan C. A History of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme 1947-1992. Canberra AGPS 1995) p12</ref> This was successfully opposed in the Australian High Court by the [[British Medical Association]] (precursor of the [[Australian Medical Association]])<ref>AG Vic (ex rel Dale and ors) v Cth (the Pharmaceutical Benefits Case) (1945) 71 CLR 237.</ref> Chifley then organised one of the few successful constitutional referenda to insert a new section 51xxiiiA which permitted federal legislation over pharmaceutical benefits.<ref>David Day. Chifley Harper Collins Sydney 2001 pp443-444. It also authorised federal legislation over medical and dental services (but not so as to authorise any form of civil conscription).</ref> The subsequent federal legislation was deemed constitutional by the High Court.<ref>Federal Council of the British Medical Association in Australia v Cth (1949) 79 CLR 201.</ref> This paved the way for the [[Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme]].<ref>National Health Act 1953(Cth).</ref><br /> |
|||
In 1947 Chifley announced the government's intention to [[nationalisation|nationalise]] the banks. This provoked massive opposition from the press, and middle-class opinion turned against Labor. The [[High Court of Australia]] eventually found Chifley's legislation to be unconstitutional. |
|||
In the winter of 1949 a prolonged and bitter [[1949 Australian coal strike|strike in the coal industry]] caused unemployment and hardship. Chifley saw the strike as a move by the [[Communist Party of Australia|Communist Party]] to challenge Labor's place as the party of the working class, and he sent in the army to break the strike. Despite this, Menzies exploited the rising [[Cold War]] hysteria to portray Labor as soft on [[Communism]]. |
|||
These events, together with a perception that Chifley and Labor had grown increasingly arrogant in office, led to the sweeping Liberal election victory of [[Australian federal election, 1949|December 1949]]. Chifley suffered a 48-seat swing—still the worst defeat of an incumbent government at the federal level in Australia. Chifley was now aged 64 and in poor health (like Curtin he was a lifelong smoker), but he refused to retire. Labor had retained control of the [[Australian Senate|Senate]], and Chifley 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 [[Australian Communist Party v Commonwealth|thrown out]] by the High Court) |
|||
However, when Chifley rejected Menzies' banking bill a few months later, Menzies called a double dissolution election in [[Australian federal election, 1951|April 1951]]. He succeeded in winning control of both Houses at the election. |
|||
[[Image:BenChifely lyinginstate 1951.jpg|right|thumb|Chifley's casket [[Lying in state|Lay in state]] in Old Parliament House, June 1951.]] |
|||
A few weeks later Chifley died of a heart attack in his room at the Kurrajong Hotel in [[Canberra]] (he had lived there throughout his prime ministership, having refused to reside at [[The Lodge (Australia)|The Lodge]]). Menzies heard of Chifley's demise while attending an official event at the Albert Hall in Canberra, to mark fifty years of [[Australian Federation]]. Normally impassive, "Ming the Merciless" (as his foes called him) had difficulty on this occasion in fighting back tears; and he ordered that the function be brought to an end, in homage to his predecessor and adversary, whom (for all the previous decade's political quarrels) he had never ceased to respect as a person. |
|||
=="Chifley legend"== |
|||
[[Image:BenChifley3.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Chifley in the 1940s]] |
|||
<!-- Like Curtin, Chifley has been made a [[secular saint]] by the labour movement, but the basis of the "Chifley legend" is somewhat different. Curtin is remembered mainly for his wartime leadership and forging the US-Australia Alliance. Chifley is remembered by the left as the only Labor Prime Minister who tried to implement the party's socialist objective. NOTE: This is pretty obvious POV. --> |
|||
More than 30 years after his death, Chifley's name still aroused partisan passions. In 1987 the [[New South Wales]] [[Government of New South Wales|Labor government]] decided to name the planned new university in Sydney's western suburbs Chifley University. When, in 1989, a new Liberal government renamed it the [[University of Western Sydney]], controversy broke out. According to a debate on the topic, held in 1997 after the Labor Party had regained government, the decision to rename Chifley University reflected a desire to attach the name of Western Sydney to institutions of lasting significance, and that idea ultimately received the support of [[Bob Carr]], later the [[Premier of New South Wales]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/Parlment/HansArt.nsf/0/ca256d11000bd3aa4a25656e000f21b6?OpenDocument |title=University of Western Sydney Bill - 19/11/1997 - 2R - NSW Parliament |publisher=Parliament.nsw.gov.au |date=1997-11-19 |accessdate=2010-04-18}}</ref> |
|||
Chifley had lived apart from his wife for many years: his secretary, Phyllis Donnelly, was with him when he died. Long-held suspicions that she had been his lover were confirmed in [[David Day (Australian)|David Day]]'s 2001 biography. |
|||
[[Image:Ben Chifley bust.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Bust of sixteenth Prime Minister of Australia Ben Chifley by sculptor Ken Palmer located in the [[Prime Minister's Avenue]] in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens]] |
|||
==The light on the hill== |
|||
"I try to think of the [[Australian labour movement|labour movement]], not as putting an extra sixpence into somebody's pocket, or making somebody Prime Minister or Premier, but as a movement bringing something better to the people, better standards of living, greater happiness to the mass of the people. We have a great objective - the light on the hill - which we aim to reach by working the betterment of mankind not only here but anywhere we may give a helping hand. If it were not for that, the Labour movement would not be worth fighting for." (excerpt from "[[The light on the hill|The Light on the Hill]]" speech, 12 June 1949) |
|||
==Honours== |
|||
Places and institutions have been named after Chifley. The main library of the [[Australian National University]], Chifley Library, is named after him. There is an Australian hotel chain, a central Sydney building and square, and two suburbs (in [[Canberra]] and [[Sydney]]), named after him. Several [[List of Government schools in New South Wales|public]] [[high school#Australia|high schools]] in Western Sydney are now known as [[Chifley College]], as well as a grouping of [[dormitory|dormitories]] from the Bathurst campus for [[Charles Sturt University|CSU]] collectively named as Chifley Halls in 2007. Many of his reforms also remain in place. |
|||
In 1975 he was honoured on a [[postage stamp]] bearing his portrait issued by [[Australia Post]].<ref>http://www.australianstamp.com/images/large/0011200.jpg</ref> |
|||
==See also== |
|||
{{Commonscat}} |
|||
*[[First Chifley Ministry]] |
|||
*[[Second Chifley Ministry]] |
|||
*[[1949 Australian coal strike]] |
|||
*[[The light on the hill]] |
|||
==Notes and references== |
|||
<!--<nowiki> |
|||
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how |
|||
to generate footnotes using the <ref> and </ref> tags, and the template below |
|||
</nowiki>--> |
|||
{{reflist}} |
|||
==Bibliography== |
|||
* Duncan, Bruce, ''Crusade or conspiracy?: Catholics and the anti-communist struggle in Australia'', UNSW Press, 2001, ISBN 0868407313 |
|||
==Further reading== |
|||
* Chifley, Ben (1952), ''Things Worth Fighting For'' (collected speeches), Melbourne University Press, Parkville, Victoria. |
|||
* [[Finlay Crisp|Crisp, L.F.]] (1961), ''Ben Chifley: A Political Biography'', Longman, Green and Co, Melbourne, Victoria. |
|||
* [[David Day (historian)|Day, David]] (2001), ''Chifley'', HarperCollins, 2001 |
|||
* [[Colin Hughes|Hughes, Colin A]] (1976), ''Mr Prime Minister. Australian Prime Ministers 1901-1972'', Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Victoria, Ch.17. ISBN 0 19 550471 2 |
|||
* [[Norman Makin|Makin, Norman]] (1961), ''Federal Labour Leaders'', Union Printing, Sydney, New South Wales, Pages 122-131. |
|||
* Waterson, Duncan (1993), ''Australian Dictionary of Biography Vol. 13 A-D pp. 412–420'', Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Victoria. |
|||
==External links== |
|||
* [http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/meetpm.asp?pmId=16 Ben Chifley] - Australia's Prime Ministers / National Archives of Australia |
|||
* [http://www.chifley.org.au/index.php Chifley Research Centre] |
|||
* [http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/schoolfind/locator/summaryschool.php?selectOption=8488&district=Mount%20Druitt Chifley College, Sydney] |
|||
{{s-start}} |
|||
{{s-off}} |
|||
{{s-bef|before=[[John Daly (Australian politician)|John Daly]]}} |
|||
{{s-ttl|title=[[Minister for Defence (Australia)|Minister for Defence]]|years=1931–1932}} |
|||
{{s-aft|after=[[George Pearce]]}} |
|||
{{s-bef|before=[[Arthur Fadden|Sir Arthur Fadden]]}} |
|||
{{s-ttl|title=[[Treasurer of Australia]]|years=1941–1949}} |
|||
{{s-aft|after=[[Arthur Fadden|Sir Arthur Fadden]]}} |
|||
{{s-bef|before=[[Frank Forde]]}} |
|||
{{s-ttl|title=[[Prime Minister of Australia]]|years=1945–1949}} |
|||
{{s-aft|after=[[Robert Menzies]]}} |
|||
{{s-bef|before=[[Robert Menzies]]}} |
|||
{{s-ttl|title=[[Opposition (Australia)|Leader of the Opposition]]|years=1949–1951}} |
|||
{{s-aft|after=[[H.V. Evatt]]}} |
|||
{{s-par|au}} |
|||
{{s-bef|before=[[Arthur Manning]]}} |
|||
{{s-ttl|title=Member for [[Division of Macquarie|Macquarie]]|years=1928–1931}} |
|||
{{s-aft|after=[[John Lawson (Australian politician)|John Lawson]]}} |
|||
{{s-bef|before=[[John Lawson (Australian politician)|John Lawson]]}} |
|||
{{s-ttl|title=Member for [[Division of Macquarie|Macquarie]]|years=1940–1951}} |
|||
{{s-aft|after=[[Anthony Luchetti]]}} |
|||
{{s-ppo}} |
|||
{{s-bef|before=[[John Curtin]]}} |
|||
{{s-ttl|title=[[Australian Labor Party|Leader of the Australian Labor Party]]|years=1945–1951}} |
|||
{{s-aft|after=[[H.V. Evatt]]}} |
|||
{{end}} |
|||
{{Prime Ministers of Australia}} |
|||
{{Leaders of the Australian Labor Party}} |
|||
<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] --> |
|||
{{Persondata |
|||
|NAME = Chifley, Ben |
|||
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Chifley, Joseph Benedict |
|||
|SHORT DESCRIPTION = Australian politician |
|||
|DATE OF BIRTH = 22 September 1885 |
|||
|PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Bathurst, New South Wales|Bathurst]], [[New South Wales]], [[Australia]] |
|||
|DATE OF DEATH = 13 June 1951 |
|||
|PLACE OF DEATH = [[Canberra]], [[Australian Capital Territory]], [[Australia]]}} |
|||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chifley, Ben}} |
|||
[[Category:1885 births]] |
|||
[[Category:1951 deaths]] |
|||
[[Category:Prime Ministers of Australia]] |
|||
[[Category:Australian Roman Catholics]] |
|||
[[Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction]] |
|||
[[Category:Treasurers of Australia]] |
|||
[[Category:Members of the Cabinet of Australia]] |
|||
[[Category:Australian Leaders of the Opposition]] |
|||
[[Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives]] |
|||
[[Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Macquarie]] |
|||
[[Category:Australian Labor Party politicians]] |
|||
[[Category:World War II political leaders]] |
|||
[[Category:Australian Roman Catholics]] |
|||
[[Category:Australian people of Irish descent]] |
|||
[[Category:Railroad engineers]] |
|||
[[de:Ben Chifley]] |
|||
[[fr:Ben Chifley]] |
|||
[[hi:बेन चिफ्ली]] |
|||
[[id:Joseph Benedict Chifley]] |
|||
[[it:Ben Chifley]] |
|||
[[mr:बेन चिफली]] |
|||
[[pl:Ben Chifley]] |
|||
[[ru:Чифли, Бен]] |
|||
[[simple:Ben Chifley]] |
|||
[[vi:Ben Chifley]] |
|||
[[yo:Ben Chifley]] |
|||
[[zh:約瑟夫·班納迪克特·奇夫利]] |
|||
Revision as of 04:50, 20 May 2010
{ban is F!@#kin gy