Ben Chifley

The Right Honourable Ben Chifley
16th Prime Minister of Australia Elections: 1946, 1949, 1951
In office 13 July 1945 – 19 December 1949
Monarch	George VI
Governor-General	The Duke of Gloucester Sir William McKell
Deputy	Frank Forde H. V. Evatt
Preceded by	Frank Forde
Succeeded by	Robert Menzies
Leader of the Labor Party
In office 13 July 1945 – 13 June 1951
Deputy	Frank Forde H. V. Evatt
Preceded by	John Curtin
Succeeded by	H. V. Evatt
Treasurer of Australia
In office 7 October 1941 – 18 December 1949
Prime Minister	John Curtin Frank Forde Ben Chifley
Preceded by	Arthur Fadden
Succeeded by	Sir Arthur Fadden
Leader of the Opposition
In office 19 December 1949 – 13 June 1951
Prime Minister	Robert Menzies
Deputy	H. V. Evatt
Preceded by	Robert Menzies
Succeeded by	H. V. Evatt
Minister for Postwar Reconstruction
In office 22 December 1942 – 2 February 1945
Prime Minister	John Curtin
Preceded by	Office Created
Succeeded by	Office Abolished
Minister for Defence
In office 3 March 1931 – 6 January 1932
Prime Minister	James Scullin
Preceded by	John Daly
Succeeded by	George Pearce
Member of the Australian Parliament for Macquarie
In office 21 September 1940 – 13 June 1951
Preceded by	John Lawson
Succeeded by	Tony Luchetti
In office 17 November 1928 – 19 December 1931
Preceded by	Arthur Manning
Succeeded by	John Lawson
Personal details
Born	(1885-09-22)22 September 1885 Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia
Died	13 June 1951(1951-06-13) (aged 65) Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Political party	Labor
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth McKenzie
Profession	Politician, Engine driver and Trade unionist
Religion	Roman Catholic

Joseph Benedict "Ben" Chifley (/ˈtʃɪfli/; 22 September 1885 – 13 June 1951) was an Australian politician who was the 16th Prime Minister of Australia from 1945 to 1949. He became Leader of the Labor Party on the death of John Curtin, and went on to retain a majority in both Houses of the Australian Parliament at the 1946 election, before his government was defeated at the 1949 election. The radical reforming nature of the Chifley Government was such that, between 1946 and 1949, the Australian Parliament passed 299 Acts, a record up until then, and well beyond the previous record of the Labor Government of Andrew Fisher, which passed 113 Acts from 1910 to 1913.^[1]

Amongst the Chifley Labor Government's legislation was the post-war immigration scheme, the establishment of Australian citizenship, the Snowy Mountains Scheme, over-viewing the foundation of airlines Qantas and TAA, improvements in social services,^[2] the creation of the Commonwealth Employment Service,^[3] the introduction of federal funds to the States for public housing construction,^[4] the establishment of a Universities Commission for the expansion of university education,^[5] the introduction of a Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and free hospital ward treatment,^[3] the reorganisation and enlargement of the CSIRO, the establishment of a civilian rehabilitation service,^[6] the founding of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), and the establishment of the Australian National University.^[7]

One of the few successful referendums to modify the Australian Constitution, the 1946 Social Services referendum, took place during Chifley's term.^[8][9][10]

Early life

Born on 22 September 1885^[11] in Bathurst, New South Wales,^[8] Chifley was the son of a blacksmith of Irish Roman Catholic descent. Chifley was raised mostly by his grandfather for nine years. His grandfather had lost his savings in the bank crash of 1892/93, and Chifley acquired a lifelong dislike of private banks at an early age. He was educated at Roman Catholic schools in Bathurst and joined the New South Wales Railways at age 15. Chifley became an engine driver. He was one of the founders of the AFULE (the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen)^[12] and an active member of the Labor Party. In 1914 he married Elizabeth McKenzie, a staunch Presbyterian. The couple exchanged wedding vows in a Presbyterian church. Chifley remained a practising Catholic, but his marriage to a non-Catholic ignited criticism in certain Roman Catholic circles.^[13] In 1917 he was one of the leaders of a prolonged strike, which resulted in his dismissal. He was reinstated by Jack Lang's New South Wales Labor government. Chifley represented his union before industrial tribunals and taught himself industrial law.

Parliament

Chifley in the 1930s

In 1928, at his second try, Chifley won the seat of Macquarie in the House of Representatives, which covered Bathurst, Lithgow, and the Blue Mountains. He was in general a supporter of the James Scullin government's economic policies, and in 1931 he became Minister for Defence. At the 1931 general election, the Scullin government was defeated in a landslide and Chifley lost his seat on a 16-point swing to the UAP's John Lawson. During the Depression he survived on his wife's family's money and his part-ownership of the Bathurst newspaper the National Advocate.

In 1935 the 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.

After an unsuccessful effort to win back Macquarie in 1934, Chifley finally won his seat back in 1940 on a swing of 10 percent, and the following year he became Treasurer (finance minister) in John Curtin's Labor government. Although Frank Forde was nominally the number-two-man in the government, Chifley became the minister Curtin most relied on. 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

Chifley (middle) and Bert Evatt (left) with Clement Attlee (right) at the Dominion and British Leaders Conference, London, 1946

When Curtin died in July 1945, Forde became Prime Minister for eight days. Chifley defeated him in the leadership ballot, replacing him as Prime Minister and Curtin as Labor leader. Once the war ended a month later, normal political life resumed, and Chifley faced Robert Menzies and his new Liberal Party in the 1946 election, which Chifley won with 54 percent of the two-party-preferred vote. It was the first time that a Labor government had been elected to a second full term. In the post-war years, Chifley maintained wartime economic controls, including the highly unpopular petrol rationing. He did this partly to help Britain in its postwar economic difficulties.

Chifley (left) meets with Premier of South Australia Tom Playford (centre) and Governor of South Australia Sir Willoughby Norrie (right) in 1946

Legislative achievements

Feeling secure in power, Chifley decided it was time to advance towards Labor's objective of democratic socialism. According to a biographer of Chifley, his government embarked upon greater "general intervention and planning in economic and social affairs", with its policies directed towards better conditions in the workplace, full employment, and an improvement in the "equalisation of wealth, income and opportunity".^[3] Chifley was successful in transforming the wartime economy into a peacetime economy, and undertook a number of social welfare initiatives,^[14][15][16] as characterised by fairer pensions and unemployment and sickness benefits, the construction of new universities and technical colleges, and the building of 200,000 houses between 1945 and 1949.^[17]

Among other measures, the Chifley government passed legislation to establish a universal public health system modeled on the British National Health Service, including a free formulary of essential medicines.^[18] This was successfully opposed in the Australian High Court by the British Medical Association (precursor of the Australian Medical Association).^[19] Chifley then organised one of the few successful constitutional referenda to insert a new section 51xxiiiA which permitted federal legislation over pharmaceutical benefits,^[20] together with family allowances, benefits to students and hospital benefits, child endowment, widows' pensions, unemployment benefits, and maternity allowances.^[21] The subsequent federal legislation in relation to pharmaceutical benefits was deemed constitutional by the High Court.^[22] This paved the way for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme,^[23] an important component of Australia's modern public health system.

The 1946 referendum made possible many of the Chifley Labor government's other legislative initiatives in social welfare and social provision, including the following:

• in 1946, concessional rate radio licences were introduced for age and invalid pensioners. These concessions were later extended to widow pensioners and also to television licences;^[24]
• in 1947, specific racial disqualifications other than those referring to Aboriginal Australians were removed, while the Wife's Allowance became payable to de facto wives who had lived with the pensioner for at least three years.^[14] That same year, eligibility for a Class D pension was extended to women whose husbands were imprisoned for six months or more and were over 50 years old;^[25]
• from July 1947, a prepayment of Maternity Allowance of five pounds could be made up to four weeks before the expected date of delivery, while the Act was amended to provide for an allowance of five pounds for each child in excess of one born from a single confinement (rather than there being separate rates for twins and so on). In addition, eligibility was extended to a mother who was an alien if she had 12 months residence;^[26]
• in 1947, eligibility for Child's Allowance was extended to those wives whose husbands were in benevolent asylums and to single invalid pensioners of either sex who had the custody, care and control of a child aged under the age of 16. Additional Benefit of five shillings per week for the first child became available to a beneficiary making regular contributions of not less than five shillings towards the maintenance of such a child, in addition to the person having the control, care, and custody of the child).^[27] Amendments were also made to legislation on Child Endowment to allow Australians temporarily absent from Australia and newly arrived migrants to receive the benefit;^[28]
• from July 1947, funeral benefits could be paid in respect of claimants for Age Pension or Invalid Pension who would have qualified had they lived.^[29] Under the Social Services Consolidation Act of 1947, an additional benefit became payable in cases where a man with one or more dependent children under the age of 16 had a housekeeper who was substantially dependent on him but not employed by him, where he was not receiving benefit for his wife; a partial additional benefit became payable for a partially dependent spouse; and wives legally separated or likely to be permanently living apart from their husbands became eligible for benefit;^[30]
• the creation of the Commonwealth Employment Service,^[3]
• the introduction of federal funds to the States for public housing construction,^[4]
• the Acoustic Laboratories Act, passed in 1948,^[31] established the Commonwealth Acoustic Laboratories to undertake scientific investigations into hearing and problems associated with noise as it affects individuals;^[32]
• although it failed in its attempts to establish a national health service, the Chifley Government was successful in making arrangements with the states to upgrade the quality and availability of hospital treatment. The Mental Institutions Benefits Act (1948) paid the states a benefit equal to the charges upon the relatives of mental hospital patients, in return for free treatment. This legislation marked the entry of the Commonwealth into mental health funding.^[33]

The achievements of both Chifley's government and those of the previous Curtin Government in expanding Australia's social welfare services (as characterised by a tenfold increase in commonwealth expenditure on social provision between 1941 and 1949)^[34] were brought together under the Social Services Consolidation Act of 1947,^[21] which consolidated the various social services benefits, liberalised some existing social security provisions, and increased the rates of various benefits.^[6]

Among the government's other legislative achievements were:

• the establishment of a separate Australian citizenship in 1948;
• the Snowy Mountains Scheme^[2] The aim was to reduce the country's reliance on coal-fired electricity. Militant mining unions had caused industrial upsets for decades previously. The infamous coal strike of 1949 was ended by Army intervention;
• nationalisation of Qantas in 1947 and establishment of TAA in 1946. Small at first these two model-of-efficiency airlines were later greatly expanded by conservative governments, who kept a tight quota on the number of airliners purchased;
• the reorganisation and enlargement of the CSIRO;
• the establishment of a civilian rehabilitation service;^[6]
• the founding of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO);
• a Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme was established to provide ex-servicemen with the opportunity to complete or undertake a university education. An interim five-year scholarship scheme was also established to encourage other able students to attend universities and annual grants to the universities to provide the staff and accommodation for the influx of assisted students and ex-servicemen.^[35]
• tertiary education was also expanded through the establishment of the Australian National University and the Commonwealth Education Office.^[10] The Australian National University Act was passed to provide post-graduate facilities in Australia and to augment the supply of staff for the universities.^[7][35]
• returned soldiers were also provided with a war gratuity and entitlement to special unemployment allowances, loans, vocational training, and preference in employment for seven years. Soldier settlement schemes were better organized than their earlier equivalents, which had brought about a great deal of hardship throughout the Twenties and thirties;^[36]
• the Rivers and Foreshores Improvement Act 1948 was passed with the intention of providing for "the carrying out of works for the removal of obstructions from and the improvement of rivers and foreshores and the prevention of erosion of lands by tidal and non-tidal waters";^[37]
• the Dairy Industry Fund was established in July 1948 with the purpose of stabilising returns from exports;^[38]
• in 1948, unmatched grants to the States were introduced to assist them in expanding their agricultural extension activities.^[39]
• the establishment of a Coal Industry Tribunal and a Joint Coal Board (both in 1946) also brought significant gains for miners; and
• life insurance came to be comprehensively regulated.

Chifley in the 1940s

The radical reforming nature of Chifley's government was such that between 1946 and 1949, the Australian Parliament enacted 299 bills, a record at that time.^[21] Chifley and his ministers were able to ensure that Australia's wartime economy was managed effectively and that post-war debts were minimised. In addition, ex-service personnel were eased back into civilian life (avoiding the hardship and dislocation that had occurred after the end of the First World War), while a series of liberal measures were carried out which bore fruit during the economic boom of the Fifties and Sixties.^[10] As noted by one historian, Chifley's government "balanced economic development and welfare support with restraint and regulation and provided the framework for Australia's post-war economic prosperity."^[7]

Bank nationalisation and 1949 coal strike

In 1947, Chifley announced the government's intention to nationalise the banks. This provoked massive opposition from the press, and middle-class opinion turned against Labor. The High Court found Chifley's legislation to be unconstitutional. The government appealed the decision in the Privy Council, but it upheld the High Court's decision.

Chifley's government did, however, succeed in passing the Banking and Commonwealth Bank Acts of 1945, which gave the government control over monetary policy and established the Commonwealth Bank as Australia's national bank.^[7]

A prolonged and bitter strike in the coal industry began in June 1949 and caused unemployment and hardship. Chifley saw the strike as a move by the 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 Liberal election victory at the 1949 election. While Labor won an additional four seats in a House of Representatives that had been expanded from 74 seats to 121 seats, Menzies and the Coalition won an additional 48.

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 in 1950. He expected Chifley to reject it and give him an excuse to call a 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 after a redraft (it was ultimately thrown out by the High Court). However, when Chifley rejected Menzies' Commonwealth Banking Bill a few months later, Menzies called a double dissolution election for April 1951. 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.

Death

Chifley's coffin lay in state in Old Parliament House, June 1951.

A few weeks later, Chifley suffered a heart attack in his room at the Hotel Kurrajong in Canberra (he had lived there throughout his political career, having refused to reside at The Lodge while Prime Minister).

Chifley at first made light of the sudden heart attack and attempted to dissuade his secretary and confidante, Phyllis Donnelly, who was making him a cup of tea, from calling a doctor. As his condition deteriorated, however, Donnelly called Dr. John Holt, who ordered Chifley's immediate removal to hospital. Chifley died in an ambulance on the way to the Canberra Community Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 10:45 pm.^[40] Prime Minister Menzies heard of Chifley's demise while attending a parliamentary ball at King's Hall in Parliament House to celebrate the 50th Jubilee of Federation (Chifley was invited but had declined to attend). Menzies was deeply distressed and abandoned his normally impassive demeanour to announce in a halting subdued voice:

It is my very sorrowful duty during this celebration tonight to tell you that Mr. Chifley has died. I don't want to try to talk about him now because, although we were political opponents, he was a friend of mine and yours, and a fine Australian. You will all agree that in the circumstances the festivities should end. It doesn't matter about party politics on an occasion such as this. Oddly enough, in Parliament we get on very well. We sometimes find we have the warmest friendships among people whose politics are not ours. Mr Chifley served this country magnificently for years.^[41]

Legacy

Mrs Elizabeth Chifley, wife of Ben Chifley.

More than 30 years after his death, Chifley's name still aroused partisan passions. In 1987 the 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.^[42]

Honours

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

Places and institutions that have been named after Chifley include:

• the suburb of Chifley in Canberra
• the suburb of Chifley in Sydney
• the Division of Chifley, a federal electorate
• his former house in Bathurst, now the Chifley Home and Education Centre^[43]
• Chifley Library, the main library of the Australian National University, Canberra
• Chifley Tower and Chifley Square in Sydney
• Chifley Cave (formerly the Left Imperial Cave), one of the Jenolan Caves in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales^[44]
• several public high schools in Western Sydney are now known as Chifley College
• a grouping of dormitories at the Bathurst campus of Charles Sturt University are collectively named as Chifley Halls
• an Australian hotel chain.

In 1975 he was honoured on a postage stamp bearing his portrait issued by Australia Post.

One of the locomotives driven by Chifley, 5112, is preserved on a plinth at the eastern end of Bathurst Railway Station.

See also

• Chifley Government
• First Chifley Ministry
• Second Chifley Ministry
• 1949 Australian coal strike
• The light on the hill

References

Bibliography

• Duncan, Bruce, Crusade or conspiracy?: Catholics and the anti-communist struggle in Australia, UNSW Press, 2001, ISBN 0-86840-731-3

Further reading

• Chifley, Ben (1952), Things Worth Fighting For (collected speeches), Melbourne University Press, Parkville, Victoria.
• Crisp, L.F. (1961), Ben Chifley: A Political Biography, Longman, Green and Co, Melbourne, Victoria.
• Day, David (2001), Chifley, HarperCollins, 2001
• Hughes, Colin A (1976), Mr Prime Minister. Australian Prime Ministers 1901–1972, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Victoria, Ch.17. ISBN 0-19-550471-2
• 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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ben Chifley.

• "Ben Chifley". Australia's Prime Ministers. National Archives of Australia. Archived from the original on 5 July 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2010. 

Waterson, D.B. (1993). "Chifley, Joseph Benedict (1885–1951)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: Australian National University. Retrieved 29 June 2010. 

• "Ben Chifley". National Museum of Australia. Retrieved 29 June 2010. 
• Chifley Research Centre
• Chifley College, Sydney
• National Museum of Australia Chifley memorabilia: Ben Chifley's Akubra hat