On 26 July , Australia is committed to ground operations in Korea. The act was then challenged in the High Court and, on 9 March , held to be unconstitutional. A referendum was held on 22 September on the issue of banning the Communist Party of Australia. A slim majority of Australians voted against the proposal. Petrov and his wife Evdokia were offered asylum in Australia in exchange for information about Soviet espionage.
This British operation involved the testing of four fission bombs. Nuclear tests continued at Maralinga until Bark petitions from the Yolngu people of Yirrkala were tabled on 14 and 28 August in the House of Representatives. They became the first traditional documents prepared by Indigenous Australians to be recognised by the Australian Parliament under Australian law. Selection of conscripts was based on date of birth drawn from a lottery, and conscripts were obliged to serve two years active service, followed by three years on the active reserve list.
When Robert Menzies was elected leader of the UAP, he inherited not only the prime ministership, but also leadership of a coalition. After the election, Menzies was forced to seek a double dissolution election for April , when the Labor controlled Senate refused to pass legislation to nationalise the banking system. The Liberal Country Coalition was returned with a reduced majority in the lower house, alleviated by control of the Senate.
The election became the Petrov poll, which Menzies narrowly won. He improved his position winning a snap election comfortably in against a divided Labor Party, and winning the first televised election in Following a recession and a very unpopular budget, the Coalition suffered heavy losses in , retaining a majority by only one seat.
In , the Coalition regained these losses in the House of Representatives. The early s saw a continued focus on security and defence but, by the second half of the decade, Menzies presided over cultural, economic and social legislation including broadcasting legislation, various banking acts, uniform divorce laws and electoral reforms.
Menzies was a parliamentary performer without peer; the Melbourne Herald journalist E. Menzies record-breaking term in government ended with his retirement on Australia Day , one of few Australian prime ministers to leave office on their own terms.
In he became Prime Minister. Less then six months later World War II broke out. As an inexperienced leader Menzies struggled to manage the UAP, which was divided over its war policies. In Menzies resigned and was replaced as prime minister by Arthur Fadden, leader of the Country Party. In , the Liberal Party, in coalition with the Country Party, won a resounding election victory, which began a period of Coalition Government that would last for 23 years.
Menzies then sought power to outlaw the Communist Party through a referendum in September The referendum on government power to ban the Communist Party occurred in a climate of mounting Cold War tension between Western and Soviet power blocs.
National Library of Australia This period was one of rapid development, almost continual economic growth, rising standards of living and very low below two per cent unemployment rates. Two major public spectacles of the mids became the focus of national attention, prompting outpourings of national sentiment — the Royal Tour of Queen Elizabeth II and Duke of Edinburgh in and the Melbourne Olympic Games in Both events were strongly promoted by the government.
Museum of Australian Democracy. As well as being Prime Minister, Menzies at different times held other ministerial and acting ministerial positions. Menzies travelled widely in Australia and overseas on government business. As such, he played an important ambassadorial role on behalf of both Australia and the Commonwealth of Nations.
One particularly important excursion abroad was his trip to Cairo in September as head of a five-nation delegation mediating in the Suez crisis. The commitment of the Menzies government to its alliances with the UK led to the establishment of UK nuclear weapon testing facilities in Australia.
The test program continued from — An increasingly close alliance with the USA resulted in the establishment of American military communications bases in the s as well as other defence and science installations. From the Menzies government sent military observers and then troops, including conscripts, to Vietnam to assist the South Vietnamese government and US military forces in the war against the Communists.
A devoted royalist, during his second period as prime minister Menzies received numerous honours and awards, including the imperial titles Companion of Honour , Knight of the Thistle , Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports , and Chief Commander US Legion of Merit , as well as 20 honorary doctorates. His total of 18 years as Prime Minister, and his unbroken year tenure of office during his second period in the position is the longest of all Australian Prime Ministers.
His second period as Prime Minister has remained an inspiration to Liberal Party members. Prime Minister Robert Menzies looking through a roll of steel at the official opening of the steel mills at Port Kembla. State Library of New South Wales. Recommend site Bookmark site! Sir Robert Menzies Print Page. History of The Rt. Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, K. Plaque : The Rt. Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.
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