October 1941 - John Curtin as PM
The beginning of Labor's golden age
In October 1941, John Curtin was sworn in as PM.
Australia was at war. The threat of war in the Pacific loomed. The conservative United Australia Party and Country Party coalition had lost its credibility.
Curtin came to office at a pivotal moment in Australia’s history. Last week, I explored how Curtin was elected as Labor leader in 1935 by just one vote. This is the story of the two votes that made Curtin PM, changing the course of our history.
October 1941 – Prime Minister Curtin
Six years after being elected as Labor leader, Curtin faced the extraordinary challenge of being elevated to national leadership amid the crisis of the Second World War.
Earlier that year Robert Menzies had resigned as Prime Minister. His devotion to Britain and his faith that it would be able to protect Australia was proven false. He was unable to provide the leadership Australia needed, and it showed. Members of his own conservative United Australia Party had turned against him. He was replaced by the Country Party’s Arthur Fadden.
Fadden led the divided Country Party-UAP government for 39 days. When Australia needed unity, vision, and purpose, the conservatives were divided, short-sighted, and obsessed with themselves.
Curtin was wracked with reluctance and self-doubt: was he really up to the moment? He did not grasp greedily for power. But when responsibility came, he accepted it.
Fadden governed in the minority – relying on the support of two independent MPs. By October 1941 they had become convinced that the conservatives could not provide the leadership Australia needed. They were ready to switch support. Curtin moved an amendment to reduce the government’s budget by £1. The independents voted with Labor on the 3rd of October.
Curtin and his government were sworn in on 7 October. The years ahead were ones of collective sacrifice, but also promise. The promise that there would be a better tomorrow, a new dawn after the war was won: Reconstruction.
As wartime leader, Curtin promised that the toil and hardship required from the Australian people would be redeemed. A more equitable country would be built after the war. He promised “Victory in war – Victory for the Peace.”
Even while the war was still being waged, his government set in train the postwar reconstruction era that led to full employment, growing prosperity, and the expansion of the welfare state. This was an unprecedented improvement in the lives of millions.
Curtin died on 5 July 1945, and was widely considered to have been a casualty of the war. After a lifetime campaigning for the social conditions that he believed would lead to enduring peace, Curtin’s tragedy is that he did not govern for a single day in peacetime. But his government lay the basis for the post-war reconstruction project that was pursued by his successor Ben Chifley.
Both Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke contended John Curtin is the greatest Prime Minister Australia has had. For more on Curtin’s political life you can read my comparative biography of Curtin and James Scullin as young men, Becoming John Curtin and James Scullin (Melbourne University Press: 2020). Find out more: https://www.mup.com.au/books/becoming-john-curtin-and-james-scullin-paperback-softback