Ben Chifley
Joseph Benedict Chifley was an Australian politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Australia from 1945 to 1949. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party, and was notable for defining Australia's post-war reconstruction efforts, enacting social and immigration reform and advancing the nationalisation of essential industries.
Chifley was born in Bathurst, New South Wales, and joined the New South Wales Government Railways after leaving school, eventually qualifying as an engine driver. Before entering politics, he was an organiser for the Federated Union of Locomotive Employees, and was also a director of The National Advocate. After several previous unsuccessful candidacies, Chifley was elected to parliament in the 1928 federal election. In 1931, he was appointed Minister for Defence in the government of James Scullin. He served in cabinet for less than a year before losing his seat at the 1931 federal election, which saw the government suffer an electoral wipeout.
After his electoral defeat, Chifley remained involved in politics as a party official, siding with the federal Labor leadership against the Lang Labor faction. He served on a royal commission into the banking system in 1935, and in 1940 became a senior public servant in the Department of Munitions. Chifley was re-elected to parliament later that year, on his third attempt since 1931. He was appointed Treasurer in the new Curtin government in 1941, as one of the few Labor MPs with previous ministerial experience. The following year Chifley was additionally made Minister for Postwar Reconstruction, making him one of the most powerful members of the government. He became prime minister following Curtin's death in office in 1945, defeating caretaker prime minister Frank Forde in a leadership ballot.
At the 1946 Australian federal election, Chifley was re-elected with a slightly reduced majority – the first time that an incumbent Labor government had won re-election. The war had ended a month after he took office, and over the following three years his government embarked on an ambitious program of social reforms and nation-building schemes. These included the expansion of the welfare state, increased the post-war immigration to Australia, and the establishment of the Australian National University, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, and the Snowy Mountains Scheme. Some of the new legislation was successfully challenged in the High Court, and as a result the constitution was amended to give the federal government extended powers over social services.
Some of Chifley's more interventionist economic policies were poorly received by Australian business, particularly an attempt to nationalise banks. His government was defeated at the 1949 Australian federal election, which brought Robert Menzies' Liberal Party to power for the first time. He stayed on as Leader of the Opposition until his death, which came a few months after the 1951 Australian federal election; Labor did not return to government until 1972. For his contributions to post-war prosperity, Chifley is often regarded as one of Australia's greatest prime ministers. He is held in particularly high regard by the Labor Party, with his "light on the hill" speech seen as seminal in both the history of the party and the broader Australian labour movement.
Early life
Chifley was born at 29 Havannah Street, Bathurst, New South Wales, on 22 September 1885. He was the first of three sons born to Roman Catholic parents: Mary Anne and Patrick Chifley II. His father, a blacksmith, was born in Bathurst to Irish immigrants from County Tipperary, while his mother was born in County Fermanagh, in present-day Northern Ireland.At the age of five, Chifley was sent to live with his widowed grandfather, Patrick Chifley I, who had a small farm at Limekilns, New South Wales, while his aunt, Mary Bridget Chifley, kept house for them. Chifley began his education at the local state school, which was known as a "half-time school" due to it being too small to offer daily classes; it shared a single teacher with a neighbouring community. He moved back to his parents' home at the age of 13, following his grandfather's death in January 1899, and attended a Patrician Brothers school for about two years. He was a voracious reader from a young age, and would later supplement his limited formal education by attending classes at night schools or mechanics' institutes.
After leaving school, Chifley's first job was as a cashier's assistant at a local department store. He later worked at a tannery for a period, and then in September 1903 joined the New South Wales Government Railways as a "shop boy" at the Bathurst locomotive shed. Over the following decade, he was promoted through the ranks to engine-cleaner and fireman, and then finally in March 1914 to engine-driver. The position of driver was considered relatively prestigious, and Chifley had to sit various examinations before being certified. He developed an intimate technical understanding of his locomotives, and became a lecturer and instructor at the Bathurst Railway Institute. Chifley drove both goods trains and passenger trains. He was based in Bathurst and worked on the Main Western railway, except for a few months in 1914 when he drove on the Main Southern railway and worked out of Harden, New South Wales.
Chifley became involved with the labour movement as a member of the Locomotive Enginemen's Association. He never held executive office, preferring to work as an organiser, but did serve as a divisional delegate to state and federal conferences. He developed a reputation for compromise, maintaining good relations with both the railway management and the more militant sections of the union. However, Chifley was one of the local leaders of the 1917 Australian general strike, and as a result was dismissed by NSWGR. He and most of the other strikers were eventually reinstated, but lost seniority and related privileges; Chifley was demoted from engine-driver to fireman. Despite repeated lobbying, their pre-1917 benefits were not restored until 1925. After the strike, the state government of William Holman also de-registered their union, placing it at a severe disadvantage against other railway unions. Chifley worked to secure its re-registration, which occurred in 1921, and was also involved in the formation of a national union – the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen – in 1920. He appeared as an expert witness before the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration in 1924, which subsequently implemented a new federal industrial award for the enginemen.
Early political involvement
Chifley joined the Australian Labor Party at a young age, and was involved in state and federal election campaigns as an organizer. In 1921, he replaced his father on the board of The National Advocate, a local newspaper that functioned as the mouthpiece of the labour movement. In 1922 and 1924, Chifley unsuccessfully contested Labor preselection for the NSW Electoral district of Bathurst. He was eventually chosen as the Labor candidate for the Division of Macquarie at the 1925 Australian federal election. Macquarie was a large and diverse electorate, covering an area from Bathurst east across the Blue Mountains to Penrith, on the outskirts of Sydney; it included industrial, agricultural, and mining districts in virtually equal measure. It was one of the most marginal seats in the country, and had last been won by Labor in 1919. Lacking name recognition, Chifley lost the election to the incumbent Nationalist MP, Arthur Manning. However, he reprised his candidacy in 1928, mounting a campaign that focused on the Bruce government's unpopular labour policies. He accused the government of endangering the White Australia policy by allowing Southern European migrant workers into the country, claiming it had "allowed so many dagoes and aliens in Australia that today they are all over the country taking work which rightly belongs to all Australians". The Labor Party recorded a 6.2-point swing in Macquarie, with Chifley becoming one of three candidates in New South Wales to win seats from the government.Early political career
At the 1929 election, Chifley was re-elected on a 10.7-point swing as Labor won a landslide victory. James Scullin became the new prime minister, the fourth member of his party to hold the office. As a backbencher with little parliamentary experience, Chifley did not stand for election to the Scullin Ministry, but did join the Public Accounts Committee. As the Great Depression worsened, he defended the government's economic response against criticism from two factions within his own party – economic conservatives led by Joseph Lyons and left-wing populists led by Jack Lang. His loyalty paid off in March 1931, when the Labor caucus chose him to fill one of the vacancies in cabinet caused by the resignations of Lyons and James Fenton. Scullin appointed him Minister for Defence, a portfolio that had been disregarded somewhat in the face of more pressing concerns. There was little appetite for policy development, and Chifley instead concentrated on finding savings in his department that could be redirected to unemployment relief. He opened up unused military camps to the homeless, and also distributed surplus military clothing.Chifley was somewhat reluctant in his support of the Premiers' Plan, but believed there was no better alternative and felt bound by the principle of cabinet solidarity. His endorsement of the plan, which required cuts to wages and pensions, was received poorly in his own constituency. Many in the local labour movement defected to Lang Labor, which opposed the plan, and his own union expelled him in August 1931. Joseph Lyons reportedly offered Chifley the treasurership as an inducement to join the new United Australia Party ; Chifley declined and remained a member of the Labor Party. At the 1931 election, Chifley suffered a negative swing of 16.2 points in Macquarie, losing his seat to John Lawson, the UAP candidate, by just 456 votes on the final count. The Labor Party was reduced to 14 seats out of 75 in the House of Representatives, with five other ministers and future prime minister John Curtin also losing their seats.