A nice story came up at the Sydney Institute last night when a historian told the story of the referendum to get a green light for Menzies to ban the Communist Party.
Arthur Caldwell, not yet leader of the ALP was on a stump or soap box in Sydney with the local member Eddie Ward beside him. [Curtin dismissed Ward as a "bloody ratbag"].
Calwell urged a NO vote on the (mistaken) ground that a Yes would change the Constitution and give the Government of the moment dangerous powers that could only be removed with another referendum.
“Would you trust me to have that much power?” shouted Arthur.
Someone in the crowd replied “Yes, I would trust you Arthur”.
Arthur, in desperation, with a gesture towards the local member “But would you trust Eddie Ward?”
It’s Calwell Rafe. The last ALP federal leader who had a good measure of integrity and an understanding and feeling of empathy with the workers.
And why is it not correct to say that a change to the Constitution can only be removed by a later referendum? If you mean that the Menzies referendum should have got up, then you are mistaken. Many Liberals at the time disagreed with Menzies.
rafiki
24 Jul 12 at 12:50 pm
At The “Brisbane Line” – A Study in Wartime Politics we can read:
‘But would you trust Eddie Ward?‘ No! Because Eddie may have been beholding to an overseas power.
stackja
24 Jul 12 at 12:58 pm
Stackja, that is a pretty atrocious mis-reading of the paragraph.
Eddie Ward maintained that the previousgovernments had in place a plan to withdraw from large parts of Australia were there an invasion. This is correlated in the next sentence describing the various UAP leaders denying the existence of such a plan.
JJP
24 Jul 12 at 1:20 pm
Thanks rafiki, a referendum is required to change the Constitution, when the Constitution is not at stake it is a plebiscite, like the Conscription “referendums” of WWI.
The Menzies plebiscite went down by 49.5 to 50.5 after it looked like a landslide Yes vote up to the last week.
Poor Old Rafe
24 Jul 12 at 5:01 pm
eddie ward was old school labor: a real hater. His highest contempt was for those who he considered had betrayed the working class.
Near the end, when asked when he knew that his health was failing, he said it was when he “took a swing at Gough Whitlam, and missed.”
Jim Rose
24 Jul 12 at 5:35 pm
I like Eddie Ward: Amid searing exchanges on conscription, Curtin broke down after Ward accused him of ‘putting young men into the slaughterhouse, although thirty years ago you would not go into it yourself’.
see http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ward-edward-john-eddie-11959
Jim Rose
24 Jul 12 at 5:37 pm
JJP
Army plan not government plan.
“It was in these circumstances that Mackay turned to his task. In his planning he was bound to accept the existing doctrine that there were certain areas vital to the continuance of the economic life of Australia which must be held and to be guided by the arrangements designed to give effect to that doctrine.”
stackja
25 Jul 12 at 5:29 pm