John grey gorton biography of barack

He gave up the deputy leadership four days later. During his years as a member of the Opposition, Gorton also supported abortion law reform and homosexual law john grey gorton biography of barack. Gorton then stood unsuccessfully as an independent Senate candidate for the Australian Capital Territory at the general election on 13 December Gorton retired from politics after the elections and lived quietly in Canberra, occasionally making headlines through interviews granted to journalists.

After the death of his first wife inGorton married Nancy Home in Explore more Prime Ministers. The National Museum of Australia acknowledges First Australians and recognises their continuous connection to Country, community and culture. Prime Ministers of Australia John Gorton. John Gorton. Gorton's entry into federal politics Gorton successfully stood as senate candidate for Victoria at the general election in December Demonstrators at a Vietnam moratorium, Melbourne, Australian War Memorial P Gorton's later political life McMahon won the Liberal party vote for the leadership and thus became Prime Minister in March Guard it as we have guarded it, use it as we can no longer use it, and with it as a foundation, build.

Build a world in which meanness and poverty, tyranny and hate, have no existence. If you see and hear these men behind me - do not fail them. Gorton's next major speech was made in Septemberat a rally against the Chifley government 's attempt to nationalise private banks. He told the crowd in Kerang that they should oppose the establishment of banks run by politicians, and objected in particular to the government's decision not to take the issue to a referendum.

Gorton had been a supporter of the Country Party before the war, along with most of his neighbours. Over time, he became frustrated with the party's frequent squabbles with the Liberal Party and its willingness to cooperate with the Labor Party. At some point he was introduced to Magnus Cormackthe state president of the Liberals, who became something of a mentor.

It was a safe Country Party seat, and at the preceding three elections no other parties had bothered to field a candidate. The result impressed the LCP's leadership, [ 39 ] and the following month he was preselected in third place on its joint Senate ticket with the Country Party. He was relatively unknown within the party, and his rural background was a major factor in his selection.

Gorton's term in the Senate began on 22 February Gorton's early speeches on domestic policy foreshadowed the stances and policy initiatives he would later adopt as prime minister, such as economic nationalism, support for a strong central government, and support for nuclear energy. One of his first notable actions in the Senate came in Novemberwhen he successfully moved a motion opposing "any substantial measure of ownership or control over any Australian broadcasting station" being granted to non-Australians.

From toGorton served on the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, including as chairman for a period. He developed a keen interest in Asia, which was rooted in his anti-communism, and joined parliamentary delegations to Malaya, South Vietnam, Thailandand the Philippines. Gorton was elevated to the ministry after the electionas Minister for the Navy.

This was a junior position subordinate to the Minister for Defence, Athol Townley. Although his promotion was unexpected, [ 48 ] he would serve as Minister for the Navy for more than five years, the longest-serving navy minister in Australia's history. He was able to secure most elements of the board's desired modernisation program, despite Townley showing more interest in the air force.

During Gorton's tenure, the navy acquired four Australian-built frigates and six British-built minesweepers, as well as placing orders for three Charles F. Adams -class destroyers and four Oberon -class submarines. He postponed the phasing out of the Fleet Air Armdue to occur inand secured the purchase of 27 Westland Wessex helicopters. Gorton was a supporter and admirer of Robert Menzies, who was sympathetic to his ambitions for higher office and assigned him additional responsibilities.

Inhe was tasked with securing the passage of the Matrimonial Causes Bill, which introduced uniform divorce laws; he described it as "a systematic attempt to make a new approach to the problem of divorce". The bill was opposed by religious conservatives mostly Catholics on both sides of politics, but it eventually passed the Senate with only a single amendment.

After the electionGorton relinquished the navy portfolio and was placed in charge of the government's activities in education and scientific research. Menzies had a personal interest in education, having previously handled the portfolio himself, [ c ] and told Gorton that it should be his primary focus. Gorton was john grey gorton biography of barack to cabinet[ 55 ] and at the end of the year was given the title Minister for Education and Science.

He was placed in charge of the new Department of Education and Sciencethe first time those portfolios had been given a separate department at federal level. Gorton presided over a "major intrusion" of the federal government into the education sector. He believed that private schools should have equal access to federal government funding, and in announced that the government would fund science laboratories for private schools.

He announced that the federal government would fund technical colleges on a pro-rata basis with the states, [ 61 ] and personally oversaw the establishment of the Canberra College of Advanced Education, the forerunner of the University of Canberra. Holt had provided vague and inaccurate answers to parliamentary questions about the VIP fleet, notably denying the existence of passenger manifests which might confirm instances of misuse.

Gorton, who had just replaced Denham Henty as Leader of the Government in the Senate on 16 October, helped resolve the situation by tabling the "missing" passenger manifests in their entirety on 25 October. He did so on the grounds that the government could not maintain such a cover-up. Gorton's act has been credited for helping thrust him into general public view; boosting his standing among his parliamentary colleagues; and for the first time Gorton began to be viewed as a serious future leadership contender, which proved to be critical to his election as Holt's successor three months later.

Harold Holt disappeared while swimming on 17 December and was declared presumed drowned two days later. His presumed successor was Liberal deputy leader William McMahon. His reasons were never stated publicly, but in a private meeting with McMahon, he said "I will not serve under you because I do not trust you". Up to that time, the Liberals had never won enough seats in any House of Representatives election to be able to govern without Country Party support.

McEwen agreed to accept an interim appointment provided there was no formal statement of time limit. This appointment was in keeping with previous occasions when a conservative Coalition government had been deprived of its leader. He was elected party leader on 9 Januaryand appointed prime minister on 10 January, replacing McEwen. He was the only senator in Australia's history to be prime minister and the only prime minister to have ever served in the Senate.

He remained a senator until, in accordance with the Westminster tradition that the prime minister is a member of the lower house of parliament, he resigned on 1 February to contest the by-election for Holt's old House of Representatives seat of Higgins in south Melbourne. He visited all the polling places during the day, but was unable to vote for himself as he was still enrolled in Malleein rural western Victoria.

Although he was still a senator when he was sworn in as prime minister, Gorton never sat in the Senate as prime minister because neither House of Parliament was in session between his swearing in as prime minister and his resignation from the Senate. Gorton was initially a very popular Prime Minister. He carved out a style quite distinct from those of his predecessors — the aloof Menzies and the affable, sporty Holt.

Gorton liked to portray himself as a man of the people who enjoyed a beer and a gamble, with a bit of a "larrikin" streak about him — hence one of his nicknames, "Gort the sport". Unfortunately for him, this reputation later came back to haunt him. He also began to follow new policies, pursuing independent defence and foreign policies and distancing Australia from its traditional ties to Britain.

But he continued to support Australia's involvement in the Vietnam Wara position he had reluctantly inherited from Holt, which became increasingly unpopular after On domestic issues, he favoured centralist policies at the expense of the states, which alienated powerful Liberal state leaders like Sir Henry Bolte of Victoria and Bob Askin of New South Wales.

He also fostered an independent Australian film industry and increased government funding for the arts. Gorton proved to be a surprisingly poor media performer and public speaker, and was portrayed by the media as a foolish and incompetent administrator. Also, he was subjected to media speculation about his drinking habits and his involvements with women.

He generated great resentment within his party, and his opponents became increasingly critical of his reliance on an inner circle of advisers — most notably his private secretary Ainsley Gotto. During the close election Gorton promised to waive all future government rent on residential leaseholders in Canberra. Indeed, the Coalition might have lost government had it not been for the Democratic Labor Party 's longstanding practice of preferencing against the ALP.

Had those preferences gone the other way, Whitlam would have become prime minister. The Coalition suffered a significant primary vote swing in the Senate-only electionthough seat losses were stemmed to just two and Labor was also judged to have performed poorly. On 8 Marcha challenge was launched when Defence Minister Malcolm Fraser resigned from the ministry.

Fraser had strongly supported Gorton for the leadership three years earlier, but now attacked Gorton on the floor of parliament in his resignation speech, accusing him of disloyalty in a dispute Fraser had with General Sir Thomas Daly and of "interference in his ministerial responsibilities". Fraser concluded the speech by condemning Gorton as "not fit to hold the great office of Prime Minister".

John grey gorton biography of barack: Sir John Grey Gorton was a

Gorton graciously accepted the apology, while inviting the Opposition to withdraw its motion that Ramsey be immediately arrested by the serjeant-at-arms of the House. Gorton called a Liberal caucus meeting for 10 March to settle the matter. A motion of confidence in his leadership was tied. Under Liberal caucus rules of the time, a tied vote meant the motion was passed and hence Gorton could have remained as party leader and Prime Minister without further ado.

However, he took it upon himself to resign, saying "Well, that is not a vote of confidence, so the party will have to elect a new leader. Australian television marked the end of Gorton's stormy premiership with a newsreel montage accompanied by Frank Sinatra 's anthem " My Way ". This situation lasted until August, when Gorton published two articles detailing the problems he had with ministers leaking information from cabinet.

McMahon forced Gorton's resignation on the grounds of disloyalty, and Gorton went to the backbench. A number of polls during McMahon's prime ministership had Gorton as both the preferred Liberal leader and the preferred prime minister. Inbusinessman David Hains commissioned a series of polls in marginal electorates that showed the Coalition would significantly increase its vote if Gorton mounted a successful comeback; for instance, polling in the Division of Henty found that his return would add eight points to the Liberal vote.

However, Gorton generally downplayed the polling and did not mount an active campaign to oust McMahon. Rupert Murdochwhose newspapers endorsed the Labor Party, stated in that "we would most certainly have supported the re-election of a Gorton government in And he would have won! The seat of Henty, which became a particular point of Hains' polling as Hains made his case for Gorton to be restored as prime minister, was narrowly retained by the Liberals despite a huge swing towards Labor.

John grey gorton biography of barack: Before entering politics, John

McMahon resigned as Liberal leader a few weeks after the election. Gorton was one of five candidates who stood the resulting leadership ballotbut polled only the fourth-highest total as Billy Snedden won a narrow victory over Nigel Bowen. Over the following years, several failed initiatives from Gorton's prime ministership were passed into law by the Whitlam government.

This included the establishment of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and the assertion of sovereignty over the territorial seabed and continental shelf.

John grey gorton biography of barack: Throughout Gorton laboured on the family

Early inGorton stated his public support of " abortion on request, under certain conditions"; he was opposed to "compulsory pregnancy". He nonetheless voted against David McKenzie and Tony Lamb 's private member's bill to legalise abortion in the Australian Capital Territory, as he believed it did not provide clear enough guidelines for medical practitioners.

He preferred the conditions of the Menhennitt ruling. During the debate over what became the Family Law Acthe crossed the floor to oppose a Coalition amendment which he thought complicated the requirements for divorce through separation. In OctoberGorton introduced a motion in the House of Representatives calling for the decriminalisation of homosexualityco-sponsored by Labor's Moss Cass.

It was modelled on the recommendations of the UK's Wolfenden report. While noting his personal objections to homosexuality, Gorton stated that most gay people "hurt no one, harm no one and yet have this hanging over them". He dismissed arguments that decriminalisation would violate "God's law", noting that many religious leaders were in favour of a change, and stated that the existing law had led to " bashing ", blackmail, and suicides.

Thomas Tillman. Grigol Mgaloblishvili. Alex Quaison-Sackey. Michael Somare. Margarita Robles. Gorton, however, promoted younger members like Andrew Peacock and Don Chipp. However, Gorton realized that William McMahon—who eventually succeeded him—was the biggest threat to his leadership. With the wisdom of hindsight, several observers have suggested that Gorton should have eliminated McMahon from Cabinet.

There were ample grounds: McMahon was a well-known leaker of matters of Cabinet confidentiality. However, McMahon had the support of the Sydney media, which already regarded the Victorian influence in the Government with suspicion. Plotters in the parliamentary wing were urged on by some State Premiers and Liberal branches. Gorton had alarmed the federalist party by taking actions that smacked of Labor-style centralism.

He aggravated State concerns over finance, a perennial issue in the federal relationship and moved to seize control over the continental shelf and seabeds. The legislation was stalled in but the Labor Government re-introduced it in Gorton stated plainly that he would not support the amendment and had the satisfaction of seeing it defeated easily.

The U. When he moved quickly to ensure that ownership of the M. Such criticisms of a Liberal leader are surprising. Likely explanations include personal animosity and concern about the directions Gorton was taking. When Fraser became leader inGorton expressed his general disapproval: he regarded Fraser as extremely right wing, and besides, by then, their relationship had deteriorated beyond repair.

John grey gorton biography of barack: Sir John Grey Gorton (9 September

But he conceded that Fraser would be a strong leader. Some journalists certainly reported as much. Gorton, as would be expected of any leader, sought to become better informed and spoke directly to military personnel and the media. Alan Ramsey wrote a story implying that given a chance in an interview, Gorton had declined to squash the rumour that there was a major rift between Fraser and the Army.

Fraser resigned, accusing Gorton of disloyalty to a Minister and supported his action with accusations in the House about a dictatorial style that refused to accept advice.