CHANGING LEADERS IN MID-STREAM

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 287, 1 September 1941, Page 6

CHANGING LEADERS IN MID-STREAM

For some reason, not apparent to observers overseas, the opposition of the Federal Labour Party in Australia has centred on the Prime Minister personally. Mr. Menzies made a very fine impression in Great Britain and elsewheie dining his recent trip, and the speeches he delivered in New Zealand were of a very high order, 'but he could not induce the members of the Opposition to co-operate with him in any way. As a result he has resigned his position and Mr. A. W. Fadden, who was Acting-Prime Minister during Mr. Menzies’s absence, has been called upon to form a Government. The position had been rendered unstable"by the general election, and the Government, a coalition of the United Australia and Country parties, could not command a practical working majority. A single independent member held the balance of power. In the circumstances the head of the Government bad to be a diplomat, and Mr. Menzies was much too outspoken to essay that role.

His successor, during the brief period that he led the Government forces, won widespread popularity, and his rise to power has been remarkably rapid. He may succeed where Mr. Menzies failed,, in inducing the Opposition to join forces with the Government so that there will be both political unity and stability, and his appointment will certainly put many of the objections hitherto raised bv Mr. Curtin and his'followers to the test. If the offer is renewed and they should still refuse to co-operate then it will be clear that their course was dictated not so much by objections to Mr. Menzies as to hones of semiring office themselves. For some time now the Commonwealth has had continual turmoil in the Federal sphere, and has provided an object lesson in the many advantages of political stability in times of crisis. It is by no means certain that, politically speaking, smooth water has yet been reached, but evidently Mr. Menzies felt that his.retention of the position of Prime Minister tended to aggravate the trouble, and that in the national interests he should step aside. He had offered to let the question of leadership be settled by the members if a coalition Government were formed, but that was not accepted. He is too able a man to be forced into the background, and will be in a position to exert a strong influence on the decisions of the new Cabinet, whether as a member oi not. His expressed willingness to serve under the new leader is the mark of a strong man, and in these trying times no country can have too many such men ready and willing to place country and cause before office and power.