AUSTRALIA’S NO. 1 FIGURE

Evening Star, Issue 25679, 31 December 1945, Page 5

AUSTRALIA’S NO. 1 FIGURE

PRIME MINISTER CHIFLEY COMPETENT AND SHREWD LEADER (N.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent.) (Rec. noon.) SYDNEY, Dec. 31. The outstanding man of the year in Australia was undoubtedly the Prime Minister, Mr J. B. (Ben) Chifley, who, when 1945 began, was a: rank outsider for such an honour. It was not, as the ‘ Sunday Sun ’ says, simply becauso lie was Prime Minister, but because of the way he has come through the trials of problems unprecedentedly complex. From a man personally liked but little known to the public, diffident and reluctant to lead, Mr Chifley has become a confident and shrewd leader, dominant in party aud parliament. His deft handling of the House of Representatives lias earned praise that he is the most efficient House leader since Mr S. M. Bruce (1921-29). The sudden end of the war landed on Mr Cliifley’s desk problems which the Government was not properly equipped to tackle. Plans for Australia’s postwar life had been based on the expectation that the people would carry the 1944 referendum to transfer important powers from the' States to the Federal Parliament. The referendum was lost, leaving the Government with pre-war machinery to handle sudden demobilisation, reconversion problems, and the industrial stresses which caused disputes, strikes, and look-outs. Unostentatious 60-year-old Mr Chifle.v did 'the most spectacular thing of his career last week when, he flew to the islands to spend Christmas, with the Australian troops. His decision to have (4®*:stmas dinner in New Guinea, sitting,jfjetween two privates instead of two generals, was no self-conscious concession to democracy—it was perfectly in character. It is considered certain that Mr Chifley will go abroad to represent Australia at the peace conference and will take part in the trade talks early in the new year. Until he made his surprise visit "to New Guinea, Labour leaders had not realised how politically valuable for them in an election year a trip to London would be. Against the realisation of the importance to Australia of having a Prime Minister present at big overseas conferences they had raised the question whether it would be wise politically for the Labour leader to be out of the country with an election falling due. , The Labour Ministers had been worried, as Mr Chifley had been, about public reaction to the recent strikes and the gas and electricity rationing. Now they feel that Mr Chifley’s visit to the troops has counterbalanced the anti-Labour effects of the strikes, and they are confident the Prime Minister would return from a trip abroad with greatlyenhanced prestige to lead them to the country later in the year.

In all branches of political thought Mr Chiflev is admired for his sincerity and steadfastness. From Chifley you hear no denunciation of Labour’s political enemy—the capitalist. It is as if the big industrialist, the private banker, and the middleman are to him just ordinary humans.