Reviewed by Ian Lipke
No doubt every reviewer in the land has commented on the unusual spelling of the word ‘ascendency’. I would ask that MUP check the spelling.
This book is essentially a collection of papers written by experts in various aspects of Robert Menzies’s life and career. Each chapter breathes authenticity so that one can be quite comfortable about accepting the truth of the content.
The Robert Menzies Institute at the University of Melbourne has engaged, in recent years, in detailing the career of Australia’s longest serving Prime Minister, a record Menzies achieved on 30th November 1954. This particular volume of the series is number III and deals with the administrivia and important decisions and policies implemented by the Menzies government. Volume I, The Young Menzies, revealed an ambitious, but thoughtful man, with flaws that exposure to the pressures of the parliament would resolve. Volume II, The Menzies Watershed, built upon the notion that this period became a watershed because it was exposed to a crucial period of consolidation.
That Zachary Gorman’s introduction to the rich diversity of material in this book is masterly, is never too much to claim. The evidence is easy to find. Contributor Anne Henderson tests the critiques of Menzies’s performance through the relative strengths of his Burkean conception of progress. The Petrov Affair was a test of the public’s trust in the Menzies’ government. The affair failed to turn away trust in the Liberal led coalition but rather ushered in The Great Labor Split.
Selwyn Cornish and others draw attention to Menzies’s adroit sense of choosing his political battles. He would take the initiative, when necessary, as discussions around healthcare coverage and advocacy for university education reveal.
Chapter after chapter contain initiatives that may be sheeted home to the direct efforts of Menzies or, just as importantly, as an indirect Menzian nudge. An example of the latter usage occurs in the Immigration Program chapter where the core administrative reforms (the abolition of the dictation test, the repeal of the Immigration Act 1910, the maintenance of southern European migration) were all achieved through the efforts of a particular Minister of the Crown against frequent opposition from within the party but with the steady, constant support from the Prime Minister. Again, Menzies was constant in creating positive conditions for economic development and freedom for the Papua New Guinean people in allowing them the choice of style of government.
While Australia did not take a leading role in the era of nuclear-powered submarines, Menzies did ensure that Australians had access to medical products while leaving open the potential to access nuclear energy or protection at some point in the future. Michael De Percy’s chapter makes this very clear.
Such chapters represent the quality of work which is reported on throughout this book. The hand of the editor is discernible in maintaining a standard that is not only high but consistent throughout the book. That the Foreword was written by Justice Michael Kirby sets the quality of the information to follow.
The Menzies Ascendency
(2024)
Edited by Zachary Gorman
MUP
ISBN:978-0-522-88106-6
$50.00; 288pp