Sporting organisations, therapy providers, and community and disability organisations gathered to open the new path. A new accessible cycling path has opened in Evatt. The all-abilities Road Safety Learn to Ride concrete bike track and bike storage shed are located at Evatt Community Playground. This is adjacent to Evatt Primary School. The new facility will make learning to ride safer for all children, no matter their ability. On Saturday mornings, the Abilities Unlimited Australia (AUA) Cyclabilities program will use the track. When not in use by Cyclabilities, it is available for the community to enjoy. AUA provides tailored programs for children with disabilities. It promotes inclusion and empowers every child to discover their potential through sports. The Cyclabilities program is an inclusive cycling initiative. It helps children of all abilities learn cycling skills and road safety awareness. Beyond this, it fosters social, emotional and physical development. On Saturday mornings, over 100 participants take part. The new Evatt facility will help grow participation in the program. AUA’s 1:1 and small group sports programs are designed to meet the unique needs and abilities of each child. "This inclusive facility is a vital gift to our community, offering children of all abilities a safe space to learn cycling, develop essential road safety skills, and build confidence,” Co-founder of Abilities Unlimited Australia Fiona Jarvis said. “Children with disabilities face heightened risks and barriers to participation. This precinct breaks those barriers, fostering independence, inclusion, and community connection.” The ACT Government’s 2024 Community Sport Facilities Program provided funding to Abilities Unlimited Australia (AUA) for the project. Kendrick Lamar will headline Spilt Milk 2025 in Canberra on Saturday 13 December. Funding has been provided to over 2,500 Canberra families through the Future of Education Equity Fund. This National Volunteer Week, learn about some of our local volunteers. Construction will begin soon on the new South Tuggeranong Health Centre in Conder. We acknowledge the Ngunnawal people as traditional custodians of the ACT and recognise any other people or families with connection to the lands of the ACT and region. We acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region. Our CBR is the ACT Government’s key channel to connect with Canberrans and keep you up-to-date with what’s happening in the city. Our CBR includes a monthly print edition, email newsletter and website. You can easily opt in or out of the newsletter subscription at any time. Albanese must lead like Labor heroes Evatt and Hawke on antisemitismWhen Australia’s Jewish community has been under threat strong prime ministers have stepped up to offer support and reassurance SaveLog in or Subscribe to save articleShareCopy link Share via...Gift this articleSubscribe to gift this article Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe Australia was once a beacon of social cohesion and tolerance It offered Holocaust survivors and their descendants a welcoming embrace a place where they could rebuild their lives free from fear However, the landscape has shifted dramatically. Over the past year, a surge in antisemitism has torn up our historical respect and care for Jewish Australians, transforming Australia into a dangerous place for our this Jewish community Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe. Follow the topics, people and companies that matter to you. the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne’s Age published an opinion piece by Foreign Minister Penny Wong titled “Australians are traumatised and deserve facts on Middle East horrors” which chiefly recounted the various ways in which the Albanese Government has steered Australian foreign policy away from previous bipartisan support for Israel it cited as fact a Gaza death toll based on numbers served up by the Hamas-run ‘Gaza Health Ministry’ – numbers that are not only unverified but that also make no differentiation between armed jihadists and non-combatants perhaps the most egregious non-fact offered by Senator Wong was her casual historical revisionism regarding the reason why the UN Partition Plan of 1947 (also known as UN General Assembly Resolution 181) failed to produce an Arab or Palestinian state alongside Israel (The plan recommended establishing a new ‘Arab’ state This did not happen because Jordan and Egypt grabbed the West Bank and Gaza) The Middle East’s contested history helps explain these divergent perspectives Those who know the imperative of Israel for the Jewish people’s survival Who feel October 7 as part of the long shadow of antisemitism; the abomination of the Holocaust and millennia of Jewish persecution And those who know the dispossession of the Palestinian people; the failure of the international community to honour the 1947 promise made for a Palestinian state when Israel was established Who feel that the loss of Muslim and Arab lives has been too easily dismissed Senator Wong’s understanding of the “contested history” in the Holy Land deserves to itself be contested Her claim that the Palestinians were “promised” a state in 1947 but were somehow thwarted is fiction No such international “promise” was made to Palestinian Arabs in 1947 – or at any other time the Palestinian Arabs and their Arab state allies placed the goal of preventing the Jews from having their own state far ahead of any national aspirations for self-determination and they have continued to do so ever since The Foreign Minister should not take my word for it She should instead open up parliamentary Hansard to April 28 and read what Australia’s legendary ALP Foreign Minister of the time in light of the civil war that had erupted after the Arabs of Mandatory Palestine violently rejected the Partition Plan “Is it still the policy of the Australian Government to support the Partition Plan for Palestine Will he advise the House by what means it is proposed to enforce this policy?” The [General] Assembly is only a recommending body It cannot order anything and it has no enforcement power of its own the Assembly recommended the scheme known as partition John McEwen of the Australian Country Party then asked Evatt if before Australia’s vote in favour of Partition the cabinet had been informed of “the announced intention of the Arab armies to commence war in such circumstances and of the concurrently announced intention of the Jewish armies also to fight?”  It is perfectly true that when the United Nations was actually considering the problem of Palestine the representative of what was called the Arab Higher Committee did publicly threaten the United Nations that if any solution was offered of which that Committee did not approve it would attempt to overthrow its opponents by force… What has happened since [passage of the Partition Plan] is simply that the Palestinian Arabs and the Arab states surrounding Palestine have threatened to defeat the settlement plan by force The method of enforcement that the United Nations General Assembly recommended to the Security Council was that the Jewish state within Palestine should be entitled to form its own militia and its own force Even Mahmoud Abbas has said of the Palestinian rejection of the 1947 Partition Plan that “it was our mistake.” The facts are clear: Palestinians have only themselves to blame for rejecting repeated offers of statehood And no “promise” was ever made to Palestinians that they could have a state even if they refuse to make peace Israelis and Palestinians are all traumatised Yet Palestinian leaders have the agency to end the cycle of trauma – by saying yes to making peace with Israel and ending more than 80 years of prioritising Israel’s destruction over their own self-determination The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) is the premier public affairs organisation for the Australian Jewish community © 2017-2025 AIJAC. All Rights Reserved. Site by ASCET Digital The best local news sent straight to your inbox every workday Make a donation and support the future of journalism and media diversity in the ACT Historian ROSS FITZGERALD traces the beginning of the Great Labor Party split 70 years ago It is 70 years this month since the beginning of the Great Labor Split of the mid-1950s who briefly had been president of the United Nations General Assembly after World War II Evatt was in a factional marriage of convenience with the anti-Communist wing of the Australian labour movement He even enlisted the help of Melbourne-based BA (Bob) Santamaria an increasingly influential anti-Communist organisation I explain that The Movement was founded in Melbourne by group of Catholics professionals The political and religious ideas of The Movement were published in The Catholic Worker which was available outside all Catholic churches in Victoria The Catholic Worker was edited by Santamaria who in 1946 had become director of the National Secretariat for Catholic Action Santamaria was instrumental in establishing “industrial groups” to combat Communism in the trade unions thereby indirectly influencing many Victorian ALP MPs The Movement either controlled or strongly influenced a number of key unions and a cadre of Victorian Labor politicians A close friend of the influential Irish-born Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne As I reveal in The Pope’s Battalions a letter Santamaria wrote to Archbishop Mannix contains these remarkable words: “The… Movement should within a period of five or six years be able to completely transform the leadership of the labour movement They should be able to implement a Christian social program in both the state and the federal spheres.” The brief marriage of convenience between Evatt and Santamaria ended on October 5 1954 when Dr Evatt – distressed by his narrow loss in the 1954 federal election – issued a press statement directed against the Victorian branch of the ALP When Evatt announced that the ALP in Victoria was controlled by “subversive” forces all politically aware people knew that he was referring to Santamaria and his followers On April 20 1955 a bloc of anti-Evatt Labor members in the Victorian Legislative Assembly crossed the floor to ensure passage of a vote of no confidence in the Cain Labor government In the ensuing state election of May 28 1955 It is important to understand that the ALP split of 1955 was confined to Victoria This politically damaging schism did not reach NSW until 1956 and Queensland until 1957 The greatest beneficiaries of the 1955 split – Liberal Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies and Premier Bolte – were both Victorians Mr Menzies shrewdly capitalised on the Victorian split by calling an early federal election for December 10 1955 in which he substantially increased his majority the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) was formed As distinguished Canberra-based historian Stephen Holt writes: “At first the anti-Evatt MPs denied that they were splitters They presented themselves as the true ALP: The Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist).” They had their own traditional structure: annual conference The Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist) changed its name to The Democratic Labor Party Although DLP influence varied from state to state its most important impact was at the federal level where by directing preferences to the Liberal-Country Party it guaranteed that the ALP would be out of power with whom I wrote the biography of that extraordinary pressman Alan Reid of “Labor’s faceless men” fame explains: “The DLP in Victoria was chuffed when a court decision ruled that its executive was the legal heir of the pre-split Labor Party in Victoria The DLP electorally institutionalised the split by directing its preferences to the conservative coalition when the Whitlam government was elected in 1972 meant that in Victoria and Queensland the ALP remained in the electoral wilderness for well over 20 years After being replaced as federal ALP leader in 1960 he was controversially appointed Chief Justice of NSW he became more and more mentally unhinged and had to resign in 1962 The catastrophic political events of the 1950s and 1960s and often irreparably sundered personal relations with friends and fellow workers The ALP split of the mid 1950s still leaves a stain on the collective memory of many Labor voters Ross Fitzgerald AM is Emeritus Professor of History and Politics at Griffith University His latest publication is The Ascent of Everest – a four pack of Grafton Everest political satires co-authored with Ian McFadyen of  Comedy Company fame there’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in Canberra If you trust our work online and want to enforce the power of independent voices Every dollar of support is invested back into our journalism to help keep citynews.com.au strong and free Become a supporter 'We focus on spending time with our clients to understand how they use their 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Professor Geoffrey Blainey has unsurprisingly favoured readers of Quadrant (October 2023) with a very informed review, “The Great Bitter Rivalry” Anne Henderson’s Menzies versus Evatt: The Great Rivalry of Australian Politics (Connor Court I propose to cast a few shafts of light on their contributions Both authors traced the origins of Robert Gordon Menzies and Herbert Vere Evatt from modest provincial backgrounds in Victoria and New South Wales respectively through scholarships to outstanding degrees in Law and I begin with the Engineers’ Case—their first encounter as barristers appeared before the High Court in Melbourne arguing that a trade union client be brought within the Constitution’s conciliation and arbitration power Menzies recalled Starke J and Knox CJ asserting that his argument was nonsense whereupon he promised to argue sensibly if permitted to question the Court’s past decisions The Chief Justice adjourned the case to Sydney permitted counsel to question the Court’s previous decisions Menzies recalled that in Sydney he faced “a thickly populated” and from his “lonely point of view hostile Bar table” South Australian and Tasmanian governments Evatt represented the New South Wales government Menzies’s only opposite number in Melbourne represented the Minister for Trading Concerns of Western Australia While all these luminaries were arrayed against Menzies (later Sir Henry) Manning intervened on behalf of the Commonwealth Drawing on the notebooks of Sir Adrian Knox and Sir Isaac Isaacs Sir Gerard Brennan observed in 1995 as Chief Justice: … it seems quite clear that Menzies lit the fuse in Melbourne though the main charge for exploding the notion of reciprocal supremacy seems to have been prepared by Isaacs and Rich JJ in the Municipalities Case (1919) Yet it was Leverrier’s advocacy which seems to have had the greater impact in their response to Menzies’s lighting of the fuse had revealed that they were prepared to depart from past authority The greater challenge therefore confronted those briefed to argue against this departure from precedent towered in physical presence but was ponderous and prolix in presentation His appointment in 1918 as a Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) was an unusual distinction for a barrister On learning of a looming appearance by Mitchell “The long (k)night cometh when no work is done” citing St John’s Gospel 9:4: “… [t]he night cometh when no man can work.” Rich J esteemed Leverrier as “my oldest friend … and a man of outstanding ability” Yet the fact remains that Menzies alone had the right of reply and was the sole counsel for the successful party Could a clairvoyant have foreseen then that he would establish a record-breaking term as Prime Minister after a distinguished ministerial career as Menzies’s rival during his wilderness years would as his opposite number be thwarted in his attempts to displace him as Prime Minister An elderly Menzies recalled that the Chief Justiceship of Victoria was the pinnacle of his youthful ambition This implied that a High Court appointment was less appealing Menzies’s career until 1934 seems to me to have been guided solely by that ambition had raised himself slightly from the nadir in his fortunes in 1941 died suddenly and was succeeded on April 9 by Sir William Irvine Madden and Irvine had earlier been involved in politics Menzies might have assumed then that his own political involvement need not rule him out from the Chief Justiceship Commonwealth Attorney-General and from 1906 federal MP for Flinders A Nationalist Party preselection preceding the Flinders by-election caused by Irvine’s judicial appointment was contested by Sir Edward Mitchell but he as recorded in Dyson Heydon’s excellent article (Quadrant was a Gallipoli veteran decorated with the Military Cross The French awarded him the Croix de Guerre avec palme Anne Henderson emphasised and Professor Blainey referred to Menzies’s “exceptional web of political links” that “exceptional web” was no longer serviceable His uncle Sydney Sampson held the federal seat of Wimmera from 1906 until 1919 Robert’s father James held the Victorian state seat of Lowan from 1911 until 1920 held the Victorian state seat of Benambra from 1913 to 1917 and then the federal seat of Indi until 1919 All three were defeated by candidates endorsed by the Victorian Farmers’ Union Such setbacks would have discouraged Menzies from entering politics precipitately He would have noted the Country Party’s emergence in Victorian politics as a destabilising force: it was to endure as a malign influence In 1925 Evatt was elected Labor member for the state seat of Balmain In 1926 Menzies made a brief foray into politics Bruce promoted a referendum to vest the Commonwealth with exclusive power in conciliation and arbitration Menzies eloquently assisted those who campaigned successfully against it (later Lord) Casey recalled that Bruce thereafter would greet Menzies with raised eyebrows In 1928 Menzies stood for the Nationalist preselection for the East Yarra Province in the Victorian Legislative Council Menzies succeeded Swinburne on his death in October 1928 Later that year Sir William McPherson appointed him a Minister without Portfolio in his short-lived government but in 1929 he and two others resigned over a concession to the breakaway Country Progressive Party led by Albert Arthur Dunstan and known as “the four black crows” In the state election of December 1929 Menzies entered the Legislative Assembly but his party went into opposition Meanwhile Menzies in 1929 had taken silk to become Victoria’s youngest King’s Counsel In 1930 the federal Labor Caucus improperly forced the Cabinet to fill two High Court vacancies were overseas so their outspoken opposition proved futile Lang had twice appointed McTiernan New South Wales’s Attorney-General but his elevation to Australia’s highest court was plainly unacceptable These controversial appointments provoked a public outcry former pupil-master and a High Court judge since 1929 contemplated resigning in protest but Hayden Starke dissuaded him Menzies wrote Evatt a congratulatory letter in which he recorded the Victorian Bar’s distaste for McTiernan Menzies apparently did not question Evatt’s qualifications He might also have favourably noted Evatt’s open hostility to Jack Lang This letter discloses a civility which was not to linger The 1932 Victorian election enabled Sir Stanley Argyle to form a ministry dominated by the UAP but with a small number as the Victorian Country Party was named after uniting with the Country Progressive Party Menzies was appointed Attorney-General and Minister for Railways The Railways portfolio required him to curtail his Bar practice significantly I would maintain that he still yearned to be Chief Justice but his prospects were contingent upon Sir William Irvine’s death or resignation Irvine’s entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography concluded: He allowed himself to remain too long in office and had in his late seventies to be prompted by a colleague to resign His inattentive afternoons and his increasing forgetfulness had become excessively embarrassing His resignation took effect on 30 September 1935 as Commonwealth Attorney-General from October 12 Yet if Irvine’s resignation had taken effect before August 1934 might have successfully pressed his claim to succeed him He could have argued that if Evatt could be appointed to the High Court aged thirty-six then he could in his fortieth year be appointed Chief Justice in a subordinate jurisdiction The great rivalry might then have been revealed in Evatt J’s judgments on appeal from those of Menzies CJ Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs from 1931 announced before the federal election of September 15 After declining a Victorian Supreme Court appointment in 1921 Latham had been elected for Kooyong as an independent in 1922 and was later adopted as a Nationalist He had maintained a lucrative practice as a KC even after Bruce appointed him Attorney-General in 1925 The federal Parliament’s move to Canberra in 1927 changed his situation dramatically Latham had to rely on his ministerial salary The Bruce-Page government’s defeat in 1929 reduced him to a private member’s salary even as Leader of the Opposition His appointment as a Minister in the Lyons government in 1931 did not improve matters observed of Latham in 1934 that he was “poor but extravagant” Menzies was at first uninterested when the Prime Minister Latham’s experience in federal politics had greatly discouraged him From September 1934 Menzies’s practice as Latham’s successor was to fall away as Latham’s had he resigned from the state parliament in August and was returned for Kooyong Lyons honoured his promise by appointing him Attorney-General and Minister for Industry with the succession to him as an added inducement But what if Menzies had persisted in declining to contest Kooyong and had remained in Argyle’s ministry In early March 1935 the Argyle ministry faced the electors During Argyle’s policy speech all ministers demonstrated their solidarity by sitting behind him The election result was accepted as confirming Argyle in office Then some complicated and questionable manoeuvres resulted in a spectacular volte-face The UCP led by Dunstan withdrew from the Argyle government on March 19 Dunstan shamelessly but successfully moved a no-confidence motion in an all-UAP ministry Argyle had formed and in those UAP ministers only so recently his colleagues Dunstan triumphantly led a UCP minority government supported by Labor while consigning a still dumbfounded UAP to the opposition benches To many observers such a treacherously motivated mésalliance could not last; but it did for the next seven unforgiving years to form a composite ministry which proved to be envenomed and turbulent: it ended in confusion in 1945 He would thereupon have found himself matching wits with the wiles of a peasant-cunning country bumpkin like Dunstan Parliamentary debates would have resonated with Menzies’s well-modulated and rounded periods offset by Albert’s piercing staccato nasal squealing Such a spectacle might have added to the gaiety of nations but to little else While Menzies’s Bar practice might have flourished Observing the dispiriting political landscape in Victoria after 1934 tribulations and vicissitudes while in federal politics must surely have thanked a benign and merciful Providence that with only a few months to spare he had effectively if reluctantly ejected himself from a bearpit Dunstan was to dominate for the next ten years I shall quote my entry on him in the Australian Dictionary of Biography Those reading that entry could have pictured me while writing it with a peg firmly clamped upon my nose Whether he was in the leadership of the Country Party or out of it Dunstan seemed to hold the key to its fortunes he seems to have been pivotal to the chances and changes of Victorian politics over thirty years He might well be judged to have lacked statesmanship but statesmanship was not the key to survival in Victorian politics and Dunstan was without peer in his ability to survive compared to Daniel Andrews of recent inglorious memory squealing Albert as a Premier emerges squeaky clean I feel I must expose a malicious yet persistent old furphy to a truth-revealing blowtorch Professor Stuart Macintyre approvingly skirted over it in his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry on Latham while Gough Whitlam at his gossipy and grubby worst spelt it out more scandalously colluded in a plot whereby Latham would be inveigled into resigning from Kooyong to make way for Menzies Latham was in effect bribed so to act on the promise that he would be shunted into the Chief Justiceship of the High Court just as soon as its current incumbent This plot also involved the prospective appointment of Sir Frank’s son as a Victorian Supreme Court judge In one account this was dangled before Sir Frank to induce him to play his allotted role compliantly The other account depicted a defiant Sir Frank insisting on it as a condition precedent to his retirement one inconvenient truth which alone reduces this rickety artifice to ashes Sir Frank’s son Charles had been a Victorian Supreme Court judge since May 30 What role could it have played then as a bargaining chip in the haggling which preceded Sir Frank’s retirement Sir Frank’s position as Chief Justice first became a matter of contention 1935—more than twenty months after his son’s appointment as a Victorian judge Charles Gavan Duffy’s judicial appointment was uninfluenced by any supposed federal plotting or diabolical scheming the vacancy was not created especially for him as with John Cain Snr’s Labor government’s creation of such a vacancy to facilitate J.V (later Sir John) Barry’s Supreme Court appointment in January 1947 The vacancy was due to the death of Sir Leo Cussen The appointment therefore attested a long-established acceptance that the Victorian judiciary was not an Anglican and Protestant closed shop Charles Gavan Duffy was a prominent Roman Catholic barrister In May 1933 Latham could not have foreseen his departure from politics although Macintyre asserted without any evidence that he had And Latham so acted in 1934 with profound regret exaggerated in claiming that he “was dragged screaming from the perch” Much as Latham had greatly enjoyed being a front-ranking politician sheer necessity compelled him to close that chapter And in 1933 Menzies’s ambition was confined to Victoria Latham’s immediate objective in quitting politics was to resume his full-time practice at the Bar And he seems in that pursuit to have made some restitution in his fortunes The Commonwealth Law Reports disclose that between his resignation and his High Court appointment he appeared in that jurisdiction twelve times and these were only the reported cases And then there was that extra-curial milch-cow Latham had been appointed a Privy Councillor in 1933 and knighted as a Grand Cross of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in the King’s Birthday List five months before becoming Chief Justice Garfield Barwick and Harry Gibbs were so honoured only after joining the High Court Latham as Chief Justice therefore had little prospect of accumulating additional honours and The question conflicting him in planning his future on being offered the Chief Justiceship was whether he should sacrifice his Bar practice for the Chief Justice’s salary There were copious reasons why the Court’s five puisne justices were not in the race A New South Wales appointment was ruled out: it would have raised its number to four with Starke and Dixon JJ the only Victorians If the Victorian Supreme Court was eliminated the choice rested with the Victorian Bar whose most prominent leaders were Latham himself was an improbable successor to another octogenarian and Menzies was not interested That left Latham as the last man standing: a far cry from the utterly pernicious canard emphasised that “Latham always claimed he retired from politics voluntarily with no thought of taking the Chief Justiceship” Latham therefore had the first right of refusal If his financial position had been restored sufficiently he could have accepted that appointment knowing that such an offer once firmly refused would never be renewed Sir Garfield Barwick was confronted with that same reality when offered the Chief Justiceship in April 1964 Menzies until 1939 seems to have been fulfilled as a minister his chief frustration being an ailing Lyons’s reluctance to retire Joe kept deferring retirement at the insistence of colleagues who judged him to be more attractive to the electorate than Menzies Meanwhile Evatt J was receiving mixed reviews Menzies agreed with Dixon J that he was unambiguously a political judge But the Doc was acclaimed in other quarters for his sound and indeed visionary judgments And this was vindicated when his dissenting judgment in Chester v Waverley in 1939 was subsequently upheld by the Gibbs court in Jaensch v Coffey (1984) As Sir William Deane put it rather obliquely: “It must now be accepted that the conclusion on the facts in Chester in dissent is plainly to be preferred to the majority.” Menzies’s thwarted ambition clearly reflected Evatt’s own as he plotted his return to politics Lyons’s sudden death in April 1939 left the UAP without a Deputy Leader for Menzies had recently resigned from the Cabinet over a policy disagreement as Prime Minister pending the UAP’s election of Lyons’s successor Menzies’s narrow victory in that contested election provoked Page into abusing the House of Representatives with an infamous speech of sustained vituperation and personal hatred of Menzies The Country Party was to react to Page’s disgraceful conduct by forcing him from its leadership the following September after splitting over Page’s refusal to bring that party into a government led by Menzies Menzies as Prime Minister from 1939 to 1941 has for too long been unjustly disparaged but Anne Henderson has given him condign justice in recent publications The 1940 election left Menzies leading a minority government depending on two Victorian independents After an official wartime visit to the United Kingdom where he was deservedly acclaimed for his statesmanship Menzies on his return faced a poisonous party-room rebellion which persuaded him to make way for Arthur Fadden reverted to his status as an independent in disgust claiming he had witnessed a lynching which he could never excise from his memory Professor Blainey and Anne Henderson alike have depicted a coalition still led by Menzies being displaced by the ALP Those two independents in defecting had ended his administration after forty days: forgetting that short term entirely is undeserved The UAP snubbed Menzies yet further by supporting Fadden as Leader of the Opposition so he chose to resign from its leadership to become a backbencher for the first time since entering the federal Parliament in 1934 This reversal of roles as experienced by Menzies and Evatt could not have been more marked Evatt plotted his entry into federal politics even as a High Court judge Evatt was endorsed by the ALP for the seat of Barton in New South Wales John Curtin in 1941 appointed the Doc Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs but he prized the latter portfolio more highly and exploited it in his own self-aggrandisement While Menzies seems to have attracted consistently favourable opinions in his trips abroad in 1941 for all his grandstanding in much travelling in partibus infidelium seems no less consistently to have attracted the very opposite Ayres described Sir Owen Dixon’s encounter with Hugh Gaitskell in 1957 when both received the Oxford degree of Doctor of Civil Law honoris causa: Walking beside Gaitskell in the procession Dixon took the opportunity for a talk … He [Gaitskell] spoke of Evatt and said that he could see no particular merit in him … This was nothing new—Dixon seems never to have found anyone in British Labour with a good word for Evatt at the White House spoke of Evatt’s “transparent manipulation to keep open the door to a National Ministry” which Churchill supposed Evatt expected to lead He asked if Curtin was in any way concerned Dixon had replied that “Curtin understood Evatt perfectly well and kept good control” had asked Menzies to appoint him to the Washington post R.G Menzies also knew of the Doc’s sedulous cultivation of Alex Wilson Ayres reported of Dixon that he “had had an embarrassing time with both [Cordell] Hull and [President] Roosevelt who had complained about Evatt’s unfriendly actions” He played no conspicuous role in the election of August 21 The coalition parties were led by Fadden and grotesquely by “Billy” Hughes the UAP’s bizarre choice as Menzies’s successor Menzies could therefore plausibly disclaim responsibility for the Curtin government’s re-election in a landslide By September 23 Menzies faced Parliament as Leader of the Opposition and of the UAP’s much diminished membership But only months later Menzies was briefly stopped in his tracks I recall a very revealing interview given me by Sir John McDonald in 1958 Sir John had been a Victorian Country Party minister and a Premier leading an ALP-supported minority government from 1950 to 1952 Without as much as a hint of what was about to smite me I mentioned Sir John’s place in Dunstan’s composite ministry from 1943 to 1945 and their appointment of Sir Edmund Herring as Mann’s successor Sir John then remarked that another name had been submitted to the Cabinet “Bob Menzies?” only to have my hunch emphatically confirmed Menzies contemplated abandoning the eminence of being leader of the alternative federal government to fulfil a youthful ambition Now admittedly Menzies had little hope of being accepted by that Cabinet—not with Dunstan’s glowering presence But the fact that he so acted signified a rock-solid commitment to accept that appointment if offered it In that event the subsequent history of Australian politics would have unfolded without Menzies’s dominating presence for more than twenty years But then pretty much the same could have been said of Evatt if his own plans had been fulfilled disappointed at the Chifley government’s defeat the previous year unsuccessfully tried to secure an appointment to the New South Wales Supreme Court then President of both the New South Wales and the federal ALP Other accounts claim that the Attorney-General Evatt’s career would have run a very different course and possibly the trajectory of post-war Australian politics would have been different too Menzies in late 1944 successfully opposed the “Fourteen Powers” referendum—a setback for Evatt He was also heavily engaged in that repositioning of anti-Labor forces which emerged as the Liberal Party Its first electoral blooding was the September 1946 federal election Menzies could not realistically have expected to topple the government of Ben Chifley given the disparity in party strengths left by the 1943 landslide Yet he must at least have hoped to reduce its majority significantly The gain of six seats was bitterly disappointing even though one of its casualties was Chifley’s deputy Not for the first time Menzies seriously contemplated quitting politics and some of his followers were plotting to have him replaced I am old enough to recall the refrain “We’ll never win with Menzies” John Paul taught British and Australian politics at a university in Sydney from 1973 until his retirement in 1996 This is the first part of a three-part series Subscribe and enjoy unlimited access to Quadrant Editorial and much more Roger Franklin There are no standout candidates in a party infested with wets Peter O'Brien The Coalition had everything to gain and all the ammunition needed to win David Barton All articles from our website & appThe digital version of Today's PaperBreaking news alerts direct to your inboxInteractive Crosswords Sudoku and TriviaAll articles from the other regional websites in your areaContinueThe basketball area is just one sporting facility at the Josh Papali'i's by Keegan CarrollThe four-bedroom house in Evatt has been the Papali's home for the past five years and is coming up for sale as the family has moved to a larger house The property has been the ideal place for the NRL star's three kids - aged 3 But now is the time for another family to enjoy the home according to selling agent Jonny Warren from Jonny Warren Properties The inviting living area features a fire place making it a cosy retreat Canberra has not previously seen a house with outdoor entertainment like this one A large pool comes with its own waterslide Kids will also enjoy the large cubby house The dining area has easy access to the outdoors and great sport facilities Picture suppliedNear this is a basketball hoop and a golf putting green for practising at home For entertaining there is a resort-style bar overlooking the pool along with space for outdoor dining It is every kids' dream and even an adult's dream," Mr Warren said the home is light-filled with a modern kitchen with bold red splashback and a dining area that opens on to the outdoors Ducted gas heating and double-glazed windows make the property warm in winter it is the "amazing" neighbours and community who he will miss the most The outdoor entertaining area features a built-in barbecue and dining zone Picture suppliedFans have occasionally walked past the house to have a look in the five years since the Raiders star moved in "The neighbours have been so good about [it]," he said I see the kids' teachers or people I know," he said Choose your recreational activity in the backyard is now focused on securing a spot in the finals The family home also has a basketball practice area Picture supplied"I've been here for too long and I always think we are going to get into finals every year," Mr Papali'i said Make a splash in the large pool in the backyard. Picture suppliedMr Papali'i's previous Ngunnawal home sold under the hammer for $591,000 in 2020. 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printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application known affectionately as Larry to his friends and family passed away peacefully at his home on September 11 Larry grew up with a love for his hometown that he carried throughout his life After proudly serving his country in the Navy earning both a Bachelor's and an associate's degree His education led him to a fulfilling career where he dedicated 28 years of his life as a plant operator with the state Larry’s strong work ethic and commitment to his profession were evident to all who knew him Larry’s personal life was as rich and vibrant as his professional journey His first marriage gifted him with a daughter he and Cindy were a testament to love and dedication including their son Stanley Lawrence Evatt Collin and Juliette; stepdaughter Christa Harvey and her family; and Bonnie Burnett Evatt Larry was also a cherished grandfather to grandchildren Collin and Juliette and reveled in the joy of his great-grandchildren where he found tranquility in farming and gardening indulging his love for the land and livestock Early mornings found him hand-milking cows before heading off to a day's work a testament to his connection with nature and his indefatigable spirit He cherished his time at Harvest Community Church  in Dacusville and later found kinship and purpose at Grace Baptist Church Larry devoted himself to outreach activities and eventually pouring his heart into the Church Thrift Store in Easley Larry was also kind and deeply faith-filled He found solace and delight in reading the Bible and watching a broad spectrum of television from Christian programming to Westerns He enjoyed spending time with his son working on tractors and automobiles each moment a cherished memory for those left behind Larry's spirits were lifted by the simple joys of life The arrival of two little male puppies at home offered him new delight; Larry delighted in the name Willie for the smallest one that stayed with the family He took pleasure in the thought of enjoying the fruits from the trees and bushes he helped plant In each role Larry fulfilled – husband and servant of the faith – he brought light and strength touching lives with a gentle kindness that will be remembered by many the lessons he imparted and the love he shared remain as a guiding light for all who knew him Larry's life was a testament to the power of faith and a heart that always had room for one more As we bid farewell to William "Larry" Evatt let us hold close the memories and legacy he leaves behind – a legacy rich with love and service and he will be deeply missed but never forgotten This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors Labor’s foundational support for Israel still colours its attitude towards Palestinian statehood Tony Walker 17 July 2024 2249 words Labor’s complex relationship with Palestine — its in-principle support for a Palestinian state versus its ties to an Israel of the party’s imagination that no longer exists — has been decades in the making History hangs heavy on Labor’s relationship with Israel Its foundational support for Israel; its traditional ties to Israel’s labour movement; its alignment with Israel’s social democratic values; its connections to a Jewish establishment — none of these is reflected in the sort of country Israel has become Labor’s two great champions of the Jewish state 1940s external affairs minister Bert Evatt and 1980s prime minister Bob Hawke would have difficulty recognising the proto-nationalist settler state of today Hawke’s attachment to an Israel dominated by the labour movement for its first three decades had begun to dissipate towards the end of his life he used his influence in 2012 to persuade prime minister Julia Gillard to allow Australia to abstain rather than oppose a vote to give Palestine observer status at the United Nations to the point where she risked alienating much of caucus Her decision to appoint a senior member of her staff as an “envoy” to the Jewish leadership in Australia baffled colleagues Whether Anthony Albanese and his frontbench like it or not they won’t be able to separate themselves from the complexities of an issue that animates a big — and growing — section of the Australian population Concern about the Palestine question is not restricted to members of the Muslim faith: a large non-Muslim constituency within Labor’s rank-and-file is also exercised by the issue especially among younger members of the voting public who were already drifting towards the Greens Labor’s fumbling response to the Gaza war has exposed deep-seated contradictions for all to see in the party’s policies towards Palestine On one hand Labor’s espouses its support for two states it indulges Israeli policies that sabotage any prospect of compromise the Palestine issue is now indelibly embedded in Australian domestic politics Graphic television images of death and suffering in Gaza are heightening public sensitivity Senator Fatima Payman’s stand in support of recognition of Palestine drew attention to an issue that has moved decisively from the margins of politics Payman might be dismissed as a political ingénue not sufficiently marinaded in the traditions of the Labor collective In her defiance of the party whip she spoke for a wider community many of them young people increasingly estranged from Labor Pro-forma resolutions at Labor conferences designed to deflect rank-and-file concerns are no longer sustainable Leaving them on the books like rusting ordnance on a Middle East battlefield mocks their intent This includes differences over conscription in the first world war; attitudes towards the Soviet Union that prompted the split of the 1950s; intramural arguments over the Vietnam war; and the white-anting of Simon Crean for his courageous decision to oppose the rush to war in Iraq Arthur Calwell’s fine speech in 1965 opposing the Menzies government’s decision to commit Australia to Vietnam was subject to sniping within the party Among those with reservations was Calwell’s deputy it would be out of character for an Albanese government to follow the example of a Calwell or a Crean — or the lead of social democratic countries like Spain and Norway — by adopting a bold stance on recognition of Palestine The long history of Australia’s engagement in Middle Eastern conflicts stretches back to 1885 when a NSW expeditionary militia was mounted to relieve General Sir Charles Gordon whose forces were under siege in Khartoum by the Mahdi’s whirling dervishes This quixotic antipodean force in support of empire landed on the shores of the Red Sea but never got to Khartoum but his memory is preserved in statuary in Australia in the naming of Geelong’s Gordon Institute of TAFE and in the middle name of the country’s longest-serving prime minister Australian involvement in the Middle East has persisted since then in ways that have a habit of intruding themselves jarringly into domestic politics In Australia’s history there is hardly a more important event than the Gallipoli campaign of 1915 in which Australians served and died in a Middle Eastern theatre of war Australians fought alongside a contingent of Jewish volunteers The corps was the forerunner of the Jewish Legion that served in the British army during the Palestine campaign against the Ottoman Turks — a campaign notable for the role of the Australian Light Horse in the defeat of the Ottomans and the reshaping of the modern Middle East The Light Horse’s involvement has been a useful prop for those seeking to embellish Australia’s role in the birth of the Jewish state The causal link is not much more than a historical happenstance This leaves aside the role of the ninth division in the defeat of Rommel’s legions at El Alamein during the second world war and the courageous exploits of the Rats of Tobruk in Libya in resisting a protracted siege Australia played a role in the defeat of Hitler’s war machine in the Middle Eastern theatre and events that flowed from it — including driven significantly by Western guilt over the Holocaust Thus is Australian history embedded in the Middle East for better or worse — John Howard’s ill-starred decision to join the American cavalry in the rush to invade Iraq in 2003 being one example of the latter were among those most outspoken in their advocacy of that rush to war; the consequences its own history since 1945 weighs heavily on its Middle East policies and its relationship with Israel and its supporters in Australia It is at least arguable that without Bert Evatt’s energetic advocacy at the United Nations in 1947 the partition of Palestine may not have happened Evatt’s backing for a separate Jewish homeland is the stuff of Labor mythology and a source of gratitude among Australian Jews although this gratitude is conditional on the party’s continued support for Israel As chair of the UN Special Committee on Palestine Evatt worked tirelessly to bring about partition Australia’s external affairs minister “bullied cajoled and coaxed until he got the right numbers for them.” In the event the UN voted twenty-five for partition and thirteen against (including all Arab states) as president of the General Assembly in 1948 Evatt pushed for Israel’s admission as a sovereign state Australia was among the first countries to recognise Israel and British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour’s declaration of support for a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine Australia had followed the waxing and waning of Britain’s policy towards Jewish aspirations in Palestine British policy generally waned in the interwar period which was marked by Jewish terrorist activities against Britain’s mandated post-Ottoman oversight of Palestine Evatt’s interventions at the UN effectively set a benchmark for Australian support for the embryonic Jewish state It persisted through the Menzies years and beyond with his declaration that Australia would adopt an “even-handed” approach to Palestine caused a schism between a Labor government and the Jewish leadership in Australia Where Evatt had acted as a midwife to the birth of the Jewish state Whitlam was proposing to sever the umbilical cord An “even-handed” policy was not something that found favour in the salons of Melbourne since it implied a willingness to listen to Palestinian grievances and engage with the “terrorist” Palestine Liberation Organisation Whitlam’s defeat in 1975 was welcomed by a Jewish establishment since it meant that Australian policy towards the Middle East could return to a comfortable status quo under Malcolm Fraser That stance persisted under Labor’s Bob Hawke Considerable mythology is attached to Hawke’s connection to Israel It is true that his close relationship with Peter Abeles and other prominent Australian Jews meant he had an emotional attachment to Jewish people and the State of Israel — an attachment borne out by his advocacy for Soviet Jews his government was a less reliable supporter of Israel at the UN than its predecessors it exhibited greater willingness to criticise Bill Hayden condemned Israel’s settlement policies Australia proved a sharper critic of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians It welcomed the PLO’s acceptance of Israel’s existence and the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 and it shared Washington’s dismay at the assassination by a Jewish zealot of Israel’s prime minister and peace advocate A relatively unquestioning policy towards Israel returned under John Howard and his foreign minister Australia became a reliable voice for Israel Canberra ceased referring to territories seized in the 1967 war as “occupied.” Downer observed that Australia admired the “strength and courage of Israeli for those are traits Australian see in themselves.” Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison coincided with various aimless efforts by Washington to advance a peace process Morrison pleased the Jewish establishment in 2018 when he recognised West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and pledged to shift Australia’s embassy from Tel Aviv reversed the decision to recognise Jerusalem Australian policy reverted to the mean: that Jerusalem should be left to final-status negotiations there should be realistic negotiations on a two-state solution As a battle continues to rage in the Gaza Strip Given the unsteadiness it has displayed in the face of pressure from within its own ranks and the wider community what is the fair assessment of the Albanese government’s management of the Palestine question put another way: what burden does history place on a government that is seeking to be faithful to its social democratic ideals and Australia’s role in the birth of Israel and demands by a wider constituency that it live up to its commitments to a two-state solution when it is faced by a vociferous campaign to delegitimise legitimate criticism of Israel The fair judgement at this stage is that the government is having enormous trouble managing the Gaza war issue community disgust over the slaughter of innocents and an extraordinarily effective pro-Israel lobby given virtual carte blanche in the pages of the national daily Under these sorts of pressures the government has wilted foreign minister Penny Wong creditably advanced a proposal to recognise Palestine as a “pathway” to realistic negotiations on a two-state solution No sooner had she put forward this relatively mild initiative than a near-hysterical reaction obliged Labor to retreat to the point where its policy on Palestine is at best passive and at worst a contradiction of its own platform to recognise a Palestinian state or a Hawke with Hayden as foreign minister or a Keating with Evans as foreign minister might do in these circumstances Evans himself has in recent times advocated the implementation of Labor policy on recognition without delay In the wash-up of all of this one other observation might be made Politicians from the factional left of the party — figures like Gillard Albanese and Wong — have a tendency to overcorrect on issues like Palestine It is interesting to recall that in September 2002 Albanese as convener of the parliamentary Friends of Palestine delivered one of the most resolute statements in support of Palestinian rights It bears rereading in light of the difficulties he is having in aligning policies with the principles he enunciated then he engaged in a far-reaching critique of Israel’s occupation and demanded implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 242 Resolution 242 — agreed fifty-seven years ago — calls for combatants to withdraw to pre-1967 boundaries and expresses the clear principle of the inadmissibility of the seizure of territory by force history hangs very heavily indeed over the Albanese government’s Gaza policy and indeed over the prime minister’s own record Washington correspondent and international editor of the Australian Financial Review and a former Middle East correspondent for the Financial Times He is author of Arafat: The Biography (1991 and 2004) Steve Thompson has emerged as a surprise candidate for the vacant manager's job at Bolton Wanderers as part of an ex-player duo who racked up more than 300 appearances for Bolton has been under consideration after Ian Evatt was sacked last week Neil Redfearn came through at the club with Thompson in the 1980s and after successful coaching spells together at Leeds United and Oldham Athletic Bolton – seventh in League One after Tuesday night's 3-1 win against Northampton Town – parted ways with Evatt following a mixed run of results in their quest for the playoffs Steven Schmuacher is thought to be one of the leading candidates for the role after a brief spell in charge of Championship Stoke City. Thompson has rejected number offers at home and abroad over the past 12 months but is keen to get back into management. Redfearn and Thompson have history together after steadying the ship at Elland Road in 2014 under infamous former owner Massimo Cellino. The pair resigned in interim charge at Oldham in 2023 after their positions became untenable, even during a six-game unbeaten run after David Unsworth was sacked. Thompson was integral during Blackpool's unlikely rise through the divisions, eventually reaching the Premier League in 2010, and served as coach under Simon Grayson and Alex Neil at Preston North End. Redfearn played for Bolton between 1982 and 1984. Thompson's playing career with the Trotters also began in 1982 and he stayed with the club until 1991.  No one seems to have shared their thoughts on this topic yetLeave a comment so your voice will be heard first. {{message}}