The origin of Labor versus Green tensions
Claims that the environment movement almost cost Labor the 1990 election ignore the decisive role played by Democrat votes and preferences. A closer look shows the campaign helped deliver victory – and marked a turning point in Labor’s relationship with environmental politics.
Recent articles in History
23 November 2025
Working with PM Fraser - parting words - Part 5 - Malcolm Fraser
John Menadue stayed on as the most senior public servant in the land, after the trauma of the Dismissal. In this five-part series he details what life was like working with PM Fraser. Given his closeness to Whitlam, some of his conclusions are surprising.
22 November 2025
A calculated plot, an ambush, a coup
Five decades on from the dismissal of the Whitlam government, Australia is seeing a notable shift in the narrative that now recognises it as a calculated coup, and an assault on the conventions of government.
22 November 2025
Working with PM Fraser - burying White Australia - Part 4
John Menadue stayed on as the most senior public servant in the land, after the trauma of the Dismissal. In this 5-part series he details what life was like working with PM Fraser. Given his closeness to Whitlam, some of his conclusions are surprising.
21 November 2025
Working with PM Fraser - a country divided - Part 3
John Menadue stayed on as the most senior public servant in the land, after the trauma of the Dismissal. In this 5-part series he details what life was like working with PM Fraser. Given his closeness to Whitlam, some of his conclusions are surprising.
20 November 2025
Working with PM Fraser - the business view - Part 2
John Menadue stayed on as the most senior public servant in the land, after the trauma of the Dismissal. In this 5-part series he details what life was like working with PM Fraser. Given his closeness to Whitlam, some of his conclusions are surprising.
10 November 2025
‘Mr Whitlam’s style’ – Part I
“I had no contemporary political heroes. I preferred Labor values to Liberal ones. I believed in a mixed economy. I disliked the people who’d got us into the Vietnam war. I was grateful to those who’d got us out. I admired Gough Whitlam, but not as much as he did.”
7 November 2025
The press and the Dismissal – Part III
Television had come to the fore in elections during the Whitlam campaign of 1972 when increased funds were spent on advertising with slogans (It’s time was backed by a catchy jingle) and mainly short television grabs for the news.
6 November 2025
The press and the Dismissal – Part II
Following the Dismissal on 11 November 1975, the editors of the major newspapers understood the national mood was volatile.
6 November 2025
Venezuela and Trump’s war to save the old order
“The past is not dead; it is not even past.” William Faulkner was right: past events continue to inform and shape our world.
5 November 2025
The press and the Dismissal – Part I
On the morning of 15 October 1975, most major newspapers advocated in their editorials that the Labor Government should go.
5 November 2025
108 years since the Balfour Declaration – a promise written in ink, fulfilled in blood
On 2 November 1917, Britain wrote with the ink of politics what it had no right to write with the ink of history.
4 November 2025
Ambush and deceit
The first in a series of first-hand accounts of the Dismissal, from the man who was there: John Menadue.
