Vince Gair
Encyclopedia
Vincent Clare "Vince" Gair (25 February 190111 November 1980) was an Australia
n politician
. He served as Premier of Queensland from 1952 until 1957, when his stormy relations with the trade union movement saw him expelled from the Australian Labor Party
. He was elected to the Australian Senate
and led the Democratic Labor Party
from 1964 to 1973. In 1974 he was appointed Australian Ambassador to Ireland
by the Whitlam
government.
to a Scottish father and an Irish mother, and was raised a Catholic.
His parents were founding members of the Labor Party in Queensland
in the 1890s. He began work with the Department of Railways
upon the family's move to Dutton Park
, Brisbane
and in 1916 he joined the Australian Labor Party
(ALP). He married Florence Glynn in 1924. She died in an accident five years later.
was held from 1929 to 1932 by Neil MacGroarty, Attorney-General in the government of Arthur Moore
. MacGroarty was influential in creating the Mungana Royal Commission
to destroy the political career of Ted Theodore
, and reportedly incurred the displeasure of the influential Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, James Duhig
.
Gair worked at consolidating his hold on the marginal electorate, at which he was largely successful except in the 1938 election, when a newly-formed Protestant Labor Party
targeted his seat. He fended off the challenge and retained a low profile in Parliament. In 1941 Vince Gair's only daughter from his first marriage died. In 1944 he remarried, to Ellen Sexton; the couple had two sons.
Gair was a backbencher for ten years during the William Forgan Smith
government before being appointed as Secretary for Mines under the elderly Frank Cooper in 1942. The same year he became Minister for Labour and Employment (later Labour and Industry), and in 1947 he was elected by his colleagues as Deputy Premier. In 1950 he also became Treasurer. Gair had not previously held office in a trade union
. Many Labor parliamentarians in Queensland in particular were closely aligned with the Australian Workers Union (AWU). Premier Edward Hanlon was the first in a succession of Queensland premiers not to be linked with the AWU, and this fact helped bring about a reduction in the union's political influence.
In 1948, the Industrial Groups
associated with the Catholic Movement of B. A. Santamaria
were introduced into Queensland to combat the influence of the Communist Party of Australia
in the trade unions. The Industrial Groups (whose members were known as Groupers) were supported by Gair, who hoped to use them to cement his personal power base within the party's organisational wing, as well as by union leader Joe Bukowski and the AWU. When conflict with the Groupers precipitated a national split in the ALP, leading to the formation of the breakaway Democratic Labor Party
(DLP), the national organisation of the AWU swung its support behind ALP leader Dr H. V. Evatt
and disbanded the Groups. This would later deprive Gair of a potential source of support within the party organisation. Hanlon died on 15 January 1952 and Gair, having been acting premier since the previous August, was elected by the ALP Caucus
to succeed him on 17 January.
s in the state. In July of that year, members of the AWU executive met Gair. According to an account they gave later, Gair promised them an inquiry, although Gair denied ever having promised any such thing. Bukowski publicly expressed a desire to appear before the Bar of Parliament to detail his allegations, in which he was supported by Frank Nicklin
, then leader of the Opposition; but Gair defeated his motion in parliament. In February 1956, Ian Wood
, a Liberal Party
Senator for Queensland, alleged that the government had demanded payments from pastoralists in order to ensure the extension of pastoral leases, and that these payments had been diverted to Labor Party funds. Gair immediately set up a royal commission
, which resulted in the laying of criminal charges against Lands Minister Tom Foley. Foley was acquitted of the specific charges laid against him, but was found by the Royal Commission's report to be responsible for the improper solicitation of party donations, for which he was dismissed from cabinet and expelled from the Labor Party.
Gair discovered that the AWU had gained its information about the scandal from a senior public official, Vivian Creighton
. Gair pressed for Creighton's resignation on the grounds of official misconduct. Creighton was summoned to appear before the Bar of Parliament to explain his actions but was later dismissed by cabinet. Nevertheless, Gair easily won the elections of May 1956.
When the AWU uncharacteristically endorsed strike action by shearers, Gair raised the union movement's ire by negotiating with the federal government in order to secure the export of wool shorn by non-union labour. Gair was ultimately successful in a negotiated end to the strike, but the effect was to cement an unlikely anti-Gair alliance between the militants of the Queensland Trades and Labour Council
(TLC) (represented by Boilermaker's Union secretary Jack Egerton
) and the AWU.
Out of the several issues over which Gair and the union movement came into conflict, the most severe was the introduction of three weeks' paid leave to workers under state industrial awards. This had been part of the party's election platform since 1953. Gair announced in 1955 that although the state's finances did not permit the extension of annual leave, the government would extend entitlements to long service leave. This compromise was regarded as insufficient by both the TLC and the AWU, and in November they moved in the Queensland Branch's Central Executive that legislation introducing the leave be introduced by the parliamentary party.
The majority of Gair's Cabinet refused to accept what it saw as direction from the Central Executive, and in February 1956, Bukowski and Egerton organised the numbers at the next Labor Party convention to vote in favour of a leave increase. After private discussions it was revealed that Gair would introduce the leave sometime over the course of the year. After the election, however, State Treasurer Ted Walsh
revealed that Queensland's budget was in deficit and Gair claimed that extending leave would be financially irresponsible.
The parliamentary ALP found itself in deadlock with the organisational wing and the trade unions, with the TLC and the Central Executive maintaining pressure on Gair throughout early 1957. Gair still refused to budge, thinking that the executive would not dare to expel him. For its part, the QCE did not believe that Gair would take many of his caucus with him. The QCE finally expelled Gair on 24 April. He took a total of 25 defectors from the ALP Caucus with him, including all the Cabinet except Deputy Premier Jack Duggan, to form the Queensland Labor Party
(QLP). Gair tried but failed to gain Country Party
support for his continuation as Premier. On 12 June, the ALP, now led by Duggan, crossed the floor of Parliament and voted with the Country Party and the Liberal Party to deny "supply
" (that is, the money needed to govern) to what was left of the Gair government.
An election was called for 3 August, in which both the QLP and the ALP lost ground, although Gair was re-elected at South Brisbane as a QLP candidate. Nicklin became Premier and for the first time in 25 years, a Labor Government was out of office in Queensland. The ALP would not return to power in Queensland until 1989
.
election of 1961 for the DLP. In 1964 he was elected as a DLP Senator for Queensland.
Gair was the second former Queensland Premier to be elected to Federal Parliament as a representative of Queensland after Anderson Dawson. Two former Premiers prior to Gair, Tom Ryan and Ted Theodore had also served in Federal Parliament but they were both elected as representatives for New South Wales.
's détente
with China and Russia in the early 1970s.
was desperately attempting to gain a majority in the Senate, Whitlam tried to create an extra vacancy in Queensland for the upcoming Senate election so as to gain the ALP an increased chance of winning an extra Senate seat.
Whitlam approached Gair with the offer of the position of Ambassador to Ireland. Subsequently, when knowledge of the appointment became public, there was an outcry from the conservative parties. The then Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen
decided to thwart Whitlam by causing the issue of writs for only five, rather than six, Senate vacancies.
In Canberra, a group of Country Party Senators kept Gair occupied in their office, away from the President of the Senate (to whom he needed to give his resignation), drinking beer and eating prawns, until 6pm (the Commonwealth Electoral Act provided that writs would be deemed to have been issued at 6pm irrespective of the time that they were actually issued). At 6:05pm, the Queensland Cabinet met, and recommended to the governor, Air Marshal Sir Colin Hannah
, that writs be issued for the election of senators for Queensland, and the writs were issued at 11pm. As a result, Gair failed to resign his Senate position in time for there to be six vacancies instead of five, thus thwarting Whitlam's plan. This delaying tactic was later known as "the Night of the Long Prawns". Gair later said that he was perfectly aware of why he was being feted by his colleagues, some of whom were former enemies. Gair's actions helped to precipitate a double dissolution
. After the 18 May election
, the ALP remained without control of the Senate. The 1974 election marked the electoral demise of the DLP, which lost all four of its remaining seats, largely as a backlash against Gair's actions. Whitlam was later dismissed when the Senate refused to pass supply bills (see 1975 Australian constitutional crisis).
government took office after the 1975 election
, Foreign Minister Andrew Peacock
had Gair recalled, not for political reasons, but because he proved unsuitable for diplomacy. Gair returned to Brisbane, and died aged 79 on 11 November 1980, the fifth anniversary of the dismissal of the Whitlam government. He was honoured with a state funeral
and was buried in Nudgee
Cemetery.
, is named after Gair. The park is a triangular "garden of remembrance" with a Cenotaph
, and was opened in 25 April 1951.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. He served as Premier of Queensland from 1952 until 1957, when his stormy relations with the trade union movement saw him expelled from the Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
. He was elected to the Australian Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
and led the Democratic Labor Party
Democratic Labor Party (historical)
The Democratic Labor Party was an Australian political party that existed from 1955 until 1978.-History:The DLP was formed as a result of a split in the Australian Labor Party that began in 1954. The split was between the party's national leadership, under the then party leader Dr H.V...
from 1964 to 1973. In 1974 he was appointed Australian Ambassador to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
by the Whitlam
Gough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before being dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the...
government.
Early life
Gair was born in RockhamptonRockhampton
Rockhampton can refer to:* Rockhampton, Queensland is a city in Queensland, Australia* Rockhampton City, Queensland, a suburb of Rockhampton, Queensland* Electoral district of Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia...
to a Scottish father and an Irish mother, and was raised a Catholic.
His parents were founding members of the Labor Party in Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
in the 1890s. He began work with the Department of Railways
Queensland Rail
Queensland Rail, also known as QR, is a government-owned railway operator in the state of Queensland. Under the control of the Queensland Government, Queensland Rail operates the inner-city and long-distance passenger services, as well as some freight operations and gives railway access to other...
upon the family's move to Dutton Park
Dutton Park, Queensland
Dutton Park is a suburb of Brisbane, Australia located 5 km south of the Brisbane CBD. The suburb is predominantly residential, with some light industrial and commercial areas....
, Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
and in 1916 he joined the Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
(ALP). He married Florence Glynn in 1924. She died in an accident five years later.
State parliamentary career
The Queensland state electorate of South BrisbaneElectoral district of South Brisbane
The district of South Brisbane is an electoral district of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. The electorate encompasses suburbs in Brisbane's inner-south, stretching from East Brisbane to West End, and south to Fairfield...
was held from 1929 to 1932 by Neil MacGroarty, Attorney-General in the government of Arthur Moore
Arthur Edward Moore
Arthur Edward Moore, CMG was an Australian politician. He was the Country and Progressive National Party Premier of Queensland, from 1929 to 1932. He was the only Queensland Premier not to come from the ranks of the Labor Party between 1915 and 1957...
. MacGroarty was influential in creating the Mungana Royal Commission
Mungana affair
The Mungana Affair involved the selling of some mining properties in the Chillagoe-Mungana districts of northern Queensland, Australia to the Queensland government, at a grossly inflated price...
to destroy the political career of Ted Theodore
Ted Theodore
Edward Granville Theodore was an Australian politician. He was Premier of Queensland 1919–25, a federal politician representing a New South Wales seat 1927–31, and Federal Treasurer 1929–30.-Early life:...
, and reportedly incurred the displeasure of the influential Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, James Duhig
James Duhig
Sir James Duhig, KCMG was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane from 1917 until his death. At the time of his death he was the longest-serving bishop in the Catholic Church .-Early life:...
.
Gair worked at consolidating his hold on the marginal electorate, at which he was largely successful except in the 1938 election, when a newly-formed Protestant Labor Party
Protestant Labor Party
The Protestant Labor Party was a minor Australian political party that operated mainly in New South Wales and Queensland in the 1920s and 1930s. It was formed by Independent MP Walter Skelton, member for Newcastle in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1922–27...
targeted his seat. He fended off the challenge and retained a low profile in Parliament. In 1941 Vince Gair's only daughter from his first marriage died. In 1944 he remarried, to Ellen Sexton; the couple had two sons.
Gair was a backbencher for ten years during the William Forgan Smith
William Forgan Smith
William Forgan Smith , generally known as Forgan Smith, was Premier of the Australian state of Queensland from 1932 to 1942. He came to dominate politics in the state during the 1930s, and his populism, firm leadership, defence of states' rights and interest in state development make him something...
government before being appointed as Secretary for Mines under the elderly Frank Cooper in 1942. The same year he became Minister for Labour and Employment (later Labour and Industry), and in 1947 he was elected by his colleagues as Deputy Premier. In 1950 he also became Treasurer. Gair had not previously held office in a trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
. Many Labor parliamentarians in Queensland in particular were closely aligned with the Australian Workers Union (AWU). Premier Edward Hanlon was the first in a succession of Queensland premiers not to be linked with the AWU, and this fact helped bring about a reduction in the union's political influence.
In 1948, the Industrial Groups
Industrial Groups
The Industrial Groups were groups formed by the Australian Labor Party in the late 1940s, to combat Communist Party influence in the trade unions....
associated with the Catholic Movement of B. A. Santamaria
B. A. Santamaria
Bartholomew Augustine "B. A." Santamaria, otherwise 'Bob' , was an Australian political activist and journalist and one of the most influential political figures in 20th century Australian history...
were introduced into Queensland to combat the influence of the Communist Party of Australia
Communist Party of Australia
The Communist Party of Australia was founded in 1920 and dissolved in 1991; it was succeeded by the Socialist Party of Australia, which then renamed itself, becoming the current Communist Party of Australia. The CPA achieved its greatest political strength in the 1940s and faced an attempted...
in the trade unions. The Industrial Groups (whose members were known as Groupers) were supported by Gair, who hoped to use them to cement his personal power base within the party's organisational wing, as well as by union leader Joe Bukowski and the AWU. When conflict with the Groupers precipitated a national split in the ALP, leading to the formation of the breakaway Democratic Labor Party
Democratic Labor Party
The Democratic Labor Party is a political party in Australia that espouses social conservatism and opposes neo-liberalism. The first "DLP" Senator in decades, party vice-president John Madigan was elected to the Australian Senate with 2.3 percent of the primary vote in Victoria at the 2010 federal...
(DLP), the national organisation of the AWU swung its support behind ALP leader Dr H. V. Evatt
H. V. Evatt
Herbert Vere Evatt, QC KStJ , was an Australian jurist, politician and writer. He was President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1948–49 and helped draft the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights...
and disbanded the Groups. This would later deprive Gair of a potential source of support within the party organisation. Hanlon died on 15 January 1952 and Gair, having been acting premier since the previous August, was elected by the ALP Caucus
Caucus
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement, especially in the United States and Canada. As the use of the term has been expanded the exact definition has come to vary among political cultures.-Origin of the term:...
to succeed him on 17 January.
Premier of Queensland
Gair came into conflict with Bukowski when the AWU in 1955 began making allegations that there was corruption in the process of granting and extending pastoral leasePastoral lease
A pastoral lease is Crown land that government allows to be leased, generally for the purposes of farming.-Australia:Pastoral leases exist in both Australian commonwealth law and state jurisdictions....
s in the state. In July of that year, members of the AWU executive met Gair. According to an account they gave later, Gair promised them an inquiry, although Gair denied ever having promised any such thing. Bukowski publicly expressed a desire to appear before the Bar of Parliament to detail his allegations, in which he was supported by Frank Nicklin
Frank Nicklin
Sir George Francis Reuben Nicklin, KCMG, MM was Premier of the Australian state of Queensland from 1957 to 1968, and the first Country Party Premier since 1932.-Early life and career:...
, then leader of the Opposition; but Gair defeated his motion in parliament. In February 1956, Ian Wood
Ian Wood (Australian politician)
Ian Alexander Christie Wood was an Australian politician. Born at Mackay, Queensland, he was educated at state schools before becoming a travel agent. He served on Mackay City Council, including some years as mayor, 1930-1933, 1943-1953. He was also President of the Queensland Local Government...
, a Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
Senator for Queensland, alleged that the government had demanded payments from pastoralists in order to ensure the extension of pastoral leases, and that these payments had been diverted to Labor Party funds. Gair immediately set up a royal commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
, which resulted in the laying of criminal charges against Lands Minister Tom Foley. Foley was acquitted of the specific charges laid against him, but was found by the Royal Commission's report to be responsible for the improper solicitation of party donations, for which he was dismissed from cabinet and expelled from the Labor Party.
Gair discovered that the AWU had gained its information about the scandal from a senior public official, Vivian Creighton
Vivian Creighton
Vivian Rogers Creighton was the chairman of the Land Administration Board 1953 to 1956,...
. Gair pressed for Creighton's resignation on the grounds of official misconduct. Creighton was summoned to appear before the Bar of Parliament to explain his actions but was later dismissed by cabinet. Nevertheless, Gair easily won the elections of May 1956.
When the AWU uncharacteristically endorsed strike action by shearers, Gair raised the union movement's ire by negotiating with the federal government in order to secure the export of wool shorn by non-union labour. Gair was ultimately successful in a negotiated end to the strike, but the effect was to cement an unlikely anti-Gair alliance between the militants of the Queensland Trades and Labour Council
Queensland Council of Unions
The Queensland Council of Unions is a representative body of Trade union organisations, known as a Labour council, in the State of Queensland, Australia...
(TLC) (represented by Boilermaker's Union secretary Jack Egerton
Jack Egerton
Sir John Alfred Roy Egerton was an Australian trade union organiser and member of the Australian Labor Party. Egerton was born in Emerald, Queensland and was educated at Rockhampton and Mount Morgan High Schools....
) and the AWU.
Out of the several issues over which Gair and the union movement came into conflict, the most severe was the introduction of three weeks' paid leave to workers under state industrial awards. This had been part of the party's election platform since 1953. Gair announced in 1955 that although the state's finances did not permit the extension of annual leave, the government would extend entitlements to long service leave. This compromise was regarded as insufficient by both the TLC and the AWU, and in November they moved in the Queensland Branch's Central Executive that legislation introducing the leave be introduced by the parliamentary party.
The majority of Gair's Cabinet refused to accept what it saw as direction from the Central Executive, and in February 1956, Bukowski and Egerton organised the numbers at the next Labor Party convention to vote in favour of a leave increase. After private discussions it was revealed that Gair would introduce the leave sometime over the course of the year. After the election, however, State Treasurer Ted Walsh
Ted Walsh
Ted Walsh is an amateur jockey turned racehorse trainer, based in Kill, County Kildare, Ireland. He was born and raised in Co. Cork. As a rider, one of his most important wins was on Attitude Adjuster in the 1986 Cheltenham Festival Foxhunter Chase...
revealed that Queensland's budget was in deficit and Gair claimed that extending leave would be financially irresponsible.
The parliamentary ALP found itself in deadlock with the organisational wing and the trade unions, with the TLC and the Central Executive maintaining pressure on Gair throughout early 1957. Gair still refused to budge, thinking that the executive would not dare to expel him. For its part, the QCE did not believe that Gair would take many of his caucus with him. The QCE finally expelled Gair on 24 April. He took a total of 25 defectors from the ALP Caucus with him, including all the Cabinet except Deputy Premier Jack Duggan, to form the Queensland Labor Party
Queensland Labor Party
The Queensland Labor Party was a political party of Queensland, Australia formed in 1957 by a breakaway group of the then ruling Australian Labor Party Government after the expulsion of Premier Vince Gair...
(QLP). Gair tried but failed to gain Country Party
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
support for his continuation as Premier. On 12 June, the ALP, now led by Duggan, crossed the floor of Parliament and voted with the Country Party and the Liberal Party to deny "supply
Government budget
A government budget is a legal document that is often passed by the legislature, and approved by the chief executive-or president. For example, only certain types of revenue may be imposed and collected...
" (that is, the money needed to govern) to what was left of the Gair government.
An election was called for 3 August, in which both the QLP and the ALP lost ground, although Gair was re-elected at South Brisbane as a QLP candidate. Nicklin became Premier and for the first time in 25 years, a Labor Government was out of office in Queensland. The ALP would not return to power in Queensland until 1989
Wayne Goss
Wayne Keith Goss was Premier of Queensland from 7 December 1989 until 19 February 1996.-Early life:He was born at Mundubbera, Queensland and educated at Inala High School and the University of Queensland...
.
Move from State to Federal politics
Although he was no longer Premier, Gair continued to lead the QLP, which was reduced to 11 members after the 1957 election. However, he was defeated at South Brisbane at the 1960 state election. In 1962 the QLP merged with the Democratic Labor Party, which had previously been largely inactive in Queensland. Gair unsuccessfully contested the SenateAustralian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
election of 1961 for the DLP. In 1964 he was elected as a DLP Senator for Queensland.
Gair was the second former Queensland Premier to be elected to Federal Parliament as a representative of Queensland after Anderson Dawson. Two former Premiers prior to Gair, Tom Ryan and Ted Theodore had also served in Federal Parliament but they were both elected as representatives for New South Wales.
Senator for Queensland and DLP leader
On his election to the Senate, he became the federal DLP's leader, a post he held until 1973. During his time in the Senate he advocated a strong defence and foreign policy based on anti-Communism. The DLP generally sought the middle ground on domestic issues. Gradually his anti-Communist views became outdated but he stubbornly refused to modify them in the face of developments like Richard NixonRichard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
's détente
Détente
Détente is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1970s, a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War...
with China and Russia in the early 1970s.
The "Gair Affair"
Gair subsequently became disillusioned with the DLP's other senators, who forced him to resign as leader in October 1973. In 1974, when the Federal Labor government of Gough WhitlamGough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before being dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the...
was desperately attempting to gain a majority in the Senate, Whitlam tried to create an extra vacancy in Queensland for the upcoming Senate election so as to gain the ALP an increased chance of winning an extra Senate seat.
Whitlam approached Gair with the offer of the position of Ambassador to Ireland. Subsequently, when knowledge of the appointment became public, there was an outcry from the conservative parties. The then Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Sir Johannes "Joh" Bjelke-Petersen, KCMG , was an Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived Premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, a period that saw considerable economic development in the state...
decided to thwart Whitlam by causing the issue of writs for only five, rather than six, Senate vacancies.
In Canberra, a group of Country Party Senators kept Gair occupied in their office, away from the President of the Senate (to whom he needed to give his resignation), drinking beer and eating prawns, until 6pm (the Commonwealth Electoral Act provided that writs would be deemed to have been issued at 6pm irrespective of the time that they were actually issued). At 6:05pm, the Queensland Cabinet met, and recommended to the governor, Air Marshal Sir Colin Hannah
Colin Hannah
Air Marshal Sir Colin Thomas Hannah KCMG, KCVO, KBE, CB was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force and a Governor of Queensland. Born in Western Australia, he was a member of the Militia before joining the RAAF in 1935. After graduating as a pilot, Hannah served in Nos. 22 and...
, that writs be issued for the election of senators for Queensland, and the writs were issued at 11pm. As a result, Gair failed to resign his Senate position in time for there to be six vacancies instead of five, thus thwarting Whitlam's plan. This delaying tactic was later known as "the Night of the Long Prawns". Gair later said that he was perfectly aware of why he was being feted by his colleagues, some of whom were former enemies. Gair's actions helped to precipitate a double dissolution
Double dissolution
A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the Australian Constitution to resolve deadlocks between the House of Representatives and the Senate....
. After the 18 May election
Australian federal election, 1974
Federal elections were held in Australia on 18 May 1974. All 127 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 60 seats in the Senate were up for election, due to a double dissolution...
, the ALP remained without control of the Senate. The 1974 election marked the electoral demise of the DLP, which lost all four of its remaining seats, largely as a backlash against Gair's actions. Whitlam was later dismissed when the Senate refused to pass supply bills (see 1975 Australian constitutional crisis).
Later life
Gair took up his post in Ireland, but when the FraserMalcolm Fraser
John Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, GCL, PC is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia. He came to power in the 1975 election following the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government, in which he played a key role...
government took office after the 1975 election
Australian federal election, 1975
Federal elections were held in Australia on 13 December 1975. All 127 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 64 seats in the Senate were up for election following a double dissolution of both Houses....
, Foreign Minister Andrew Peacock
Andrew Peacock
Andrew Sharp Peacock AC, GCL , is a former Australian Liberal politician. He was a minister in the Gorton, McMahon and Fraser governments, and was federal leader of the Liberal Party of Australia 1983–1985 and 1989–1990...
had Gair recalled, not for political reasons, but because he proved unsuitable for diplomacy. Gair returned to Brisbane, and died aged 79 on 11 November 1980, the fifth anniversary of the dismissal of the Whitlam government. He was honoured with a state funeral
State funeral
A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honor heads of state or other important people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements of military tradition...
and was buried in Nudgee
Nudgee, Queensland
Nudgee is a suburb of Brisbane, Australia. It is north of the CBD.Nudgee was part of the Toombul Shire Council until 1925 when it was absorbed by the Brisbane City Council....
Cemetery.
Memorials
Gair Park in Dutton Park, BrisbaneDutton Park, Queensland
Dutton Park is a suburb of Brisbane, Australia located 5 km south of the Brisbane CBD. The suburb is predominantly residential, with some light industrial and commercial areas....
, is named after Gair. The park is a triangular "garden of remembrance" with a Cenotaph
Cenotaph
A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
, and was opened in 25 April 1951.
See also
- "The Split"Australian Labor Party split of 1955The Australian Labor Party split of 1955 was a splintering of the Australian Labor Party along sectarian and ideological lines in the mid 1950s...
- Australian constitutional crisis of 1975Australian constitutional crisis of 1975The 1975 Australian constitutional crisis has been described as the greatest political crisis and constitutional crisis in Australia's history. It culminated on 11 November 1975 with the removal of the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party , by Governor-General Sir John Kerr...
External links
- Gair in political cartoon, 1974: Gair leaves Australia, and the DLP, for Ireland. Cartoon by Australian political cartoonistEditorial cartoonistAn editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary....
PickeringLarry PickeringLarry Pickering is an Australian political cartoonist, caricaturist and illustrator of books and calendars.He started his cartooning career at The Canberra Times newspaper in the late 1960s, originally working as a proof reader...
.
Further reading
- Costar, Brian. "Vincent Clare Gair: Labor's Loser". In Murphy D, Joyce R, Cribb M, and Wear, R (Ed.), The Premiers of Queensland pp. 268–285. Brisbane: University of Queensland Press. ISBN 0-7022-3173-8.