The Macmillan Dictionary of Australian Politics

254 Pages·1992·26.559 MB·English

by  Dean Jaensch, Max Teichmann (auth.)

THE MACMILLAN DICTIONARY OF
AUSTRALIAN
POLITICS
THE MACMILLAN DICTIONARY OF
AUSTRALIAN
POLITICS
FOURTH EDITION
Dean Jaensch &M ax Teichmann
M
© Dean Jaensch & Max Teichmann 1979, 1984, 1988, 1992
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 1992 978-0-7329-1445-5
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication
may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means,
without permission.
First published 1979, reprinted 1983
Second edition published 1984 (reprinted four times)
Third edition published 1988 (reprinted)
Fourth edition published 1992 by
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF AUSTRALIA PTY LID
107 Moray Street, South Melboume 3205
6 Clarke Street, Crows Nest 2065
Associated companies and representatives
throughout the world
National Library of Australia
cataloguing in publication data
Jaensch, Dean, 1936-
The Macmillan dictionary of Australian politics.
4th ed.
ISBN 978-1-349-15175-2 ISBN 978-1-349-15173-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-15173-8
ISBN 978-0-7329-1444-8 (pbk.).
1. Political science - Australia - Dictionaries. 2. Politicians -
Australia - Dictionaries. 3. Australia - Politics and govemment -
Dictionaries. I. Teichmann, Max. 11. Title. III. Title: Dictionary of
Australian politics.
320.99403
Set by Superskill Graphics, Singapore
Contents
Preface vi
Preface to the Second Edition vii
Preface to the Third Edition vii
Preface to the Fourth Edition viii
Appendices
1: A Chronology of Australian Politics 229
2: Election Results since 1963 237
3: Governors-General of Australia 238
4: Prime Ministers of Australia 239
5: Leaders of the Opposition 240
6: Premiers of the Australian States since 1901 241
7: Referendum Results 245
v
Preface
This is a dictionary of Australian politics-quite possibly the first of its kind. There have
been many dictionaries of politics, of economics, of political thought and of political
history, but none taking Australia as its principal motif. The problem here, of course, has
been what to put in and what to leave out, decisions influenced in turn by how large or how
small this dictionary should be. Our judgement was that such a book should be portable,
succinct, comprehensive, and desirably inexpensive.
There will doubtless be missing entries which individual readers would like to have seen
included, and if it transpires that such feelings are in any way widespread, then future
editions will doubtless incorporate such items. Although this is primarily a dictionary of
political terms, the authors take the view that the boundaries between political institutions,
political theory, political history and political economy, while convenient, even necessary,
in their right place, do not correspond to the loosely textured and overlapping character of
the socio-political process. There have therefore been incorporated a wide range of eco-
nomic terms in general usage, together with terms drawn from political theory, and a
register of the principal historical events, both domestic and international, which have
helped to produce our contemporary Australian polity.
As politics also embraces our relations with other countries and with international
institutions, such relations being sometimes political, sometimes economic, a largish
number of items have been devoted to these fields.
There is a necessarily brief selection of biographical notes on the main political actors
since Federation, the brevity being on the ground that this is not intended to be a dictionary
of Australian biography, of which there are now a number. Statistical tables have been cut
to a minimum, in the belief that such information is usually, though not invariably,
available from government publications.
D. H. J. & M. E. T.
September, 1979
VI
Preface to the Second Edition
This is the first revised edition of the Macmillan Dictionary of Australian Politics. Quite
frankly, neither of the authors had realized just how comprehensively this work would have
to be restructured. There has been a quiet revolution in our political institutions and
practices in Australia, and a whole reordering of the political agenda. The Whitlam, Fraser
and now the Hawke regimes can be used as benchmarks but there have been underlying
those dramas considerable changes in our economic, legal and social affairs: there has been
a long recession; levels of unemployment are the highest since the Depression; there has
been a slow collapse in the manufacturing industries; a great leap forward has taken us into
the computer and silicon chip age; and so on. The international political and military
environment has also altered dramatically, for the worse. Single issue politics has returned
to the important role it enjoyed in the late 1960s. Some of these events and processes have
found their way into this revised dictionary in the shape of hundreds of changes to existing
items and a large number of new ones. In order to make way for these expansions and in
the light of the original declaration of intent - for the book to be 'portable, succinct,
comprehensive, and desirably inexpensive' - we have had to omit the political bio-
graphies. The only consolation is that many of the actors of four and five years ago now
appear distinctly passe and it could be that our various political leaders are not nearly as
important as they might believe. Issues, concepts and processes survive much better and
longer.
D. H. J. & M. E. T.
February, 1984
Preface to the Third Edition
This second revision of the Macmillan Dictionary of Australian Politics has been neces-
sary only three years after the 1984 revisions. The rapidity of political change has been
amazing. In 1987, Labor holds all mainland governments except Queensland; the Liberal
Party is in government only in Tasmania; the end of the hegemony of Johannes Bjelke-
Petersen was announced. The Labor Party everywhere, at least a majority of it, had moved
firmly to the right; the Liberal Party had factionalized and was searching for an identity; the
coalition had split then reformed; the Australian Democrats had been returned to a balance
of power in the Senate. The international political and economic environment had altered
dramatically; single issue politics had intensified; the stock market had collapsed; Austra-
lia's international credit rating had been demoted; privatization was debated in the Labor
Party. These are just some of the constellation of changes over three years. The result has
been a restructuring of this dictionary to an extent surprising even to the authors - the
omission of items no longer on the political agenda; the inclusion of a surprising number
of issues and institutions which have emerged since 1984.
D. H. J. & M. E. T.
December, 1987
vii
Preface to the Fourth Edition
The fact that this Dictionary has moved into its fourth edition in 12 years is a confirmation
that the book does meet a need in the community. The state of politics over the last decade
has prompted unprecedented interest in what politics is doing for and to the public. A very
positive development has been an increasing involvement in and a search for information
about politics. We hope this new edition will help in this process of change.
The second reason for a fully-revised edition is the continuing rapid change in Austra-
lian politics. Since the Third Edition in 1987, most parliaments have been transformed into
hung parliaments; the Greens had major success in Tasmania; Royal Commissions in
unprecedented numbers are in session; there have been significant electoral changes, and
the traditional party system has become eroded. The economy has changed significantly
and new terms of political economy have come into common usage. These and other
changes are reflected in this Fourth Edition.
D. H. J. & M. E. T.
May, 1992
viii
A
Aborigines. The original inhabitants of a country - in Australia, refers to those people
(and their descendants) who were living in Australia before its settlement by Europeans
in the eighteenth century. For much of Australia's history, the Aborigines were a
forgotten people. When they were considered, it was in terms of 'how to solve the
Aboriginal problem'. Until recently, the official policy was that until Aborigines showed
themselves fit and able to be assimilated into the white community-to think, live and
act like whites - they should be under restrictive laws and essentially be treated as
wards of the state.
In the early 1960s, the welfare, status and rights of Aborigines became a political
issue, and under pressure from a rising interest in the more informed white communities,
the old paternalistic and restrictive laws and attitudes of governments began to change.
That is, except in Queensland, where the attitudes and practices of the National Party
government seem better suited to an earlier age.
Progress was slow. It was not until a referendum was carried in 1967 that Aborigines
were counted as Australians in the census, and they gained full citizenship. It was not
until 1968 that the national government formally recognized its responsibilities with
the creation of the first portfolio for Aboriginal Affairs.
At the same time, Aboriginal groups themselves began to seek better status and equal
rights. In 1966, following a strike by Aboriginals on some Northern Territory cattle
stations, the first land rights action took place. The Gurindji people left Wave Hill and
staked a claim on land they considered to be at the heart of their tribal culture. Such land
claims were the beginning of the involvement of the national government in Aboriginal
affairs, and since the 1967 referendum successive federal governments have had con-
current powers with the states in Aboriginal affairs. The events in Queensland over
Aboriginal communities, for example at Mornington Island, brought demands for
national intervention to over-ride the Queensland government, but no such action has
yet been taken.
In the 1970s, many aborigines and groups began to bring further pressure on govern-
ment and the white community. There was considerable response from the Whitlam
government, including the formation of the Northern Land Council and an Aboriginal
legal aid service; a much increased (and much needed) expenditure on Aboriginal
affairs; the formation of the National Aboriginal Consultative Committee, first elected
in 1973, and established to advise the national government.
One of the most controversial issues since the late 1970s continues to be that of land
rights. The Woodward Commission in 1974 recommended that land be vested in
Aboriginal law trusts, and this was finally carried into legislation in 1977. The national
government in this period transferred over 200,000 square kilometres of the Northern
Territory to Aboriginal ownership, and the South Australian government has enacted
similarly for Pitjantjatjara lands. This was not effected without reaction, and the reports
of 'white backlash', the establishment of a 'Rights for Whites Association' and the Ku-
Klux Klan in the Northern Territory flowed from such land rights decisions.
Following the Woodward report, Aboriginal Land Councils have been formed,
mainly in the Northern Territory, as statutory authorities with two major functions: to
Aborigines
negotiate with interests seeking to mine Aboriginal land; and to present land claims to
the Aboriginal Land Commission. The issue of mining is controversial. Before the
1970s, it was a simple process. The Queensland government removed an area of an
Aboriginal reserve at Mapoon and Weipa for a bauxite company, and a similar process
occurred in the establishment of the Gove bauxite mine in the Yirrkala Aboriginal
reserve by the federal government in 1963. The drawn-out negotiations in 1978 between
the Northern Land Council, the mining company and the national government over the
Ranger uranium deposit suggest that such 'takeovers' may not be as simple in the future.
To a large degree, the effectiveness of the Aboriginal people as a pressure group will
depend on unity and numbers. Effectiveness is slowly being achieved, through educa-
tion and involvement of Aborigines, and by the efforts of Aboriginal and white leaders.
Lack of unity and the fragmentation of the Land Council movement indicates that
problems still exist. What is needed is a single, peak organisation that can represent all
Aboriginal people. The Whitlam government created the National Aboriginal Consulta-
tive Committee in 1974; however, in 1976 the Fraser government downgraded this into
the National Aboriginal Conference, as a forum rather than a representative body. In
1990, the area of Aboriginal policy was placed under an elected body, the Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islanders Commission.
See also APPENDIX 7, LAND RIGHTS, NATIONAL ABoRIGINAL CONFERENCE, RACISM, ATSIC.
Absentee Vote. Australia's system of compulsory voting means that facilities need to be
made available for voters to cast their votes when they are unable to attend a polling
booth in their own subdivision. Absentee votes are lodged by voters who, on polling
day, are outside the subdivision in which they are enrolled but are within the state or
territory of their subdivision. Absentee voters fill out the voting card for their proper
subdivision in the usual manner and lodge it with the nearest polling booth. Australia is
one of the few countries which makes provision for such a voting process.
See also COMPULSORY VOTING, POSTAL VOTE.
Accountability. In general terms, bound to give account for actions or things to some
person or body. In politics, the term is often used as a synonym for responsibility in that,
in theory, the government (and individual ministers) are accountable to parliament, and
parliament (and individual members) are accountable to the voters.
See also MANDATE, RESPONSIBILITY, RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT, WESTMINSTER SYSTEM.
Act of Parliament. A formal action involving
(i) the passage of a Bill for an Act agreed to by both houses of the parliament, or
agreed to by both houses with amendments also agreed to by both houses; and
(ii) the assent by the Governor-General in the Queen's name.
Normally the date of commencement of the Act is indicated in the Act but in the absence
of such a specification it will come into operation 28 days after assent by the Governor-
General. A similar process is followed in the states (except in Queensland which has
only one house of parliament). In legal vocabulary Acts of Parliament are referred to as
statutes: hence the saying - 'when a measure reaches the Statute Book'.
Under special circumstances Acts may be passed by a joint sitting of parliament -
as in 197 4 following the double dissolution of the Australian Parliament.
See also BILL, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE, SENATE.
ACTU.
See AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL OF TRADE UNIONS.
Address in Reply. The Australian parliamentary system incorporates many formal aspects
2