Australian Commonwealth Party
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The Australian Commonwealth Party was formed in Sydney to contest the 1972 federal election, on a platform of wide social and administrative reform. The sole candidate, Max Fabre, sought to stand against
William McMahon Sir William McMahon (23 February 190831 March 1988) was an Australian politician who served as the 20th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1971 to 1972 as leader of the Liberal Party. He was a government minister for over 21 years, t ...
in the seat of Lowe but his nomination was refused over a deposit technicality. A dramatic eleventh-hour action in the High Court went against Fabre and the party. The party's campaign manifesto was written and authorised by poet Les Murray whose unabashed departure from the goals and language of conventional politics generated widespread publicity and prefigured the later emergence of visionary, environment-oriented parties like the
Australian Democrats The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups, it was Australia ...
and Greens. The manifesto announced:
The Australian Commonwealth Party is an entirely new political association, non-
authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic votin ...
, non-
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, bound together by the mutual loyalty and common commitment of members. he partyrepresents a rising of sensitivity and a restoration of grace. It seeks to reinstate qualitative values in the world in order to counter and, in the end, overcome the entrenched tyranny of quantity. It is thus the sworn enemy alike of divisive political techniques, of the mass solutions of doctrinaire economics and of rule by threat. As against all these, it espouses the higher pragmatism of vision.
The party went on to make a public declaration that "statecraft, not politics sthe proper function of government" and urged that Australia "achieve true sovereignty and secure the constitutional appointment by universal franchise of an independent Australian head of state." In a letter to '' The Bulletin'' in 1972, Les Murray wrote: "Australia will be a great nation, and a power for good in the world, when her head of state is a part-Aboriginal and her prime minister a poor man. Or vice versa." Though never formally disbanded, the Australian Commonwealth Party did not contest any other election nor seek party registration under later legislation. Its last public action was a rebuke delivered to prime minister
Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1977, he was notable for being the he ...
in July 1974 over the removal of "Commonwealth" from Australia's paper currency. The open letter, signed by the party's chairman Max Fabre, enquired "Has he PMforgotten that Australia was a Commonwealth when the British Empire was in short pants?"Letter dated 9 July to ''
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'', ''
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'', '' The Bulletin'' and other print media


1972 manifesto

''(click to enlarge each page)'' Image:ACP1.jpg Image:ACP2.jpg Image:ACP3.jpg Image:ACP4.jpg


References

* Jaensch, Dean and Scott, David. ''A Plague on Both Your Houses: Minor Parties in Australia'', p. 44. Allen & Unwin (1998), {{Defunct Australian political parties Defunct political parties in Australia Republican parties in Australia Political parties with year of establishment missing Political parties with year of disestablishment missing