This is a partial audio of the Democratic Labor Party’s policy speech for the 1974 federal election.
The broadcast is delivered by the party’s leader, Victorian Senator Frank McManus.
Unfortunately, the recording is incomplete. I have only just under 5 minutes of what I think was a 10-minute broadcast.
McManus lost his seat at the election, as did all the DLP’s sitting members. The DLP’s Senate representation fell from five to zero.
The DLP disappeared as a political force for the next 32 years. It won a seat in the Victorian Legislative Council in 2006, losing it in 2010. At the 2010 federal election, John Madigan won a Senate seat in Victoria.
- Listen to Senator Frank McManus deliver the DLP’s 1974 policy speech (5m)
- Read a biography of McManus from the Australian Dictionary of Biography
Two days after his policy speech, a letter from McManus was published in The Australian:
Snedden was 47 when he gave this speech. He entered parliament in 1955 as the member for the eastern suburban Melbourne electorate of Bruce. Sir Robert Menzies appointed him Attorney-General in 1964. He subsequently became Minister for Immigration and then Minister for Labour and National Service. He became Treasurer when William McMahon became Prime Minister in 1971, and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party in August 1971 after John Gorton was sacked.