Jim SpearsSir Robert Menzies
October 14th 2008 05:10
Ming the Merciless was Flash “ah-ahhhh Saviour of the universe” Gordon’s arch nemesis who would do anything to destroy the valiant hero. The founder of the Australian Liberal party, Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, was called “Ming” later in life as people tried to claim him as Australia’s first tyrant but the comparison does not stack up.
Ming the Merciless was well known for caring little for budget meetings and the trials of party politics. Ming would tend to make proclamations rather than work as leader of the team. Even during his university days Menzies was highly regarded as a talented speaker capable of the cutting wit that’s always successful in parliamentary politics. Ming the Merciless would torture, torment and threaten but all evidence suggests Menzies rarely used these tactics.
Ming the Merciless was interested in personal glory whereas nation-building is a consistent theme in Menzies’ public life. From the Melbourne University Magazine (MUM) which was highly patriotic during Menzies’ reign as editor to his fury at Britain’s ‘disposition to treat Australia as a colony and to make insufficient allowance for the fact that it is for the Government to determine whether and when Australian forces go out of Australia.’ (p 187.) Menzies was born in 1894 and was old enough (7) to appreciate the significance of federation and the changes it implied for Australia as a nation.
Nations were destabilised during Menzies reign as the colonial project wound up; the declaration of independent states like Iraq, Sudan and the changes to Palestine are all signs of a changing British Empire. Ming the Merciless was interested in Empire building but Menzies must be recognised for moving Australia in to a decolonised world. In 1951 at the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference Menzies and Kiwi delegates agreed that in future global wars the defence of Malaya would be the main priority. This would lead the way to South East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) and is the start of Asian consciousness in Australian politics.
When it came to Asia Menzies was not comfortable and Bruce Grant argued that “It will probably take another generation before Australia produces a leader who can approach some of the new nations of Asia with any certainty of understanding.’ (p 201.) But Menzies’ insight meant that he did not resist the movement towards Asia, he may have lamented the decline of the British Empire but he did not try and hold it together.
Henry Kissinger said that the task of a leader is ‘to get people from where they are to where they have never been’ Menzies perfectly eased Australia away from England and if not in to Asia, he at least recognised Asia’s proximity and potential (even if only as a threat) which allowed subsequent generations to start moving Australia in to Asia.
Ming the Merciless was well known for caring little for budget meetings and the trials of party politics. Ming would tend to make proclamations rather than work as leader of the team. Even during his university days Menzies was highly regarded as a talented speaker capable of the cutting wit that’s always successful in parliamentary politics. Ming the Merciless would torture, torment and threaten but all evidence suggests Menzies rarely used these tactics.
Ming the Merciless was interested in personal glory whereas nation-building is a consistent theme in Menzies’ public life. From the Melbourne University Magazine (MUM) which was highly patriotic during Menzies’ reign as editor to his fury at Britain’s ‘disposition to treat Australia as a colony and to make insufficient allowance for the fact that it is for the Government to determine whether and when Australian forces go out of Australia.’ (p 187.) Menzies was born in 1894 and was old enough (7) to appreciate the significance of federation and the changes it implied for Australia as a nation.
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies
When it came to Asia Menzies was not comfortable and Bruce Grant argued that “It will probably take another generation before Australia produces a leader who can approach some of the new nations of Asia with any certainty of understanding.’ (p 201.) But Menzies’ insight meant that he did not resist the movement towards Asia, he may have lamented the decline of the British Empire but he did not try and hold it together.
Henry Kissinger said that the task of a leader is ‘to get people from where they are to where they have never been’ Menzies perfectly eased Australia away from England and if not in to Asia, he at least recognised Asia’s proximity and potential (even if only as a threat) which allowed subsequent generations to start moving Australia in to Asia.
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