Premier
Labor finally overcame the Playmander in the 1965 election, taking 55 percent of the primary vote. However, the Playmander was strong enough that Labor only netted 21 seats to the LCL's 18—just enough for a majority. Walsh thus became the first Labor Premier of South Australia in 32 years, as well as the first Catholic to hold the post. He found himself the head of an inexperienced government, as no current ALP parliamentarian had previously served as a minister. This left him no choice but to entrust sensitive portfolios to men more used to criticising government actions. Walsh himself took the portfolios of Treasurer and Minister for Immigration.
Walsh's term as Premier was marked by increased spending on public education and the implementation of far-reaching social welfare and Aboriginal Affairs legislation, although many of these changes were spearheaded by Dunstan, by far the youngest member of the cabinet (he was the only minister under 50, and one of only three under 60). The socially conservative Walsh may well have personally opposed some of these moves, but felt compelled to go along.
Walsh was never comfortable dealing with the media, particularly television, and his ascension to the job of Premier only exacerbated these problems. A master of malapropisms and using complex words in the wrong context, Walsh regularly had journalists, Hansard reporters, and political ally and foe alike bewildered by his statements. To give but one example, Walsh once said in parliament "In this manner, Mr Speaker, the government has acted as if this were a diseased estate. It's not sufficiently elasticated... The government is suffering from a complete lack of apathy in the case."
His unease with the media was seen in stark contrast to his Attorney-General, Dunstan, who would prove to be a media relations master throughout his later terms as Premier.
Walsh's awkwardness with the media was further highlighted after 1966, the year Playford retired as Opposition Leader and the 37-year-old Steele Hall took his place. A sagging economy and poor polling figures, Steele Hall's advent to convince local ALP heavyweights that Labor could not win the next election with Walsh as Premier. Additionally, since he was aged 67, Walsh was required under party rules to retire from parliament at the next election. Things came to a head in January 1967, when South Australian Labor power-broker Clyde Cameron publicly thanked Walsh for making the noble decision to retire to make way for a younger person. This was news to Walsh, who had made no such decision. After initially digging in his heels, Walsh eventually announced his retirement two weeks later, but not before attempting (without success) to manoeuvre his protégé Des Corcoran into the Premiership ahead of Dunstan.
Walsh died less than two months after his retirement at the 1968 election, and was given a state funeral. While Walsh, who was considered "kindly, generous and unpretentious" by friend and foe, should be given credit for his long parliamentary service and his support for unionism and working-class families, he would frequently infuriate fellow party members by habitually becoming obsessed with trivial issues to the detriment of affairs of state.
Read more about this topic: Frank Walsh