Don Dunstan - Dunstan Decade

Dunstan Decade

Dunstan wasted no time in organising his new ministry, taking several portfolios for himself, and again taking the position of Treasurer. Deputy Premier Des Corcoran took on most infrastructure portfolios—Marine and Harbours, and Public Works. Corcoran became the face of the Dunstan ministry in its relationship with the Labor caucus, with his ability to use his strong manner to settle disputes. Bert Shard became Health Minister, overseeing the construction and planning of new, major public hospitals: the Flinders Medical Centre and Modbury Hospital. Hugh Hudson took on the Education portfolio, an important role in a government that was determined to bring about profound change to the South Australian education system. Geoff Virgo, the new Transport Minister, was to deal with the Metropolitan Adelaide Transport Study (MATS) plans. Len King was made Attorney-General and Aboriginal Affairs Minister despite being a new member of parliament. Dunstan formed a strong circle of loyal ministers around him, in a style radically different from his predecessors.

Soon after the election, Dunstan travelled to Canberra for the annual Premiers' Conference as the sole Labor premier. His Government, on a mandate to dramatically increase funding in key areas, sought to appropriate further finances from the Federal Government. This brought Dunstan into conflict with Prime Minister John Gorton, and federal funding to SA was not increased. An appeal was made to the Federal Grants Commission, and Dunstan was awarded more than he had hoped for. In addition to the money received from the Grants Commission, funds were diverted from water-storage schemes in the Adelaide Hills over the advice of engineers, and cash reserves were withdrawn from the two government-owned banks. The monies were subsequently used to finance health, education and arts schemes.

On the death of Governor James Harrison in 1971, Dunstan finally had the chance to appoint the governor of his choosing: Mark Oliphant, a physicist who had worked on the Manhattan Project. Dunstan had never been happy that governors were usually British ex-servicemen; it was a personal goal of his to see an active and notable South Australian take on the role. Although the post was ceremonial, Oliphant brought energy to the role, and he used his stature to decry damage to the environment caused by deforestation, excessive open-cut mining and pollution. Oliphant's tenure was successful and held in high regard, although he did come into conflict with the premier at times as both men were outspoken and strong-willed.

In 1972, the first major developments in regard to the state's population growth occurred. Adelaide's population was set to increase to 1.3 million and the MATS plan and water-storage schemes were in planning to accommodate this. These were summarily rejected by the Dunstan Government, which planned to build a new city 83 kilometres from Adelaide, near Murray Bridge. The city, to be known as Monarto, was to be built on farmland to the west of the existing town. Dunstan was very much against allowing Adelaide's suburbs to further sprawl, and thus Monarto was a major focus of his government. He argued that the new South Eastern Freeway would allow a drive of only 45 minutes from Adelaide, that the city was not far from current industry, and that water could be readily supplied from the River Murray. The government hoped that Adelaide would not sprawl into the Mount Lofty Ranges to the east and that the bureaucracy would be dispersed from the capital. In contrast, public servants feared being forced into the rural settlement. Critics—of which there were many—derided the project as "Dunstan's Versailles in the bush". Environmental activists aired fears of the effects of Monarto on the River Murray, which was already suffering from pollution and salinity problems. Later on, it was noticed that there was hard bedrock underneath the ground, raising drainage problems.

From 1970 to 1973, much legislation passed through the South Australian Parliament. Workers saw increases in welfare, drinking laws were further liberalised, an Ombudsman was created, censorship was liberalised, seat belts were made mandatory, the education system was overhauled, and the public service was gradually increased (doubling in size during the Dunstan era). Adelaide's water supply was fluoridated in 1971 and the age of majority was lowered from 21 to 18. A Commissioner of Consumer Affairs was created, a demerit point system was introduced to penalise poor driving practices in an attempt to cut the road toll, and compensation for workers was improved. Police autonomy and powers were restricted following a rally in opposition to the Vietnam War, which was broken up by police, although Dunstan had wanted the demonstrators to be able to close off the street. A royal commission was called into the police commissioner's disregard for Dunstan's orders, and resulted in legislation giving the government more control over the police; the commissioner then retired. The dress code for the Parliament was relaxed during this period, the suit and tie was no longer seen as obligatory, and Dunstan himself caused media frenzy when he arrived at Parliament House in 1972 wearing pink shorts that ended above his knees. After his departure from public life he admitted that his sartorial statement may have gone beyond the limits. Nevertheless, his fashion sense resulted in his being voted "the sexiest political leader in Australia" by Woman's Day in 1975, and the image of Dunstan in the shorts remains iconic.

In 1972 Dunstan separated from his wife and moved into a small flat in Kent Town, adjacent to Norwood. The family home was sold as two of the children were already studying in university. In 1974 the couple were finally divorced. Dunstan notes this period as being initially a "very bleak and lonely" time for him.

In absence of his family, he made new friends and acquaintances. Friends living nearby would come to his apartment for conversation and good food—cooking was Dunstan's hobby. Dunstan bought another house in 1974, partially financed from a then-unpublished cookbook. In 1976, Don Dunstan's Cookbook was published—the first cookbook released by a serving Australian leader. More generally, Dunstan promoted a revolution in fine dining in the state. Encouraged by Dunstan's enthusiasm for multiculturalism, many new restaurants were opened by proprietors and the diversity of cuisine increased. He also promoted the viticulture industry through his patronage of wine festivals.

Having played a part in the ALP's abandonment of the White Australia Policy at national level, Dunstan was also prominent in promoting multiculturalism. He was well known for his attendance at and patronage of Cornish, Italian and Greek Australian cultural festivals and his appreciation of Asian art, and sought to build on cultural respect to create trade links with Asia. Dunstan's involvement in such cultural exchanges was also credited with generating strong support for the ALP from ethnic and non-Anglo-Saxon immigrant communities, although it was viewed with suspicion by some in the Anglo-Saxon establishment. Dunstan himself later recalled: "When I proposed the establishment of a Cornish Festival, in Australia's "Little Cornwall", people of Cornish descent came flocking."

Having been vocal in criticising Playford for sacrificing heritage to the march of development, Dunstan was prominent in protecting historic buildings from being bulldozed for high-rise office blocks. In 1972, the government intervened to purchase and thereby save Edmund Wright House on King William Street from being replaced with a skyscraper. In 1975, the Customs House at Semaphore was purchased to save it from demolition. His support of heritage preservation overlapped with his promotion of gourmet dining when his personal efforts helped to save the historic Ayers House on North Terrace, having it converted into a restaurant to avoid demolition. In contrast, there were also some controversial developments. Part of the rockey Hallett Cove on Gulf St Vincent in Adelaide's southern suburbs was developed for housing, as were vineyards in Morphettville, Tea Tree Gully, Modbury, and Reynella. This attracted criticism, as Dunstan was prominent in promoting South Australian viticulture and enotourism.

In pursuit of economic links with the nations of South-East Asia, Dunstan came into contact with the leaders of the Malaysian state of Penang in 1973. Striking a note with Chong Eu Lim, the Chief Minister, Dunstan set about organising cultural and economic engagement between the two states. "Penang Week" was held in Adelaide in July, and in return, "South Australia Week" was held in Penang's capital, George Town. In the same year, the Adelaide Festival Centre was opened—Australia's first multifunction performing arts complex.

Over a six-year period, government funding for the arts was increased by a factor of seven and in 1978, the South Australian Film Corporation commenced work. During Dunstan's time in charge, acclaimed films such as Breaker Morant, Picnic at Hanging Rock and Storm Boy were made in the state. Dunstan's support of the arts and fine dining was credited by commentators with attracting artists, craftspeople and writers into the state, helping to change its atmosphere.

The South Australian Legislative Council, the Upper House in the Parliament, was, due to its limited electoral roll, overwhelmingly non-Labor. Unlike the Lower House, its members were elected only by voters who met certain property and wealth requirements. Combined with the remains of the "Playmander" malapportionment, it was difficult for the Labor Party to achieve the representation it wished. The Legislative Council either watered down or outright rejected a considerable amount of Labor legislation; bills to legalise homosexuality, abolish corporal and capital punishment and allow gambling and casinos were rejected. A referendum had indicated support for Friday night shopping, but Labor legislation was blocked in the upper house by the LCL.

Dunstan called an election for March 1973, hoping to gain a mandate to seek changes to the Council. The LCL were badly disunited; the more liberal wing of the party under Hall joined Dunstan in wanting to introduce universal suffrage for the upper house, while the more conservative members of the LCL did not. The conservatives then decided to limit Hall's powers, resulting in his resignation and creation of the breakaway Liberal Movement (LM), which overtly branded itself as a semi-autonomous component within the LCL. Labor capitalised on the opposition divisions to secure an easy victory. They campaigned under the slogan "South Australia's Doing Well with Labor", while the LCL was hampered by infighting; many LCL candidates were claiming different leaders in their electoral material depending on their factional allegiance. The Labor Party won with 51.5% of the primary vote and secured 26 seats in the House; it began its first consecutive term with a majority government. They also gained two more seats in the Legislative Council to have six of the twenty members. Labor entered the new term with momentum when a fortnight after the election, the LCL purged LM members from its ranks, forcing them to either quit the LM or leave the LCL and join the LM as a distinct party.

Dunstan saw reform of the Legislative Council as an important goal, and later a prime achievement, of his Government. Labor, as a matter of party policy, wanted to see the Legislative Council abolished. Dunstan, seeing this as unfeasible in his term, set about to reform it instead. Two bills were prepared for Legislative Council reform; one to lower the voting age to 18 and introduce universal suffrage, and another to make councillors elected from a single statewide electorate under a system of proportional representation. The LCL initially blocked both bills, stating that it would only accept them if modifications were made to the second one. Changes were conceded; unlike the House of Assembly, voting would not be compulsory and the preference system was to be slightly altered. Once the amendments were made, the legislation was passed.

During his second term, Dunstan started efforts to build a petrochemical complex at Redcliff, near Port Augusta. Negotiations were held with several multinational companies, but nothing eventuated. Legislation was passed to create a Land Commission and introduce urban land price controls. However, a bill to create "a right to privacy" was defeated in the upper house after protests from journalists, as was legislation to mandate refunds to consumers for returning beverage containers and therefore promote recycling.

Prior to the 1975 federal and state elections, Australia, and South Australia in particular, had been hit by a series of economic problems. The 1973 oil crisis had massively increased the cost of living, domestic industry began to erode due to a lack of cost-competitiveness, and government funds were waning. In response, the Dunstan Government sold loss-making railways to the Commonwealth and brought in new taxes to allow wage rises. The changes had unexpected consequences: inflation, already high, increased markedly, and workers were still displeased with wages. The LCL, now known as the Liberal Party, had rebuilt after internal schism and had modernised to make themselves more appealing to the public. Having called an early election, Dunstan appealed to the electorate and pushed blame onto the Whitlam Government for South Australia's problems. In a television address just days before the election, he said: "My Government is being smeared and it hurts. They want you to think we are not to blame for Canberra's mistakes. The vote on Saturday is not for Canberra, not for Australia, but for South Australia."

The ALP remained the largest party in Parliament, but lost the two-party preferred vote at 49.2% and saw its numbers decrease from 26 to 23. The LCL held 20 seats, the Liberal Movement two, the Country Party one, and the last remaining with an independent, the nominally Labor Mayor of Port Pirie, Ted Connelly. Dunstan appealed to Connelly and offered him the role of Speaker. However, the reforms to the Legislative Council's election bore fruit. Of the 11 seats up for election, Labor won six with 47.3% of the vote, and the LM two, allowing Labor a total of 10 seats. This meant they could now push through reforms opposed by the Liberals with the help of the LM.

Dunstan continued to try to push through further legislation; he sought to expand on the Hall Government's electoral-boundaries reform, to bring it closer to one vote one value. The legislation sought to establish 47 electoral districts containing roughly equal numbers of voters (with a 10% tolerance). Redistributions were to be presided over by an independent boundaries commission. The bill passed with the support of the breakaway LM in the upper house—former Premier Steele Hall and his former Attorney-General Robin Millhouse.

One famous demonstration of Dunstan's charismatic style and media-savvy came in January 1976. A soothsayer predicted that due to Dunstan and the state's social liberalisation—which he saw as sinful—God would destroy Adelaide with a tsunami caused by an earthquake. This was publicised by the media, prompting a not insignificant number of residents to sell their property and leave; some businesses had clearance sales while many who decided to stay indulged in doomsday parties. Dunstan promised to stand on the seashore at Glenelg and wait for the imminent destruction. He did so on 20 January, the day of the predicted storm, and nothing happened, although he made newspaper headlines in the United Kingdom for his defiance.

In 1976, the Dunstan Government stepped up its legislative efforts. Some bills, such as the one to remove the sodomy law and decriminalise male homosexuality, had been initially blocked by the Legislative Council. However, the bill to abolish capital punishment passed with ease, and the homosexuality law reforms eventually passed in September. Rape law was properly codified and defined as a crime within marriage for the first time in Australia. Shopping hours, previously the most restrictive in the nation, became the most open. Following a royal commission, Friday night shopping was introduced for the city and Thursday night shopping for the suburbs. The deposits on beverage containers was finally passed. The first signs of Monarto's eventual failure began to appear: birth rates started dropping significantly, immigration slowed and the economy was stagnant. South Australia's robust population growth, previously the highest per capita among the states, came to an abrupt halt. However, state money continued to be poured into the Monarto project, despite the fact that the Whitlam government cut funding to $600,000 in 1975, while his Liberal successor Malcolm Fraser gave nothing at all the following year. However, by the time Monarto was eventually scrapped after Dunstan's departure, no less than $20 million had been used to buy land, plant trees and formulate development plans, and the failed project is often seen as Dunstan's greatest failure. In addition, the federal government removed subsidies for shipbuilding at Whyalla, forcing the operations to be scaled down.

In 1973 Adele Koh, a Malaysian journalist formerly living in Singapore, was appointed to work for Dunstan. She had been expelled by the Singaporean Government of Lee Kwan Yew for criticising its policies. The newspaper she had been working for, the Singapore Herald, was shut down by the government and she then moved to Australia. A relationship developed in 1974 between her and Dunstan, and they were married in 1976 in a small ceremony at his residence. Dunstan was much older than his wife, who was in her 30s.

After Oliphant's term had expired, Dunstan appointed the first Indigenous Australian Governor, Douglas Nicholls, a former football player and clergyman. Following Nicholls' resignation due to ill health in 1977, a second consecutive clergyman took the post, Methodist Keith Seaman. However, this appointment was not successful; Seaman became involved in an unspecified scandal and made a statement admitting to a "grave impropriety", without elaborating further. He did not resign and kept a low profile from then on. Dunstan also appointed Dame Roma Mitchell to become the nation's first female Supreme Court judge. She later said "I doubt anybody else in those days would have pushed for a woman", and that Dunstan enjoyed creating a legacy of equality among social groups.

Dunstan broke new ground in Australian politics with his policies on native title for Aborigines. The North West Aboriginal Reserve (NWAR) covered more than 7% of the state’s land, and were inhabited by the Pitjantjatjara people. In 1977, when the NWAR was about to be transferred to the Aboriginal Lands Trust, a tribal delegation asked for the lands to be given to the traditional owners. Dunstan agreed to an investigation, and subsequently introduced the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Bill. This bill proposed for a tribal body, the Anangu Pitjantjatjaraku, to take control of the NWAR and further lands after the claims were cleared by an independent tribunal. It also proposed to allow the body to decide mining proposals on the land and receive royalties. This aroused discontent among mining interests, but a bipartisan parliamentary committee endorsed the bill and it was tabled. However, Labor lost power before the bill was passed and although the new Liberal government said they would remove the mining restrictions, mass public rallies forced them to relent, and a bill similar to Dunstan’s was passed. The legislation, the bedrock of which was laid by Dunstan, was the most reformist in Australia, and in the 1980s, more than 20% of the land was returned to its traditional owners.

Dunstan called another snap election in September 1977; he hoped to recover from the previous election, the outcome of which had been affected by the dismissal of the Federal Labor Government. As the remnants of the Playmander had been abolished, conditions were more favourable for Labor and they wanted to end their reliance on the casting vote of the speaker. The campaign proceeded smoothly and exploited the unpopularity of the federal Liberal government, using the jingle "Thank the Lord for South Australia". ALP won an absolute majority with 51.6% of the primary vote and 27 seats.