Jo Gullett - Political and Diplomatic Career

Political and Diplomatic Career

In 1946 he stood as a Liberal Party candidate at a by-election for his father's of old seat of Henty, and was elected on 30 March 1946. After the Liberal-led coalition gained power at the 1949 general election, he was appointed Chief Government Whip.

He was a fierce anti-communist, and in the early 1950s was a spearhead of Parliamentary moves against Communists and Communist sympathisers within the Public Service and the wider community. His attacks are considered by some to have descended to the level of smear. For example, he described the contribution to foreign relations of Dr John Burton, the former Permanent Secretary of the Department of External Affairs as being 'almost wholly evil'. As a further example, in 1952 he attacked certain academics at the Australian National University on the floor of Parliament and claimed that the University was 'more famous for its left wing politics than for its research'.

He also held a strong anti-immigration stance and made public comments, in the press and on the floor of Parliament, that would now be considered as extreme anti-semitism. In the Melbourne Argus of 12 February 1947, he wrote:

The arrival of additional Jews is nothing less than the beginning of a national tragedy and a piece of the grossest deception of Parliament and the people by the Minister for Immigration.

Further, at a press conference in the same month, he said of Jews:

We should remember that they are European neither by race standards, nor culture. They are, in fact, an Eastern people. In 2000 years no one but Britain has been successfully able to absorb them, and for the most, they owe loyalty and allegiance to none.

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He retired from the Parliament on 4 November 1955 and returned to journalism. In 1965 he was appointed Australian Ambassador to Greece, and served there until 1968.