Political Career
In 1970, Enderby gained Australian Labor Party (ALP) pre-selection for the Division of Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and was subsequently elected to the House of Representatives at a by-election following Jim Fraser's death in April 1970. As the Federal member for the ACT, Kep Enderby was involved in Parliamentary debate over the 1971 Canberra flood. Following Whitlam's victory at the 1972 election, Enderby was appointed as the first Minister for the Capital Territory and the first Minister for the Northern Territory in the December 1972 ministry, replacing the former portfolio of the Interior. In October 1973, he lost these posts, partly because his ACT portfolio made him responsible for implementing policies that were unpopular in his electorate. Instead, he became Minister for Secondary Industry and Minister for Supply. Enderby became the last Minister for Supply—a portfolio which had been established at the beginning of World War II and included responsibility for government munitions factories—when Supply and Secondary Industry were merged into the Manufacturing Industry portfolio in the June 1974 ministry. It was during this time that he made what has become his most famous utterance: "Traditionally, Australia obtains its imports from overseas."
In February 1975, following Lionel Murphy's appointment to the High Court of Australia, Enderby became Attorney-General and Minister for Customs and Excise. One of his first actions was to introduce a bill to decriminalize abortion and homosexuality in the Australian Capital Territory. The Customs and Excise portfolio was renamed Police and Customs in March 1975, reflecting the government's decision to establish the Australia Police. The Police and Customs portfolio was reassigned to Jim Cavanagh in June 1975.
Enderby was elected to the new seat of Canberra at the 1974 election, but was one of many Labor members to lose their seats in the landslide 1975 election defeat that followed the dismissal of the Whitlam Government .
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