Federal Politics
Falstein was first involved in politics in New Zealand, where he was an organiser for the New Zealand Labour Party. In Australia, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives in 1940 for the seat of Watson, representing the Australian Labor Party. In parliament he became associated with Arthur Calwell and others who opposed John Curtin's leadership. After Curtin became Prime Minister, Falstein openly clashed with him over issues concerning the Royal Australian Air Force in 1944.
Falstein had enlisted in the RAAF on 18 July 1942; he was convicted of using insubordinate language to a superior in September of that year and was sentenced to twenty-eight days detention. He qualified as a pilot and completed an operational tour from 1944 to 1945 in the south-west Pacific.
After the war Falstein became involved in business. He was convicted of falsifying documents to understate imported wristwatches' value in 1948 and fined, and consequently the ALP did not endorse him for Watson in the 1949 election. He contested the seat unsuccessfully as an independent and was expelled from the Labor Party. His only further political acts were to support Menzies' Communist Party dissolution attempt; a marked anti-communist, he had nevertheless supported the recognition of Communist China.
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