Billy Snedden
Leader of the Opposition | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
In office 20 December 1972 – 21 March 1975 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Gough Whitlam | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deputy | Phillip Lynch | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Gough Whitlam | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Malcolm Fraser | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Speaker of the House of Representatives | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 17 February 1976 – 4 February 1983 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Gordon Scholes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Harry Jenkins Sr. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Billy Mackie Snedden 31 December 1926 Rushcutters Bay, New South Wales, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Political party | Liberal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse |
Joy Forsyth (m. 1950) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Children | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Education | Public servant Politician | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sir Billy Mackie Snedden,
Snedden was born in
In 1964, Snedden was elevated to cabinet by
Snedden led the Liberal Party to the
Early life
Birth and family background
Snedden was born on 31 December 1926 at a private hospital in Newcastle Street, West Perth, Western Australia. He was the youngest of six children born to Catherine (née Mackie) and Alan Snedden. His mother was 43 years old when he was born, and his siblings – one sister and four brothers – were much older than him.[a][1]
Snedden's parents were born in Alva, Clackmannanshire, Scotland, and spoke "broad Scots". His grandparents were illiterate, and his parents had only limited schooling; they were both from coal-mining families.[2] They immigrated to Australia in 1912 with their three oldest children, initially settling in the remote mining town of Meekatharra.[3] The family moved to Perth in about 1921, after their house in Meekatharra burned down.[1]
Snedden's father worked mostly as a stonemason, but also spent periods as a miner and general labourer when better work was not available. He reputedly left Scotland to escape a paternity suit, and had earlier been in trouble with the law for poaching. The family name was originally "Snaddon" (or "Snadon"), but was changed upon arrival in Australia.[3]
Childhood
Snedden grew up in Perth's inner north near the suburb of
Snedden left school in April 1942 and began working as a junior law clerk for
Military service and university
Snedden and two friends attempted to join the merchant navy at the age of 15, but were unsuccessful. He also attempted to join the Royal Australian Navy when he was 17, but his mother refused her permission; three of his brothers were already on active service. Snedden eventually enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in January 1945, two days after his 18th birthday. He began an air crew training scheme, but as the war came to an end he was taken off the course and given more general duties; this included a period tending bar at an officers' mess. He was discharged in September 1945.[11]
As part of his
Professional career
In 1951, Snedden briefly returned to the Commonwealth Crown Solicitor's office. He resigned from the public service due to a pay cut, and began working for Angus & Coote as a hearing aid salesman.[15] In early 1952, he secured a position as a migration officer with the Department of Immigration. He and his family moved to Italy for sixteen months, initially living in Taormina, Sicily, and later in Rome. He learnt to speak Italian, and travelled around the country conducting interviews with prospective migrants.[16] In November 1953, Snedden was transferred to England. He stayed there for a year, and was then supposed to be moved on to Germany. However, he decided to return to Australia, and in January 1955 moved to Melbourne to work in a legal advice bureau for ex-servicemen. He and his family settled in Ringwood.[17]
Political career
Early involvement
Snedden was state president of the Young Liberals, and from 1951 to 1952 served as the inaugural federal chairman of the organisation. As president of the UWA Liberal Club, he became acquainted with future prime minister Bob Hawke, who was president of the Labor Club.[18] As a student, he made three unsuccessful attempts to enter politics, standing for the Liberal Party at the 1948 Boulder state by-election and at the 1949 and 1951 federal elections (in Fremantle and Perth, respectively).[19]
Member of Parliament
In 1954 Snedden moved to Melbourne, where he practised law until 1955, when he was elected to the House of Representatives for the outer suburban seat of Bruce. He defeated Keith Ewert, the former Labor member for nearby Flinders. Snedden defeated Ewert by a similar margin in 1958.
In 1961, Snedden faced Ewert again, and this time trailed in initial counting. However, he was elected on Democratic Labor Party preferences.[20] Snedden's narrow win was critical in the outcome of what was the closest election in Australian history up till that time. Had Labor won it, it would have toppled the Coalition after 12 years of rule. However, with Snedden's win, the best Labor could hope for was a hung parliament, though the Coalition was not assured of another term in government until later in the night, with its narrow victory in Moreton.
Cabinet
He served in the ministries of Sir
He was
As Minister for Labour and National Service, Snedden commented on anti-war and anti-conscription activists' demonstrations. On the eve of the first Moratorium, he said in Parliament that the marchers were "political bikies pack-raping democracy".[22][23] In 1971, Snedden was appointed Treasurer by William McMahon, and was elected Liberal Deputy Leader, making him the heir apparent to the leadership.
Leader of the Opposition
When McMahon was defeated by the Labor Party under Gough Whitlam in 1972, Snedden was elected as his replacement as Liberal leader, winning by a single vote over Nigel Bowen on the fifth ballot. Snedden promised a new and more "liberal" Liberal Party, but he suffered from his continuing image as a light-weight, and many Liberals believed he would never defeat Whitlam.
Snedden allowed himself to be persuaded to use the conservative majority in the Senate to block the Whitlam government's budget in 1974. Whitlam promptly called a double dissolution election for 18 May, at which he was returned to office, albeit with a reduced majority. Labor campaigned on the slogan "Oh no, not Snedden!". Snedden exposed himself to ridicule by refusing to concede defeat, saying at a press conference: "We were not defeated. We did not win enough seats in order to form a government".[24]
After the election the conservative wing of the Liberal Party, led by
Speaker of the House
Snedden was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives on 17 February 1976, defeating the previous Speaker,
He was the last Speaker of the House of Representatives to wear the formal regalia of full-bottomed wig and gown inherited from the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, believing that it would restore the dignity of the office of Speaker.[28]
As Speaker, Snedden sought to enhance the role and assert its independence. He preferred the Speaker to be recognised as an impartial umpire like the Speaker of the House of Commons.[29] In 1979, he published a paper outlining his proposals for adopting some of the Westminster conventions, namely that the Speaker remain in office for five to seven years then resign and hold no further public office, that the Speaker be unopposed by the major political parties at general elections, and that the Speaker resign from his or her party upon becoming Speaker.[30]
Snedden tried to strengthen the Parliament's ability to withstand pressures from the Executive.[31] He believed that it was contrary to Parliament's independence for the Executive to control the funds allocated to Parliament, so he authorised parliamentary officers to write a paper in 1976 entitled The Parliamentary Budget. He later wrote, "You could not have a situation where the Executive decided the level at which Members could operate efficiently."[32] This led to the introduction of the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill in 1982.[33]
One of his most memorable actions as Speaker occurred in February 1982, when a Labor frontbencher,
Fraser was furious and attempted to intimidate Snedden into punishing Hawke for not withdrawing or take his "punishment". Snedden refused and was convinced that he would be replaced as Speaker but, once Fraser realised that he had no support in the Liberal Party to remove Snedden from office, he sent a conciliatory message.[36]
With the defeat of the Fraser government in 1983 and the election of Dr
Later life
When the Fraser government was defeated by Hawke in 1983, Snedden immediately resigned from Parliament. He separated from his wife, Lady Snedden, and was later to withdraw from public life as his health declined from
Death
On 27 June 1987, just hours after attending
Personal life
Snedden married Joy Forsyth, a dental nurse, on 10 March 1950.[15] They had two sons and two daughters together.[42] His daughter Fiona was elected to the Melbourne City Council in 2004 after an unsuccessful candidature for the Liberal Party in the seat of Melbourne Ports in the 1998 federal election. She stood for re-election to council in 2008 but lost her seat.[citation needed]
Honours
Snedden was appointed a
Notes
- ^ His sister was 21 years older and his youngest brother was eight years older.
References
- ^ a b c Bernie Schedvin (1990). Billy Snedden: An Unlikely Liberal. Macmillan. p. 5.
- ^ Schedvin (1990), p. 3.
- ^ a b Schedvin (1990), p. 4.
- ^ Schedvin (1990), p. 6.
- ^ Schedvin (1990), p. 7.
- ^ Schedvin (1990), p. 9.
- ^ Schedvin (1990), p. 11.
- ^ Schedvin (1990), p. 12.
- ^ a b Schedvin (1990), p. 17.
- ^ Schedvin (1990), p. 18.
- ^ a b Schedvin (1990), p. 19.
- ^ "State Amateur Players". The West Australian. Vol. 67, no. 20, 261. Western Australia. 27 June 1951. p. 11. Retrieved 13 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Schedvin (1990), p. 20.
- ^ Schedvin (1990), p. 23.
- ^ a b Schedvin (1990), p. 24.
- ^ Schedvin (1990), p. 33.
- ^ Schedvin (1990), p. 34.
- ^ Schedvin (1951), p. 21.
- ^ a b "Sir Billy Mackie Snedden KCMG QC" (PDF). Australian Prime Ministers Centre – Prime Facts. Museum of Australian Democracy. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
- ^ 1961 election results in Victoria from Adam Carr's election archive
- ^ Juddery, Bruce (27 May 1997). "Unsung hero of blacks' progress". The Canberra Times.
- ^ "Political bikies raping democracy". Sydney Morning Herald. 8 May 1970. p. 1.
- ^ "Govt. bid to bait Opposition fails". The Age. 8 May 1970. p. 9.
- ^ "Snedden Acknowledges Whitlam Victory But Won't Concede He Lost". AustralianPolitics.com. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
- ^ Australia, Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, 17 February 1976, p. 7.
- ^ Australia, Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, 21 February 1978, p. 7.
- ^ Australia, Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, 25 November 1980, p. 5.
- ^ Philip McCarthy, "(Formal) order in the House", The Age (Melbourne), 17 February 1976, 3.
- ^ Billy Mackie Snedden and M. Bernie Schedvin, Billy Snedden. An Unlikely Liberal, Macmillan, South Melbourne, 1990, p.219.
- ^ Michelle Grattan, "Make the Speaker impartial: Snedden", The Age (Melbourne), 12 October 1979, 12; Speaker of the House of Representatives, second edition: APH Archived 23 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Speaker of the House of Representatives, second edition: APH Archived 23 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Snedden and Schevdin, 1990, p. 219.
- ^ Australia, Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, 17 August 1982, p. 75.
- ^ Snedden and Schedvin, 1990, p. 222.
- ^ Australia, Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, 18 February 1982, p. 321; Snedden and Schedvin, 1990, p. 222.
- ^ Snedden and Schedvin, 1990, p. 224.
- ^ a b Australia, Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, 21 April 1983, p. 4.
- ^ Australia, Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, 21 April 1983, p. 17.
- ^ "Achievements: Billy's bedtime story". Sydney Morning Herald. 25 September 2006. Archived from the original on 11 August 2008. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
- ^ "Sir Billy and son 'shared mystery lover'". news.com.au. 23 September 2006. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
- ^ "Time Capsule". The Australian. 30 June 2007. Retrieved 10 May 2016. [dead link]
- ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
- ^ "It's an Honour". Archived from the original on 26 October 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2009.