Australian setback
The electoral news from Australia is far less cheering than that from France. Mr Whitlam has, in as close run a race as that in which M. Giscard triumphed, prolonged his destructive reign as Australia's Prime Minister. It was understandable that the electorate gave the Labour Party a chance after the prolonged experience of Liberal and Country Party rule, but almost unintelligible that they have continued their flirtation with Mr Whitlam and his wild men. It is instructive, from a distance, to recall the major landmarks of Mr Whitlam's time in office: he has abolished an immigration policy that was serving well the purpose of creating a harmonious multiracial community in the Commonwealth of Australia; he has adopted economic policies which have driven his country to the brink of the inflationary hysteria that grips most of the Western world; he has violated the spirit if not the letter of the constitution and, faced by states in the federation who would not bow to his imperious will, has sought by every sordid device to hand to bend them to his wishes. Throughout Mr Whitlam has displayed an Allende-like determination to force the theories of his ideology on the people of his country and, when balked by the federal constitution of Australia he has sought to undermine it. It is a great pity that the divisions of the Liberal Party in recent years, and the unwillingness of their electoral allies the Country Party to come to terms locally with even smaller groups, denied Mr Snedden the opportunity of presenting a united electoral front. Great responsibility will now devolve on the Senate to keep Mr Whitlam in order, until another election — which should not be long delayed — completes the business begun in this.
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