Continuation of Service: An Historical and Political Study of Soldier-Politicians in the Australian Federal Parliament 1920–1939

Abstract

<p>This dissertation examines the contribution made during the interwar years to federal parliamentary debate and policy development by the cohort of returned soldiers of the Great War. It considers parliamentary debates in five specific policy areas: defence, repatriation, international relations, government finances, and immigration and development. The interwar years saw just under a quarter of Federal MPs having served in the military during the Great War. The scholarship has explored the role of specific high-profile individuals – notably <b>Stanley Bruce, Earle Page,</b> and <b>John Latham</b> – however, the contribution made by the wider group of soldier-politicians to parliamentary debate and policy development – including that of <b>Donald Cameron, Charles Marr, Percy Coleman, Walter Marks</b>, and <b>George Yates</b> for example – has not previously been the focus of detailed study. This thesis looks to widen our understanding of the cohort.</p> <p>This thesis argues that while some members of the soldier-politician cohort made substantial contributions to the debates on a range of issues and were very influential, overall, most MPs of the cohort exercised relatively little influence. The thesis draws on the parliamentary debates, as recorded in <i>Hansard</i> and as discussed in the newspapers of the day, and employs techniques from quantitative, social, cultural, new military, and political history. The thesis demonstrates that due to the collegiate and cabinet-centric development of policy, soldier-politicians outside the ministry – while frequent contributors to the parliamentary debates – ultimately seldom had opportunity to change the pre-determined policy approaches of the government of the day. It also demonstrates that service in the Great War did not define these men to limit their contributions to matters of defence and repatriation. They were citizens before, during, and after being soldiers, and along with their military experiences, they brought their civilian backgrounds and experiences to the role of federal parliamentarian.</p>