Just as the Second World War produced the United Nations, the First World War brought forth its immediate predecessor the League of Nations. Generally viewed as a failure hamstrung by the fact that America never joined and unable to forestall Axis aggression, the League nevertheless gave birth to many important international operations that were subsequently taken over by the UN and continue to this day. For Australia, membership of the League was an important coming of age moment, one in which we were represented separately from Britain on the world stage for one of the first times in our history. In this week’s episode of the Afternoon Light podcast, Robert Menzies Institute CEO Georgina Downer talks to James Cotton, author of The Australians at Geneva: Internationalist Diplomacy in the Interwar Years, about the UN’s ill-fated precursor.

Robert Menzies had a great dislike for both journalists and biographers. In his memoir Afternoon Light, he decried contemporary history as little more than a ‘gossip column’ which could not be trusted to get the facts right. Nevertheless, early in his second stint as prime minister he reluctantly enlisted a brilliant writer named Allan Dawes to write a biography to help win over the Australian public. While mysterious circumstances ensured that that biography was never released, its story speaks to the great impact that contemporary political biographies can have on the course of real-world events. In this week’s episode of the Afternoon Light podcast, Robert Menzies Institute CEO Georgina Downer talks to Chris Wallace, author of Political Lives: Australian prime ministers and their biographers, about the real-world impact of political biography.

The 1950s are often seen as a dull and stultified period in Australian history, epitomised by the growth of suburbia, the white picket fence and indeed the fact that we had the same prime minister for the entire decade. However, when you scratch the surface there were significant cultural changes happening, as well as a growing, though still somewhat tentative self-confidence in ourselves as a nation. This came to a head at the 1956 Olympics, the first ever to be held in the southern hemisphere, when all eyes were fixed on Australia for the first time. In this week’s episode of the Afternoon Light podcast, Robert Menzies Institute CEO Georgina Downer talks to Nick Richardson, author of 1956: The Year Australia Welcomed the World.

In the 122 years that have passed since federation, only two of our nation’s leaders have surpassed a decade serving as Prime Minister. It is notable that the second, John Howard, had a great admiration for and partly modelled his conduct on the first and still unsurpassed record holder Sir Robert Menzies. When Howard was Opposition Leader, Paul Keating would taunt him in Parliament for his connection to Menzies – but Howard not only had the last laugh at the 1996 election, but since leaving office he has spearheaded a new awareness of and appreciation for his predecessor, starting with his highly successful 2014 book The Menzies Era. It is in large part because of Howard that Menzies is now widely recognised as the man who ‘shaped modern Australia’. In this special episode of the Afternoon Light podcast, Robert Menzies Institute CEO Georgina Downer talks to former Prime Minister John Howard, who gives his personal insights into Menzies’s leadership.

Liberalism is Australia’s oldest political tradition. Even before the advent of democracy in the Australian colonies, Australian liberals fought key political battles that secured equal rights for ex-convicts, trial by jury, religious freedom, and which prevented the establishment of a bunyip aristocracy. By the time they had won the right to democracy in 1856, virtually every politician called themselves liberal and a pervasively liberal order was imposed upon the continent. In the early 20th century this liberal epoch would be eclipsed by the First World War and the onset of the Great Depression, but Menzies was able to tap into the nation’s history and culture to recall the liberal dream under a new political banner. The Liberal Party of Australia has since been Australia’s most successful political party, and a large reason for this is that it can draw upon values deeply imprinted on the Australian psyche. In this week’s episode of the Afternoon Light podcast, Robert Menzies Institute CEO Georgina Downer talks to the Institute’s Academic Coordinator Dr Zachary Gorman, who explores the founding of the Liberal Party as a key moment in the broader history of Australian liberalism.

Britain’s entry into what became the European Union was very much foreshadowed during the Menzies era, when the United Kingdom attempted to join the European Economic Community only to be vetoed by French President Charles de Gaulle. Menzies was obviously highly opposed to the move to join, not only because of its economic consequences for Australia and his sentimental attachment to the British Commonwealth, but because he understood how fundamentally important national sovereignty is to the healthy functioning of a democracy. After marathon political battles, Brexit is now an accomplished fact, but Britain faces a complex task in seizing the opportunities of independence and shedding itself of the extensive regulatory remnants of Brussels’ control, particularly with the interruptions of the recent pandemic. In this week’s episode of the Afternoon Light podcast, Robert Menzies Institute CEO Georgina Downer talks to Daniel Hannan, one of the architects of Brexit, about the state of independent Britain.

Robert Menzies’s relationship with the United States was complex. While he respected their vital role as Australia’s ‘great and powerful friend’ and protector, and grew to appreciate their shared values, he was acutely aware that they were different to Britain and his first visit to America provoked quite hostile views. Menzies knew that with great power comes great responsibility, and he had some skepticism about whether the United States could live up to its role of global leader as the British Commonwealth receded. Nevertheless, by the time he retired in 1966 his views had warmed such that he decided to spend a twilight year lecturing at the University of Virginia. In this week’s episode of the Afternoon Light podcast, Robert Menzies Institute CEO Georgina Downer talks to Frank Yuan, PhD candidate at the University of Sydney, about how Menzies viewed the United States.

The 19th and 20th centuries were some of the most momentous periods of change in human history. The former saw the immense economic power of capitalism and the industrial revolution create levels of unheard-of wealth. The latter saw a battle over how to spread that wealth, with opposing models of the communist command economy facing off against a liberal capitalism tempered by the rise of the welfare state. For Robert Menzies the state had an important ameliorative role to play in society, but he knew that all prosperity and innovation were ultimately driven by individual initiative and enterprise. While this model seemed to have triumphed by the end of the 20th century, it faces new and significant challenges, and that is why it is worth looking back on the big picture of humanity’s recent past. In this week’s episode of the Afternoon Light podcast, Robert Menzies Institute CEO Georgina Downer talks to Professor Richard Pomfret about the central themes of his book, The Age of Equality: The twentieth century in economic perspective.

In this special summer series of the Afternoon Light podcast you can enjoy the presentations delivered at our November 2022 conference entitled ‘Coming to Power, Learning to Govern and Gathering Momentum 1943-1954’. This sixth episode features David Furse Robert’s paper looking at ‘Percy Spender: the Colombo Plan, the ANZUS Treaty and the Japanese Peace Treaty’ and Lyndon Megarrity’s paper exploring ‘International Students before and after Colombo’ (begins at 18:30).

In this special summer series of the Afternoon Light podcast you can enjoy the presentations delivered at our November 2022 conference entitled ‘Coming to Power, Learning to Govern and Gathering Momentum 1943-1954’. This fifth episode features William Stoltz’s paper on ‘The Founding of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service’ and David Lee’s paper looking at ‘Economic Management During the Korean War’ (begins at 18:30).