In this fourth episode of the Afternoon Light Summer Series you will hear from Dr David Furse-Roberts on ‘A Simple Presbyterian in Politics: Robert Menzies, Liberalism and Anti-Sectarianism’.

Dr David Furse-Roberts examines how Menzies’s profound but somewhat enigmatic religious beliefs shaped his political views, and also how, remarkably for the time, Menzies was whole-heartedly opposed to sectarian bitterness, even clashing with his family over the issue.

Furse-Roberts is a Research Fellow at the Menzies Research Centre. He holds a PhD in history from the University of NSW and is the editor of Howard: The Art of Persuasion (2018) and Menzies: The Forgotten Speeches (2017). Since joining the MRC in 2016, he has written for Quadrant, Spectator Australia, and other publications on the history and contemporary relevance of liberalism in Australia. In 2021 he published God and Menzies: The Faith that Shaped a Prime Minister and his Nation.