In this special summer series of the Afternoon Light podcast you can enjoy the presentations delivered at our November 2023 conference entitled ‘The Menzies Ascendency: Implementing a Liberal Agenda and Consolidating Gains 1954-1961’. This first episode features the keynote address delivered by Paul Kelly, Anne Henderson’s paper on ‘Menzies, Evatt, and the Labor Split’ (begins at 21:55), and Paul Strangio’s paper on ‘The Labor split in Victoria: The bedrock of Menzies’s ascendancy’ (begins at 38:47).

Paul Kelly is The Australian newspaper’s Editor at Large. He is the author of nine books on Australian politics and history including the influential The End of Certainty: Power, Politics and Business in Australia (1992) and Triumph & Demise: The Broken Promise of a Labor Generation (2014), his account of the Rudd–Gillard era. He co-wrote The Dismissal: In the Queen's name (2015) with Troy Bramston.

Anne Henderson AM is the Deputy Director of the Sydney Institute. She is a prolific and respected author, having published books on Enid Lyons, Joseph Lyons, Mary Mackillop, Patrick Glynn and more. In 2014 she published Menzies at War, a detailed account of Menzies’s years in the political wilderness between his two stints as prime minister, which was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for History. Earlier this year, she published Menzies Versus Evatt: The Great Rivalry of Australian Politics.

Professor Paul Strangio is an Emeritus Professor of politics in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University. A political historian, he is the author and editor of twelve books on Australian politics. His specialist areas of research are political leadership and political parties. Paul has also been a longtime commentator on Australian and Victorian politics in both the print and electronic media.