The Mobilisation of Capital behind ‘the Battle for Freedom’: The Sydney Banks, the Institute of Public Affairs (NSW) and Opposition to the Australian Labor Party 1944-49

Abstract

During 1944-49 the Sydney Banks and the Institute of Public Affairs (NSW) waged a covert war against the Australian Labor Party, particularly the federal Labor governments led by John Curtin (1941-45) and Ben Chifl ey (1945-49). The Sydney Banks and the IPA opposed federal Labor's legislative programme, especially its regulation of the banking sector, and its vision for post-war Australia. Instead of openly leading the public fight against the government, the Sydney Banks and the IPA founded and/or funded a number of front organisations to fight their fights. These front organisations campaigned against Labor in the federal referendums held in 1944, 1946 and 1948, the 1946 and 1949 federal elections, and against the government's 1945 Banking Legislation and the decision, made in 1947, to nationalise the private trading banks. Little was left to chance. No expense was spared.