Jim Forbes (Australian politician)

Forbes was president of the Mount Lofty branch of the Liberal and Country League from 1948 to 1951, as well as the founding president of the Adelaide University Liberal Union.[9] He first stood for parliament at the 1955 federal election, aged 31, losing to the incumbent Australian Labor Party (ALP) member Pat Galvin in the seat of Kingston.[10] The following year, he won the Liberal nomination at a by-election for the much friendlier seat of Barker caused by the death of Speaker Archie Cameron.[11] He held the seat of Barker until his retirement in 1975.[12]

In parliament, Forbes became part of the "Oxbridge group", the name given by journalists to a set of "outspoken" Liberal backbenchers who had studied at Oxford and Cambridge. The other members were Les Bury, Harry Turner, and Bill Wentworth; Bury and Forbes were particularly close.[13]

Forbes with Billy Snedden and Doug Anthony in 1963

After the 1963 election, Forbes was elevated to the ministry as Minister for the Army in the Menzies Government. He was also appointed Minister for the Navy on a temporary basis, in the expectation that Fred Chaney would take over once parliament approved an enlargement of the ministry; this occurred in March 1964. The Melbourne–Voyager collision occurred during his tenure, although he was not held responsible.[14] As army minister in the lead-up to the Vietnam War, Forbes successfully advocated for a selective national service scheme as a way of solving the army's manpower problems. This became the National Service Act 1964, and was a compromise between universal conscription and a military reliant upon volunteers. In 2014, he recalled "More than any other person, I had been responsible for persuading Cabinet that they should introduce this scheme. It was the right decision. [...] It was never terribly popular but it was a very fair system and I had to take the burden for that."[1]

After the retirement of Robert Menzies in January 1966, Forbes was appointed Minister for Health in the Holt government. He made the controversial decision to close the government-owned Canberra Abattoir, the announcement of which in March 1969 prompted the resignation of the entire Australian Capital Territory Advisory Council. The abattoir was sold to private owners in June 1969.[15][16] Forbes also made the decision to ban the importation into Australia of cheese made from unpasteurised milk, based on advice from the National Health and Medical Research Council. This also proved controversial, and the ban was deferred twice.[17][18] Forbes retained the health ministry in the Gorton government and was tasked with implementing the government's national health scheme, based on the recommendations of the Nimmo Inquiry. The scheme came into effect on 1 January 1970 and provided free health insurance for low-income earners, while maintaining a reliance on private insurance.[19]

In March 1971, William McMahon replaced Gorton as prime minister and Forbes was appointed Minister for Immigration, a title he held until the McMahon government's defeat in the 1972 election. He resisted British pressure to admit ethnically-Asian refugees expelled from Uganda during Idi Amin's regime, stating "Applications by Asians in Uganda will continue to be considered on their individual merits in accordance with our non-European immigration policies. These policies reflect the firm and unshakeable determination of the Government to maintain a homogeneous society in Australia."[20] Forbes also ordered the deportation of musician Joe Cocker in 1972, after a small quantity of cannabis was found by police in his Adelaide hotel room and he was charged with assault following a brawl at a Melbourne pub.[21] In a 2014 interview Forbes stated that, while he accepted responsibility for the decision, he "didn't think it was necessary" and had been pressured by McMahon who believed it would be politically popular.[7]

During the November 1973 House of Representatives session, ALP Prime Minister Gough Whitlam accused Forbes of having abused the Government's hospitality by drinking too much at a reception for the visiting New Zealand prime minister Norman Kirk. Forbes demanded that the remark be withdrawn; and Opposition Leader Billy Snedden, for his part, told parliament that Whitlam should be ashamed of himself. Snedden described Whitlam as "gutless". Whitlam responded: "It is what [Forbes] put in his guts that rooted him." Eventually, Whitlam (at the insistence of Speaker James Francis Cope) withdrew the remark, but only after ensuring that it had been transcribed by Hansard's stenographers.

An enraged Forbes followed Whitlam out of the chamber, calling him a "filthy bastard". Whitlam retorted: "Look, he's still shaking." Forbes stated that any shaking was due to sciatica and not alcohol consumption.[22][23]

In early 1975 Snedden, having failed to defeat Whitlam at the previous year's election, was deposed as Opposition Leader by Malcolm Fraser. Forbes immediately resigned from the frontbench and chose to retire at the next election, having become disillusioned with the internal conflict within the Liberal Party.[7]