William McMahon

McMahon in 1971

McMahon came into office at a bad time for the Coalition, which was increasingly seen as tired and unfocused after 22 years in power. His first problem was Gorton. Since Gorton had been elected as Liberal deputy leader, McMahon was all but forced to name him Defence Minister. This farcical situation came to a head when Gorton published two articles detailing the problems he had with ministers leaking information from cabinet. McMahon forced Gorton's resignation.[17] Billy Snedden was chosen as the new deputy Liberal leader. McMahon found himself dealing with a resurgent Labor Party under Gough Whitlam. Labor had come within four seats of winning government in 1969, and since then had positioned itself as a credible government-in-waiting. Over the next year-and-a-half, McMahon was unable to get the better of Whitlam. McMahon was no match in parliamentary debates for Whitlam, a witty and powerful orator. He frequently found himself on the defensive as Whitlam attacked the increasingly unpopular Vietnam War and advocated radical new policies such as universal health insurance. In a typical instance, McMahon attacked Whitlam for his demands that Australia recognise the People's Republic of China, only to have to back down when U.S President Richard Nixon announced his visit to China. He was not helped by rising inflation, which hurt his reputation as a sound economic manager. Additionally, the Liberal Party was showing severe schisms, which came at an especially bad time since McMahon had, at most, two years before the next election.[17] His voice and appearance also came across badly on television.

In June 1971, McMahon cancelled Gorton's planned nuclear power program, which had included a reactor capable of generating weapons-grade plutonium. He considered it inconsistent with the goals of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, signed under Gorton in 1970 and ratified under Whitlam in 1973.[18]

McMahon visiting US President Richard Nixon at the White House in 1971

McMahon went into 1972 facing a statutory general election. By then, Labor had established a clear lead in the polls and McMahon's approval ratings had dwindled to 28 percent. The press had turned on him so violently that the British psephologist David Butler recalled on a visit to Australia that he could not recall a prime minister in any country being "so comprehensively panned" as McMahon. By then, it was widely perceived that McMahon simply "did not look or sound like a Prime Minister". He waited for as long as he could, but finally called a federal election for 2 December. During the campaign, McMahon was abandoned by some of his own ministers, unheard of in a Westminster system.[19] The Coalition was swept from power on an eight-seat swing. Late on election night, with the result beyond doubt, McMahon conceded defeat, ending the longest unbroken run in government in Australian history.

McMahon had been a minister continuously for 21 years and 6 months, a record in the Australian Government that has never been threatened. Only Sir George Pearce and Sir John McEwen had longer overall ministerial service, but their terms were not continuous.

Political journalist Laurie Oakes described McMahon as "devious, nasty, dishonest - he lied all the time and stole things" before describing an incident where McMahon attempted to steal a tape recorder from his radio station by claiming ownership of the device despite it having the radio station's name engraved on it. He concludes by saying that McMahon was a "totally unworthy individual and the fact that he was Prime Minister of this country was a disgrace".[20]

McMahon's term as prime minister ended on 5 December 1972. He did not immediately resign as Liberal leader, but it soon became clear that there was no support for him to continue.[21][22]

McMahon became the first Prime Minister to have lost an election and had retained his seat who did not then serve as Leader of the Opposition.

On 20 December, the Liberal Party elected Billy Snedden as his successor. As a mark of respect for his past service, McMahon was included in Snedden's new shadow cabinet (as was John Gorton). However, at his own request he was not allocated a specific portfolio.[23][24] In an interview with HSV7 in June 1973, McMahon stated that "disloyalty within our own party" was the main reason the Liberals had lost the election. He also said that he had three regrets from his time as prime minister – that he failed to abolish national service, that he had mishandled the 1971 budget, and that he had been a poor communicator.[25]

After the 1974 election, McMahon returned to the backbench for the first time since 1951.[26] In the lead-up to the dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975, he strongly defended the power of the Senate to block supply.[27] However, he believed that Governor-General John Kerr had acted unconstitutionally in dismissing the prime minister, and said that he would have challenged the decision in the High Court if he had been in Whitlam's position.[28] McMahon believed that those responsible for the "loans affair" – including Whitlam and several of his ministers – had acted illegally and should be prosecuted for their involvement. He assisted Danny Sankey (a private citizen) in bringing a private prosecution against Whitlam, which eventually came before the High Court as Sankey v Whitlam. Malcolm Fraser had promised Kerr that his government would bring no action against its predecessor, and was frustrated by McMahon's actions. In his memoirs, he said: "I knew McMahon was running around up to his tricks ... I couldn't control what he did, but I could make damn sure that the government, my government, did not get involved".[29]

Prior to the 1977 election, McMahon was unsuccessfully challenged for Liberal preselection by John Abel, whose Division of Evans had been abolished in an electoral redistribution.[30] After being re-elected, he became the joint Father of the House of Representatives with Clyde Cameron.[31] He was the sole Father of the House after the 1980 election, winning election for a fourteenth and final time at the age of 72. In his final years in parliament he was often critical of the Fraser government. McMahon left parliament in January 1982, citing dissatisfaction with the 1981 budget as a major factor in his decision to retire before a general election.[32] He nominated future prime minister Malcolm Turnbull as his preferred successor in Lowe,[33] but the Liberal Party chose another candidate Philip Taylor. The by-election was won by the Labor Party on a 9.4-point swing.[34]

He was the last former Prime Minister to be reelected to Parliament until Kevin Rudd in 2010.

In retirement, McMahon devoted much of his time to working on his memoirs, which he planned to title A Liberal View. They were rejected by six publishers, and reviewers (who included Barry Jones and Phillip Adams) considered them to be poorly written and overly detailed.[35] In 1984, McMahon endorsed Bob Hawke and the Labor Party for re-election over the Coalition, which he said would not be ready for government for another four or five years.[36] Later that year, he described Andrew Peacock's hold on the Liberal leadership as "very, very fragile", and tacitly endorsed John Howard as a future leader.[37]

In his final years, McMahon underwent a series of operations related to skin cancer.[38] He died in his sleep at St Luke's Private Hospital, Potts Point, on the morning of 31 March 1988. His remains were cremated at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium.[39] A state memorial service was held at St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, on 8 April, with the eulogy given by David Fairbairn.[40]

In 1965, aged 57, McMahon married Sonia Rachel Hopkins, who was then aged 32. McMahon had proposed six months after the pair first met. The wedding was held three months later at St Mark's Church, Darling Point, followed by a reception for 400 people at the Royal Sydney Golf Club.[41] She would survive him by over twenty years, dying aged 77 on 2 April 2010.[42]

McMahon had three children; Melinda, Julian and Deborah. Julian McMahon is an actor and model while Melinda and Deborah lead largely private lives.

Throughout his life there were also frequent rumours that he was homosexual.[43][44][45][46] The suggestion was repeatedly denied by Lady McMahon;[41] one occasion in the 1970s resulted in an infamous tabloid headline "My Billy's No Poofter - Sonia Tells".[47][48]

McMahon is often ranked among Australia's worst prime ministers. In 2001, five out of six historians surveyed by Australian Financial Review ranked him among their worst five prime ministers.[52] Similarly, The Age surveyed eight historians in 2004 and all but one ranked McMahon as Australia's worst prime minister since World War II.[53] Some of McMahon's most prominent critics have been those who served with him in cabinet. John Gorton called him "utterly untrustworthy",[54] while Doug Anthony said he was "just not big enough for the job".[55] Malcolm Fraser said he "had an insatiable ambition [...] he wasn't immoral, he was totally amoral".[56] Billy Snedden considered McMahon "conspiratorial, devious, untrustworthy",[54] and Paul Hasluck viewed him as "disloyal, devious, dishonest, untrustworthy, petty, cowardly", in his diaries referring to him as "that treacherous bastard".[57]

McMahon was nicknamed "Billy the Leak" for his willingness to divulge intimate and confidential information to the media. Despite this, he was disliked by many journalists and political commentators. Donald Horne called him "perhaps the silliest prime minister we ever had",[55] and Peter Ryan said that "McMahon's way of politics was one of lying and leaking, conniving and conspiring, deceit and double-crossing".[58] Malcolm Mackerras thought that he had "no achievements beyond actually getting the top job".[59] Laurie Oakes, who spent over 50 years in the Canberra Press Gallery, viewed McMahon as "a liar and a sneak" and rated him as the worst prime minister he had worked with.[60] Oakes recalled that he had continued leaking cabinet discussions even after becoming prime minister, and accused him of once having stolen a tape recorder.[57]

Some writers have defended McMahon's reputation, arguing that he was a skilled politician who has been unfairly scapegoated for an almost inevitable election loss. According to John Hawkins, McMahon was "grudgingly admired for his energy and diligence",[61] and generally acknowledged as having a mastery of economic policy.[59] Mungo MacCallum, while noting that he left no lasting achievements, called his prime ministership a "brief but cheerful interlude" and praised him for leaving office with good grace.[62] Marian Simms compared McMahon to Richard Nixon, suggesting that his character traits have been overemphasised,[53] while Troy Bramston viewed him as "a prime minister who clearly understood the challenge of the times and was fighting to get his ship back on course" when he was forced out of office.[55] Andrew Peacock, who served in McMahon's ministry, said that McMahon was "much better than he has been painted... He is somewhat ill-treated by history", and described him as "difficult, irascible, nervous yet capable".[63] In his memoirs, Gough Whitlam wrote that McMahon was "an extraordinarily skilful, resourceful and tenacious politician ... had he been otherwise, the ALP victory in December 1972 would have been more convincing than it was".[64]

Bust of McMahon by sculptor Victor Greenhalgh located in the Prime Minister's Avenue in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens

McMahon was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1966, a Companion of Honour in the 1972 New Year Honours,[65] and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1977.[66]

Following the 2009 redistribution of New South Wales federal electorates, the Division of Prospect was renamed the Division of McMahon starting at the 2010 federal election.[67]

• McMahon Ministry

• Hughes, Colin A (1976), Mr Prime Minister. Australian Prime Ministers 1901–1972, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Victoria, Ch.22. ISBN 0-19-550471-2
• Reid, Alan (1971), The Gorton Experiment, Shakespeare Head Press, Sydney.
• Sekuless, Peter (2000), 'Sir William McMahon', in Michelle Grattan (ed.), Australian Prime Ministers, New Holland, Sydney, New South Wales, pages 312–323. ISBN 1-86436-756-3
• Mullins, Patrick (2018). Tiberius with a Telephone: the life and stories of William McMahon. Scribe Publications. ISBN 9781925713602.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to William McMahon.

• "William McMahon". Australia's Prime Ministers. National Archives of Australia. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
• "Billy McMahon". National Museum of Australia. Retrieved 29 June 2010.