Tom Frame, ‘An Orderly and Seamless Transition of Power’ The Life and Achievements of Harold Holt

In this week’s episode of the Afternoon Light podcast, Robert Menzies Institute CEO Georgina Downer talks to Tom Frame about Menzies’s Liberal deputy and immediate successor Harold Holt. 

Harold Holt is one of Australia's least understood Prime Ministers. Standing in the shadow of his record-breaking predecessor, all that most people know about Holt is the unusual manner of his demise. This is a shame, because Holt was a remarkable person who led a remarkable career. After becoming a Federal Minister at the record-breaking age of 30, he stepped away from politics to serve in World War Two, only to be called back to the Ministry after a plane crashed devastated its membership. Holt had a long apprenticeship and many achievements as a minister in the Menzies Government, and when he finally took the reins of government he proved to be a great innovator in areas like Indigenous policy and immigration reform. He can take credit for dismantling the core of the White Australia Policy, and his 1966 landslide election victory is one of the most remarkable results in Australian political history. 

Professor Tom Frame AM has been a naval officer, Anglican Bishop to the Defence Force, a member of the Australian War Memorial Council and various ethics oversight bodies, and a theological college principal. He became Professor of History at UNSW Canberra in July 2014 and was appointed Director of the Public Leadership Research Group in July 2017 with responsibility for establishing the John Howard Prime Ministerial Library. He is the author or editor of more than 50 books, including The Life and Death of Harold Holt, HMAS Sydney: Loss and controversy, Stromlo: An Australian observatory, Evolution in the Antipodes: Charles Darwin and Australia and Gun Control: What Australia got right (and wrong).