This is a list of major political controversies in Australia:
Pre-federation Controversy "name" Date State People involved Summary Source Rum Rebellion 1808 NSW Deposition and arrest of NSW Governor William Bligh by Major George Johnston, John Macarthur
Federal controversies Barton government Controversy "name" Date Parties involved People involved Summary Source Hopetoun Blunder 1900 n/a Lyne was chosen by Hopetoun to form Australia's first government, but leading politicians refused to serve under him and Barton was chosen instead.
Deakin government Controversy "name" Date Parties involved People involved Summary Source Petriana affair 1903 Government: Protectionist Citing the White Australia policy, the government refused permission for shipwrecked sailors of Asian origin to land in Australia.
Hughes government Controversy "name" Date Parties involved People involved Summary Source ALP split of 1916 1916 Government: ALP The ALP split over the issue of overseas conscription and the conscription referendum. Hughes and his supporters were expelled from the ALP and formed a separate National Labor Party. – 1916–1918 Government: ALP/Nationalist A 1918 royal commission found that Long had accepted a bribe from Shaw in 1916 and that Jensen had not secured proper approvals for the purchase of assets from Shaw's company. Long resigned from the Senate and Jensen was dismissed from the ministry. McDougall incident 1919 Opposition: ALP During the 1919 federal election campaign, McDougall was kidnapped and publicly tarred and feathered by return soldiers.
Bruce–Page government Controversy "name" Date Parties involved People involved Summary Source Walsh–Johnson case 1925 Government: Nationalist The government unsuccessfully sought to deport Walsh and Johnson, foreign-born leaders of the militant Seamen's Union. Groom resigned as Attorney-General. 1927 Opposition: ALP A 1928 royal commission concluded Mahony had taken a bribe to resign his seat in parliament, allowing Theodore to enter the House of Representatives at the subsequent by-election.
Scullin government Controversy "name" Date Parties involved People involved Summary Source ALP split of 1931 1931 Government: ALP The ALP split three ways over the Scullin government's response to the Great Depression, with Lyons and his followers joining the opposition and Lang's supporters joining the crossbench. Both eventually voted down the government forcing the 1931 federal election.
Lyons government Controversy "name" Date Parties involved People involved Summary Source Kisch case 1934 Government: UAPOpposition: ALPThe government failed to stop a member of the German Communist Party from entering Australia. Freer case 1936 Government: UAP/Country The government refused entry to Freer on the grounds of immoral conduct. Paterson's perceived bungling of the case effectively ended his ministerial career. 1938 Government: UAP McLachlan resigned as Postmaster-General following revelations of a conflict of interest with his business affairs. Dalfram dispute 1938–1939 Government: UAP Attorney-General Menzies intervened to force striking waterside workers to load pig iron on a ship bound to Japan.
Menzies government (I) Controversy "name" Date Parties involved People involved Summary Source 1940 Government: UAP Lawson resigned as Minister for Trade and Customs following revelations of a conflict of interest.
Curtin government Controversy "name" Date Parties involved People involved Summary Source "Brisbane Line" affair 1942–1943 Government: ALP A royal commission found Ward had made unsubstantiated claims about the previous government's war strategy. He remained in the ministry but was demoted to lesser portfolios. "Australia First" affair 1942–1945 Government: ALP Members of the far-right Australia First Movement were interned without trial for national security reasons. A post-war inquiry found they had been illegally detained and recommended compensation be awarded.
Chifley government Controversy "name" Date Parties involved People involved Summary Source Bank nationalisation 1947–1949 Government: ALPOpposition: Liberal The government legislated in 1947 to take the private banks into public ownership. The High Court held the central provisions invalid in August 1948 as an infringement of section 92 of the Constitution, and the Privy Council dismissed the Commonwealth's appeal in 1949. The campaign against the legislation was a significant factor in Labor's defeat at the 1949 election. New Guinea timber affair 1948–1949 Government: ALP Garden was convicted of forging Ward's signature on documents to defraud investors in timber plantations. Ward was cleared of involvement by a subsequent royal commission, during which time he stood down as a minister. Gamboa case 1949 Government: ALP Calwell as immigration minister refused entry to Gamboa, a Filipino-American, under the White Australia policy, despite Gamboa having an Australian wife and children. New South Wales coal strike 1949 Government: ALP The government sent in troops as strike-breakers following an illegal strike by the Australian Coal and Shale Employees' Federation.
Menzies government (II) Controversy "name" Date Parties involved People involved Summary Source Communist Party Dissolution Act and referendum 1950–1951 Government: Liberal/CountryOpposition: ALP The Communist Party Dissolution Act 1950 would have dissolved the Communist Party of Australia and empowered the Governor-General to declare individuals and organisations to be communist, with the onus of disproof on those declared. The High Court held the Act invalid by six to one in March 1951. Menzies then sought the same power by referendum, which was defeated on 22 September 1951 with 49.44 per cent in favour and three of the six states carrying it. The case against it was led by Opposition Leader H. V. Evatt, who had also appeared as counsel in the High Court challenge. Petrov Affair 1954 Government: LiberalOpposition: ALP Petrov and his wife defected from the USSR to Australia in dramatic circumstances, which the Menzies Government exploited for political gain in the lead-up to the 1954 election. ALP split of 1955 1955 Opposition: ALPCrossbench: ALP (Anti-Communist) ALP members opposed to Evatt's leadership, predominantly associated with the anti-communist Industrial Groups and Santamaria's Catholic Social Studies Movement, either left the party or were expelled, forming what eventually became the Democratic Labor Party. National Service Scheme and the commitment to Vietnam 1964–1972 Government: Liberal/CountryOpposition: ALP The National Service Act 1964 introduced selective conscription of twenty-year-old men chosen by a ballot of birthdates. Menzies announced the commitment of a combat battalion to Vietnam on 29 April 1965, and in March 1966 the Holt government announced that conscripts would serve there. Of 63,735 national servicemen, more than 15,300 served in Vietnam and 200 were killed. Conscription and the war became among the most divisive domestic issues of the period, and the scheme was abolished by the incoming Whitlam government in December 1972.
Holt government Controversy "name" Date Parties involved People involved Summary Source Melbourne–Voyager collision 1964–1967 Government: Liberal/Country The government stalled on holding a second royal commission into the collision, following concerns over the conclusions of the first. VIP affair 1967 Government: LiberalOpposition: ALPCrossbench: DLP Government cover-up of misuse of RAAF VIP flights; Holt and Howson misled parliament.
Gorton government Controversy "name" Date Parties involved People involved Summary Source Vietnam Moratorium 1970 Government: Liberal/CountryOpposition: ALP The first moratorium against the Vietnam War on 8 May 1970 drew about 200,000 people nationally, including about 70,000 in Melbourne in a march led by the Labor member Jim Cairns — at the time the largest demonstrations in Australian history. The Minister for Labour and National Service, Billy Snedden, described the participants as "political bikies who pack-rape democracy", a characterisation that itself drew wide criticism. Resignation of Malcolm Fraser and fall of the Gorton government 1971 Government: Liberal/Country Defence Minister Malcolm Fraser resigned on 8 March 1971 over Gorton's conduct in a dispute with the Chief of the General Staff, Sir Thomas Daly, telling parliament the following day that he did not believe Gorton was "fit to hold the great office of Prime Minister". A party-room confidence motion on 10 March was tied 33–33; Gorton declared that this was not a vote of confidence and stood down, and William McMahon replaced him as prime minister. Accounts differ as to whether Gorton formally cast a casting vote against himself.
McMahon government Controversy "name" Date Parties involved People involved Summary Source Aboriginal Tent Embassy 1972 Government: Liberal/CountryOpposition: ALP On the eve of Australia Day 1972 McMahon announced that the government would offer Aboriginal people fifty-year general purpose leases rather than recognise land rights, reserving mineral and forest rights to the Crown. Four Aboriginal men responded by erecting a beach umbrella on the lawns opposite Parliament House on 26 January, establishing the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. In July 1972 the government amended the Trespass on Commonwealth Lands Ordinance and police forcibly removed the camp, arresting eight people; in September the ACT Supreme Court held the ordinance had not taken effect because it had not been properly notified.
Whitlam government Controversy "name" Date Parties involved People involved Summary Source Gair Affair 1974 ALPVince Gair, Gough Whitlam, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Lionel Murphy, Ron Maunsell, Magnus Cormack, Billy Snedden Morosi Affair 1974–1977 ALPJim Cairns, Junie Morosi Loans affair 1975ALPJim Cairns, Rex Connor 1975 Australian constitutional crisis 1975 ALPLiberal PartyGough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Sir John Kerr Kerr dismissed the sitting government of the day
Fraser government Controversy "name" Date Parties involved People involved Summary Source 1976 Government: Liberal Garland resigned as Minister for Post and Telecommunications after being charged with electoral offences. They were dismissed and he returned to the ministry in 1977. 1977 Government: Liberal Lynch resigned as Treasurer following allegations of a conflict of interest relating to his land dealings. Two reports found he had not acted illegally and he returned to the ministry one month later in a different portfolio. 1978 Government: Liberal Withers was sacked as Minister for Administrative Services after a Queensland royal commission found he had attempted to interfere with an electoral redistribution. 1979 Government: NCP Sinclair resigned as Minister for Primary Industry after a report to the New South Wales parliament accused him of inappropriate business dealings. He was charged with fraud but acquitted, and returned to the ministry in 1980. Colour TV affair 1982 Government: Liberal MacKellar submitted an incorrect customs declaration relating to his importation of a colour television, which Moore attempted to cover up. Both resigned from the ministry.
Hawke government