Clement Macintyre, ‘First, Second, Third Priority was South Australia’ Thomas Playford & South Australian Exceptionalism

Robert Menzies holds the record as Australia's longest serving prime minister, but he is certainly not Australia's longest serving ‘democratically’ elected political leader. That record is held by Thomas Playford, who was Premier of South Australia for an astonishing period from 1938 until 1965. This period corresponded with both of Menzies’s stints as prime minister, and the Federal leader had a complicated relationship with the State’s unconventional non-Labor government. Playford was always determined to extract whatever he could out of the Commonwealth, and Menzies was often forced to oblige. South Australia serves as a fascinating case study into how Australian political parties remain highly federalised, with each division having its own unique story and distinctive characteristics. 

In this week’s episode of the Afternoon Light podcast, Robert Menzies Institute CEO Georgina Downer talks to Clement Macintyre about South Australia’s unique political history and how it relates to the Menzies era. 

Clement Macintyre is an Emeritus Professor affiliated with the University of Adelaide. He was formerly Head of the School of History and Politics at the University of Adelaide. He has research interests in British and Australian politics and political history, and has published papers on South Australian political history and Australian Constitutional structures. He is a regular media commentator on Australian State and national politics.