Frank McManus (Australian politician)

Australian politician

Francis Patrick Vincent McManus (27 February 190528 December 1983), Australian politician, was the last leader of the parliamentary Democratic Labor Party and a prominent figure in Australian politics for 30 years.

McManus was born in North Melbourne, into a working class family of Irish Catholic background. He was one of three boys to Patrick, a wagon driver and Gertrude his wife. He was educated at Christian Brothers schools, including St Mary's Primary School, West Melbourne, St. Joseph's, CBC North Melbourne (1918–1922), and St Kevin's College, Melbourne. Following his secondary schooling, and with the assistance of a scholarship, he attended Newman College at the University of Melbourne where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts(Honors) and Diploma of Education which allowed him to become a school teacher. Later he became an official in the Victorian Department of Education.

In 1950 McManus was appointed Assistant State Secretary of the Australian Labor Party. The Victorian Branch of the party was then under the control of right wing forces aligned with B. A. Santamaria's secretive anti communist "Movement." In this position McManus supported the Industrial Groups which the party had set up within trade unions to combat the influence of the Communist Party of Australia. whose ticket polled 17.8 percent of the vote in Victoria. He was defeated in , but re elected in 1964, and again in 1970. At the 1970 election, campaigning on the slogan "Vote Mac Back", he polled 19.1 percent, the DLP's best ever result. In the Senate, the DLP had between one and five Senators between 1955 and 1974, led first by George Cole of Tasmania and then by Vince Gair of Queensland, with McManus as Deputy Leader. The DLP gave critical support to the Liberal governments of Robert Menzies and his successors, pressing them to adopt more militantly anti communist policies both domestically and internationally, particularly on issues such as the Vietnam War and the recognition of the People's Republic of China believing there was a real threat from communist domination. They also supported conservative Catholic views on social issues. On some issues, such as pensions, the DLP supported traditional Labor policies. In 1973, following the election of the Whitlam Labor government, Gair was forced out as DLP Leader and was succeeded by McManus, who at 68 was only three years younger than Gair. The election of Whitlam had robbed the DLP of most of its influence, and Gair's acceptance of the post of Ambassador to Ireland from Whitlam split the party and caused a collapse in its support. In 1974 the DLP supported the Liberal leader, Billy Snedden, in threatening to block the Whitlam government's budget bills in the Senate. He died in Melbourne in 1983 leaving a wife and four children.