List of political controversies in Australia

This is a list of major political controversies in Australia:

Controversy "name"	Date	Parties involved	People involved	Summary	Source
ALP split of 1916	1916	Government: ALP	Billy Hughes	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	Jens Jensen James Long Archibald Shaw	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.	^[3]
McDougall incident	1919	Opposition: ALP	John Keith McDougall	During the 1919 federal election campaign, McDougall was kidnapped and publicly tarred and feathered by return soldiers.	^[4]

Controversy "name"	Date	Parties involved	People involved	Summary	Source
Walsh–Johnson case	1925	Government: Nationalist	Tom Walsh Jacob Johnson Littleton Groom	The government unsuccessfully sought to deport Walsh and Johnson, foreign-born leaders of the militant Seamen's Union. Groom resigned as Attorney-General.	^[5]
	1927	Opposition: ALP	William Mahony Ted Theodore	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.	^[6]

Controversy "name"	Date	Parties involved	People involved	Summary	Source
Kisch case	1934	Government: UAP Opposition: ALP	Egon Kisch Joseph Lyons Robert Menzies Herbert Evatt	The government failed to stop a member of the German Communist Party from entering Australia.
Freer case	1936	Government: UAP/Country	Mabel Freer Thomas Paterson	The government refused entry to Freer on the grounds of immoral conduct. Paterson's perceived bungling of the case effectively ended his ministerial career.	^[7]
	1938	Government: UAP	Alexander McLachlan	McLachlan resigned as Postmaster-General following revelations of a conflict of interest with his business affairs.	^[8]
Dalfram dispute	1938–1939	Government: UAP	Robert Menzies	Attorney-General Menzies intervened to force striking waterside workers to load pig iron on a ship bound to Japan.

Controversy "name"	Date	Parties involved	People involved	Summary	Source
"Brisbane Line" affair	1942–1943	Government: ALP	Eddie Ward	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	H. V. Evatt Frank Forde P. R. Stephensen Adela Walsh	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.	^[10]

Controversy "name"	Date	Parties involved	People involved	Summary	Source
New Guinea timber affair	1948–1949	Government: ALP	Jock Garden Eddie Ward	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.	^[11]
Gamboa case	1949	Government: ALP	Arthur Calwell Lorenzo Gamboa	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	Ben Chifley	The government sent in troops as strike-breakers following an illegal strike by the Australian Coal and Shale Employees' Federation.

Pre-federation

Controversy "name"	Date	Parties involved	People involved	Summary	Source
Petrov Affair	1954	Government: Liberal Opposition: ALP	Vladimir Petrov Evdokia Petrova Robert Menzies H. V. Evatt	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: ALP Crossbench: ALP (Anti-Communist)	H. V. Evatt B. A. Santamaria	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.

Controversy "name"	Date	Parties involved	People involved	Summary	Source
Melbourne–Voyager collision	1964–1967	Government: Liberal/Country	Robert Menzies John Spicer Harold Holt Edward St John	The government stalled on holding a second royal commission into the collision, following concerns over the conclusions of the first.
VIP affair	1967	Government: Liberal Opposition: ALP Crossbench: DLP	Harold Holt Peter Howson Vince Gair Arthur Calwell John Gorton	Government cover-up of misuse of RAAF VIP flights; Holt and Howson misled parliament.	^[12]

Controversy "name"	Date	Parties involved	People involved	Summary	Source
Gair Affair	1974	ALP	Vince Gair, Gough Whitlam, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Lionel Murphy, Ron Maunsell, Magnus Cormack, Billy Snedden
Morosi Affair	1974–1977	ALP	Jim Cairns, Junie Morosi
Loans affair	1975	ALP	Jim Cairns, Rex Connor
1975 Australian constitutional crisis	1975	ALP Liberal Party	Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Sir John Kerr	Kerr dismissed the sitting government of the day	^[13]

Controversy "name"	Date	Parties involved	People involved	Summary	Source
	1976	Government: Liberal	Vic Garland	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.	^[14]
	1977	Government: Liberal	Phillip Lynch	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.	^[14]
	1978	Government: Liberal	Reg Withers	Withers was sacked as Minister for Administrative Services after a Queensland royal commission found he had attempted to interfere with an electoral redistribution.	^[15]
	1979	Government: NCP	Ian Sinclair	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.	^[15]
Colour TV affair	1982	Government: Liberal	Michael MacKellar John Moore	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.	^[16]