Historyonics: Menzies' Forgotten People

Wednesday 28 August 2013 7:29PM (view full episode)

Robert Menzies' Forgotten People speech has become a touchstone for the Liberal Party. He made the speech on Friday 22 May, 1942, as part of a series on the Macquarie Network.

Although Menzies would go on to found the Liberal Party and become Australia's longest serving Prime Minister, the war years were a low point in his political career. He was a backbencher, having lost his role as the Prime Minister and the leader of the United Australia Party.

The speech was his pitch to the Australian middle class, arguing that class was more about values than economic status.


Judith Brett
Liberal Party Historian and Emeritus Professor of Politics at LaTrobe University


Georgia Moodie