Andrew Kemp & Zachary Gorman on the 1949 Election: ”There was an optimism, a confidence, about the Liberal pitch”

What does it take to win a federal election from Opposition?

On Afternoon Light #185 Georgina Downer speaks with Andrew Kemp and Zachary Gorman to discuss Robert Menzies’s watershed 1949 election victory. Drawing out its enduring impact on modern Australia, as well as the lessons it offers political campaigners in 2025.

Andrew Kemp is a Melbourne-based writer and a former economist at the Commonwealth Treasury and the Department of Treasury and Finance in Victoria. He conducted extensive research into the early Liberal Party’s fundraising and campaigning techniques, as part of a chapter he wrote for Unity in Autonomy.

The innovative radio advertisements of 'John Henry Austral' can be found here.