Stevenson, Brian F.

Vince Gair was Queensland Treasurer from 1950 and Premier from 1952. A vehement anti-Communist, his support for the Catholic-linked Industrial Groups and his attempts to restrict the influence within the Australian Labor Party of both the Australian Workers' Union and the left-wing Queensland Trades and Labor Council led in 1957 to his expulsion from the Party. Parliamentary Labor split over the issue, with Gair and his supporters forming the Queensland Labor Party on a strongly anti-Communist platform. In 1964, as a candidate for the Democratic Labor Party, Gair was elected senator for Queensland, and also became the DLP's national leader. In 1974 he was expelled by the DLP for accepting an offer from the Whitlam Government to serve as Australia's Ambassador to the Republic of Eire. Gair's turbulent political career ended in 1976 when he was recalled from Ireland after a series of indiscretions.