Lang Hancock, The Sydney Morning Herald, September 30, 1980, p. 6, as a letter to the editor.

Sir, I would like publicly to congratulate the few press people who are considering the taxpayers in the controversy surrounding a new Parliament House.

I believe there is no justification for building a new Parliament House in Canberra. Surely the aim should be to reduce the cost and size of government: WA Government, please note. The cost, like that of the Sydney Opera House, is sure to escalate — in this case, from an initial figure of $151 million to well over $1,000 million.

The greatest threat to Australian security is not from external forces, but internal, as the rapid growth of “Canberra-ism” (or socialism, if you wish to call it by that name) indicates.

Parliament no longer represents the Australian people, but represents to an increasing degree bureaucracy, plus a few undemocratically elected strong-arm union bosses, plus various eastern State manufacturing lobbies manipulating Government departments for handouts in various forms, such as tariffs, quotas, monopoly protection and contracts.

Australia, which should be the richest nation on earth, because of its natural resources, is fast crumbling internally in the same way as did the British Empire.

Perhaps this line of thought would sound more convincing if I quoted Mr Callaghan, the former British Prime Minister, who stated that England was no longer governable, or if you prefer the words of Australia’s most popular figure (after Rolf Harris), Mr Robert Hawke, who has been reported as saying that we are moving into a time when the question of whether we will be able to continue to exist in a free society is very much on the line.

Or perhaps I may be allowed to adapt the words of Sir Winston Churchill to Canberra-ism: “Canberra-ism is a philosophy of failure, a creed of ignorance, and gospel of envy. Its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”