The conservative ascendancy in Australian politics that had begun with the defeat of the Chifley Labor government in 1949 reached the zenith of its sway in 1956. Apart from a slight hiccup in 1961, its authority would last until Robert Menzies, full of years and honours, retired in 1965, and his successor Harold Holt disappeared while swimming in 1967. By then, a new politics of national expectation was emerging. John Gorton recognized and responded to this change, but his commitment to the war in Vietnam and the intellectual immobility of his party prevented him from leading the country towards a fresh understanding of its place in the world. His encouragement of the arts did, however, help to create an audience for the writers and artists who were developing new understandings of people and place. The Whitlam government that took office in 1972 was able to build on their efforts.

All this was far distant from the mental paralysis of 1956. The election at the end of 1955 had revealed the Labor Party as a shattered electoral force. The conflict within the Party over Santamaria's Movement had culminated in the split of 1955 and the formation of the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist), later the Democratic Labor Party, whose preferences guaranteed Liberal–Country Party victories in successive elections. The leadership of both major parties was locked into the past.