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Back home in Australia, Holt was just as steady. He pushed industrial and natural-resource development programs that are now raising the country's gross national product by 9% a year; he also made Australia a major world supplier of iron ore, bauxite and alumina, as well as stepping up production of the copper, lead, zinc and coal that it has long produced. By the early 1970s, the government expects to be exporting $1 billion worth of minerals alone (v. $430 million last year).
An Angry Feud. Holt's biggest single achievement, however, was holding together the tenuous government coalition organized 23 years ago between his own Liberal Party, which controls 81 of Parliament's 184 seats, and the Country Party, which holds 28 seats. Lacking Menzies' charisma, Holt often had to resort to face-losing compromises that made him look weak. Still, that was better, he felt, than the Menzies-style one-man rule. Holt believed in a "leadership that can lead but at the same time be close enough to the team to be part of it and be on the basis of friendly cooperation."
After Holt's death last week, the friendly cooperation disappeared, and the differences that Holt had smoothed over suddenly threatened to wreck the coalition. On one side is Country Party Leader John McEwen, Holt's Minister of Trade and Deputy Prime Minister, who automatically succeeded to the prime ministership until new Liberal Party elections can be held Jan. 9. On the other side is the Liberal Party's William McMahon, Holt's Treasurer, the party's second-in-command and Holt's heir apparent. Over the years, small policy disagreements between the two have sharpened into such an angry personal feud that McEwen last week threat ened to pull his party out of the coalition if the Liberals pick McMahon as their leader. To underline his point, McEwen refused to invite any of the government's nine Liberal Cabinet ministers to his swearing-in.
Off & Moving. Since anyone but McMahon might be able to hold together a coalition, several party members began quietly lobbying for the top Liberal job. Among the chief candidates: Immigration Minister Billy M. Sneddin, 42, Deputy Defense Minister Allen Fair-hall, 58, External Affairs Minister Paul Hasluck, 62, Labor and National Service Minister Leslie H. Bury, 54, and Education Minister John G. Gorton, 56. In the end, it was a tribute to Australia—and to Holt—that overall government policy itself will probably shift little, either under McEwen or his Lib eral successor. Above all, McEwen promised last week that he would stand behind Holt's commitment to Viet Nam.
Australia is off and moving, and neither the Liberals nor the Country Party seems much inclined to tamper with a winning formula.