Editing Arthur Fadden (section)

===Defeat===
On 1 October 1941, during debate on the budget, opposition leader John Curtin moved that the "budget should be recast to ensure a more equitable distribution of the national burden", which the government treated as a loss of [[Supply (political science)|supply]] and therefore a [[confidence motion]].{{sfn|Arklay|2014|p=92}} The motion was fiercely debated until 3 October, when independent MP Arthur Coles rose and announced that he would vote against the government. The motion then proceeded to a vote which the government lost by 36 votes to 33, Coles and Wilson voting in favour.{{sfn|Arklay|2014|p=94}} Fadden returned his commission to the Governor-General [[Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie|Lord Gowrie]], who swore in Curtin as prime minister on 7 October after receiving confirmations from Coles and Wilson that they would support an ALP government.{{sfn|Arklay|2014|p=96}}

Fadden's term in office lasted only 42 days and he later joked that, like the [[Flood of Noah|Great Flood]], he had "reigned for forty days and forty nights".{{sfn|Hawkins|2011|p=54}} The defeat of the Fadden government is the most recent occasion on which an Australian government was forced to resign after being defeated on the floor of the House of Representatives.<ref>Gavin Souter, ''Acts of Parliament'', p. 341</ref> While apparently unsurprised and circumspect about his defeat,{{sfn|Arklay|2014|p=95}} he was critical of Coles' role in voting down his budget and later alleged in parliament that Coles had only shifted his vote because Fadden had refused to appoint him to a cabinet post; Coles denied Fadden's account.{{sfn|Arklay|2014|p=93}} Fadden had previously slighted Coles by ignoring a memorandum Coles had drafted on wartime policy,{{sfn|Arklay|2014|p=89}} while both Coles and Wilson had been aggrieved with the handling of Menzies' departure and also had concerns over the Winkler allegations.{{sfn|Arklay|2014|p=91}}