In the first half of the 1970s the United Nations was accorded a higher priority in the conduct of Australian foreign policy than it had been given in the 1960s. This was partly a reflection of Labor’s emphasis on United Nations initiatives, but not entirely so. The highlight of the period was Australia’s membership of the United Nations Security Council in 1973–74, during Labor’s term of office. But the decision to seek a seat on the Security Council (after some years of avoiding our turn), and success in winning it, had occurred in 1972 under the Liberal-Country Party Government.