When, in 1972, Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War ended (with the election of the Whitlam government), Knopfelmacher's long-standing intellectual unpredictability became more pronounced. He turned vehemently against Santamaria. In "The Age" on 7 April 1984, he likened Santamaria's treatment of trade-union opponents to Stalin's treatment of Trotskyists; this assertion was clearly libellous, but Santamaria refused to press charges. The previous year ("Quadrant", October 1983), Knopfelmacher had directed some of his most sarcastic prose against Santamaria's supporters among conservative Catholic activists.