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House of Representatives
6 October 1948

18^th Parliament · 2^nd Session

QUESTION
- SECRET INFORMATION
QUESTION
- MALAYA
QUESTION
- JURY SERVICE
QUESTION
- LIGHTHOUSE-KEEPERS
QUESTION
- BROADCASTING
QUESTION
- CHRISTMAS ISLAND
QUESTION
- TREACLE AND GOLDEN SYRUP
QUESTION
- SUGAR
QUESTION
- RECALL OF AUSTRALIAN CITIZENS FROM OVERSEAS
QUESTION
- CIVIL AVIATION
QUESTION
- WOOL
QUESTION
- RATIONING
QUESTION
- TASMANIAN RAILWAY’S
TARIFF BOARD
- Annual Report
QUESTION
- NORTHERN TERRITORY
QUESTION
- ESTIMATES 1948-49
ADJOURNMENT
- Mr. Ward. - A Labour Government
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
- Hides and Tallow

Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. J. J. Clark) took the chair at 10.30 a.m., and read prayers.

page 1224

QUESTION

SECRET INFORMATION

Alleged Leakages from Official Quarters.

Mr LANG:
REID, NEW SOUTH WALES

– Following the Prime Minister’s announcement that the Government proposes to spy on members of this Parliament,will the right honorable gentleman inform the House - (a) whether instructions have been given to tap the private telephone conversations and tamper with the private mail of members of this House; (b) whether this work will be entrusted to a special political police force to be recruited from known members of the Communist party in the Government’s employ; (c) whether members of the Government consulted the Communist leader Thornton during their interviews with him in Canberra recently, about the operations of the N.K.V.D. or Soviet Political Police, with the view of adopting its methods here; and (d) whether the Government proposes to introduce into this Parliament legislation similar to that now before the Czech Communist Parliament, to make any form of opposition to the Government a crime to be dealt with by a secret court ?

Mr CHIFLEY:
Prime Minister · MACQUARIE, NEW SOUTH WALES · ALP

– In answer to the first portion of the question, which relates to the alleged spying on members of the Parliament, I have issued a very simple instruction to the Acting AttorneyGeneral, who is in charge of the Commonwealth Investigation Service, to ascertain, if possible, in what possible ways documents have been used, or may be used, and how such documents could come into the hands not only of members of this Parliament, but also of other individuals who are in this building only as a privilege. The Commonwealth Investigation Service has been asked to ascertain whether there has been a leakage of information, and, if so, how it has occurred. This instruction is not aimed at any particular person. The object is to find out how certain confidential, and in some instances, secret, government documents could be allowed to pass into the hands of individuals other than those who are entitled to the possession of them. The Government desires to know what is happening and who is responsible for it. If the inquiry brings into the net members of the Parliament, or other individuals whose presence in this building is a privilege and not a right, that will be noted. This work, naturally, has been entrusted to the Acting Attorney-General, whose department, as I have said, administers the Commonwealth Investigation Service. When a report has been made on the investigations, it will be brought to my notice. I made it perfectly clear yesterday that whatever is done in regard to this matter will not be done in order to gain any political advantage.

Mr McEwen:

– Oh, no!

Mr CHIFLEY:

– I should not dream of that.

Mr Anthony:

– It will be done to silence the Opposition.

Mr CHIFLEY:

– I assure honorable members that the Government is more concerned with the interests of this country than with the gaining of some political advantage over any particular individual. The honorable member for Reid has mentioned a visit to Canberra by Mr. Thornton. I did not see Mr. Thornton on that occasion, and I do not know anything about the contacts that he might have made while he was here. I do not remember any request having been made by Mr. Thornton to see me on that occasion. Had he made such a request as the secretary of a union, his representations would have been given consideration in the light of the time available as would those of any other union secretary.

page 1224

QUESTION

MALAYA

Mr.WHITE. - I address a question to the Prime Minister regarding press reports which state that the Government of Malaya has decided to ban the entry into Malaya of all Communists and Communist sympathizers. The reports also state that the ban applies to persons of all nationalities including Australians, and mentions the name of Lawrence Sharkey, a Moscow-trained Communist who is the leader of the Communists in Australia and adds that information is being gathered about him and his operations while he was in Singapore some time ago. Will the Prime Minister or the Minister for Immigration offer the closest cooperation to the Malayan Government to see that the ban is enforced and that the troubles that that country faces to-day are not further fomented by undesirable Australians who go there?

Mr CHIFLEY:
ALP

– I understand that the Minister for Immigration has already made it perfectly clear that if any Government makes a request that certain individuals shall not be granted passports or visés for entry into its country its wish will be carried out by the’ Australian Government. That has already been done in an instance involving India and Pakistan and precisely the same thing will be done in regard to Malaya. Regarding the other matters raised, the fact is that the Malayan administration has for many months refused permission for even Chinese and Indians to enter Malaya. There was a great deal of discussion in this Parliament about certain Malayan individuals. On my visit to Singapore I found that there had been a ban placed on the immigration into Malaya of particular nationalities, yet the Malayan authorities complained about Australia’s attitude to immigration. I have no doubt that the Malayan Government adopted its policy for its own reasons. I am not questioning its reasons which were no doubt quite sound in the circumstances.

Mr McBRIDE:
WAKEFIELD, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

– Has the Prime Minister seen the report in this morning’s press that police officers of the Malayan Government are investigating statements and examining captured documents concerning conversations between the Australian Communist, L. Sharkey, and Malayan leaders in Singapore last March, shortly before the outbreak of Communist terrorism in that area? Will the Australian Government request the Malayan Government to forward to Australia information of the result of this investigation in order that the extent of the part of Australian Communists in the Malayan troubles shall be made known to the public of this country ?

Mr CHIFLEY:

– I have not seen the statement in this morning’s newspapers to which the honorable member has referred. In fact, I have not yet read any of to-day’s newspapers. The honorable gentleman mentioned a report that, the Malayan authorities, presumably at the instance of Mr. Malcolm MacDonald, who is the Governor-General of Malaya and Special Commissioner in South-East Asia, are examining certain captured documents. From my communications with Mr. MacDonald from time to time, I have been able to obtain his views about a number of matters affecting the Malayan Union. I assume that if Mr. MacDonald desired to inform us about any particular matters affecting the Malayan Union, as he has already done in requesting arms and equipment,, he will do so. However, I shall examine the matter which the honorable member has raised.

page 1225

QUESTION

JURY SERVICE

Mr CONELAN:
GRIFFITH, QUEENSLAND

– Can the Minister representing the Acting Attorney-General inform me whether high administrative officers, when called up for jury service in the Australian Capital Territory, have been refused exemption from such service despite requests for it from their departmental heads? In view of the extra pressure now applied to public servants will he state whether sympathetic consideration will be accorded to representations for exemption from jury service of high administrative officers?

Mr HOLLOWAY:
Minister for Labour and National Service · MELBOURNE, VICTORIA · ALP

– I do not know whether the facts stated are correct but I shall consult the Acting AttorneyGeneral and I am certain that he will give consideration to the point the honorable member has raised.

page 1225

QUESTION

LIGHTHOUSE-KEEPERS

Mr BOWDEN:
GIPPSLAND, VICTORIA

– I address a question to the Minister for Labour and National Service concerning representations madeto me in relation to lighthouse-keepers on the Victorian coast. A telegram which I have received requests that I should ventilate in the House tha- fact that the hours of lighthouse-keepers have not been improved in the last 80 years and that for over 20 years the lighthouse-keepers have not been able to secure the appointment of an arbitrator to hear their claims. Will the Minister investigate this claim with a view to granting conditions to lighthousebeepers which will be at least comparable with those enjoyed by other Commonwealth servants?

Mr HOLLOWAY:
ALP

– If it is a fact that no improvement has been made in the conditions of lighthouse-keepers during the last 80 year3 the position should certainly be investigated. These officers are employees of the Marine Branch of the Department of Shipping and Fuel, and are members of the Public Service. Of my own knowledge I am aware that the lighthousekeepers have appeared before the arbitration courts from time to time, and I have attended conferences concerning their conditions. I shall investigate the matter but I shall be surprised if the facts are as stated by the honorable member.

page 1226

QUESTION

BROADCASTING

Mr RUSSELL:
GREY, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

– Is the Minister representing the Postmaster-General aware that radio station 3DB, Melbourne, which is owned by Sir Keith Murdoch and his associates has sent out letters to its clients announcing that an additional charge of 33-J per cent, will be made for radio advertisements? Is that development due to the transfer of control of prices from the Commonwealth to the States? Since licences for radio transmitting stations have to be renewed annually, can the Postmaster-General take action to prevent radio advertisers from being exploited, because any increase of the cost of advertising must be passed on to the general public by increased prices for advertised goods?

Mr CALWELL:
Minister for Immigration · MELBOURNE, VICTORIA · ALP

– I shall bring the matter to the notice of the PostmasterGeneral in order to ascertain, first, whether station 3DB has increased its charges by 33^ per cent., and, secondly, to ascertain whether any other radio station has acted similarly. I shall also ask the Postmaster-General to ascertain whether he has power under the Australian Broadcasting Act to limit the degree to which holders of radio transmitting licences can exploit the public in the manner in which it is alleged Sir Keith Murdoch and his associates are doing. I shall also request the PostmasterGeneral to inquire into the result of the recent transfer of control of rents and prices from the Commonwealth to the States insofar as it affects matters connected with broadcasting,

page 1226

QUESTION

CHRISTMAS ISLAND

Mr ARCHIE CAMERON:
Postmaster-General · BARKER, SOUTH AUSTRALIA · ALP

– Can the Prime Minister furnish any detailed information about the method of working and distributing the phosphatic deposits on Christmas Island? I should like to know whether the Government proposes to allow private enterprise to continue to work and distribute the phosphates or whether it contemplates establishing a trading concern which will compete with private enterprise along similar lines to those followed by Trans-Australia Airlines in the field of civil aviation.

Mr CHIFLEY:
ALP

– The matter mentioned by the honorable member has been the subject of discussions between the New Zealand and Australian Governments, and Mr. Gaze, an official of the British Phosphate Commissioners, was authorized by both Governments to conduct the negotiations. Although certain matters of detail have yet to be decided, I can assure honorable members that steps have been taken to ensure that ample supplies of phosphatic rock, which is so important to primary producers, will be made available to both countries. The Government considered the matter to be of such importance that it authorized the Minister for External Territories and Treasury officials to engage in discussions with New Zealand officials concerning the purchase price of the undertaking, and the rights associated with the present leases, which run for 42 years. It was considered that the New Zealand and Australian Governments should acquire those rights, and that has been done. General negotiations have been conducted by Mr. Gaze, but certain formalities relating to distribution have yet to be determined. In principle, we have agreed to the acquisition for £2,750,000. Final arrangements will be made as early as practicable.

Mr Archie Cameron:

– Who will work the deposits at the island?

Mr CHIFLEY:

– We have endeavoured to make arrangements for the British Phosphate Commissioners, who already work the deposits at Nauru and Ocean Islands, to undertake the work and distribute the phosphatic rock from Christmas Island. It would seem that, having regard to the transport difficulties involved, the Commission was in the best position to undertake the distribution of the phosphatic rock from Christmas Island. These matters have yet to be finalized. The objective of the Minister for External Territories is to arrange for the commissioners to act as the operating agent at Christmas Island.

page 1227

QUESTION

TREACLE AND GOLDEN SYRUP

Mrs BLACKBURN:
BOURKE, VICTORIA

– I have received a number of inquiries about food commodities regarded as necessaries by a great many families, which are at present, and have been for many months past off the market, at least in Victoria. Can the Minister for Commerce and Agriculture inform the House whathas happened to treacle and golden syrup, and why these commodities are not available to the people? How long does the honorable gentleman suppose the people are likely to be deprived of these nourishing foods?

Mr POLLARD:
Minister for Commerce and Agriculture · BALLAARAT, VICTORIA · ALP

– Imust confess that I have not the faintest idea what has become of treacle and golden syrup. I am aware that both are nourishing foods. I shall make it my business to institute inquiries, and I shall endeavour to furnish the honorable member with the desired information as early as possible.

page 1227

QUESTION

SUGAR

Tasmanian Shipping Services

Mr DUTHIE:
WILMOT, TASMANIA

– Urgent representa tions have been made to me by grocers in the midland districts of Tasmania regarding the grave shortage of sugar, stating that they have been out of supplies for more than three weeks. As the next shipment of sugar is not due at Launceston until the 11th or 12th October, will the Minister representing the Minister for Shipping and Fuel, through the Australian Shipping Board, make representations to the companies concerned, with a view to speeding up this shipment of sugar, if possible? Will the honorable gentleman endeavour to have shipments to Tasmania made with more regularity and also arrange for better spacing of ships on the Tasmanian service ?

Mr DEDMAN:
Minister for Defence · CORIO, VICTORIA · ALP

– I am aware that supplies of sugar are not as readily available in a number of places throughout Australia as the Government would like them to be, principally because there is not sufficient labour available in the refining factories to ensure that adequate supplies are on hand to meet requirements. Insofar as the shortage in Tasmania relates to transport difficulties in that State, I shall draw the attention of my colleague the Minister for Shipping and Fuel to the situation. I am certain that if it is possible for him to have a ship made available immediately for the purpose of transporting to Tasmania these urgently needed supplies, he will do so. I shall also ask the Minister to inquire into the regularity of the shipping schedule between the mainland and Tasmania and I am sure that he will do his utmost to assist.

page 1227

QUESTION

RECALL OF AUSTRALIAN CITIZENS FROM OVERSEAS

Dame ENID LYONS:
DARWIN, TASMANIA

– In view of the statement in this morning’s press, under a Washington date-line, that there is no record in the State Department of the United States of America of an agreement that the “ Manila girls “ would be returned to Australia after their war service, can the Minister for Immigration say whether the agreement is in writing? If so, who were the signatories? Can he now disclose the exact nature of the document on which I seek information?

Mr CALWELL:
ALP

– I would say to the honorable member for Darwin that rumour was ever a lying jade and the rumours that are circulating in Washington and that have been publishedin the Melbourne Herald in relation to documents or other records that exist, or are said to exist, concerning an agreement between myself and members of the American Embassy, are not to be relied on. I was approached in January, 1946, by the American Chargé d’Aff aires, Mr. John Minter, with a irequest that a number of Australian girls should be permitted to accompany the American Army to Manila. Previously, Colonel Jordan had “ spirited “ fourteen girls out of this country without passports or documents of any sort, in an American aircraft which left from Brisbane. He claimed that he had the right to do that because the girls were members of the American Army. They were Australian citizens, and only civilian members of the American Army. We protested to the American authorities against this highhanded action by Colonel Jordan, although I believe that he acted in good faith. The girls were returned to Australia and we were asked to allow not only those fourteen girls but a considerable number of other girls to go to perform duties for a period of six months. I agreed after consulting the Prime Minister and the girls left in batches for Service in Manila and later, in Tokyo. We were asked to permit them to accompany the American Army to Tokyo. We were told that the American forces would not require them: for more than six months in all, and we agreed that they should go for that period, while they were serving with the American Army, and, as the Prime Minister reminds me, while American girls were being trained to take their places.

Mr Abbott:

– What are their ages?

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER:

-The honorable member for New England is entirely out of order. He is not allowed to cross-question the Minister.’

Mr CALWELL:

– The American Charge d’Affaires promised me that those girls would be returned, and subsequently an American colonel came to my office and gave me an explicit undertaking that after the completion of’ certain work, and at the end of their period of service, the American Army would return the gia-ls to- Australia. This Government has acted very generously in regard to the American and British authorities, but to some degree our generosity has been imposed upon. When the war was over it was thought that Australia should supply typists and stenographers for the British Army in Malaya and Burma, and in other places, and for the American Army in Malaya and Tokyo. We already had a great shortage of labour in this country. We were trying to attract migrants to Australia, and whilst we were prepared to act reasonably in respect of both the- British and American authorities, we expected that we would receive co-operation from those authorities inrespect of any agreement we entered into. We had no trouble with the British, but it seems that many changes have since taken place among the staff of the United States Embassy in Canberra, and there seems to have been a certain amount of remissness on the part of high officials there in making notes of what they had promised, and what they had undertaken to do. The American Army authorities, having got what they wanted, made no- note of the obligations into which they had entered. Beyond certain documents, which are sufficient in themselves, there is not a complete record of all that transpired to back my protest to the American Embassy here, and to the State Department in Washington. However, there is extant sufficient evidence of the agreement, and there would have been no trouble whatever if the United States Army authorities had honoured the obligations they had entered into. In some instances, instead of returning the girls to Australia at the expense of the United States, the American Army officers persuaded the girls, or the girls persuaded the Army Officers, that they should sign agreements releasing the American Army of any obligations to return them to Australia. Yesterday, I answered a question on this subject, and pointed out that two of the girls who had gone to the United States of America were already stranded there, and their parents were asking the Australian Government to pay their passages back, to this country. Another girl is also in unfortunate circumstances, and I have no doubt that the Australian Government will be asked to bear the expense of bringing her back to Australia also. I have taken my stand on a matter of principle. The United States Government, through officials of the American Embassy in Canberra, entered into an agreement with the Australian

Government, and the United States Army authorities have not fulfilled the agreement. I see no reason why I should make it easy, for anybody, particularly the representatives of a great power, to escape the obligations which they entered into with the Government of this country.

Mr ABBOTT:

– I ask the Minister lor Immigration whether the young Australian ladies who are known as the “ Manila girls are minors, or whether they have reached the age of twenty-one years? Is it not a fact that, in attempting to force those ladies to return to Australia and bring them in behind an iron curtain in this country, the Minister is acting in breach of the Declaration of Human Rights the draft of which is now being considered by the Committee on Human Rights of the United Nations General Assembly of which, I understand, the Attorney-General is chairman? Is not the Minister abrogating human rights, in breach of that convention, by preventing persons over the age of 21 years from emigrating freely from their own country to any other country? If so, why is he acting in breach of the draft convention and attempting to take coercive action against the young women?

Mr CALWELL:

– No restrictions are placed upon the rights of any persons in Australia who wish to emigrate. There is in the instance referred to by the honorable member for New England a special situation, which I went to pains to explain in answer to a question asked by the honorable member for Darwin, in which the Government of the United States is involved because of an agreement which it made with the Australian Government. I propose to continue to insist that the -United States Government shall carry out its obligations. The question whether these girls are minors is beside the point, and in any case I am not in a position to give any interesting details about their ages. The human rights convention, with which the honorable member seems to have a passing acquaintance, is also beside the point. We shall deal with the situation which has arisen as the result of an agreement made with the United States Government and, when that situation has been resolved, we shall take up any other questions which the honorable member might like to ask about human rights or anything else. At present, the right of the Australian Government to have an agreement honoured is the only consideration.

Mr RYAN:
FLINDERS, VICTORIA

– Does the Minister for Immigration regard the repatriation of the five Australian girls now in the United States of America as a matter of national importance to Australia? Will he also state why the alleged sins of the American authorities should be visited upon the heads of those girls ?

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER:

– This matter has been taken far enough in questions. The Standing Orders provide that questions must not be based upon other questions asked in the House on the same day. The honorable member’s question has already been answered in a reply to the honorable member for New England.

page 1229

QUESTION

CIVIL AVIATION

Forced Landing of Aircraft “ Kanana

Mr CONELAN:

– Can the Minister for Civil Aviation say whether it is proposed to hold an inquiry into the forced landing of the aircraft Kanana at Bowning this week? Has he seen a report in this morning’s issue of the Sydney Daily Telegraph in which it is stated that an official of Australian National Airways had said that the pilot, Captain A. G. Hubbard, had failed to use an automatic fire extinguisher when the port engine of the plane caught fire? Has the Minister also seen the statement of Captain Hubbard, D.S.O., D.F.C., and former wing-commander in the Royal Australian Air Force, that he did not know whether he would have had time to use the extinguisher, as his first consideration had been the safety of the 27 passengers and the three members of the crew? Seeing that the pilot performed a magnificent feat in bringing the aircraft down without loss of life, or injury to the 27 passengers and three members of the crew, does not the Minister think that the published statement in the newspaper is calculated to prejudice the pilot’s future? Will the Minister ensure that the interests of the pilot will be protected fit an official inquiry if one is held?

Mr DRAKEFORD:
Minister for Air · MARIBYRNONG, VICTORIA · ALP

– I have seen a number of press reports regarding the forced landing of the aircraft Kanana at Bowning, near Yass, and I can understand that people might be confused by reading them. I have not seen the report referred to by the honorable member in his question, wherein it is alleged that an Australian National Airways spokesman had said that the pilot failed to use a fire extinguisher which was at his disposal. I. gather from what I have read and from information furnished directly to me that the captain and crew of the aircraft including the hostess, Miss NorthAsh, did a magnificent job in saving the lives of the passengers; but I am reluctant to express any opinion before I have received full information which will be supplied to me by officers who have gone to the scene of the crash to investigate the accident. That entails a thorough technical investigation, and until I receive their report I cannot offer any opinion. It is wrong for any one to speak in advance in any way that might prejudice the members of the crew of the aircraft or any one associated with the accident. All of us admire the skill with which the plane was landed by the crew under conditions of extreme emergency, and I suggest that any person who rnakes statements of the kind to which the honorable member has referred - and, of course, I cannot stop them - does an injury to persons who may have to give evidence at the official inquiry and may have to offer an opinion as to the cause of the accident.

page 1230

QUESTION

WOOL

Mr DAVIDSON:
CAPRICORNIA, QUEENSLAND

– About three weeks ago I asked the Prime Minister whether he intended to establish a wool-selling centre at Rockhampton and he replied that the matter would be discussed at the meeting of the Cabinet which was held last Tuesday. I have not yet been informed whether the matter was discussed at that meeting, or whether any decision has been arrived at. Oan the right honorable gentleman now supply me with that, information?

Mr Chifley:

– The Minister for Commerce and Agriculture will answer the question.

Mr POLLARD:
ALP

– Cabinet dealt with this matter at its meeting yesterday, and after a full examination of the position decided to defer further action pending the receipt of assurances from wool brokers and buyers that they would use such a centre if it were provided.

page 1230

QUESTION

RATIONING

Butter and Tea

Mr DUTHIE:

– Last week I asked the Minister for the Interior whether he could inform the House of the method by which, the new issue of coupons in respect of the rationing of butter and tea would be made. Is he yet able to supply that information?

Mr JOHNSON:
Minister for the Interior · KALGOORLIE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA · ALP

– Yes. The new coupons in respect of the rationing of butter and tea will be issued throughout Australia by the Commonwealth Electoral Branch on the 27th November.

page 1230

QUESTION

TASMANIAN RAILWAY’S

Mr FALKINDER:
FRANKLIN, TASMANIA

– Almost a year ago I asked the Minister for Labour and National Service a question relating to a dispute between two prominent railway unions in Tasmania and he undertook to give me a full reply at a later date. I have not yet received any reply on the matter. When may I expect to receive it ?

Mr HOLLOWAY:
ALP

– I am sorry if I have overlooked a question asked by the honorable member. So far as I can recall, the dispute to which reference was made is an internal domestic fight between two sections of the one union relating to some trouble that happened in 1917. because no industrial dispute exists between, the Tasmanian Government and its railway employees. I shall look up the honorable member’s question and supply him later with the information he sought.

page 1230

TARIFF BOARD

Annual Report

Mr POLLARD:
ALP

– I lay on the table the following paper: -

Tariff Board Act - Tariff Board - Annual Report for year 1947-48, together with Summary of Recommendations.

The report is accompanied by an annexure which summarizes the recommendations made by the Tariff Board and sets out the action taken in respect of them.

page 1231

QUESTION

NORTHERN TERRITORY

Land Settlement of ex-Servicemen - Works at Alice Springs.

Mr McEWEN:

– I ask the Prime Minister whether it is the policy of the Government to make any provision for the settlement of ex-servicemen in territories under the direct control of the Commonwealth.

Mr Chifley:

– The Minister for Postwar Reconstruction will answer the question.

Mr DEDMAN:
ALP

– The honorable member asked this question yesterday. I refer him to the reply which I gave to him yesterday.

Mr BLAIN:
NORTHERN TERRITORY

– I ask the Minister for the Interior when action will be taken to carry out three important works at Alice Springs for which money has been allocated. The first project is a sewerage scheme, the second is the removal of the cattle yards to another site so that the town may be extended towards the west, and the third is the construction of a causeway across the Todd River to join the two parts of the town. In view of newspaper reports of the last Legislative Council debates indicating that there is very little co-operation between the administration controlled by the Administrator, and the Director of Works in the Northern Territory, and in view of the fact that the Administrator may only requisition for these works and hope for the best, I ask the Minister to give serious and urgent consideration to the appointment of a. committee to control the Northern Territory, with the Administrator as chairman in complete charge, and with senior officers, including the Director of Works, comprising a committee of three or four members, so that we may prevent thisbacking and filling, and the disputes between senior officers in the Northern Territory.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER:

– Order ! A question is designed to elicit information and should not contain comment.

Mr JOHNSON:
KALGOORLIE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA · ALP

– I have no intention of appointing a committee such as the honorable member has suggested. He is perfectly well aware that the shortage of labour and materials is even more acute in the Northern Territory than it is in any other part of the Commonwealth. The works to which ho has referred have been included in the Estimates, and it is expected that the construction of the bridge over Todd River and the sewerage works at Alice Springs will be completed this year. The Minister for Works and Housing has both matters in hand. The projects to be put in hand also include the removal of the cattle yards from the present site to a site selected just outside Alice Springs. I repeat that the completion of those works will depend upon the supply of labour that is available. In the Northern Territory, as in all other centres, essential works will be undertaken before those that are non-essential. I realize that the construction of the bridge over Todd River, and the sewerage works, are urgently needed to meet the requirements of Alice Springs, and I assure the honorable member that it is intended that both works shall be completed this year.

page 1231

QUESTION

ESTIMATES 1948-49

In Committee of Supply: Consideration resumed from the 5th October (vide page 1177).

Department of Works and Housing

Proposed vote, £2,200,000.

Department of Civil Aviation

Proposed vote, £4,568,000.

Department of Trade and Customs

Proposed vote, £1,513,000.

Department of Health

Proposed vote, £477,600.

Department of Commerce and Agriculture

Proposed vote, £846,000. (Ordered to be considered together.)

Mr TURNBULL:
Wimmera

– The committee has now to consider the estimates for the Department of Works and Housing, the Department of Civil

Aviation, the Department of Trade and Customs, the Department of Health and the Department of Commerce and Agriculture. The time allotted for the consideration of the estimated expenditure by these five departments in the financial year 1948-49 is approximately four hours. Under the Standing Orders, an honorable member is allowed to speak for two periods, each not exceeding 30 minutes, on each question before the Chair on the Estimates, and the Minister in charge of a department, the estimates for which are being considered, is allowed to speak for as long as he likes to speak. If what has already occurred is a guide to what will occur, the Ministers who are responsible for these departments will speak for some time. An honorable member opposite interjects to ask why I am wasting time. In the time that is at my disposal, I can only scratch the surface of these estimates, because I desire that other honorable members on this side of the chamber may have an opportunity to express their views.

I can only deal collectively with the departments that are now under consideration. The Australian people must be amazed at the increased appropriations which are proposed. The amounts by which the estimated expenditure for the year 1948-49 exceeds the amount that was actually expended in the year 1947-48 in respect of the departments now under consideration are as follows: -

Talcing the five departments together, the aggregate amount that the committee is now asked to vote exceeds by £1,314,840 the amount that was expended in 1947-48. The Government apparently does not regard that as an excessive increase. It treats millions of pounds very lightly at the present time. We have to consider the record of these departments in order to see what they are now doing, what they did last year, and what they intend to do in future with this large amount of the taxpayers’ money. The Minister for Works and Housing (Mr. Lemmon) has told honorable members of the great plans that his department has for the future. It is not necessary to go very far from Parliament House in Canberra to see what is, in fact, being done. I saw a Department of Information film recently which depicted some of the houses that are now being built on the outskirts of this city and which it said could be the slums of the future. Any honorable member who has taken the trouble to inspect them knows that it is not in the best interests of Australia to build houses of that kind. It is not a progressive move, and a Government that talks of improving the conditions of the people and at the same time allows such houses to be erected is, to say the least, inconsistent. These remarks apply to every city or town in Australia in which the Department of Works and Housing is operating. I have seen some houses in which the bedrooms are so small that if a double bed were put into one of them the occupants would find it difficult to get out of the bed.

In my opinion, Australian civil aviation undertakings are using too much petrol. The quantities that are now allocated to them should be substantially reduced. I remind the committee that the petrol allocations to primary producers have been reduced considerably. Civil aviation in Australia is a luxury, and we cannot afford luxuries that hamper production. The Prime Minister (Mr. Chifley) said that he much regretted the recent reduction of petrol supplies for civil aviation purposes. But why should he regret that? Why should he not be prepared to make a further substantial cut to enable those members of the community who are engaged in essential primary production to get on. with their job unhampered by a state of affairs which generally is attributed to the dollar shortage? The proposed vote for the Department of Commerce and Agriculture is £38,385 more than was expended during the last financial year. I invite the Minister to tell us, without occupying too much time and so precluding other members from speaking, some thing about his plans for increasing primary production. If there is any instrumentality in this country which can improve the breed of stock and increase primary production generally, it is the Department of Commerce and Agriculture. I find, however, that only £5,000 is being allocated for the assistance of importers of pedigreed stock. This activity is vital if our flocks and herds are to be maintained at the highest possible standard. Overseas trade publicity is to cost only £21,000 but I find that the sum of £1,500,000 is being provided to finance the New Zealand Wheat Agreement.

Mr Pollard:

– The wheat-growers are getting their full payments.

Mr TURNBULL:

– As the Minister points out, the New Zealand Wheat Agreement is not costing the wheatgrowers anything. They are paid the full value of their products; but the expenditure provided for in the budget has to be met by the taxpayers of Australia, and it is on their .behalf that I am offering my present criticisms.

The increased expenditure of approximately £190,000 by the Department of Health may be quite justified. Let us hope that it is. If it will mean a corresponding improvement in the health of the Australian people there will be no complaint about it from this side of the committee. However, I wish to bring to the notice of the Minister for Labour and National Service (Mr. Holloway), who represents the Minister for Health in this chamber, the plight of a young man in my electorate who was a “ blue baby “. He is now eighteen years of age, hut, if he is to live, he requires an urgent operation. In view of the social services contribution that is levied upon members of this community, I should like to know what the Government is doing with cases of this kind. Is there any means by which this man may have his operation without appealing to charity? After all the Government’s talk of what it is doing to assist the people of this country, are urgent cases of this kind still to be dependent upon charity? If the Minister will reply to this inquiry he will be doing a service not only to me but to many people throughout Australia. I believe that any member of this community who requires urgent medical attention should have it.

I wish to deal mainly with the Department of Commerce and Agriculture and specifically with the wheat industry. Unfortunately, questions asked in this chamber about that industry and about other matters coming within the province of this department seem, to annoy the Minister. Occasionally we get a satisfactory answer, but very often we do not. However, outside the House, the Minister is a different man, and always extends the utmost courtesy to members of the Parliament. I remind the Government that the present economic stability of Australia is founded largely upon the wheat industry. To prove that statement. I shall cite some figures. I shall take the No. 10 pool which, generally speaking, covers wheat operations from the 1st December, 1946, to the 30th November, 1947. That is the only complete period in the immediate past for which figures are available. In that season, the Australian wheat crop was 117,262,000 bushels of which approximately 98,506,000 bushels was actually received by the Australian Wheat Board. The rest was kept for seed and for other purposes. Of the wheat that went into the No. 10 pool, the quantity sold in Australia for home consumption, including the making of flour and breakfast foods, was 34,922,000 bushels. This was sold at an average price of approximately 4s. lid. a bushel f.o.r. ports. The quantity sold for stock feed was 22,235,000 bushels, and the average price was again approximately 4s. lid. a bushel f.o.r. ports. It is reasonable to say, taking Victoria as a criterion because my electorate is in that State, that freight to the seaboard averaged 4 1/2d. a bushel. The cost of administration may he placed at approximately the same figure, making a total of 9d. to be subtracted from the 4s. lid. a bushel, leaving 4s. 2d. a bushel. The total quantity of wheat sold in this country was 57,157,000 bushels which is far more than half of the quantity held in No. 10 pool. The point I wish to make is that the average price of wheat overseas during the period of that pool was 15s. 8d. a bushel, of which 2s. 2d. a bushel waa retained for stabilization purposes and will, as the Minister has said, be repaid later. Taking the difference between 4s. lid. a bushel at ports, and 15s. 8d. a bushel at ports at 10s. in round figures, and the total homeconsumption sales at 57,157,000 bushels, the wheat-grower contributed to the national economy approximately £28,578,500 in respect of No. 10 pool alone. Has any other Australian industry made such a valuable contribution? On top of that, of course, the income of wheat-growers was taxed. In my electorate some wheatgrowers were paying 10s. in the £1 income tax. This meant that if they harvested eight bags to the acre at £1 a bag, they paid £4 an acre to the Government exclusive of indirect taxation Is it any wonder that I had to ask the Minister only yesterday when the price of wheat for home consumption would be increased? The Minister has said definitely that the Government will stand by the index figure that has been fixed. In Australia it would appear that the days of very low prices for wheat are past, although nobody expects overseas prices to remain at their present high level. It is probable, however, that for many years to come the cost of wheat production in Australia will be at least twice as much as it was ten or fifteen years ago although the home consumption price has advanced by only ls. Id. a bushel. Wheat-growers are contributing to the Australian economy vast amounts of money as I have clearly shown by my reference to No. 10 pool. Let us examine what the Government is doing for the wheat-growers, and what it should do if it took a long-range view. The Minister for Immigration often tells honorable members that Australia must increase its population and that it must admit millions of migrants to this country. There is only a certain area of Australia that is suitable for wheatgrowing. It should be our desire to foster the wheat-growing industry and not to take such large sums of money from the wheat-grower. The wheat-grower is heavily taxed but obtains very little from the Government in return. The Government’s attitude to the wheatgrower might be summed up in these words : “ Prices are high overseas. You are receiving some recompense for many years of drought and low world prices. We intend to bleed you white “.

The Government should do more for the growers of this great product than it. does now. There is too much Australian wheat being sold at concessional rates. 1 do not object very strongly to such sales for human consumption but one must consider first, the vast quantity of breakfast foods on the market; secondly, the cost of wheat for human consumption in Australia which is at least 10s. a bushel less than the average export price for No. 10 pool wheat, and thirdly, the fact that every loaf of bread, biscuit and cake bought or made by Australian housewives is made from wheat that was bought at that lower price I think my point has been thoroughly subsantiated. It is only by considering these aspects that honorable members can even start to realize the contribution that the wheat-growers, are making to stabilize the economy of this country. When a drought occurs, similar to that now occurring in north Wimmera in my electorate and, according to the honorable member for Grey, to the one now occurring in South Australia, what does the Government do for the drought-stricken wheatgrower? If he is lucky it gives him 12s. an acre.

Mr LANGTRY:
RIVERINA, NEW SOUTH WALES

– Previous governments gave only 2 s.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN.Order !

Mr TURNBULL:

– The honorable member for Riverina may interject as much as he likes, but the fact remains that the wheat-grower receives only 12s. an acre in the circumstances T have mentioned.

Mr Langtry:

– I have never made any such statement. The fact that the money is now to be paid to the growers indicates that circumstances have changed as the stabilization funds have become substantially stronger, and that the Government does not desire to withhold from the primary producers money which they have contributed to those funds. That is a fair proposition. Under the plan -

The Commonwealth agrees that it will not hold an excessive amount in the fund, and it will consider a refund of tax to the oldest contributing pool whenever the financial prospects of the fund justify it. The State Ministers agree-

Those Ministers were representative of every political party - to recommend to their governments the passage of legislation necessary to ensure -

The home consumption price equal to the guaranteed price.
1. The authorizing of an approved organization to receive from wheatgrowers all wheat voluntarily delivered for sale as part of an Australian pool.
That legislative authority exists in each State to empower the direction of wheat by the Australian Wheat Board at any time to an approved organization as defined in proposal (4) above. (<2) The regulation of wheat-growing on marginal areas which have been reconstructed under the plans approved for the elimination of uneconomic wheat areas, and the establishment of a committee to advise in cases where action to regulate wheat-growing on marginal areas is necessary.

Some misunderstanding has arisen with respect to the growing of wheat in marginal areas. It is well known that under the reconstruction plans of some States farmers are allowed to grow wheat in order to enable them to rotate their crops for the more efficient conduct of their farms. Farmers are allowed to market the limited quantity of wheat grown under those conditions, but in the main such wheat is used for stock fodder or to build up fodder reserves. That position will not be substantially altered under this plan. The conference also agreed - subject to acceptance by the respective State governments -

That States, where they desire to do so, will constitute State wheat boards composed of a majority of growers’ representatives elected by a ballot conducted by the State.
That each State board will nominate growers’ representatives who are growers to the central authority in accordance with the present grower representation on the Australian Wheat Board.
That it will be optional for any State board to act either in an advisory or an administrative capacity as decided by the State concerned.
Where a State government does not desire to create a State wheat board, the machinery of the central authority, i.e., the Australia Wheat Board, is to function.
Where no State board is created, growers’ representatives to the Australian Wheat Board will be elected by a ballot of growers conducted by the State.

– With respect to the ultimate control of wheat, I have said over and over again, but I deem it wise once more to repeat, that-

Motion (by Mr. Bernard Corser) put -

That the Minister for Commerce and Agriculture (Mr. Pollard) be not further heard.

The committee divided. (The Temporary Chairman - Mr. T. Sheehan.)

AYES: 23

NOES: 31

Majority 8

AYES

NOES

Question so resolved in the negative.

Mr WHITE:
Balaclava

.- Less than two hours remain for honorable, members to express their views on the proposed votes for five important departments, namely, the Department of Worlds and Housing, the Department of Civil Aviation, the Department of Trade and Customs, the Department of Hearth and the Department of Commerce and Agriculture. For nearly an hour the Minister for Commerce and Agriculture (Mr. Pollard), acting contrary to all parliamentary ethics, indulged in a rambling discourse on the stabilization of the wheat industry and other subjects. I could say a good deal about the Department of Trade and Customs, which, 1 consider, has incurred wasteful expenditure. Approximately 40 persons were appointed to the Australian delegation to attend the International Conference on Tariffs and Trade at Geneva, and another large delegation subsequently attended a trade conference at Havana. Their only achievement has been to knock away the props which, in the past, have supported imperial trade. When the House is considering the International Trade Organization Bill, I shall deal with that subject, because I believe that those people in Australia who believe in fostering our secondary industries have been betrayed. The established policy of protection will be destroyed, and, in fact, imperial preference will be ultimately abandoned. Had I sufficient time at my disposal I should also refer to the retention of primage duties. The prices of many imported goods are much too dear because of excessive primage duties, which were originally imposed purely for revenue purposes. I could also speak at some length on the admittance of goods under customs by-law. Duties have been imposed for protective purposes on the importation of many classes of goods, but many of those articles are not being produced in this country in sufficient quantities to meet the local demand. We urgently require from overseas Oregon and other timber for building purposes, but the Government has refused to permit such timber to be admitted under by-law. The Government has also ignored the Tariff Board. The law provides that the Government shall consult the Tariff Board before making any variations of duties, yet, so far as I am aware, it is prepared to adopt the proposals of the International Trade Organization, without having obtained the views of the board. However, I shall deal with those matters more extensively when we are considering the International Trade Organization Bill.

The proposed vote for the Department of Civil Aviation has been increased for this financial year by more than £700,000. This department has done and can continue to do a great deal to develop aviation in Australia.

Sitting suspended from 18.45 to 2.15 p.m.

Mr WHITE:

– Before the suspension of the sitting I was dealing with the proposed vote for the Department of Civil Aviation. The Government is seeking a complete monopoly in civil aviation. It intends to remove all competition, as it sought to do with regard to the banks. When the High Court was asked, to rule whether the legislation to nationalize civil aviation in Australia was in accordance with the Constitution, the Government was told that it could run an airline in competition with private airlines. It is now competing with private airways operators in various ways and, I submit, in many unfair ways. I propose to confine my remarks to that subject, because time is short and other honorable members want to talk on other matters. Yesterday, the Minister for Civil Aviation (Mr. Drakeford), presented an illuminating document to the Parliament. It is the report of the Australian National Airlines Commission for 1947-4S, and it is appropriate that we should have it in our hands at this moment. Paragraph 12 of the document reads as follows: -

Trans-Australia Airlines objective is to provide a service of national importance sustained by its own earnings-

That is a little ironic. The paragraph proceeds -

The Commission feels that it is well on its way towards the achievement of this purpose.

Although Australian National Airlines Commission has had £3,670,000 advanced to it, Trans-Australia Airlines incurred a loss, according to the report to to which I have referred, of £296,801. During the preceding ten months it incurred a loss of £505.927. It is useless to rail against the Government’s policy. We know that Australia is a Socialist Government and that it is out to nationalize everything. It was thwarted by the High Court in what it sought to do with regard to civil a viation. If it indulges in socialistic enterprises, it should at least try to ensure that they pay their way. Under private enterprise, which is sometimes sneeringly referred to as capitalism, it is the shareholders in a concern who have to bear the losses, hut if an enterprise run by the Government incurs a loss it has to be made good by the imposition of taxes on the whole of the people. There are hundreds of thousands of people in Australia who do not make use of the services that are provided by Trans-Australia Airlines, but nevertheless that undertaking is financed by money that is taken from the pockets of the people in the form of taxes. The money is squandered in an orgy of socialistic extravagance when it could be used for a better purpose. The Estimates for other departments are how before the committee, and it will not be out of place if I say that restrictions’ are imposed upon the importation of many articles into Australia. The Prime Minister (Mr.

Chifley) knows that the deaf people and their associations have been in constant communication with him concerning the provision of efficient deaf aids and articles used in the manufacture of batteries which are on the list of forbidden imports from dollar areas. Because the Government is determined to conduct a nationalized air service, it is not only prepared to lose £700,000 in operating costs during the last two years and advance enormous sums to it, hut it is also prepared to use valuable dollars to buy aircraft for the service, and at the same time to frustrate private companies which also wish to purchase aircraft. By means of questions addressed to the Minister for Air 1 extracted the information that approximately 2,500,000 dollars was expended upon the purchase of Convair airliner.* for Trans-Australia Airlines. I do not propose to criticize the Convair aircraft. In these days all aircraft are good, and some are better than others. When an aircraft is said to be designed to carry 40 passengers, I expect to see four engines in it instead of two, but that is a matter of taste. In addition to buying Convair airliners, the Government has spent, approximately 1,000,000 dollars upon the purchase of spare parts and has sent a number of engineers to America in order to learn how to service the aeroplanes. A private business enterprise would have arranged for one or two engineers to come to Australia with the aircraft and to instrucother engineers here. In that prodigal way the Government has played with the money of the taxpayers, and I submit that it has not acted fairly to them.

I do not propose to indulge in criticism of the Minister, who resents any criticism of his department, but I do criticize this extravagance and wastefulness. I have no interest in aviation except that I was a pioneer of it and desire to see it prosper in Australia. One’s remarks are sometimes twisted by people who wish to misrepresent, but I desire to pay a tribute to the air crews of Trans-Australia Airlines. They are the same kind of men as those who operate the private airlines. They are chosen from the excellent young men who were trained under the Empire Air Training Scheme, and by the aero clubs and other organizations. I know many of them personally. I say that the standard of operations in Australia is good, in spite of occasional disasters. This Government, however, in the running of this government enterprise, has resorted to unfair tactics in order to put other operators out of existence. The proposed vote for the Department of Civil Aviation is now £4,568,000, or £719,000 in excess of the department’s actual expenditure in 1947-48. This department had ii good record in regulating aviation and in helping it in many ways, but it is now being used by the Government as an instrument to harass the private companies. There are some officials who have positions with the National Airlines Commission and also in the regulating department, which sees all the secrets of the private companies. The appointment of the chairman of the commission, Mr. Coles, was a political appointment. Mr. Coles, the former member for Henty, crossed to the Labour side of the House at a critical time and his services were rewarded by his appointment as chairman of the National Airlines Commission at a salary of £8,500 a year and expenses. The deputy chairman of the commission is also a Labour appointee, representing the Sydney Trades Hall. Those two persons were not concerned with aviation at the time they were appointed to their present positions, although they may have learned a great deal about it by now. [ submit that the Government could have done better than that and prevented the waste of large sums of money.

E say deliberately that the Government has been guilty of unfair practices. There are some gems in the report from which I have already quoted that should not be overlooked by honorable members. 1. have already referred to the passage which sets out the objectives of TransAustralia Airlines and to its losses. Paragraph 19 of the report reads as follows : -

On the 1st November, 1947, T.A.A. made its entry into the Northern Territory when, as successor to Guinea Airways Limited, whose goodwill was purchased, it took over the operation of the thrice-weekly DC3 service from Adelaide to Darwin-

All the world knows that Trans-Australia Airlines forced Guinea Airways Limited out of existence. Guinea Airways Limited is the company which opened up the New Guinea gold-fields and initiated a service between the north and south coasts of Australia. It has been eliminated by the government airline, which is supported, by all the financial resources of the nation. The company threatened to take some action against the Government. I do not know the details, but I do know that a sum of money was paid and that Guinea Airways Limited does not now function on this route. The report states that the goodwill of the company was putchased, and I propose to leave it at that, although I point out that that is the way in which a private trust or a monopoly forces the little man out of existence. Do members of the Labour party believe in that policy? They say that they are opposed to monopolies, and so am I. I do not believe in monopolies in private enterprise, but I consider that a government monopoly is worse. Australian National Airways Proprietary Limited is often attacked as being a monopolistic company. It is a large company that has absorbed others, but there are at least seventeen or eighteen other private airways companies operating in Australia to-day. In addition, the Government can exercise control over private companies through the medium of their charters.

I propose to show what the Government is doing in connexion with a small airways company that is operating in Queensland. The honorable member for Capricornia (Mr. Davidson) has referred to this case before, and I now propose to give more details about it. There has been criticism in the Queensland press of the fact that, on the service from Townsville to Mount Isa, aircraft operated by Trans-Australia Airlines and Townsville and Country Airways Proprietary Limited take off on certain days within five minutes of each other, and that there are no air services between those points for some days afterwards. A correspondent has written to me directing my attention to certain letters that have appeared in the Queensland press. His letter reads -

I am enclosing for your information two cuttings from the Townsville paper which I think apeak for themselves.

In particular, I would say that we entirely agree with the absurdity of these planes going through on the same day, leaving the other days blank of air services.

The letter of Mr. Montgomery makes it perfectly plain how this has occurred and does reveal the outrageous tactics adopted by T.A.A. in their attempt to crush this little organization of returned airmen who committed no crime except to use their rehabilitation moneys for the purpose of establishing a good little airline and carrying an air service to quarters where it was badly needed.

When this strange anomaly of aircraft taking off within five minutes of each other from a certain Queensland airfield occurred, the manager of this company wrote the following letter: -

After our pioneering the route at great expense, we, returned airmen, were disillusioned when the Government-owned T.A.A. extended its services to incorporate our route apparently hoping to reap the harvest of our labour and decided to run their services on the same day as ours but to leave Townsville five minutes before our scheduled time and the reason does not leave much to the imagination.

Would such a practice be regarded as ethical in the business world? I imagine that no private company would behave in that way towards a rival organization, but the Government, in its desire to crush all opposition, is prepared to go to any lengths. This company is operated by ex-servicemen who served in the Royal Australian Air Force during’ the war. They began the service with Anson aircraft, exhibiting the proper pioneer spirit that has made aviation in Australia what it is to-day. Subsequently, they purchased a Douglas aircraft to expand their service, but soon ‘ afterwards Trans- Australia Airlines came into the field. The letter continues -

Further than the Douglas service T.A.C.A. provides an Anson service outwards on Wednesdays and return on Thursdays each week and this service has been in operation for two months. My company at all times is anxious to co-operate with the western folk who have patronized our airways so loyally, and kept us in the air, and is prepared to increase the service according to the demand, which could only be done by Anson aircraft, this in turn being governed by petrol allocation.

I do not wish to be unf air to the Minister, but I do not think that he has explained adequately in this chamber why this particular field was invaded by Trans-Australia Airlines in an attempt to defeat private enterprise.

I come now to the petrol allocation. Nearly a year ago, when civil aviation matters were being discussed in this chamber, I said that I believed that the Minister had had a conference with the airline operators on the allocation of petrol with a view to reducing consumption. Incidentally, at that time I also drew attention to the fact that, the Minister was using an aircraft to travel to and from Canberra, a practice which, I am glad to say, he has abandoned. The Minister denied that any arrangement had been made in regard to the allocation of petrol, and I had to accept his assurance on that point. A Minister has the advantage of being able to turn to his departmental officials for a statement on any matter that is raised in this chamber, and members of the Opposition must accept such statements. We hear rumours and we submit them to the Minister with whatever authority they may have. On that occasion I said that I understood that some conference had been held on the question of petrol, and if my recollection is correct, the Minister gave a flat denial; but let me quote from the current issue of Aircraft, the Melbourne aviation journal on this matter. It says - . when the first warning was issued by the Department of Civil Aviation that petrol conservation was to be an overriding consideration in service expansions, it was realized that a peg would have to be applied to progress. Now that peg has been applied. By Cabinet decision, it has been decided that unsubsidized scheduled services are to be restricted to a monthly quota 5 per cent, less than their usage at July 1, 1948; that subsidized services are restricted to their usage at that date; and that contract operators, aero clubs, and similar purposes are to bc pegged at a usage rate 10 per cent, less than at that date. For this purpose, the department defines a subsidized service as one for which a payment is made by the Government over and above any contract for the carriage of mail. The result, as we forecast when restrictions were mooted, is that expansion of air transport, one of the most vital features of Australia’s post-war development, will come to an abrupt halt. Depending on how the decision is implemented, it may mean that some services will be cut altogether, but nearly all will have to be trimmed. A ruthless attitude by the Department of Civil Aviation may have the effect of doubling the force of the blow on such an airline as A..N.A. In response to earlier appeals, A.N.A. voluntarily introduced cuts in services which yielded an 8 per cent, saving in fuel consumption. Those cuts became operative on June 28 - three days before the date set by the Government as the basis for a compulsory cut of 5 per cent. As a further conservation move, A.N.A. had run inter-capital freighter services on an unscheduled basis, holding aircraft until they were packed with freight, rather than send them oil’ at a fixed time with a partial load. While dollars remain the yardstick by which development of aviation in the Commonwealth is to he measured, it is obvious that some peg is necessary, but the pegging must be equitable to all operating companies.

According to the report of the Australian National Airlines Commission, TransAustralia Airlines has expanded its services considerably in the last six months ; yet that is the period during which the “ stand still “ policy was supposed to operate. I believe that it was in thatperiod also that Trans-Australia Airlines duplicated the Queensland service to which I have referred. Apparently, although a brake was placed upon private enterprise, Trans-Australia Airlines was permitted to offer full blast competition.

I come now to air-mail subsidies. After Trans-Australia Airlines had made the colossal loss of £500,000 in ten months, the method of subsidizing air mails was altered. The subsidy paid to the private companies for the carriage of mails was 025d. per lb. mile, and apparently this was regarded as an adequate remuneration; but when it was found that TransAustralia Airlines could not pay its way on that basis, it was decided that a payment of approximately £325,000 should be made by the Postal Department to TransAustralia Airlines for the carriage of mails. This information was elicited in answers to questions asked in this chamber. There is a reference to the matter in the report of the Australian National Airlines Commission. On page 4 of that document the following statement appears : -

Payment for mail carriage is made in a lump sum fixed annually in the light of the services, frequencies and capacity available. Under this arrangement, Trans-Australia Airlines has accepted not only the mails regularly transmitted by air but also special and additional consignments tendered by the Postmaster-General’s Department during periods of interruption of normal transport facilities and in other circumstances of special emergency.

Apparently Trans-Australia Airlines is so unsound financially that it cannot continue the practice established by private enterprise of carrying mails on a poundage basis, and to make its accounts look a little better, the lump sum subsidy system has been reverted to although it is being discarded everywhere.

There is much more one could say in connexion with the four departments now under discussion, but the Government is insisting that the votes, totalling more than £10,000,000, shall be approved in a few minutes. The Minister who spoke before me occupied fifty minutes with a rambling speech which could have been delivered in much less time. I hope that the Minister for Civil Aviation will not speak at length. If Ministers must speak, let them reply tersely and to the point. The Government is pouring out in socialistic ventures money which has been wrung from the taxpayers of this country, and these ventures should all be examined. We realize that that is the Government’s policy. It intends to nationalize everything that it can lay its hands on. We know that the Minister for Civil Aviation was a signatory to the infamous 1921 Labour declaration that the party intended to nationalize the means of production, distribution and exchange. That policy was copied from Russia, and its presence in the Labour party’s platform has defamed the Labour movement. I hope that soon it will be excised from Labour’s policy, and that the Labour party will, in its objective, come closer to the name by which it is known. Nationalization has been attempted in the aviation industry which is vital to this country’s development. The industry has been pioneered by outstanding Australian airmen who have been in no way beholden to the Government for their success. I remind the Government, too, that had British aircraft of the Viking type been purchased instead of the Convairs now being delivered from America for Trans-Australia Airlines, the saving to this country would have been substantial. Great Britain would have benefited from the purchase, and our dollar shortage would have been eased. The Government was unwisely advised to purchase Convairs and has dissipated the taxpayers’ money on this venture. It is mot at all surprising that Trans-Australia

Airlines is running at a loss. The Government should examine the position again and endeavour to find a better basis so that less public money will be wasted.

Mr DRAKEFORD:
MaribyrnongMinister for Air .and Minister for Civil Aviation · ALP

– The honorable member for Balaclava (Mr. White) always commences any speech he makes in this chamber by criticizing a Minister. I do not resent constructive criticism from any source, but if the criticism is carping, as was that of the honorable member, I do resent it and obviously must reply to it, probably in the same spirit. When criticisms have already been shown to be on fallacious grounds they must he refuted. The honorable member has said that the Government’s policy is to nationalize everything. He ignores entirely what the Prime Minister (Mr. Chifley) has repeatedly stated in this Parliament, that the programme of the Labour party is to nationalize enterprises essential to the conduct of public utilities. Surely airlines constitute such an enterprise. Honorable members overlook what is happening in many countries of the world. The last time I addressed the House on this subject I said that nationalization of airlines was being undertaken in Britain and France, and that Norway, Sweden and Denmark had agreed jointly to operate government airlines. There are many other government airlines operating in other parts of the world, including Trans-Canada Airlines in Canada. That particular airline has been operating for a longer period than Australia’s nationalized airline, and with some success. Honorable members opposite have suggested that government airlines are bound to lose and are run in a manner which is not in the best interests of the community while private air-lines invariably make profits. They have failed to inform themselves on how private airlines have been operating since the inception of civil aviation in this country. The honorable member for Balaclava referred to the fact that a mail subsidy of 325,000 was being paid to TransAustralia Airlines, and appeared to imply that such subsidies were paid to government airlines only. There is a nongovernment airline operating to Australia at the present time which is said to be subsidized by mail payments of more than a dollar a mile for the round trip at a cost of £6,000 twice weekly while the British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines service to America receives no subsidy other than actual payment on a poundage basis for the mail which it carries. By subsidizing Trans- Australia Airlines for the carriage of mail the Government is placing that airline in a position to carry His Majesty’s mails, and 1 believe that that is the proper thing for the Government to do. Trans-Australia Airlines is under contract to carry any mail offered, and during the Queensland rail strike which lasted for a period of nine weeks, it carried all mail to and from that State. Similarly, during a period when the Bass Strait steamship service was not operating, TransAustralia Airlines carried all mail to and from Tasmania, and not only first-class mail. Its contract provides that it shall do so.

– American railways have lost heavily, too. I shall quote figures from an authoritative source, the

– Ansett Airways Limited lost about £11,000 on airlines, but recouped itself by its operation of pioneer coaches and hotels, where the tariff is unrestricted. It is not possible for me to say what Australian National Airways Proprietary Limited lost, because that company does not publish any figures, as it is a proprietary company. Honorable members opposite have in the past attempted from time to time to obtain figures relative to the operation of Trans-Australia Airlines. In doing so they are only attempting to gain ammunition to furnish competitors with some ground of criticism against’ Trans- Australia Airlines. As Minister for Civil Aviation I am thoroughly satisfied with the efforts of Trans-Australia Airlines to operate a good service. There is no better service operating anywhere and I believe even honorable members opposite will admit that freely.

I shall cite some additional figures in respect of American Airlines, which is probably the biggest domestic airline operator in the United States of America. Between January and June of this year it lost 4,457,287 dollars as against an operating loss of 3,279,822 dollars in the same period last year.

Mr Spender:

– How long has that airline been carrying on at a loss?

Mr DRAKEFORD:

– It has been carrying on at a loss for some years, although during the war, in common with airlines everywhere, it benefited from the density of traffic. Now that the Government is engaging in competition with the private airlines, it is revealed that fourteen of the sixteen major airlines are losing money year by year. However, I hope that they will not continue to do so. The losses incurred by British Government airlines have also been considerable. However, I want to be quite fair, and I must point out that when Imperial Airways Limited were operating airlines in the United Kingdom, that company incurred heavy losses for the share of the passenger traffic which it carried, and a subsidy had to be paid by the Government. Of course, honorable members opposite do not object to the payment of considerable subsidies to private concerns which incur losses, but when a government-operated concern loses money subsidies are a dreadful thing. The fact that Imperial Airways Limited and British Overseas Airways Corporation lost heavily is undeniable, but the loss is justified because those airlines had to keep the British flag flying over the international air routes. Nevertheless, I hope that before long I shall be able to announce that, the London-Sydney air service is paying its way. But when I am able to make such an announcement no praise will be forthcoming from members of the Opposition because the Government happens to own that service. Eastern Airlines lost 3,749,000 dollars, which was a greater loss proportionately than it incurred during the previous year, because whilst the total annual loss decreased from 16,000,000 dollars to approximately 12,000,000 dollars, only two . of the large companies which were operating domestic airlines under the aegis of private enterprise made a profit, and the profits earned by those two companies were used to offset the loss of the whole of the United States of America. So much for the argument that private enterprises invariably operate at a profit whilst government concerns must necessarily lose money.

Reference was made by the honorable member for Balaclava to the appointment of Mr. Coles to the Australian National Airlines Commission. -The reference was a most unfair one, and the results of the commission’s operations contain ample refutation of the criticism. However, if I did not answer the criticism I would be twitted by the honorable member for Henty (Mr. Gullett), who interjected., with not being able to reply to it. Mr. Coles’s highly successful commercial career proves that he is a most capable business man, and his appointment to the commission was a wise one. Another member of the board, Mr. Taylor, has been criticized on the ground that his appointment was made for political reasons. However, Mr. Taylor is a successful practising solicitor and is highly thought of by those who have come in contact with him. Criticism of the appointment of the other members of the board is also unwarranted, because it is obviously desirable that both the Treasury and the Department of Civil Aviation should be represented on the board. A good augury for the future of TransAustralia Airlines is the increasing number of passengers carried by the airline in the last six months. That increase proves conclusively that there is a growing demand for air travel and that people are realizing the value of the government airline.

The honorable member for Balaclava alleged that the Government was crushing a small company in Queensland. The facts are that for a considerable time negotiations were conducted between the Australian National Airlines Commission and the Queensland Government to operate a service in that State. It was never intended that the service should be operated profitably. Intra-state services in Queensland had previously been operated - by Qantas Limited, and those services have now been taken over by Trans-Australia Airlines. The act formerly provided that one month’s notice had to be given before a new airline could be commenced, and the requisite notice was duly given by the .commission. However, two or three days before TransAustralia Airlines was about to commence a service to Cloncurry, Australian National Airways Proprietary Limited offered to provide a Douglas aircraft, because the small company which was then operating could not do so. The Government has no desire to crush competition or to harm any one engaged in civil aviation. I remind honorable members that many of them have repeatedly approached me with requests that better aerial services be provided for remote parts of the country. It cannot be denied that the Government has always considered such requests sympathetically, and that it has paid to private airlines large sums in subsidies to provide such services. The Government’s policy generally. is to promote the development of civil aviation throughout Australia, and in order to do so it is necessary to provide additional facilities, which entail the expenditure of increased amounts of public money. Criticism was directed at the Government recently on the ground that sufficient radar equipment and other navigational aids were not provided by the Department of Civil Aviation. However, some time ago the -Government formulated a programme to improve facilities and completion of that programme will involve the expenditure of £5,000,000. Completion of the programme will place us in the forefront of international aviation. At present only one country has better safety and navigational devices than Australia, and that country, the United States of America, is, of course, the wealthiest in the world.

Mr White:

– No one criticized the expenditure of money to improve flying facilities.

Mr DRAKEFORD:

– It should be borne in mind that most of the increased expenditure provided in the Estimates for the Department of Civil Aviation is for capital expenditure. I did not intend to mention that fact, but since the honorable member for Balaclava raised the matter I think I should emphasize that. At the end of the recent war the total staff employed in the Department of Civil Aviation was only approximately 700. To-day the number has increased to 2,700. During the war the staff of the department had to be restricted because men were not available. The air force had established navigational aids in various parts of Australia, and those installations had to be taken over by the department after the war. Does any honorable member suggest that an increase of the staff of the Department of Civil Aviation for that purpose was not necessary? I am convinced that the staff of that department is doing as good a job as the staff of any similar organization in any other country. One has only to meet people engaged in civil aviation in other parts of the world to realize that Australia is recognized as a very progressive power in aviation, and as long as I am Minister for Civil Aviation I shall endeavour to maintain and to promote our reputation.

The honorable member for Balaclava was good enough to say that in criticizing the Government’s policy he was not criticizing me personally, but he went on to say that I always resent criticism. That is a foolish statement, because I do not resent sound criticism of the department or of the Government’s policy in regard to civil aviation. I desire to emphasize that because I feel that the remarks of the honorable member might have created in the minds of people who heard them the impression . that the Government is not desirous of obtaining the assistance of those who are qualified to advise and assist us in matters of civil aviation.

I propose to say something now with regard to the Convair aircraft which were purchased recently by the Australian National Airlines Commission. For months a campaign of criticism was waged to the effect that the aircraft were not suited to Australian conditions and that their purchase, particularly at the present time, was a waste of money. That criticism has been completely refuted by the performances of the aircraft which has arrived in Australia. The honorable member for Swan (Mr. Hamilton) was one of the first to criticize the purchase of Convair aircraft. He accepted an article in Smith’s Weekly, which is one of the most unreliable newspapers in this country, as being true, and he based his criticism on it.

I know that honorable members opposite are disturbed because I have refuted so completely the criticisms which they have been making for so long. They are particularly incensed, of course, at my exposure of the falsity of the criticism which they directed at the purchase of aircraft for Trans-Australia Airlines. Those aircraft were purchased by the Government for the service of the people of Australia.

Mr Turnbull:

– The Minister will not deny that their purchase entailed the expenditure of a very large sum of dollars ?

Mr DRAKEFORD:

– The dollars were provided before financial restrictions were imposed in Australia. The contract for the purchase of the aircraft had been made previously, and, in any event, the present Government does not repudiate its contracts. It might interest honorable members to know that although the Convair aircraft have only two engines, it has been proved again and again that they can fly a full load quite satisfactorily on only one engine. Furthermore, although the critics of the Government alleged that their range was restricted to only 800 miles, it has been demonstrated that the range is as great as 1,300 or 1,400 miles. Indeed, the first hop flown by the Convair aircraft which arrived recently was 1,250 miles. The aircraft was loaded to within 100 lb. of its “ all-up “ weight.

Mr White:

– What was the total cost of the purchase of the aircraft?

Mr DRAKEFORD:

– With spare parts and everything thrown in, the five aircraft cost less than £500,000, or approximately £91,000 for each aircraft. A lot of foolish assertions have been made and misleading statistics have been quoted to discredit the performance of the Convair aircraft, but the performance of the first of those aircraft to arrive in Australia has already dispelled much of that criticism. I have no doubt that when the aircraft are taken into operation they will increase the number of passengers carried by Trans-Australia Airlines in a way that will alarm some of the champions of private enterprise. I do not intend to revert to the appointments of Mr. Coles and Mr. Taylor except to say that I am thankful to have the services of such men on the Australian National Airlines Commission. - Nothing outrageous was done in connexion with the commencement of the Queensland service to which the honorable member for Balaclava referred. It was commenced by arrangement with the Queensland Government, which was the only State government willing to co-operate with the Australian Government. Most of the State governments, not necessarily antiLabour governments, did not want the Commonwealth to enter the field. We are going on with that contract. We do not expect to make a profit from the service. Indeed, it will have to be subsidized for a while. But had we not commenced to operate it even the small company formerly providing the service - I believe it is called Inland Air Service Proprietary Limited - would probably have been the victim of Australian National Airways Proprietary Limited, just as were each of the eight or nine companies which were swallowed up by Australian National Airways Proprietary Limited before this Government decided to commence a government airline. If the honorable member for Balaclava is opposed to monopolies he should be opposed to expansion of that kind by Australian National Airways Proprietary Limited. No one has ever heard me decry the efficiency of Australian National Airways Proprietary Limited, or take advantage of anything that might have happened in its operations. I realize that in air operations anything may happen at any time. People who boast about the safety of this or that airline may find their boasts shattered at a moment’s notice. All that we can say is that in Australia generally, air operations have been on a basis that should give the people confidence in air transport. The proportion of air accidents- in Australia is very small indeed, by comparison with air accidents in other countries. I deplore the tendency to give extensive press publicity to air -accidents and to minimize road and railway accidents in which, comparatively, the loss of life over a number of years has been fairly considerable.

The honorable member referred to what he described as the harassing tactics of the Department of Civil Aviation, but he cited no instance to justify his statement except that certain petrol restrictions had been imposed on the operating companies.

Mr White:

– If I had the time to do so I could give the Minister many instances.

Mr DRAKEFORD:

– Undoubtedly the honorable member did not want to take up too much of the limited time at our disposal. Neither have I any desire to do so. The honorable member produced no evidence to sustain his charge. He simply wants it to be thought by the people that the Department of Civil Aviation leans towards Trans-Australia Airlines to the disadvantage of the other companies. That is completely untrue. The department is being fairly administered and I hope that it will continue to be so administered in the future. So little has been said in this debate regarding the Estimates of the department that I do not think that it is necessary for me to deal further with them.

If honorable members will read the third annual report of the Australian National Airlines Commission, they will see that the operations of TransAustralia Airlines have been fully and fairly covered. Nothing has been hidden, and there is no desire on the part of the commission to hide anything. Referring to Guinea Airways Limited the honorable member stated that I had said that the goodwill of the company had been purchased by the Commonwealth. In its third annua] report, the Australian National Airlines Commission states -

On the 1st November, 1947, Trans-Australia Airlines made its entry into the Northern Territory when, as successor to Guinea Airways Limited, whose goodwill was purchased, it took over the operation of the thrice-weekly D.C.3 service from Adelaide to Darwin.

It is true that the Government compensated Guinea Airways Limited for its goodwill, notwithstanding that before the service was taken over by TransAustralia Airlines, Guinea Airways Limited had received a government subsidy to operate the Northern Territory service. The honorable member sees nothing wrong with paying subsidies to private companies to maintain air services but when a government-controlled airline incurrs a loss, even on a service in what is known to be an unprofitable area, the honorable member is critical. Criticism of that kind is offered solely for the purpose of making political capital out of the alleged intention of the Government to nationalize everything.

The Department of Civil Aviation is administered efficiently and its affairs are conducted fairly and with justice to all airline operators. Trans-Australia Airlines has done a splendid job for Australia and I hope that it will continue to do so. I trust that Qantas Empire Airways Limited will, in the near future, be able to break even or perhaps show a little profit. Government airlines, wherever they are operating in Australia, are doing as well as any airline operated by private enterprise. Furthermore, Government airlines show a great deal more consideration to the public than has ever been extended by the private operating companies at any time.

Mr BOWDEN:
Gippsland

.- It is obvious that, with the strict limitation of time, and the number of departments grouped together for the purposes of the debate, no continuity of discussion can be achieved. I wish briefly to bring under the notice of the Government what I regard as a glaring instance of neglect on its part. I refer to the shortage of wire netting in this country and the need for importing wire netting from dollar countries. The importation of wire netting is, I submit, absolutely necessary as a temporary arrangement in order to bridge the gap between existing requirements and the present output of Australian manufacturers. If this neglect is continued the consequence will be a trail of ruin in this country which may well take generations to repair. The Government seemsto be completely oblivious of the position. Landholders have been waiting for years for the fulfilment of orders for only five or six coils of wire. It is reasonable to expect that many more years will elapse before local producers can hope to meet the demand. In the meantime, irreparable damage is being done to pasture lands all over Australia.

It is a well established fact that with all the devices that science can bring to their aid, landholders in hill country, with a reasonable rainfall, are never more than a single step ahead of the rabbit menace. To-day they are fighting a losing battle because of their inability to obtain supplies of wire. Recently the honorable member forWilmot (Mr. Duthie), in asking a question on this subject, made the rather novel suggestion that rabbits should be the agents of their own destruction. The honorable member asked the Minister for Commerce and Agriculture (Mr. Pollard) whether the proceeds of the sales of rabbit skins in the United States of America could be used for the purchase of wire netting to guard against the rabbit menace in Australia. It was a logical question but because it was logical the Minister for Commerce and Agriculture was stumped for an answer. I have seldom seen the Minister knocked off his perch. He is usually capable of going around, underneath or clean over a question with the greatest facility. In this instance he failed to do any one of those things. The best he could do in a lengthy reply was to say that the high-pressure sales agency, by which term he described the American concern willing to supply wire netting, had failed to mention the price at which it was prepared to sell wire netting to Australia. This high pressure agency, which one can regard only as an enterprising private concern quite legitimately trying to push its wares, immediately remedied the deficiency, and let the Minister, and every member of Parliament, know exactly the price of its goods. Then we get this answer from the Minister, sent by him to a constituent of mine who was anxious to control the rabbit pest on his property-

Certain suggestions have been made that dollars should be provided for the purchase of wire and wire-netting which, it is stated, is available in the United States of America. On subsequent investigation, however, quite apart from the dollar aspect, it has been ascertained that the costs are far in excess of the locally manufactured commodity; for example No. 17 gauge 42-in. x1½-in. wire netting, landed on wharfs in Australia from America, is priced at £6 per 100-yd. coil. Added to this would be distribution and agents’ charges. The local price for the Australian article is approximately £2 12s. per 100 yards for 18-gauge 42in. x 1½ in.

The Minister concluded his letter in this fashion -

Similarly, inquiries I have made regarding wire from the Continent show that the price is greatly in excess of locally manufactured goods.

Under these circumstances I am sure you will agree that, even if available, the imported article would be uneconomical from the Australian primary producers’ point of view.

That would he an excellent answer if it were possible to get wire netting in Australia, even within a reasonable number of years. However, it is well known that the assets of landholders are usually in the form of property, and not money in the bank. What does the Minister think would be most acceptable to a landholder troubled with rabbits - to have £l00 in the bank while his property was deteriorating, or to lay out £108 for the purchase of a mile of wire netting with which to protect the asset which he had been acquiring all his working life? There can be only one answer to that question. Therefore, I support the request of the honorable member for Wilmot and urge that consideration be given to the practical suggestion that money raised by the sale of rabbit skins should be used to subsidize the purchase of wire netting in the United States of America. I am sure that farmers would prefer to pay £108 a mile for American netting, so that they may protect their properties now, to waiting an indefinite time to buy Australian netting for £46 a mile. If the rabbit menace is allowed to develop at the present rate it will leave a trail of ruin for future governments to contend with. I propose to quote from some of the highpressure sales literature which this American firm has distributed among honorable members. I commend the firm for its interest in Australian conditions, and for its business acumen. The firm has been at some pains to find out Australia’s requirements in wire netting, and has collected data showing the destruction resulting from neglect on the part of whoever is responsible. In the last analysis, that must be the Australian Government, because the purchase of wire netting from overseas is bound up with the dollar position. The following extract from the company’s printed matter is informative: -

It is reported that the maintenance of more than 500 miles of the 2,049 miles of rabbit fencing erected over 30 years ago, in the north-west pastoral country of Western Australia, at an outlay of over £300,000, to block rabbits travelling from the eastern States, will shortly be abandoned mainly owing to the lack of netting material. It is also reported from the same source, that some of the most settled parts of Western Australia are already overrun with the pest, as they have by-passed the fence in millions.

Does that mean anything to the Government? The following letter was received from a grazier in New South Wales, which is much nearer home -

Our property, which is only 105 miles from Sydney, has a present carrying capacity of only 1,500 sheep, as compared with 6,000 sheep before the property was overrun with rabbits. Beyond our southern boundary, about 4,000 acres of good sound country can now carry no stock whatever - the rabbits have completely ruined it.

Does that register with the Minister? Only one sheep is being grazed now where four were previously grazed. Only one bale of wool is being produced from an area which formerly produced four, and all because wire netting is not available. The writer of the letter continued -

We have written to our federal member, asking him to make representations to the Government to permit the importation of American wire netting, barbed wire, fencing wire and corrugated iron.

I have heard members of this Parliament pressing the claims of graziers in this respect. Here is an example of good basalt grazing country being ravaged by rabbits so that many years must elapse before its productivity can be restored. The Governor of New South Wales, Lieutenant-General Northcott, when opening the Sydney Sheep Show in June last, said that Australia’s sheep population was the lowest since 1924, and that wool production was lower than for 22 years. This must have some relation to the facts I have adduced.

Mr FULLER:
HUME, NEW SOUTH WALES

– Australia lost 24,000,000 sheep because of drought.

Mr BOWDEN:

– I am speaking of the destruction wrought by rabbits. Graziers are imploring the Government to obtain American netting, and the facts which I have stated ought to shake the Government out of its complacence. I cannot understand how the Government is able to ignore such representations. Instead of doing anything effective, Ministers point to their budget of over £500,000,000, scratch one another’s backs, and then agree to limit the time allotted for consideration of the Estimates. It has even been arranged that Ministers should use most of the broadcasting time so that the people may not hear members of the Opposition criticizing the Estimates. Let me quote the following verse from the gospel of St. Matthew: -

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul

– Keep to rabbits.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN (Mr Lazzarini:
WERRIWA, NEW SOUTH WALES

– -Or der ! The honorable member for Gippsland was heard in silence, and I ask him not to interject.

Mr Bowden:

– I deserved to be heard in silence.

– Because the Government will not permit them to do so.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN.Order ! The honorable member for NewEngland must remain silent..

Mr LEMMON:

– He could not remain silent if he tried.

– I take a point of order. I regard the Minister’s statement as distinctly objectionable and lying.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN.The right honorable gentleman himself is just as offensive as, or more so than the Minister was. I ask him to withdraw his statement accusing the Minister of lying.

Sir Earle Page:

– 1 withdraw that statement.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN:

– If the Minister has made any reflection on the right honorable member for Cowper I ask him also to withdraw it.

Mr LEMMON:

– In deference to the Chair, I withdraw anything which might be objectionable to the right honorable gentleman. I am sorry that the honorable member for “Wimmera is not in the chamber at present, as I shall conclude my remarks by giving a final answer to another of the statements that he made. He stated that the houses being built in Australia are nothing other than slums and that when he got into bed he did not have enough room to get out again. As a matter of fact I believe that that honorable member is in a state of perpetual sleep.

Mr Rankin:

– Why does not the Minister adhere to the truth ? The honorable member for Wimmera said “ some of the houses “.

Mr LEMMON:

– Then what did he mean by “ some of the houses “. Did he mean those built under the CommonwealthState housing agreement? Why does not the honorable member for Bendigo (Mr. Rankin) adhere to the facts? He does not know what he is talking about. I shall quote from a newspaper report of a statement about the standard of building in Australia which was made by Mr. A. S. P. Sangster, a building expert who- is. the general works> manager of Wunderlich Limited. The report reads -

After travelling more than- 25,000 miles, to find out, Mr. A. S. P. Sangster, building expert, of Strathfield, declares that Australia’s rebuilding programme is one of the best and wisest in the world’.

That is not a statement made by a member of the La/bour party.

Mr Rankin:

– Did Mr. Sangster receive a good contract from the Government ?

Mr Gullett:

– Does the Government use tiles supplied by Mr. Sangster’s company ?

Mr LEMMON:

– There is a tile factory in Canberra from which the Government buys all the concrete tiles it requires. The report of the newspaper interview with Mr. Sangster continues -

Mr. Sangster, who arrived from the; United States of America to-day by Australian National Airlines Skymaster, is the general works manager of Wunderlich. “ Australia docs not lag in manufacture of new type buildings materials or in the methods of building “, lie said.

Mr HARRISON:

– The VicePresident of the Executive Council is well aware that, after a householder puts in a requisition for an electric ‘stove he has to wait twelve months or more before the order is filled. Representations were recently made to me by a farmer who had been unable to secure a fuel stove. He told me that he had been waiting for nine months for a stove. What a shocking state of affairs ! Let us consider other basic materials required for home buildings. Since 198S-39 the production of pig iron, blooms and billets has been increased by only 14.6 per cent, and 12.3 per cent, respectively. Yet the Minister talks about a comprehensive home-building scheme ! If the Government really desires to embark upon a practical home-building scheme it should take positive action. First, let it appoint a first-class business executive to control the housing scheme, as was done during the war in connexion with the production of munitions. Let him be free from parliamentary or governmental interference. The Director-General of Munitions, who. had the right, of access to, the Prime Minister- and could write his own ticket, carried out his task very efficiently. Surely homes are as essential to-day as were munitions during the war. Indeed, nothing touches the well-being of the people of Australia more closely than theousing problem. It is the most human problem that any government has ever had to tackle. If a first-class business man were appointed to control a practical home-building plan he could break the bottle necks and expedite the supply of materials and the construction of homes. That task cannot be tackled satisfactorily by a junior Minister who has no concept of the problem that confronts him. Secondly, let the Government remove the sales tax from all building materials, including builders’ hard ware. Thirdly, let it evolve a comprehensive scheme of financial assistance to encourage home ownership. Let it abandon the attitude taken by the Minister for Post-war Reconstruction (Mr. Dedman) that if a man leaves the ranks of the rent-payers to become a homeowner he becomes a little capitalist. The greatest security is given not by the home-renter but to the home-owner. The Minister for Postwar Reconstruction’s reference to home owners as little capitalists is merely a further instance of how the socialization bug has. penetrated into the ranks of the Government. Fourthly, let the Government increase the output of materials by expanding coal production and by giving a greater incentive to the workers to produce more by providing incentive payments and reducing taxes. Fifthly, let the Government tackle seriously the problem of training, young men in the building trades, particularly exservicement, so that larger numbers of young men may be attracted to the industry! Lastly, let the Government adopt a comprehensive- scheme for the abolition of slums and provide finance for home purchase on reasonable terms and conditions. A comprehensive housing scheme requires much more than such airy persiflage as was indulged in by the Minister for Works and Housing when he told us about the CommonwealthState housing scheme. Until the Government is prepared to face up to this problem it will continue to do a grave disservice to this country.

Byits inaction it is breaking up homes, destroying family life and denying the amenities of civilization to our people. People who are members of the four, five or six families living in a single home will ultimately rise in their wrath and denounce the Government for its failure to carry out its obligations.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN (Mr Lazzarini:

– The time allotted for the consideration of the proposed votes for the Department ofWorks and Housing, the Department of Civil Aviation, the Department of Trade and Customs, the Department of Health and the Department of Commerce and Agriculture, has expired.

Question put -

That the proposed votes be agreed to.

The committee divided. (The Temporary Chairman - Mr. H. P. Lazzarini.)

AYES: 32

NOES: 24

Majority 8

AYES

NOES

Question so resolved in the affirmative.

Department of Social Services

Proposed vote, £892,000.

Department of Supply and Development

Proposed vote, £1,115,500.

Department of Shipping and Fuel

Proposed vote, £2,165,700.

Department of External Territories

Proposed vote, £70,000.

Department of Immigration

Proposed vote, £312,400. (Ordered to be considered together.)

Mr BERNARD CORSER:
Wide Bay

– I intend to refer to a matter of great importance to the people living in the Maryborough and Bundaberg districts. For some years past difficulty has been experienced by traders in Maryborough and Bundaberg in obtaining delivery of goods awaiting shipment at southern ports. Recently, af ter many representations had been made by the honorable member for Capricornia (Mr. Davidson) and myself,, the coastal vessel Baralaba, which had been reconditioned, was to have been put on the run, in addition to Babinda, in an endeavour to pick up the cargoes which were accumulating in the south. Babinda was to load 300 tons of coke at Port Kembla for Walkers Foundry in Maryborough, and was to take general cargoes for Maryborough and Bundaberg. This would have practically cleared the stores, except for some veryheavy castings. Baralaba has not lef t Sydney because of labour trouble fomented by Communistcontrolled unions. The refusal of union leaders to allow the ship to be worked is preventing muck-needed supplies from going to the north. It is causing distress among the people, and is preventing the delivery of essential requirements to industry, the public, and to hospitals, Baralaba is still in port in Sydney, as are twenty other ships which are held up because of labour trouble, besides sixteen British ships which are waiting to load wheat that has not yet arrived at the seabord because the Communist-dominated miners will not hew coal needed by the Railways Department. Babinda is still in port because the Communist-controlled Seamen’s Union demands that an assistant cook be employed on the vessel. The award provides that a cook shall be employed for a crew of twenty, and the crew of Babinda numbers only nineteen, including the cook. However, the shipping agents decided to obey the masters, that is, the Communists, who are also the masters of the Government. They decided that it was better to let the ship sail, and therefore informed the general secretary of the Seamen’s Union that they were prepared to employ an assistant cook. However, no union member is prepared to offer for the position, and so the ship is still in port. The coke needed by the foundry in Maryborough has not been loaded, and other much-needed cargo remains on the wharfs. The other vessel, Baralaba, is held up in Brisbane with 569 tons of cargo for Maryborough, and 291 tons for Bundaberg, because the Communistcontrolled Seamen’s Union demands the replacement of a cook, who has been on the ship for fourteen months without previous complaint having been made of him. The shipping company has no reason to dismiss him. This is a very serious thing for the people of Maryborough and Bundaberg, and the shipping company has just about had enough. In a letter which I received to-day, the Sydney agents point out that the unfavorable voyage results, due to the loss of time and slow working, do not encourage the owners to keep the vessel on the run. Although they are anxious to keep’ the ships in the trade, they fear that, unless they have the cooperation of the employees, both ashore and on board, in an endeavour to keep their ships sailing regularly, they will have to consider whether it is worth their while remaining in the river trade. This trade is important to all sections of the community in Maryborough and Bundaberg, and not least important to the workers, whether they be employees of the foundry, tradesmen, businessmen, or housewives in the homes. The workers are beginning to realize that the Australian Government has failed to govern. The economy of Australia, is being attacked by the agency of a foreign power. Has the Government decided to yield altogether to the pressure of the Communists? Does the Government regard us as a conquered people ? It would appear so. Goods are rapidly accumulating in many Australian ports, and the Communist-controlled unions are determined that they shall not be shipped. Wire and wire netting and iron and steel goods are being held up in this way, and this is seriously inconveniencing the manufacturers and primary producers. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited is now receiving the same quantity of raw materials as it received twenty years ago. During the war, the manufacture of galvanized iron and wire and wire netting practically ceased for civilian purposes and the output of many iron and steel products was greatly reduced, with the result, that the demand for those goods to-da.y is greater than it has ever been in our history. Because of Communist-directed strikes the goods are not reaching consumers, and our development is being hampered. We have been importing iron products from the United Kingdom, including 1,000 railway trucks for New South Wales, because Australian workers, who earn higher wages and enjoy better conditions of employment, than worker? in the United Kingdom, adopt go-slow tactics and are not permitted to reach maximum output figures. Although the supplies of raw materials which the Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited is receiving are restricted, that organization is rendering a great service to Australia. Veritable mountains of manufactured goods are awaiting shipment, but the vessels cannot sail. Iron rods, fabricated iron materials, bridges and parts of bridges, machinery, parts of tractors, galvanized iron, wire and wire netting and fencing posts are accumulating, and the ships can not take them to the users. Although vessels are lying in Sydney. Melbourne and Brisbane, the Government, will not take any action to break the Communist’s stranglehold on the shipping industry.

When I have referred to this difficulty nt question time, the Minister has stated, in reply, that the Opposition urged the people, at a referendum, not to grant to the Commonwealth Parliament authority ro enable the Government to deal with these matters. It is just as well that the Opposition did adopt that policy. Although the Government has power to dealt with the Communists, it refuses to act. Why; then, should the people entrust the Government with additional powers? The request which I mate to the Minister to-day is that he exercise his authority to direct these ships to sail. I have referred to two specific vessels, Baralaba mid Babinda. An industrial dispute has not occurred over rates of pay or conditions of employment, but, the ships simply are not to sail. I urge the Minister to take action to ensure that the Communists shall not control the whole of industry and create unemployment, as is their intention. They have inflicted hardships on the community and inconvenience on manufacturers and primary producers and have caused people innorthern Queensland to suffer privation. When asked what he proposes to do to remedy the position, the responsible Minister merely replies to the effect that the Opposition urged the people not to grant to the Commonwealth Parliament additional power to deal with such matters. Of course, he controls the Commonwealth-owned ships, but still the mountains of materials in the southern ports are growing. What is the reason? The Communists are particularly interested in our great iron and steel industry. Honorable members will be alarmed to know how long it takes to unload and load ships. Iron Master arrived in port with 2,871 tons of steel products and remained there for twelve days. Ellaroo had 5,569 tons of steel products, and remained in port for 24 days. Iron Warrior arrived with o,39S tons of pig iron and was eighteen days discharging it. River Fitzroy had 6,047 tons of steel products on board and was nineteen days unloading. River Murrimbidgee was eighteen days discharging 4,495 tons of cargo. The slow turn-round of ships restricts the flow of raw materials to the Broken Hill Proprietary Company

Limited and to the iron and steel industry generally in Australia. We must realize that Australia is menaced by Communists. My special object in speaking this afternoon is to urge the Minister to ensure that the unlawful hold-ups of Baralaba and Babinda shall not be tolerated any longer. The controllers of the ships have done everything in their power to overcome the deadlock, and it now behoves the Minister to break the Communists’ control. I leave that responsibility with him.

Mr DEDMAN:
Minister for Defence, Minister for Post-war Reconstruction and Minister in charge of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research · Corio · ALP

.- The honorable member for Wide Bay (Mr. Bernard Corser) has severely criticized workers who do much more work for the community than he does.

Senator McBRIDE:
WAKEFIELD, SOUTH AUSTRALIA · LP; LCL from 1951; LP from 1954

– Is the Minister referring to the Communists?

Mr DEDMAN:

– No, I refer to the waterside workers.

Mr McBride:

– The honorable member for Wide Bay referred to the Communists.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN (Mr Lazzarini:

– Order! The honorable member for Wakefield (Mr. McBride) must not interject.

Mr Bernard Corser:

– I am concerned because ships are being held up. The waterside workers are not doing any work at all.

Mr DEDMAN:

– The honorable member for Wide Bay is not doing very much work, either. He seems to forget that a great deal of the work done by stevedores throughout Australia is very heavy work indeed. Many of the difficulties in the stevedoring industry are due to the fact that the employers have not provided the necessary modern equipment for handling cargoes. That matter was brought out quite clearly when an allegation was made that sugar was not being moved quickly enough from certain ports in northern Queensland.

Mr Bernard Corser:

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN.Order ! The honorable member for Wakefield is transgressing the Standing Orders in saying that the Minister is not telling the truth.

Mr DEDMAN:

Mr Calwell:

– -Why should I change it?

Mr RYAN:

Mr Holloway:

– When the sixth or seventh child reaches the age of sixteen, the others will be in employment.

Dame ENID LYONS:

Mr CALWELL:

– The honorable gentleman said that Ave should allow a few people in every year. I have no doubt that when he said that he had in mind the American practice or experiment of a quota system. I remind every one who talks about a. quota system that America has quotas for Europeans as well as Asiatics. It has a quota for Australians. Many Australians wish to go to America, but the Australian quota is so small that they will not be able to enter the United States of America for the next two or three years to come. The American quota system permits the entry every year of,, among others, 100 Australians, 150 Chinese and 100 Indians. It excludes completely the African negro, who is the bloodbrother of the American negro. Honorable members who criticize the Government for not introducing a quota system will find little solace in the American practice and experience. I know that Australia is being criticized in Asia. We do not criticize any nation . in Asia or America. The peoples of Asia and the Americans have the right to run their own countries a? they think best, and we have an equal right to run our country as wc think best. We do not interfere with the

Indian people in the administration of Indian affairs or with the Chinese people in the administration of Chinese affairs. When the Asiatic countries held a conference in New Delhi last year they went on record as saying that it was the unalienable and exclusive right of every country to determine the composition of its own population.

The people outside of this country who are attempting to force us to change our immigration policy are a mixed grill. They include members of the Communist party, who wish to break down our immigration laws and our established policy because of their distorted views about the brotherhood of man; and certain church leaders of every denomination who want a quota system also bocause of their particular ideas about the brotherhood of man. Newspapers like the South China Morning Post and the Malayan Free Press, which attack me personally very bitterly, are also arrayed against us. On investigation, I find that those newspapers are not owned or edited by Asiatics. They are owned by Englishmen who reside in those territories and arc attacking us because it is undeniable that our immigration laws and practices have never been popular in England. Englishmen view the world through European eyes. A problem that is only a problem of the Far East as far as Europe is concerned is, to those who live in Australia, a problem of the Near North. We have to view the problem fundamentally differently. It is amusing to see the line-up of irreconcilable elements on the question of our immigration laws and practices. The Commun111St party is unquestionably the party that has stirred up opposition to the application of .our policy. The terminology of some of the resolutions which have been passed by the Communist party and by church organizations is almost identical. It is easy to see how that comes about. The intellectuals of the Communist party go to the people with . whom they were associated at universities and who are not Communists. They talk this matter over, and if they find a ready field in which to sow their ideas they produce a resolution to be proposed. It is amazing how some persons who are violently anti-Communist in their outlook accept resolutions that are suggested to them by men whom they know to be members of the Communist party.

The honorable member for Darwin (Dame Enid Lyons) said, and I accept her assurance, that she does not want to destroy our present immigration laws and practices. I do not believe that any honorable member opposite, whether he be a member of the Liberal party or of the Australian Country party, wants to make any fundamental change in these laws. Those who talk of quotas, of letting sonic people in, and of administering our laws in a less clumsy and less arrogant fashion, as the honorable member for Fawkner (Mr. Holt) once referred to it, do not realize that they are playing with fire. When our grandfathers and fathers founded this country they made sure that the standards of living that they brought with them from older countries would not be destroyed by large numbers of Asiatics. They established exclusive laws. We should be failing in our duty to our children and to their children if we were to create in our time and generation a problem that could grow to the extent that the Harlem problem has grown in the United States of America. We are bound not to allow that to happen. We are bound to maintain such institutions and laws as will ensure that our present standard of living is maintained. If we desire to help people who do not enjoy the same high standard of living as we do, we shall achieve success not by bringing them to this country, but by helping them to raise the standards of living in their own countries. If we were to bring them to Australia and intermingle their blood with ours we should only create an unfortunate class of halfbreeds. Those half-breeds would be ostracized by their brothers and lead miserable lives. Having said that to honorable members opposite, I remind them that the sentiments that they express are not always those which are expressed by members of the Liberal party and the Australian Country party outside this Parliament.

Mr Archie Cameron:

– Or by members of the Labour party.

Mr CALWELL:

– If there is one matter on which there is no doubt in the minds of members of the Labour party it is the maintenance of the present immigration laws and practices of Australia. That is the number one plank of our political religion. We have always maintained that, and always will do so. A little while ago, on the 30th June last to be precise, the Melbourne Surf, printed a short paragraph. It was headed “M.L.C. Wants Coloured Labour for North “, and it read as follows: -

Northern Australia could be settled only by the introduction of coloured labour, said Sir William Angliss (Lib., S.Prov.), in the Legislative Council yesterday.

I took the trouble to read the Victorian Ilansard report of what Sir William Angliss said. He expressed the view that we could only develop the Northern Territory and the northern portions of Australia by bringing in coloured labour, in the same way as the kanakas were brought in years ago, and sending them out again when they had finished their contracts. That is the opinion of a member of the Liberal party who is also a member of a State parliament.

Mr Rankin:

– He is about 84 years of agc, and senile.

Mr CALWELL:

– The honorable gentleman may excuse him if he wishes to do so, but he made those statements. There are other people who hold somewhat similar opinions. I was approached by a member of the Graziers Association and asked whether 1 would agree to the admission of Chinese to act as cooks on outback stations in Queensland and New South Wales. I told him that I should never agree to the admission of Asiatics to work on stations in any part of Australia. This gentleman told me that he thought that that would be my answer, and I said that I could try to help the graziers by supplying them with Baltic labour. He asked about Italians. I said that we might be able to let him have Italians to act as cooks, and there the interview ended, On the 2nd July of this year the

Sydney Morning Herald contained the following report of a meeting of the Graziers Federal Council: -

Italians Sought as Outback Cooks.

The Graziers Federal Council wants Italian immigrants as cooks on stations in the “ outback ‘’. lt would rather have Chinese, but the Minister for immigration, Mr. A. A. Calwell, will not agree

They carried it even to the point of disputing my decision that Asiatics cannot bf: brought .into this country to do any work that Australians can do and have done. We can claim to our credit and to that of our grandfathers and fathers that we have settled this continent without bringing in inferior classes of any race to do the hard work. That policy will be continued as long as this Government remains in power. Any government that does the opposite to it will do something for which Australia will pay a heavy penalty.

Silting suspended from 6 to 8 p.m.

Mr CALWELL:

– Individuals, such as Malayans and Indonesians, who have been deported from this country were war-time evacuees who were given asylum in Australia and were told very definitely that they would have to leave when the war ended. There were 4,000 Indonesians and Portuguese-Timorese half-castes and some 1,000 Chinese who went voluntarily, but there was difficulty in ensuring the departure of some others. A great deal of fuss was made about the departure of the Malayans to whom the honorable member for Flinders made some reference earlier to-day. For some time Australia has had a policy in regard to the admission of Asiatics who desire to enter the country as merchants, students, or assistants to or substitutes of fellow nationals who have established themselves in business here. This practice will be continued and Chinese and Indian people will enter Australia as freely as they have done in the past provided they fall within these clearly defined groups. The Government does not intend to allow an Asiatic influx into Australia to disturb Australian living standards. If Asiatic people are to enter

Australia we expect them to have the same cultural standards and the same way of life as the Australian people and also to conform to Australian conditions. Australia does not admit any Asiatics as permanent residents but the terms of their entry into Australia clearly indicate that, provided they can maintain the required volume of business, they may obtain renewals of their permits to remain for set periods. Those conditions have been considered satisfactory by the diplomatic representatives of the nations concerned and are quite as generous as Australians would obtain if they went to live in the countries from which most of our Asiatic visitors come. I desire to make it quite clear that there is not. the slightest intention on the part of the Government to offend anybody on racial grounds, but Australia has the right to say who shall come and live here. A nation has the same right in regard to who may enter its country as an individual has in respect of who may enter his home. We all have th§ right as individuals to say who shall visit us, and we may refuse any one the right of entry to our home or we may welcome him as we please. The Melbourne Age has indicated its views quite clearly. On the 14th July last, which is a memorable day, being the anniversary of the fall of the Bastille, it headed its leading article “~No equivocation on migration policy”. The article stated -

The clear warning by the Minister for Immigration (Mr. Calwell) of the dangers of admitting Asians to Australian on a limited quota should be heeded by all Australians who have the welfare of the country and their children at heart. At no time in Australia’s history has the need for long sight and courage in protecting the racial character of the population been greater than it is to-day. Any compromise on what is widely termed the white-Australia policy would lie the thin edge of a wedge which would split apart, in the years ahead, the structure of national security, happiness and prosperity.

The article then refers to America and South America and mentions the persistent vocal challenge to Australian immigration policy from South Eastern Asian sources in recent times and it states -

Its -mainspring appears to be located in identifiable propaganda centres.

Lt, is true that the Communist party is strongly in favour of the abandonment of our immigration policy, and some other people who are not Communists have followed along the same line. The leading article continues -

The interchange of students and trade representatives, the dissemination of technological : “ 1 1 el scientific information and the provision of economic aid for needy Asian countries are essential measures of mutual benefit to both races. To go beyond that would be to abandon a priceless heritage and jeopardize the whole well-being of future generations in Australia.

In conclusion 1. shall draw attention to a speech made by the honorable member for Henty (Mr. Gullett), the making of which I hope he has since repented. H is speech is recorded in the Melbourne Sun of the 29th June last in part as follows : -

Every Australian citizen should have the right of choice in marriage be it black, white or brindle, Mr. Gullett said, criticizing the

Government’s foreign policy. They should have the right to bring the foreign bride or bridegroom to thi: country for assimilation into its domestic economy.

I believe that that sentiment is not in accord with the view of a great majority of the Australian people. If we were to permit that policy to obtain, we should have within a few decades an influx of Asiatic people who had married Australians permanently or temporarily and had thus gained entry to this country that they would not be entitled to gain under ordinary conditions. It would be possible for any Asiatic person coming ashore from a visiting ship to go through a ceremony of marriage in a registry office or church and by the mere fact of having gone through that ceremony become entitled to remain here for life. In very little time our present standards would be endangered.

Mr Gullett:

– I used the words “ bring here “.

Mr CALWELL:

– I shall repeat what the honorable gentleman said -

They should have the right to bring the foreign bride or bridegroom to this country for assimilation into its domestic economy.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN (Mr Lazzarini:

– Order! The time allotted for the consideration of the proposed votes for the Department of Social Services, the Department of Supply and Development, the Department of Shipping and Fuel, the Department of External Territories and the Department of Immigration has expired.

Question put -

That the proposed votes be agreed to.

The committee divided. (The Temporary Chairman - Mr. H. P. Lazzarini.)

AYES: 33

NOES: 25

Majority . . 8

AYES

NOES

Question so resolved in the affirmative.

Department of Labour and National Service

Proposed vote; £1,345,000.

Department of Transport

Proposed vote,. £162,000.

Department of Information

Proposed vote, £351,500.

– I named Healy, the Communist secretary of the Waterside Workers Federation, whom the Government appointed to the Stevedoring Industry Commission.

Mr Anthony:

– I rise to order! I should like to know whether it is in order for the Minister for Information to attempt to influence the Chair from the treasury bench.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN:

– Order ! The honorable member for Richmond (Mr. Anthony) is grossly out of order. The Chair will not be influenced by any one. I regard the honorable member’s remark as a reflection on the Chair, and I ask him to withdraw it.

– No.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN.Order ! I do ,not require any help from members of the Opposition. They are trying to help the honorable member for Reid, of course. T.he honorable member for Reid will have the same rights in this committee as any .other honorable .member, -no more and no less.

Opposition Members. - Hear, hear !

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN.The honorable gentleman must confine his remarks to the four departments .under consideration.

Mr LANG:

– I am criticizing the Minister’s action in using his official position, and also public money and a governmental -instrumentality to attack me. I desire to criticize his .’administration of the Department .of Information. Garden was the nominee of the ‘present Government -party. He had ‘been -selected by the federal executive of the Australian Labour party, -of -which the Minister for Information was a member. Garden was defeated by the candidate who (Carried my banner, the present member for Cook. That is how that honorable member came to be elected to the House of Representatives, and .that is how the former member for Cook, Mr. J. S. Garden, was defeated.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN:

– - Order ! The honorable member had better leave it at that.

Mr LANG:

– The Minister knows that he went to Sydney and conspired with Garden against my leadership.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN.Order! I shall not call the honorable gentleman to order again. He has referred “to incidents which took place before the Department of Information came into existence, and certainly before the Minister for Information was appointed to that office. If the honorable member cannot confine his remarks to the four departments under consideration, I shall ask him to ^resume his seat.

Mr LANG:

– The Minister knows that Garden was given a job by this Government because—

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN:

– Order ! I ask the honorable member to resume his seat.

Mr Harrison:

– The remarks of the honorable mem’ber for Reid relate to the Department of Transport.

Mr Archie Cameron:

– 1 rise to order. I submit that the honorable member is in order in referring to the appointment of a person to the Department of Labour and National Service, which is now under consideration. The committee is considering not -only the Estimates for the current financial year, but also the actual expenditure for the last financial year. A former member for Cook, Mr. Garden, >was em-ployed in the Department of Labour and National “Service during the period ‘under consideration, ‘and “in accordance with the correct interpretation of the Standing Orders, the honorable member for Reid may :refer to Mr. Garden

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN:

– Order! The Chair is of the opinion that the honorable member for Reid has been referring to “this subject in -an ‘entirely different manne-

Opposition Members. - Oh1!

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN.Order’! The Chair was of the opinion that the remarks of the .honorable member for Reid related to matters other than the appointment of a person to the Department of Labour and National Service. However, I shall hear the honorable member for Reid further to see whether he connects his remarks with any of the four departments under consideration.

Mr LANG:

– The Minister for Information and the Minister for Transport know that Garden was given a Commonwealth job as a liaison officer in the Department of Labour and National Service because of the services which he had rendered against me. Now, because Garden is in a place where he cannot defend himself, Ministers are prepared to “ put the ‘boot “ into that particular gentleman. I desire to -show that the Minister for Information, because of his actions past and present, is not a fit person to administer the Department of

Information. Even his former leader, the late Mr. John Curtin, and other Ministers were not immune from his underhand tactics. He stepped into the shoes of that very good Labour man, the late Dr. Maloney, and many honorable members will recall how bitter he was when he was not elected to the first Curtin Ministry, and how he attacked the Government, which he was pledged to support, at every opportunity on the adjournment of the House.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN:

– Order ! I ask the honorable member to resume his seat. The actions of the Minister when he was a private- member have nothing to do with the proposed vote for the Department of Information. If the honorable gentleman desires to go back as far as 1941, he will have to wait for a suitable occasion. He is not in order in doing so now.

Mr LANG:

– I submit to you, sir, with all due respect because you have been in the Chair for long periods, that throughout the sittings of the committee on Friday, yesterday and to-day, I took advantage of every opportunity to obtain the call in order to discuss the Estimates of every department. I was not called. It was just bad luck, I admit.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN:

– Order ! The Chair has nothing to do with the good luck or bad luck of the honorable member. Even if he failed to catch the eye of the Chair and did not get the call for the purpose of discussing the Estimates of other departments, he is not in order now in discussing the votes of earlier departments, to which the committee has now agreed. That must be quite clear.

Mr LANG:

– I do not want to discuss the Estimates of any other department. The. Minister to whom I am referring is in charge of one of the departments that are now under discussion, and it is the only one on which I can- discuss and criticize him. Is the ruling of the Chair that the Minister in charge of a department and the estimates for that department are above criticism?

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN.That is not correct. The honorable member for Reid can say what he likes to say in fair criticism of the Department of Information and its administration.

Mr LANG:

– And of its administrator?

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN.Of its administration. What the honorable member for Melbourne did as a private member, or what any other honorable member said or did in this chamber as a private member, is not relevant to the question that is now before the Chair.

Mr LANG:

– If what the Minister for Information did twelve months ago cannot be discussed now, I say that no one has the right to discuss what happened twenty years ago. If I have to sit here and listen to the Minister make statements that are false, and which I am proving to be untrue, and if, on the only occasion on which I can reply to those statements, I am to be debarred from doing so, then the King’s justice and the King’s Parliament are not what I thought them to be. I am desirous of rebutting what the Minister said about me. If I cannot do so, that is too bad. If I cannot do it in the discussion of these Estimates, there is no other way in which I can do it. If I am not to be allowed to speak, I shall have to put up with it; However, I shall endeavour to answer the Minister’s charges and will go as far as I am permitted to go by the Chair.

Honorable members will remember how on that occasion the Minister ranted and raved all over the Commonwealth against his then leader, and how he insulted him both in private and public. They will recall the second conscription fight-

Mr DALY:
MARTIN, NEW SOUTH WALES

– I rise to order. Is it in order for an honorable member to read a speech that has been prepared for him by some one outside of the Parliament who is biased against the Minister for Information? I submit that it is quite out of order for the honorable member for Reid (Mr. Lang) to read such a speech. I submit that this vile attack on the Minister has no reference to the Estimates that are now being discussed.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN:

– With regard to reading his speech, I do not think the honorable member is transgressing to any greater extent than many other honorable members have done. As far as I can see, he is referring to- copious notes. I point out to the honorable member that I am not trying to stifle him, but the general political career of the Minister for Information is not under discussion at the present moment.

Mr LANG:

– “Why was mine?

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN.L do not know what the Minister said about the honorable member for Reid. I was not in the chair at that time. I am pointing out to the honorable gentleman that he has all the freedom in the world to say what he likes, in parliamentary language, about what the Minister has done or failed to do in administering the Department of Information. He cannot, however, roam around the world, attacking the Minister for Information or any other member of the committee under the guise of discussing the Estimates. What the committee is now. discussing, among other things, is the Department of Information and the Estimates in relation to it. The honorable gentleman is entitled to give his reasons for saying why he thinks that the administration of the department is faulty and why the Estimates should not be approved. He can attack the administration of the department and suggest that it has been right or wrong, but he cannot rove around the world in order to follow the political history of the Minister for Information or any other Minister.

Mr LANG:

– So far I have not got beyond New South Wales. I was stating what the Minister did, and showing that he is unfit to be a Minister of the Crown. I am trying to show the committee what kind of an administrator he is. I was telling honorable members of how the honorable gentleman acted in the second conscription fight, how he vilified his then leader, and how he circulated copies of manifestos that were issued and signed by his leader in the first conscription fight.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN.Was that done through the Department of Information.

Mr LANG:

– This Minister did it.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN.The honorable gentleman was not a Minister then.

Mr LANG:

– I have been attacked, and I am attempting to reply to the attack. I have listened to Ministers talking about the brothers-in-law, sistersinlaw and other relatives of members of the Opposition. I have heard remarks about men marrying for money. None of those comments had anything to do with the Estimates of any department. Surely I have the right to say something. I point out how the Minister for Information dug back into the files of the Melbourne Herald for 1906 to discredit his then leader, and how he dug up an anticonscription speech that was delivered by his leader in the Melbourne Trades Hall as a young man and circulated it privately throughout the length and breadth of Australia. Even then the honorable gentleman was training, and that was his training ground, to become the “ Minister for Quotations “. He did all those things, and still remained within the ranks of the Labour party.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN.Order! The honorable gentleman’s time his expired.

Mr CALWELL:
Minister for Information and Minister for Immigration · Melbourne · ALP

– I propose to tell the committee something about the Department of Information. I have no intention of replying to anything with which the old gentleman from Reid (Mr. Lang) has regaled the committee to-night.

Mr McLeod:

– The old gentleman?

Mr CALWELL:

– The failing septugenarian

Mr Anthony:

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN:

– There is no point of order involved.

Mr CALWELL:

– As the Minister in charge of a department, the Estimates for which are under discussion, I am entitled to read my speech, if I desire to do so. The Standing Orders do not apply in this case.

The principal aims of our national publicity are to help the other peoples of the world to understand us, our aims and endeavours, and to foster good relationships in all our dealings with them. In a sentence, the Department of Information exists to make Australia better and more favorably known to the rest of the world.

Our national publicity is also a powerful aid to our immigration plans. It is a means of letting people know, factually and faithfully, the sort of people we are, the conditions which immigrants will encounter here, and the opportunities which this country offers them. With this knowledge, those who elect to make their future in Australia are far more likely to make successful citizens than many who in the past have come here ill informed, and perhaps misled by sanguine slogans and glib generalities. The officers of the Department of Information abroad have gained a fine reputation in the short history of this organization for telling the truth about Australia. They are information ‘officers and not propagandists, and as such have the confidence of the press, writers, lecturers and others with whom they deal as being a source from which accurate information on Australia can be obtained.

Broadly, in the organizational structures of the Department of Information, which performs these publicity tasks, Australia is the main production base, the Australian Government’s overseas offices are its principal outlets, and its media are every means of presenting Australia to the peoples of the world - principally in print, over the air, and on the screen. The department’s main activities in this country are, consequently, the production of letterpress, photographs, radio scripts, and films. The product goes chiefly to the Australian News and Information Bureau at Australia House, London, to a similar bureau in New York, and to Australian diplomatic and trade establishments overseas. Officers of the department are attached to such establishments in America, Canada, France, India, Egypt and Malaya.

Because publicity for Australia in other countries is the department’s principal activity, I shall try to give the committee some idea of its extent and of the success it has attained. I feel sure the facts will surprise many people, especially those whose impressions of the department have been gained mainly from criticism by newspapers which have not bothered to inform themselves or their readers of the extent of its services to this country. With dollar spending limited, we have had to make each dollar do the work of two or more in dollar currency countries. Mr. E. G. Bonney, formerly Director-General of the Department of Information in Australia, assumed the post of Director-General of the Australian News and Information Bureau in New York last April. He took over at a time when Australia’s dollar position was becoming extremely acute.

Mr Gullett:

– I rise to order. An honorable member suggested a short while ago that the Minister was reading his speech. You, sir, ruled that the honorable gentleman was merely consulting his notes. I now ask you, Mr. Temporary Chairman, if you are still of the opinion that the Minister is merely consulting notes, and I draw attention to Standing Order 256, which states, without any possibility of its being misunderstood, that a member shall not read his speech. I suggest that the Minister is merely taking the opportunity to make a press statement through the medium of the Parliament. He is not making a speech, but is merely reading notes passed to him, and I contend that he has no right to continue.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN (Mr Sheehan:

– It is the practice to allow Ministers to refer to prepared statements. Ministerial statements and second-reading speeches are invariably read.

Mr Abbott:

– I desire to take the point of order that this is not a secondreading speech.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN.It is a ministerial statement.

Mr Gullett:

– It is not a statement.

Mr CALWELL:

– By streamlining the organization to meet the new conditions, the bureau has maintained all its vital information, radio and film services,, although its expenditure has been reduced by 20 per cent. We continue to secure excellent placements of Australian articles and pictures in the American press. Throughout the country these ari? so numerous that the mere task of keeping a record of them has become too. costly and cumbersome to be justified, but during the last month for which there are records, some 12,000 clippings were sent in by a press-cutting agency which operates only in the. eastern States of America. Full-length magazine articles, mainly illustrated and of the type which appear in the department’s publication South-West Pacific, are placed in the United States of America at the rate of about one a day, and these are of great importance a3 they give a balanced picture of the Australian way of life. Our magazine material appears, as major items have done recently, in publications such as Life, with its circulation of 26,000,000 copies and the Sunday supplement of a New York paper with its 4,000,000 readers. It is accepted also by magazines of lesser circulation but great influence, such as the Christian Science Monitor, The Rotarian, and specialist journals devoted to engineering, trade, and similar matters. Daily and weekly news summaries go to all leading American editors and commentators. News bulletins are issued regularly in such specialized fields as agriculture, finance, aviation and women’s interests.

Large quantities of descriptive booklets and maps are sent to school teachers, children, universities, colleges and libraries. In many American schools, classes are doing regular studies on Australia. Requests from American schools often total 500 a month, and requests of a general nature about Australia’s arts, sciences, industries, sports and other activities run at the same high rate. The department’s documentary films for publicizing Australia abroad are popular in America. The cost of production is now being offset by increasing revenues from rentals. Television has opened up new avenues for publicizing Australia. Programme organizers have already featured much Australian material from films made by the department. We expect more placements in this direction as television expands. Extra revenue from this field will help considerably in meeting the costs of producing films.

The ‘ New York bureau has had an outstanding success in arranging with 160 radio stations throughout the United States for a weekly broadcast of an Australian programme, “ A Look at Australia “. Outstanding Australians visiting the United States are featured in these broadcasts and in radio and television interviews over the major networks. Most of these broadcasts are given in the evening, when the potential listening audience is highest. It is impossible to measure the results of activities such as these; but a valuable indication of the acceptability of the department’s material and the work of the bureau was given when the bureau asked people on its mailing lists to fill in cards indicating the subjects relating to Australia in which they were interested. More than 60 per cent, of the cards were filled in and returned, although experience by much larger organizations had shown a 25 per cent, response to be a maximum result. As a result of the demand indicated on the cards, the number of items of mail despatched from ‘ the bureau rose to 2,000 each working day.

Reporting on its work among educational institutions, the West Coast officeof the bureau, at San Francisco. saysthat some American university studentshave written their theses on Australian subjects, mainly from material prepared and supplied by the office, and this is a common occurrence in the other areas where our services are available. The work of the bureau, in association with that of the Department of Immigration’s representatives in America, is reflected inthe fact that up to the 30th June last, despite the very limited passengershipping available, nearly 1,000 immigrants had reached Australia from the United States.

Mr Anthony:

– I rise to order. I request, Mr. Temporary Chairman, that you rule under what circumstances Standing Order 256 may be invoked. You have stated in a previous ruling that a Minister is entitled to read a ministerial statement or a prepared speech on the second reading of a bill.

I point out, however, that a ministerial statement has to be made by leave of the House ‘ and that this debate is in committee. I also point out at this stage what the highest authority on British parliamentary procedure, May, says on this particular subject. He says that the purpose of Standing Order 256, which provides that speeches shall not be read, is primarily to maintain the cut and thrust of debate, and goes on to say-

The reading of speeches is even more improper in committee than in the House itself.

This chamber is at present in committee. I suggest that the Minister is only taking up time in order to prevent other honorable members from speaking, and is therefore abusing the rules and privileges, of the Parliament.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN:

– The Minister is only following the practice of the Parliament and taking advantage of a privilege which has been invariably extended to Ministers. He is giving a detailed statement of the work of his department, by means of a prepared statement.

Mr CALWELL:

– Honorable members opposite sat down to allow the honorable member for Reid (Mr. Lang) to deliver a tirade.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN.Order! The Minister may continue his statement.

Mr CALWELL:

– Acting within the limits of a small vote, the department’s officer attached to the office of the Australian Government Trade Commissioner, New York, organized and supervised an Australian exhibit at the International Textiles Exposition in New York last June. This, and an Australian display centre and a display window at Rockefeller Centre, have provided outstanding instances of the trade promotional publicity in which he is engaged.

I am certain that honorable members on both sides of the chamber are most interested to know what is happening inside the Department of Information and I have gone to some trouble to have this information prepared. I have still eighteen pages to read.

Mr White:

– As the Minister has declared that he has eighteen pages to read, and because that reading, in view of the limited time available for the consideration of these Estimates, will mean a delay that will prevent honorable members On the Opposition side from speaking, I move -

That the Minister for Information (Mr. Calwell) be not further heard.

Question put. The committee divided. (The Temporary Chairman - Mr. T. Sheehan.)

AYES: 25

NOES: 33

Majority . . 8

AYES

NOES

Question so resolved in the negative.

The activities of the department’s officers at other overseas posts resemble those I have outlined, although smaller financial resources aire available to them. Whether in Canada, Europe, Egypt, India or Malaya, these officers have succeeded to an astonishing extent, as the department’s records and my observations fully confirm, in reaching the eyes and ears of the world with Australia’s national publicity. Much attention has been given to educational work by our officer at the office of the High Commissioner for Australia in Canada. He reports that from the 1st July, 1947, to the .31st May, 1948, he distributed 2,551 special packages of Australian educational material to schools. Many Canadian schools have special study projects on Australia. He states -

Canadian scientists and others are realizing more and more the fact that Australia, and Canada have many problems in common, and arc keen on exchanging information.

Many journals in France have given pride of place to articles on Australia supplied through the department’s press attache at the Australian Embassy, Paris. Not long ago, an important French commercial review devoted an entire issue to an economic study of Australia prepared by the department’s writers. Material is supplied from this centre to other European countries, and the attache maintains a reference sys tem which is frequently used by journalists, authors and students.

In the Middle East and the arc of Asiatic countries which stretches across Australia’s near north, pictorial publicity material is of special importance, because pictures sneak all languages. Thus, our information officer in Cairo reports that the greatest success is being achieved by means of our films. These are fed into circuits which extend from Egypt as far afield as Tripolitania, Kenya and Iran. Despite newsprint shortage, and heavy demands upon their space by a long succession of dramatic events in their own country, Indian newspapers have given generous space to Australian publicity material supplied through the department’s officer at New Delhi. He reports that when Indian editors have occasion to deal with Australian news and affairs they mostly tend to approach them in a friendly frame of mind, because they are accustomed to receiving from the Australian office, not propaganda material on contentious subjects, but material which has been prepared in an effort to supply the sort of information which will interest their readers. Having recently emerged as a dominion, India has shown particular interest in the Australian Constitution, and in our methods of administration. Departments of the Government of India have drawn heavily upon material supplied to our officer for information on these subjects, and there seems little doubt that this has influenced, for instance, the draft Indian constitution. The Trade Information Officer at the office of the Senior Australian Trade Commissioner for the Indian Ocean zone is concerned with publicity relating to Australian trade, primary and secondary industry, and economics. Austral News, an eight-page monthly newspaper produced from his office, has been widely acclaimed as the most useful publication of the kind in the area. An economic survey, agricultural newsletter, and technical newsletter are among the features regularly distributed from the office to the press and interested authorities.

Month after month, Australian publicity material distributed by the Trade Information Officer at the office of the Australian Commissioner, Singapore, has occupied hundreds of column-inches of space in Malayan newspapers. Working under difficulties, this office has succeeded on several occasions in placing such conclusive facts before editors that they have withheld, or re-ca9t, items which, by misrepresentation or bias, would have been harmful to Australia.

Use of films as a vehicle for Australian publicity in Malaya is illustrated by the record of an open-air screening at Penang of some of the department’s colour films to about 3,000 Malayans. Although rain was drizzling upon the audience, they sat throughout the programme. At its conclusion, five village head-men approached the officer in charge of the screening, and begged that such films be sent to -their villages. The duties of our Trade Information officers include ^answering press comment where necessary, publicising visits of Australian business men, assisting in promoting exhibitions and displays, and selling campaigns, and directing the flow cif trade publicity material to oversea media from the Department of Information and the Department of Commerce and Agriculture. The material provided by these departments is made available also to a number of trade commissioners at points where there is no information or publicity officer..

A great deal of the work of all our overseas officers, bureau staffs and press attaches^ as well as trade information officers, is associated with trade promotion. A very high percentage of the articles prepared in Australia and published in the overseas press deals with trade subjects, new Australian inventions and new processes, and there has been a very heartening response in inquiries from overseas business men and importers following the publication qf these’ articles. Our overseas officers, too> apart from the trade information officers, work closely with the trade commissioners, particularly in bringing their specialized knowledge to bear on the preparation of exhibitions and other graphic displays designed to promote trade and closer understanding.

Although I have referred at length to the activities of the department’s overseas officers, I have provided no more than glimpses of their work, which involves the use of practically all forms of publicity media. Results of their activities are readily apparent in those countries in which they are engaged, but are little known in Australia. Where experience shows that in any particular country circumstances do not justify continued maintenance of an officer, we do not hesitate to withdraw our representative. This, was the case in Nanking, China, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where press attaches were initially posted. It is a principle underlying the department’s work that the national interest is served best by factual, informative material, provided this can be made sufficiently attractive tor the reader, the listener, and the film audience to gain attention and hold interest. The radio time alone gained by Australian Department of Information activities in other countries is literally invaluable. I feel safe in saying that even if it were bought at the rates usually charged for time on the air, the value of such publicity would amount to a very substantial part indeed of the £324,448 which the entire activities of the department, at home and abroad, cost last year. It is because of the interest-content and integrity of the department’s material that the question of payment does not arise. The radio and press overseas are glad to accept and use it on. its merits alone.

Another important part of my department’s work is the winning of recognition abroad for Australian culture. Australian literature has come of age but this is not generally realized abroad and my department has attempted to overcome this lag. It does this in a number of ways. One is the distribution, in co-operation with Australian publishers, of review copies of Australian books to overseas editors, and publishers. Another is the holding of exhibitions of Australian, books in. Britain and in the United. States of America. Another way is. the placing of articles on all aspects of Australian literature in overseas literary journals and reviews.

Publicity for. the Department of Immigration is carried. out both- overseas and in, Australia) by a. specialized, seddon* of the Department of Information. Members of this, section are experienced journalists, who have made. a. close study of Australia’s immigration policy and the problems associated! with, ite The section is in constant- liaison with1 the. senior officers of the Department of Immigration, and with the. Commonwealth Immigration. Advisory Council and the State migration” authorities-: One officer of the section is. stationed in London where he works between the. London office of tha Department; of Information- and the Commonwealth Migration- Branch, Australia House: This1 officer also handles publicity throughout Europe) in co-operation> with Australian? representatives in Europe, including the Australian Military Mission in Germany. The work of the section is three-fold;, First,, it carries out- direct, publicity, overseas to make known Australia^ immigration schemes and Australia, as- a home for the migrants.;, secondly, it provides advice to migrants, on health,, customs, quarantine requirements, &c, and maintains) the migrant’s interest, in Australia while awaiting passage-;, and thirdly,, it. conducts, publicity in Australia to assist the assimilation, of newcomers into the Australian community, and to- encourage nonBritish migrants to adopt Australian citizenship. In accordance with a- directive issued before the- publicity section began operations, all information supplied for overseas consumption is. of a strictly factual nature. Emphasis is always placed on such items as the housing shortage in, Australia. The publicity section has produced’ booklets, which have had wide distribution in Britain, Europe and the United; States of America. Several of them have gone, into second and third editions. These booklets, explain the way. of, life in Australia;, our customs, social services, and< institutions, and, other points, of” interest. to> the .prospective migrant; the free and. assisted passages.1 schemes operating from the United Kingdom;- and the- assisted passages- scheme, from the. United’ States of America. A. pre-embarkation service booklet is being, prepared in. London to replace, mimeographed; circulars- giving advice on-, shipping, transfer- of money, and the like. A. monthly bulletin entitled Australia- and the- Migrant, is- produced! in London to- serve as a seller of migration to Australia, and to sustain the interest of migrants! awaiting transport. This’ publicity- is< supplemented by lectures,, broadcasts- from Radio Australia, placement, of articles and pictures in the- British press, exhibitions; posters, and films: om Australia. Two booklets have; been prepared’ for distribution throughout European- countries from which Australia1 seeks; migrants, particularly to- the: displaced, persons camps in occupied Germany. Am extension of publicity services to the displaced persons Gamps- has been, started, and Radio- Australia, is: now broadcasting a. daily onehour, programme of news; music: and feature, programmes direct. to> tha- International Relief Organization-, camps Pesters*, pictures, displays, and placement of articles in the foreign-language press in hath the American audi British occupation, zones- supplement this publicity. In Australia,, work iiss weLL advanced on production of. six handbooks! for new immigrants;, one.- for each State. These books will introduce the newcomer- to Australia and- particularly to the State in, which the- migrant will reside; A booklet in. simplified English is being prepared to,- help the- non.-British migrants to be absorbed, easily into the community, and to indicate- to- them the1 advantages of adopting Australian: citizenship. Information on the! Commonwealth’s immigration, plans and their progress is provided: to- the- Australian- people in a monthly news-review; bulletin prepared for the> Department of Immigration. Copies go to the Australian- press and radio, to organizational journals,, to employer. and employee organizations, to church heads, welfare bodies, and other opinion-forming, sections- o£ the community. During the last financial year, the: section’s, publicity work was restricted by the limited; number, of- ships available to- bring migrants., to. Australia.

This year the section has plans which will enable it to provide as wide a cover of immigration publicity as circumstances and policy dictate.

The Shortwave Division of the Department of Information, which made a significant contribution to the waging of the war against Japan, has been serving an important peace-time purpose as Radic Australia. To-day, every important nation is using shortwave as an instrument of goodwill and publicity. Although the cost of Radio Australia is small compared with that of comparable services in other countries, it has a worldwide reputation. A recent survey made in Sweden, a country noted for its avid interest in shortwave broadcasting, rated Radio Australia with the British Broadcasting Corporation and the shortwave services of Canada and the United States of America, as the four leading services of their kind in the world.

Radio Australia operates from the most extensive and powerful station in the Southern Hemisphere, and is on the air for 22 hours of programme time a day. Broadcasting in five languages, it transmits seventeen news bulletins daily. In these bulletins and in its talks features, it presents Australian events and their background clearly and impartially to the world. The number of letters received by Radio Australia has been steadily mounting over the past three years. They come in now at the rate of 25,000 a year - a clear indication of its popularity, for only a minute proportion of radio listeners bother to write to their stations. Radio Australia uses talks, features and music to tell Australia’s story, to develop trade, to encourage migrants, investors and tourists, and to publicize the achievements of Australians in music, art, science, industry, sport and other spheres. Its news is quoted and requoted by radio stations, newspapers and periodicals throughout the world.

During the last year, Radio Australia programmes have been relayed by All.India Radio, Singapore Radio, the big Mutual System in the United States, New Zealand’s National Broadcasting Service, the Canadian and South African Broadcasting Corporations, and the British Broadcasting Corporation. Its news bulletins and other features are relayed three times every day over mediumwave and shortwave by occupation forces’ stations in Japan. When, owing to the volume of work involved, 500 people occupying important position; were asked by the department’s London bureau whether they would accept a weekly Australian news bulletin in place of the daily bulletin transmitted by Radio Australia and distributed by the bureau, remarkable tributes to the service flowed in. Among these was a letter from the secretary of Dalgety and Company in London in the course of which he said -

This publication is of vital importance to this company, and owing to the large number of directors and executives who are concerned with the information contained therein, it is necessary for them to have copies of the daily bulletin in their hands at early as possible. Hence we are unable to reduce the number of copies we require.

The manager of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in London wrote -

As the Central Bank, we are daily called upon to answer numerous inquiries on Australian affairs, and to provide up-to-date statistics, many of which we can find only in the bulletin.

Mr. W. S. Robinson, of Austral Developments Limited, replied to the bureau’s circular as follows: -

Your bulletin has a wide circulation in our office, and we find it always of great interest.

More than 70 films have been produced by the Film Division of the Department of Information. These have been of all types, from instructional films for technical training to general interest films on subjects as diverse as Antarctica, hallet, arid aviation. Many have been designed for theatrical release, to stimulate interest in Australian achievement. One of them, titled School in the Mailbox, achieved the rare honour of nomination for an academy award. In Australia, there has been a great increase in the theatrical distribution of my department’s films. As many as four have been running at one time in capital cities, where it is estimated they have been seen by more than a million people. Thousands more will see them on suburban and country circuits. Press critics have been warm in their praise of such films as Spotlight on Australian Ballet, School iti the Mailbox Namatjira the Painter and Antarctic Adventure. In the present year, distribution will be expanded and more films released theatrically. Besides bringing Australian activity to the attention of the Australian public, distribution represents a source of revenue to the Government. The department’s policy is to contract with commercial distributors for straight-out fees or for a percentage of returns. As the number of films grows, returns will increase.

Preparation of the stream of material necessary to maintain the department’s world-wide press publicity services naturally is a big task. It is exacting especially because of the high standard of accuracy needed in acting as an official mouthpiece of Australia. Yet it is performed by 28 writers, and a photographic section which supplies the necessary illustrations. The size of the literary staff employed is less than is required by a daily newspaper in one of our big cities. So well and favorably have the department’s services become known, that a large proportion of the material is supplied in response to requests by various publications. Feature articles produced by the department cover almost every aspect of Australian affairs. In addition, the department supplies a vast amount of information in the form of newsletters for use by newspapers, periodicals, lecturers, radio commentators and others.

A feature known as Talkabout, relating to unusual and interesting aspects of Australia, has for two years been supplied to the great Associated Press newsagency, which circulates it, with illustrations by the agency’s artists, to 1,500 newspapers in the United States of America, and to newspapers in 21 other countries. We face constantly increasing demands for pictures of Australian life - our sports, tourist attractions, industrial activities and so on. Investors, working men, tourists and immigrants want to know what Australia has to offer, and pictures help to tell them the story. Each week approximately 1,500 prints are distributed through our overseas representatives to newspapers, magazines, libraries, schools and other organizations interested in. Australia.

Honorable members have received from time to time copies of the Department of Information overseas publicity magazine,

South-West Pacific, and I feel confident that they have been impressed by the high quality of its contents and the craftmanship evident in its appearance. Practically every article and many of the illustrations have been reproduced in important overseas publications. Australia in Facts and Figures, also prepared and produced by the department, is widely used as a source of reference and reading, both in Australia and overseas; and its circulation continues to grow as demand for the booklet increases. It is included in reading material placed bv the department on outgoing aircraft and ships. Most of the copies made available in Australia go to newspaper and broadcasting offices, literary institutes, local governing bodies, Commonwealth and State departments, and schools. Know Australia, a pithy, factual booklet, has run to its seventh edition, and a total distribution of approximately 1,000,000 copies. Like all these publications, it is in constant demand, particularly among prospective immigrants and tourists. Other publications are produced a9 occasion requires.

With the concurrence of the State tourist authorities, tourist publicity on behalf of Australia in other countries has been included in the responsibilities of the Department of Information. Shortage of shinning and accommodation, and the continuance of unsettled world conditions, have been a setback to hopes of early resumption of tourist traffic to Australia, although a boom is being experienced in Australia’s domestic tourist trade. It is noteworthy, however, that Great Britain, despite its acute food shortage and housing problem, has established a national tourist authority and is taking very active and successful steps to attract tourists, particularly in relation to its dollar currency requirements. The British Travel Association reports that Britain’s post-war tourist traffic is now its greatest single earner of dollars. The association looks forward to the British Isles reaping within a few years an annual return of £100,000,000 sterling from tourism. With this example in mind, the department is using the present lull in tourist traffic to Australia to plan ahead, and to explore all avenues for the necessary co-operation on a national basis pf ;all concerned in the development of Australia’s tourist attractions.

Liaison is maintained by the Department ,of Information with other .departments, both Commonwealth and State, and with instrumentalities in which the Commonwealth, is concerned, in relation <to publicity matters. The -department makes .available the full range -.pf its resources in joint endeavours related to (special campaigns and .exhibitions. This work is facilitated .by -offices >of .the department in Sydney and Melbourne, which deal with matters within .their respective -spheres. They .also contribute substantially to the volume .©f publicity material despatched by the department’s central secretariat in -Canberra. Information, .assistance and -advice is .given by .the department to international press correspondents film producers and (.others who visit this country seeking to cater for the interest -pf the world at large in Australia, In this, the department’s State .offices provide convenient points of contact.

Despite the world-wide lange, :and the diversity of the activities of my department, its total expenditure in the year ended, the .30th June last, was £324,409 or £9,0.00 less than the .amount authorized by the Parliament. Expenditure for the current year is estimated at £351,50.0. The increase in comparison with last year’s estimate is .due solely to costofliving .adjustments to salaries and wages, and represents the minimum amount necessary for the department to maintain its existing activities. Honorable members may find it helpful, as a basis of comparison, to know that the UnderSecretary of State for Commonwealth Relations told the House of Commons in July last that total British Government expenditure on overseas information services in 194S-49 would, at then current rates, reach £11,622,000. This means that the United Kingdom spends just under 5s. a head of its population on information services, while Australia spends only lid. a person. Our offices, at home and overseas, are small arid modest compared even with those of certain tiny European and South American countries, but their efficiency and the results they have achieved have had them accepted on several occasions as ,the models for other nations which wished to .set ,up .national news and information ‘bureaux, or to improve their existing ones. The story of my department .is, I am happy to say, one of steady achievement .and valuable contribution to Australia’s interests. Results speak for themselves.

Mr. ADERMA20J (Maranoa) (‘9..-40].- I wish to deal with -only two aspects of the Estimates now .before us, one pertaining to (the administration of the Department of Transport and the other to thai -.of the Department of Post-war Reconstruction Before I do so, however, I must ,say that, in view of the time taken by .the .Minister for Information (Mr, Calwell,) to-night in his attempt to defend his department against any criticism that might .be voiced in this chamber. I .am beginning .to altar my opinion >of the efficiency .of .the Department of Information. As the Minister stone-walled, .this debate by giving us :a long .dissertation >on the activities of his department, -one can only conclude that its administration must be rotten indeed.

I have discussed the subject -of roadmaking machinery in this -chamber on many occasions. Paint of the moneys made available joinder the Commonwealth Add Roads and Works Act is to he , set aside for the purchase of road-making machinery. I draw the attention .of the Minister for Transport (Mr.. Ward) to the serious plight of local governing .authorities in Queensland because of their inability to procure roadmaking machinery, I have received a letter from the Wondai Shire Council, which is representative of most of the 2.6 local authorities in my electorate. It reads as follows : -

In March, 19*8, when machinery was thought .to be available, and years after some had been lost by the shire to impressment by the services, we were not successful in buying. In November of that year orders were accepted by Waugh and Josephson for supply of one No. 12 Caterpillar Grader, and by Tutt-Bryant for one Allis Chalmers “ AD “ Grader. Waugh and Josephson would not indicate a date for delivery, but Tutt-Bryant promised delivery within six months. These orders of almost two years standing have not been delivered, making our position most serious.

Not only have the orders not been delivered but when I approached the State authorities which recently took over the control of the distribution of these machines from the Department of Works and Housing, and intimated that it would follow the scheme of distribution previously adopted by that department, I was informed that I could be given no help in the matter. I asked if delivery could he -expected within twelve months and was informed that they could not even promise that. Local governing authorities prefer tractors of the caterpillar type, the framework of which is manufactured in Australia. Last year the issue of licences for the importation of tractors of that type was suspended and this year only seven of those tractors are to be imported for the whole of Queensland. That indicates how serious the situation has become. Earlier, when I asked that the number of permits be at least doubled so that the most urgent and pressing requirements could be met, I was informed that the number of machines imported had reached the capacity of the Australian manufacturers in providing the requisite framework. I also asked what roadmaking machinery was being exported from Australia and I was informed that no machinery was being exported, other than to New Guinea and other territories under the control of the Commonwealth. Mr. George E. Bryant, of the Tutt-Bryant organization in Australia, is reported as follows in the Industrial News Service which, I presume, is a publication produced by the organization : -

Australian factories were producing more construction .machinery than any other country in the world, except U.S.A., claimed Mr. George T3. Bryant, a leading Australian chartered engineer, upon his return from America. “ For example “, he said, “ Australia is today able to export in addition to supplying her own needs. Recently some £50,000 worth of treedozers for clearing work associated with the British Food Council’s ground nut project were exported to Tanganyika, South Africa, in addition to several 150 h.p. high-speed industrial wheel tractors to Sweden, India, Malaya and other countries.

Mr ADERMANN:
MARANOA, QUEENSLAND

– I should say that Mr. Bryant, who is concerned with the manufacture of machinery of this kind, ought to know. I want the matter cleared up. The Government should make it possible to import more tractors so that local bodies in Queensland may keep roads in repair. If only double the number were imported, they would meet the most urgent requirements, and the number of dollars involved would not be great. The agents of machinery firms say they cannot promise delivery within five years, and a road grader is practically worn out after five years’ use. The need for machinery of this kind is urgent, and I ask whether the Government is going to allow the export of such machinery as is made in Australia. The supply of tyres for roadmaking machinery is another problem. Rubber is available, but it is hard to get the tyres made.

On more than one occasion I have heard the Minister for Post-war Reconstruction (Mr. Dedman) eulogize the Government’s land settlement programme for ex-servicemen. I have also heard him criticize the Victorian Government for its handling of this matter, but the Queensland Government has not done so well as the Victorian Government, although there is more suitable land available for settlement in Queensland than in Victoria. I have here a copy of the most recent issue of the Legionnaire, the official organ of the Australian Legion of Ex-service Men and Women, in which there appears an article headed, “ What about Soldiers’ Land - Mr. FoleY ? “ Mr. Foley is Minister for Lands in the Queensland Government. The article states -

Two thousand Queensland ex-servicemen who helped save Australia’s 3,000,000 square miles from the Japanese, have now found they can’t get an acre of land for themselves.

This is the number of ex-servicemen approved under the War Service Land Settlement Scheme and still awaiting farms. They have been waiting for 3, 4 and 5 years. For all they know they might have to wait another 10 years.

They think, and “Legionnaire” think they have waited long enough. It’s just about time that the State Minister for Lands (Mr. Foley) tells them frankly exactly what the Queensland Government is doing for them.

There have been plenty of vague promises, plenty of nebulous plans, plenty of finesounding optimistic press statements by responsible Ministers during and since the war. But there have been very few farms.

In March, 1946, two and a half years ago, the then Minister for Lands (Mr. Jones) gave a glowing statement to Legionnaire about the prospects for soldier settlement.

These were some of the assurances Mr. Jones gave: -

Seven and a half million acres, spread over many parts of the State were involved in land settlement proposals;

Inspection and subdivision of 5,700,000 acres of pastoral land throughout Queensland’s sheep districts was progressing. Half of the land selected would be available for ex-servicemen.

Agricultural and dairy farm land totalling nearly 1,000,000 acres were under expert scrutiny for submission for approval and inclusion in the Commonwealth State Settlement Scheme.

In Canberra a few weeks ago, the Minister for Post-war Reconstruction (Mr. Dedman) revealed how little had really been achieved. Hia statement exposed, beyond doubt, the abject failure of the Queensland Government to settle ex-servicemen on the land.

Mr. Dedman disclosed that, of 1,427 exservicemen given farms throughout Australia under the War Service Land Settlement Scheme only (54 had been helped by the Queensland Government.

How can the Government be satisfied with the progress of its land settlement schemes for ex-servicemen? Government supporters have criticized what was done for ex-servicemen after the first world war, but the record of this Government is an outstanding failure, in spite of the fact that, in Queensland at any rate, much suitable land is available, and a Labour government is in office in that State. I have not heard any Queensland Ministers in this Parliament eulogizing the land settlement scheme for ex-servicemen in Queensland. The Minister for Postwar Reconstruction should take the matter up with the Queensland Government, instead of criticizing the governments in other States where a far better job has been done than the Government of Queensland has been able to do. I raise this question in the interests of ex-servicemen who are looking for land, and who have been waiting for two and a half years for the farms that were promised them. I want to hear what the Minister for Post-war Reconstruction intends to do about it.

Mr WHITE:
Balaclava

Mr HOLLOWAY:

– The staff of that department has been reduced in accordance with the recommendations of the special committee. The honorable member for Balaclava referred to the Commonwealth Employment Service. He ascertained the total number of persons who had been placed in positions by the Commonwealth Employment Service, divided it . into the proposed vote for the whole department, and then stated that the result represented the cost of finding em- ployment for each person. Although that calculation was childish and ridiculous, the honorable member continues to repeat it. He should be ashamed of himself for doing so. The work of the Department of Labour and National Service is not confined to the employment section. The Commonwealth Employment Office is only a part of the department.

The. Department of Labour and National Service, administers the Commonwealth reconstruction training scheme and defence training schemes. Honorable members may not be aware that radio engineers and- other technicians are. still being, trained for the Royal Australian Navy, the Army and the. Royal Australian Air Force. The number is not large. Disabled persons, exservicemen and civilians are being trained so that, instead of being invalid’ pensioners, they may do useful work in the community. Persons are also being trained in industry. Employers have agreed to train men on the job in an endeavour to overcome the shortage of experienced tradesmen. In addition, workers, who have been rendered redundant by technological! changes, are. being, retrained. That arrangement is described in the White Paper on Eull Employment. Standards o£ industrial! training, are. being raised in conjunction with the Universities Commission. Yesterday, the Acting Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Harrison) said “ that the. Government had fallen down on the job of training ex-service personnel. But the fact is that according to figures, compiled last week in connexion with the full-time vocational training sherne, 82,079 persons had been, accepted, 56^042 were in training and 38,612 had completed training: In connexion with parttime classes and technical training at night, 16-7,000 had been accepted, 149,000 were in training and 13,229 had completed their training.

Mr HOLLOWAY:

– It can be proved in some instances that the output for a 40- hour week is greater than that for a 44- hour week. In the case to which I have referred, the employees were asked to produce more in a shorter working week.

Mr Harrison:

– The conciliation commissioner said that the output should be greater, and the employees said that they were being asked to do too much.

Mr HOLLOWAY:

- Mr. Staniforth Rickettson, the chairman of the Capel Court Investment Company, an organization with investments in no less than 217 companies, mostly in Australia and New Zealand, does not think that the economic position of Australia -is as bad as honorable gentlemen opposite say it is. On the 22nd March, 194S, speaking at the annual meeting of his company, he said -

Some Australians may perhaps overemphasize their own political ,and industrial troubles, but careful examination of political, financial and economic conditions in all countries will disclose, I feel, that Australia now is predominantly the best practicable field, and the one offering the most attractions, for the investment of British capital.

Obviously that gentleman does not think that Australia is such a dismal place as

Opposition members say that it is. The honorable member for Parramatta (Mr. Beale) has probably seen Mr. Carter appearing in court many times. When Mr. Carter was representing the Western Australian Employers Federation in proceedings in the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration before Judge DrakeBrockman, the judge asked him why the organization for which he was appearingdid not combine with employers organizations in other States so that one Commonwealth award could be made to cover all of them. Mr. Carter said that there was nothing to prevent that being done except the natural fear of his clients that they would be “ brought out from their little industrial backwater of comparative peace into the turmoil of the Eastern situation “. The judge then remarked -

More recently, that turmoil in the east has not been very big, because Australia has been the least disturbed of any industrial country in the world with the exception of one for a long period.

Mr Beale:

– That is absolute nonsense.

Mr HOLLOWAY:

– That statement was made by Judge Drake-Brockman. Mr. Carter then said -

Yes, and I think I oan justly say that they claim that Western Australia has been the most peaceful of all the States.

He admitted that industrial conditions in the other States of Australia were more settled than those in other countries, but suggested that Western Australia was the most peaceful of the Australian States. It will he seen that a business man and a judge both deny the implied suggestion of the Acting Leader of the Opposition that this country is in a state of turmoil and industrial chaos, and is a bad place in which to invest money.

Sir EARLE PAGE:
Cowper

, - I desire to address my remarks to the Estimates’ for the Department of Postwar Reconstruction. It is proposed that a sum of £24,000 should be allotted for investigation expenses in relation to resources and development projects. A distinguished Scandinavian scientist, who is one of the greatest experts in the world on the production of cellulose and its manufacture into various products, was recently brought to this country to examine a special project.

appeal to the Minister for Post-war Reconstruction (Mr. Dedman) to utilize the services of this expert to examine the timber resources of Australia in order to see whether it is possible comprehensively to develop our secondary industries that are associated with timber.

I saw the Comptroller-General of Customs in order to discover the quantities of articles manufactured from timber that have been imported into Australia during the last few years. I propose to deal with two items - newsprint and rayon yarn. The value of the imports of those articles increased by £6,000,000 between 1946- 47 and 1947-48, despite the fact that they have been subjected to severe rationing. In 1946-47 the total value of imports of these two items was £7,760,000 Australian and in 1947-48 it was £13,525,000 Australian. If, by utilizing our timber resources, we could avoid the expenditure of over £13,000,000 on the importation of these goods, dollars to that value would be made available for the purchase of tractors, motor cars, lorries, petrol and machinery that would enable us materially to increase our total production and to make long-term plans for the continued employment of our people as well as of many migrants. The £13,525,000 worth of imports is made up of 117,000 tons of newsprint, valued at £3,561,000; 35,000 tons of the better class of printing paper, valued at £3,635,000; 46,000 tons of various forms of wood pulp, which is not at present made in Australia, for the manufacture of paper, valued at £2,000,000; and 12,000,000 lb. of rayon yams, which are made from wood fibres, valued at £4,327,000. In 1947- 48, 53,000 tons of paper was made in Australia, and 152,000 tons was imported. We need 2S0,000 tons of paper a year to meet our normal consumption. So, in 1947-48 we were short by 75,000 tons of what we required to carry on. Australian capacity to absorb locallymanufactured paper, would he roughly 227,000 tons above whatever quantity was necessary to supply rayon, cellulose, celluloid, paint and lacquers in addition to what was already produced in Australia. The establishment of works to deal with wood fibres and the conversion of timber into the products I have mentioned would lead to the establishment of industries which would have to be near the sites from which they drew their raw materials and would require a substantia] amount of water to enable them to operate. These developments would necessarily lead to decentralized industries, the operation of which would require the development of « considerable amount of power, which would in turn enable other industries to be set up in the same region. At the present time in Australia, timber is converted mainly to building materials or firewood. Only about 10 per cent, of forest timbers are actually utilized. Only one in three of the trees of any .good forest can’ be used because of the fact that many trees are not straight, but if there were a combination of saw-milling associated with the manufacture of paper pulp and cellulose it would he possible to use 60 per cent, or 70 per cent, of Australia’s total bulk of timber. That would eliminate tremendous waste. If a system of reafforestation were carried into effect as well as a system of -rotation in the use of timbers it would be found that, as a result of extra care and improved technique, it would be possible to treble the total production of timber in this country and so establish permanent industries associated with country districts. There are only a limited number of valuable timbers in Australia and of timber belts of such magnitude as would permit the establishment of any big undertaking in the manufacture of paper pulp and rayon, both of which require at least 100,000 tons of wood a year at the outset.

– The total cost to the Commonwealth of the land settlement of ex-servicemen, up to the end of August this year, has been £12,281,000. Two forms of assistance to such settlers are provided by the Australian Government. One is the general scheme. The honorable mem.ber for Indi (Mr. McEwen) would not himself like to settle in the Northern Territory, but he may at some time or other inform the committee how he acquired the right of possession of a soldier settlement proposition after the first war.

Mr McEwen:

– There is no secret about that.

Mr DEDMAN:

– It would also be interesting to hear how he was able to obtain land for the purpose of soldier settlement after the .first world war, and how the honorable member manages to get irrigation channels on his property.

The TEMPORARYCHAIRMAN (Mr. Watkins).- Order! The time allottedforthe consideration of the proposedvotesfor the Department of Labour and National Service, the Department of Transport, the Department of Informationand the Department of Post-war Reconstruction has expired.

Question put -

Th at the proposed votes be agreed to.

The committee divided. (The Temporary Chairman - Mr. D.O. Watkins.)

AYES: 0

NOES: 23

Majority . .10

AYES

NOES

Question so resolved inthe affirmative.

Progress reported.

page 1317

ADJOURNMENT

Motion (by Mr. Holloway) proposed -

That the House do now adjourn.

Mr.HUTCHINSON (Deakin) [11.5].- Ipropose to mention a matter which I think isof sufficient importance to warrant a reply on behalf of the Government, even at this late hour. It arises out of a report in the press that certain buildings used as a physics laboratory in the Universityof Melbourne were to-day burnt down. I quote the following from the newspaper report: -

Thelaboratories were used by the C.S.I.R. and theUniversity in carrying out vital defence experiments in nuclear physics. Professor L. H. Martin, Who was in charge of the laboratories,said to-day that irreplaceable equipment valued atmorethan £10,000was destroyed. It was the most devastating fire in the University’s history. Valuablerecords of experiments, including weekly reports radioed from cosmic research stations on Heard and Macquarie Islands, were destroyed. A week ago part ofthe University Zoology School was badly seared by a mystery fire, and early this yearanother physics section was burnt out. Because of the lackof space at theUniversity, the laboratories were housedin three 40-ft. converted army huts which had been joined together. Three separate experiments on nuclear and cosmic physics werenearing completion after two years work. Professor Martin saidit was the mainCommonwealth defence research centre and the only one in Australia undertaking such work. Previous research had been made at the University into cosmic rays, and files of records made over four years were lost. Thefire was first noticed by a student.

This was a most important occurrence, and the circumstances surrounding it might well be alarming. I could ask whether it was an act of sabotage or an accident. If it was an accident, how did it occur, and who was responsible for allowing it to occur? Apparently, the laboratory was housed in some old army huts and, so far as we can find out, no one was on duty to guard the buildings, although this was the main laboratory used for a particular phase of investigation. I understand that it is the duty of the Commonwealth Investigation Service to guard buildings of this kind. Was a security officer on duty at the time? Apparently not. A student saw flames coming from the building, and the fire brigade was called, but, of course, arrived too late, and all the records were destroyed. Is there any reason to wonder that the government of a friendly nation such as the United States of America should hesitate to entrust defence secrets to Australian government authorities, when a laboratory, in which important defence investigations were being conducted, was left unguarded? Any doubts which have been entertained about the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research might well be entertained also about the Government itself, because the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research is, after all, merely a government instrumentality and is under government control. At the present time, we are engaged in a cold war with Russia. It is needless to point out that there is in every democratic country a fifth column at work which, as the Premier of Belgium, Mr. Spaak, said, makes Hitler’s fifth columns look like an organization of boy scouts. The Communists’ fifth columns work in two ways. First, they work through the big industrial unions, particularly those which are engaged in heavy industries and transport activities; and secondly, as was demonstrated in Canada and the United States of America, they endeavour to infiltrate into research activities being carried on in the interests of defence. The fire at the Melbourne University occurred this morning, but no reference has been made to it in the Parliament until now. Has the Government instituted an inquiry into the fire? The Chief Fire Officer said that he was certain that there was no sinister significance about the fire, although it is the third which has occurred recently at the Melbourne University. On what ground did he make that statement? Such an accident could occur only because the building was not, so far as we are aware, guarded at the time. There have been too many similar incidents recently. Only a little while ago, a theft occurred from a defence establishment at Mangalore, in my electorate. I have no doubt that that establishment, also, was not sufficiently guarded. A quantity of small arms ammunition was taken, and on another occasion some grenades disappeared from a defence establishment. “What sort of Government is this-

Mr. Ward. - A Labour Government

Mr HUTCHINSON:
DEAKIN, VICTORIA

– Yes, a Labour Government, which is betraying the trust of the people. If the laboratory at the University of Melbourne could be burndown because no one was on guard, it was equally possible for the records to have been stolen from the building. Apparently, the work which was being done at the laboratory was part of an Empire research programme, and it’ is possible that the destruction of the records mighdelay the work at other Empire research establishments for years.

Mr DEDMAN:
Minister for Defence, Minister for Post-war Reconstruction and Minister in charge of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research · Corio · ALP

– I did see the reporin this evening’s press about the fire in the grounds of the University .of Melbourne. Of course, it was an unfortunate incident in that a valuable building and valuable equipment were destroyed. However, if the honorable member had been listening when I was speaking two nights ago, he would have heard me say that the experiments being conducted at this laboratory had no connexion whatever with defence. This is merely another example of how the press endeavours to create the impression that all scientific research in Australia is connected with defence. 1 do not know what Professor Martin if alleged to have said; but I do know that those experiment’s were undertaken at the University of Melbourne, because they are of no defence significance al all. I have said that defence scientific research is a matter for the Defence Department; and there were sufficient defence projects being undertaken in this country. The set of experiments at the University of Melbourne was not one of the projects sponsored by the Defence Department. Those experiments were part of a series of experiments undertaken in fundamental research into nuclear energy generally with the objecof training sufficient men to develop an atomic or nuclear energy stock-pile in this country should we at any time require it. They were not a defence project at all. As I explained earlier, it is customary for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research to sponsor experiments which are carried out at universities and at other institutions throughout the Commonwealth, and this was one of a series of such experiments. The team at the University of Melbourne was headed by Professor Martin, who is an officer of that university and not an officer of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and he is not bound to the Australian Government in any way whatever. However, the Government believed that it should finance those experiments for the purpose I have indicated. I am not aware whether the buildings were guarded. If that was necessary, that was the responsibility of the university authorities. There was no necessity to place any guard on the buildings from a security point of view.What is involved in these experiments is well known to physicists throughout the world. They involve nothing that is secret. Therefore, there was no necessity to make any security arrangements at the buildings or in connexion with the experiments. Furthermore, in relation to the experiments undertaken no information of a secret nature was sought, or received, from the United States of America or from any other country. When I say that the responsibility for guarding the buildings was the responsibility of the university authorities, I am not in any way criticizing those authorities. No doubt, they took what they deemed to be reasonable precautions against fire hazard. But in spite of all precautions, unfortunately, fires do sometimes break out. This fire was most unfortunate. Probably it will be difficult to resume the experiments and to replace the plant, equipment and records that have been lost. The experiments, I repeat, have no significance whatever from a defence, or security, point of view.

Motion (by Mr. Scully) agreed to -

That the question be now put.

Question put -

That the House do now adjourn.

The House divided. (Mr. Deputy Speaker - Mr. J. J. Clark.)

AYES: 29

NOES: 23

Majority . . . . 6

AYES

NOES

Question so resolved in the affirmative.

House adjourned at 11.24 p.m.

page 1319

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS

The following answers to questions were circulated: -

Status of Women.

Unrra : Distribution of Supplies; Fishing Boats.

Hides and Tallow

Mr Hamilton:
SWAN, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

n asked the Minister for Commerce and Agriculture, . upon notice -

Is there in operation an equalization fund for hides and/or tallow into which is paid by exporters the difference between local and export prices; if -so, what amounts’ are bela by the -Government in this fund?
“Ha–v« any amounts been -distributed to exporters from this fund; rf so, how .rauch was distributed and when was the distribution made, in each case?

Mr Pollard:
ALP

– The answers to the honorable member’s questions are as follows : -

The Australian Hide and Leather Industries ‘Board administers a marketing scheme for hides and -leather which -involves a form of equalization, ..while a voluntary -equalization arrangement .is operated by the tallow trade in respect of tallow. No moneys .arc .held by the Government or paid into government revenue in respect of -these schemes. The Side and Leather .Boards funds at present show a net credit oS approximately £71,000. 1 am informed that the amount standing to the credit of No. 4 Tallow Pool is approximately £696,000.
1. Distributions are not made to exporters. En fact the moneys in both funds are obtained by collections from exporters., In the case of hides payments are made .from the fund to the persons from whom hides are acquired by the hoard and, in the case of tallow, manufacturers only are -entitled to receive distributions from the pool.

Cite as: Australia, House of Representatives, Debates, 6 October 1948, viewed 22 October 2017, <http://historichansard.net/hofreps/1948/19481006_reps_18_198/>.

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House of Representatives 6 October 1948

QUESTION

SECRET INFORMATION

Mr LANG:REID, NEW SOUTH WALES

Mr CHIFLEY:Prime Minister · MACQUARIE, NEW SOUTH WALES · ALP

Mr McEwen:

Mr CHIFLEY:

Mr Anthony:

Mr CHIFLEY:

QUESTION

MALAYA

Mr CHIFLEY:ALP

Mr McBRIDE:WAKEFIELD, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Mr CHIFLEY:

QUESTION

JURY SERVICE

Mr CONELAN:GRIFFITH, QUEENSLAND

Mr HOLLOWAY:Minister for Labour and National Service · MELBOURNE, VICTORIA · ALP

QUESTION

LIGHTHOUSE-KEEPERS

Mr BOWDEN:GIPPSLAND, VICTORIA

Mr HOLLOWAY:ALP

QUESTION

BROADCASTING

Mr RUSSELL:GREY, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Mr CALWELL:Minister for Immigration · MELBOURNE, VICTORIA · ALP

QUESTION

CHRISTMAS ISLAND

Mr ARCHIE CAMERON:Postmaster-General · BARKER, SOUTH AUSTRALIA · ALP

Mr CHIFLEY:ALP

Mr Archie Cameron:

Mr CHIFLEY:

QUESTION

TREACLE AND GOLDEN SYRUP

Mrs BLACKBURN:BOURKE, VICTORIA

Mr POLLARD:Minister for Commerce and Agriculture · BALLAARAT, VICTORIA · ALP

QUESTION

SUGAR

Mr DUTHIE:WILMOT, TASMANIA

Mr DEDMAN:Minister for Defence · CORIO, VICTORIA · ALP

QUESTION

RECALL OF AUSTRALIAN CITIZENS FROM OVERSEAS

Dame ENID LYONS:DARWIN, TASMANIA

Mr CALWELL:ALP

Mr Abbott:

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER:

Mr CALWELL:

Mr ABBOTT:

Mr CALWELL:

Mr RYAN:FLINDERS, VICTORIA

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER:

QUESTION

CIVIL AVIATION

Mr CONELAN:

Mr DRAKEFORD:Minister for Air · MARIBYRNONG, VICTORIA · ALP

QUESTION

WOOL

Mr DAVIDSON:CAPRICORNIA, QUEENSLAND

Mr Chifley:

Mr POLLARD:ALP

QUESTION

RATIONING

Mr DUTHIE:

Mr JOHNSON:Minister for the Interior · KALGOORLIE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA · ALP

QUESTION

TASMANIAN RAILWAY’S

Mr FALKINDER:FRANKLIN, TASMANIA

Mr HOLLOWAY:ALP

TARIFF BOARD

Annual Report

Mr POLLARD:ALP

QUESTION

NORTHERN TERRITORY

Mr McEWEN:

Mr Chifley:

Mr DEDMAN:ALP

Mr BLAIN:NORTHERN TERRITORY

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER:

Mr JOHNSON:KALGOORLIE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA · ALP

QUESTION

House of Representatives
6 October 1948

Mr LANG:
REID, NEW SOUTH WALES

Mr CHIFLEY:
Prime Minister · MACQUARIE, NEW SOUTH WALES · ALP

Mr CHIFLEY:
ALP

Mr McBRIDE:
WAKEFIELD, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Mr CONELAN:
GRIFFITH, QUEENSLAND

Mr HOLLOWAY:
Minister for Labour and National Service · MELBOURNE, VICTORIA · ALP

Mr BOWDEN:
GIPPSLAND, VICTORIA

Mr HOLLOWAY:
ALP

Mr RUSSELL:
GREY, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Mr CALWELL:
Minister for Immigration · MELBOURNE, VICTORIA · ALP

Mr ARCHIE CAMERON:
Postmaster-General · BARKER, SOUTH AUSTRALIA · ALP

Mr CHIFLEY:
ALP

Mrs BLACKBURN:
BOURKE, VICTORIA

Mr POLLARD:
Minister for Commerce and Agriculture · BALLAARAT, VICTORIA · ALP

Mr DUTHIE:
WILMOT, TASMANIA

Mr DEDMAN:
Minister for Defence · CORIO, VICTORIA · ALP

Dame ENID LYONS:
DARWIN, TASMANIA

Mr CALWELL:
ALP

Mr RYAN:
FLINDERS, VICTORIA

Mr DRAKEFORD:
Minister for Air · MARIBYRNONG, VICTORIA · ALP

Mr DAVIDSON:
CAPRICORNIA, QUEENSLAND

Mr POLLARD:
ALP

Mr JOHNSON:
Minister for the Interior · KALGOORLIE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA · ALP

Mr FALKINDER:
FRANKLIN, TASMANIA

Mr HOLLOWAY:
ALP

Mr POLLARD:
ALP

Mr DEDMAN:
ALP

Mr BLAIN:
NORTHERN TERRITORY

Mr JOHNSON:
KALGOORLIE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA · ALP

Mr TURNBULL:
Wimmera

Mr LANGTRY:
RIVERINA, NEW SOUTH WALES

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN (Mr Watkins:
NEWCASTLE, NEW SOUTH WALES

Mr POLLARD:
Minister for Commerce and Agriculture · Ballarat · ALP

Mr McEWEN:
INDI, VICTORIA · CP; LCL from 1940; CP from 1943

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN (Mr Sheehan:
COOK, NEW SOUTH WALES

Mr WHITE:
Balaclava

Mr DRAKEFORD:
MaribyrnongMinister for Air .and Minister for Civil Aviation · ALP