House of Representatives
9 July 1974

29th Parliament · 1st Session



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PROCLAMATION

The House met at 10.30 a.m., pursuant to the proclamation of His Excellency the Governor-General.

The Clerk read the proclamation.

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OPENING OF THE PARLIAMENT

The Usher of the Black Rod, being announced, was admitted, and delivered the message that the Deputy of the GovernorGeneral for the Opening of the Parliament requested the attendance of honourable members in the Senate chamber forthwith. (Honourable members attended accordingly, and having returned)

The Deputy authorised by the GovernorGeneral to administer the oath or affirmation entered the chamber.

The Clerk read the commission authorising the Right Honourable Sir Douglas Ian Menzies, K.B.E., Justice of the High Court of Australia, to administer the oath or affirmation of allegiance to the Queen required by the Constitution to be taken or made by members of the House of Representatives.

The Clerk laid on the table returns to 127 writs for the election of members of the House of Representatives held on 18th May 1974.

The following honourable members, with the exception of Mr Adrian Frank Bennett, Mr Peter Hertford Drummond, Mr Henry Arthur Hewson, Mr Ian Malcolm Macphee, Mr Frank Lionel O’Keefe and Mr Laurie George Wallis who were not present, made and subscribed the oath of allegiance:

Adermann, Albert Evan, Fisher, Queensland

Anthony, John Douglas, Richmond, New South Wales

Armitage, John Lindsay, Chifley, New South Wales

Barnard, Lance Herbert, Bass, Tasmania

Beazley, Kim Edward, Fremantle, Western Australia

Berinson, Joseph Max, Perth, Western Australia

Bonnett, Robert Noel, Herbert, Queensland

Bourchier, John William, Bendigo, Victoria

Bowen, Lionel Frost, Kingsford-Smith, New South Wales

Bryant, Gordon Munro, Wills, Victoria

Bungey, Melville Harold, Canning, Western Australia

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AUSTRALIA

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PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Hansard

1974

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FIRST SESSION OF THE TWENTY-NINTH PARLIAMENT

(First Period)

The House of Representatives was, by proclamation, dissolved on 11 April 1974. The Twenty-ninth Parliament was convened for the dispatch of business on 9 July 1974, and the First Session commenced on that day.

Cairns, Kevin Michael, Lilley, Queensland

Calder, Stephen Edward, Northern Territory

Cameron, Clyde Robert, Hindmarsh, South Australia

Cameron, Donald Milner, Griffith, Queensland

Chipp, Donald Leslie, Hotham, Victoria

Cohen, Barry, Robertson, New South Wales

Collard, Frederick Walter, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia Connolly, David Miles, Bradfield, New South Wales

Connor, Reginald Francis Xavier, Cunningham, New South Wales

Cope, James Francis, Sydney, New South Wales

Corbett, James, Maranoa, Queensland

Crean, Frank, Melbourne Ports, Victoria

Cross, Manfred Douglas, Brisbane, Queensland

Daly, Frederick Michael, Grayndler, New South Wales

Davies, Ronald, Braddon, Tasmania

Drury, Edward Nigel, Ryan, Queensland

Duthie, Gilbert William Arthur, Wilmot, Tasmania

Edwards, Harold Raymond, Berowra, New South Wales

Ellicott, Robert James, Wentworth, New South Wales

England, John Armstrong, Calare, New South Wales

Erwin, George Dudley, Ballaarat, Victoria

Fairbairn, David Eric, Farrer, New South Wales

Fisher, Peter Stanley, Mallee, Victoria

Fitzpatrick, John, Darling, New South Wales

Forbes, Alexander James, Barker, South Australia

Fraser, John Malcolm, Wannon, Victoria

Fulton, William John, Leichhardt, Queensland

Garland, Ransley Victor, Curtin, Western Australia

Garrick, Horace James, Batman, Victoria

Giles, Geoffrey O’Halloran, Angas, South Australia .

Gorton, John Grey, Higgins, Victoria

Hayden, William George, Oxley, Queensland

Hodges, John Charles, Petrie, Queensland

Holten, Rendle McNeilage, Indi, Victoria

Howard, John Winston, Bennelong, New South Wales

Hunt, Ralph James Dunnet, Gwydir, New South Wales

Hurford, Christopher John, Adelaide, South Australia

Hyde, John Martin, Moore, Western Australia

Innes, Urquhart Edward, Melbourne, Victoria

Jacobi, Ralph, Hawker, South Australia

James, Albert William, Hunter, New South Wales

Jarman, Alan William, Deakin, Victoria

Jenkins, Henry Alfred, Scullin, Victoria

Johnson, Leonard Keith, Burke, Victoria

Johnson, Leslie Royston, Hughes, New South Wales Jones, Charles Keith, Newcastle, New South Wales

Katter, Robert Cummin, Kennedy, Queensland

Keating, Paul John, Blaxland, New South Wales

Kelly, Charles Robert, Wakefield, South Australia

Keogh, Leonard Joseph, Bowman, Queensland

Kerin, John Charles, Macarthur, New South Wales

Killen, Denis James, Moreton, Queensland

King, Robert Shannon, Wimmera, Victoria

Lloyd, Bruce, Murray, Victoria

Luchetti, Anthony Sylvester, Macquarie, New South Wales

Lucock, Philip Ernest, Lyne, New South Wales

Lusher, Stephen Augustus, Hume, New South Wales

Lynch, Phillip Reginald, Flinders, Victoria

MacKellar, Michael John Randal, Warringah, New South Wales

McKenzie, David Charles, Diamond Valley, Victoria 4 REPRESENTATIVES 9 July 1974 Members Sworn

McLeay, John Elden, Boothby, South Australia

McMahon, William, Lowe, New South Wales

McVeigh, Daniel Thomas, Darling Downs, Queensland

Martin, Vincent Joseph, Banks, New South Wales

Millar, Percival Clarence, Wide Bay, Queensland

Morris, Peter Frederick, Shortland, New South Wales

Morrison, William Lawrence, St George, New South Wales

Mulder, Allan William, Evans, New South Wales

Nicholls, Martin Henry, Bonython, South Australia

Nixon, Peter James, Gippsland, Victoria Oldmeadow, Maxwell Wilkinson, Holt, Victoria

Patterson, Rex Alan, Dawson, Queensland

Peacock, Andrew Sharp, Kooyong, Victoria

Reynolds, Leonard James, Barton, New South Wales

Riordan, Joseph Martin, Phillip, New South

Wales

Robinson, Eric Laidlaw, McPherson, Queensland

Robinson, Ian Louis, Cowper, New South Wales

Ruddock, Philip Maxwell, Parramatta, New South Wales

Scholes, Gordon Glen Denton, Corio, Victoria

Sherry, Raymond Henry, Franklin, Tasmania

Sinclair, Ian McCahon, New England, New South Wales

Snedden, Billy Mackie, Bruce, Victoria

Staley, Anthony Allan, Chisholm, Victoria

Stewart, Francis Eugene, Lang, New South Wales

Street, Anthony Austin, Corangamite, Victoria

Sullivan, John William, Riverina, New South Wales

Thorburn, Ray William, Cook, New South Wales

Viner, Robert Ian, Stirling, Western Australia

Wentworth, William Charles, Mackellar, New South Wales

Whan, Robert Bruce, Eden-Monaro, New South Wales

Whitlam, Edward Gough, Werriwa, New South Wales

Wilson, Ian Bonython Cameron, Sturt, South Australia

The following honourable members made and subscribed an affirmation of allegiance:

Cairns, James Ford, Lalor, Victoria

Cass, Moses Henry, Maribyrnong, Victoria

Child, Gloria Joan Liles, Henty, Victoria

Clayton, Gareth, Isaacs, Victoria

Coates, John, Denison, Tasmania

Dawkins, John Sydney, Tangney, Western Australia

Enderby, Keppel Earl, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

Everingham, Douglas Nixon, Capricornia, Queensland

Fry, Kenneth Lionel, Fraser, Australian Capital Territory

Gun, Richard Townsend, Kingston, South Australia

Klugman, Richard Emanuel, Prospect, New South Wales

Lamb, Antony Hamilton, La Trobe, Victoria

Mathews, Charles Race Thorson, Casey, Victoria

Uren, Thomas, Reid, New South Wales

Willis, Ralph, Gellibrand, Victoria

Young, Michael Jerome, Port Adelaide,

page 5

MR SPEAKER

Election

The Clerk:

– Honourable members, the next business of the House is the election of a member as Speaker.

Mr RIORDAN:
Phillip

– I propose to the House for its Speaker,MrCope, and move:

That the honourable member for Sydney (Mr Cope) do take the Chair of this House as Speaker.

Mr Cross:

– I second the nomination.

Mr Cope:

– I accept the nomination.

Mr LYNCH:
Flinders

– I propose to the House for its Speaker, Mr Giles, and move:

That the honourable member for Angas (Mr Giles) do take the Chair of this House as Speaker.

Mr Sinclair:

– I second the nomination.

Mr Giles:

– I accept the nomination. (The time for further proposals having expired)

Mr RIORDAN (Phillip)- The honourable member for Sydney has been a member of this House for more than 19 years. During that time he has acquitted himself well in the important task of being Speaker of this House. Mr Cope has represented his electorate with dedication, sincerity and distinction during the whole of that period. He enjoys the massive support of the persons he represents in this place. He is, indeed, a worthy person to be proposed as the Speaker of this Parliament. He is one whose attitudes have not changed as a result of success he has achieved. He is one who has attempted to keep order in this House, particularly amongst some who do not appreciate or understand normal courtesies which are often practised in places of lesser importance in the community. He is one who has shown equal courtesy, in his application of his duties to the humble and exalted alike. Mr Cope was Speaker during the twenty-eighth Parliament and during that time he had many difficult tasks to perform. As one often looks across this chamber one often wonders where the courtesy has gone.

The office of Speaker is not an easy position to occupy. I have great confidence that Mr Cope will again exert his best influence and his best efforts to ensure that the affairs of this Parliament and this House are conducted in a manner befitting the traditions of the honour which has been bestowed and the responsibility which has been imposed on every member who is elected to this House.

Mr Cope occupied the position of Mr Speaker in the last Parliament with very great distinction. He showed great tolerance in many difficult situations. His knowledge of the Standing Orders and procedures of the House is beyond question. He conducted himself in the discharge of his duties in an impartial manner and was fair and just to every member from both sides of this House. In tense situations, he displayed an ability to act with firmness and good humour, his quick wit often taking the heat out of debates in this Parliament.

The task of maintaining order in this House is a very difficult one. A particular ability is required - an ability which Mr Cope possesses.

There is important work to be done in this Parliament. This House is the place where the people’s voice is to be heard; it is the cornerstone of democracy in Australia. The role of the Speaker is to ensure that rules of debate determined by this House for its own conduct are applied without fear or favour. In my view - and I believe in the collective opinion of this House - Mr Cope is the member best qualified for this important task. I unhesitatingly request this House to support the nomination made by me and seconded by my friend from Brisbane for the election of Mr Cope to be the Speaker of this House. The nomination should be carried unanimously. If it is dealt with on the basis of justice and equity it will be determined in that way.

Mr LYNCH (Flinders)- The office of Speaker has evolved over 600 years of British parliamentary history. The first holder of this office was officially installed in 1377. The role of the Speaker has developed through history from the status of the Crown’s nominee to its present function which is characterised by an impartial commitment to the process of democratic government. The Speakership has been correctly described as the non-political embodiment of the House as a whole. Mr Clerk, all parties and all members in the national Parliament have a right to expect objectivity, fairness and independence from the Speaker of this House.

At the commencement of the 28th Australian Parliament, the Opposition declined to put forward a nomination for the office of Speaker. We did so as a reflection of our confidence in the office of the Speakership and the precedents established by successive incumbents of that office in this Parliament. The Opposition parties today nominate the honourable member for Angas (Mr Giles) for 2 reasons. The first reason is his long and distinguished record in this House and his personal qualities which make him eminently fitted for the Speakership of this House. Secondly, Mr Clerk, we believe that the principles of impartiality and fairness have not been upheld since the commencement of the Twenty-eighth Parliament under the Speakership of the honourable member for Sydney whose nomination for Speaker of this new Parliament is now before us.

May I say that the nomination of a member for the position of Speaker was not a matter on which members on the Government benches were unanimous. This fact must reflect the concern that a number of members of the Government Party have as regards the qualifications of the nominee now proposed.

The honourable member for Angas was first elected to this House in 1964, having previously served 5 years in the Parliament of South Australia. Since that time, he has been re-elected at successive general elections in 1966, 1969, 1972 and 1974. Mr Clerk, he has given distinguished service to committees of the Parliament and on Australian parliamentary delegations in South East Asia, Europe and the United States of America. He is a former Deputy Opposition Whip and he carried out the requirements of that office in an exemplary fashion.

Mr Philip Laundy, an authoritative writer on the role of Speaker in Parliament has said:

It is parliamentary rather than legal experience which is the first requirement of a Speaker. The Speaker must have an intimate understanding of parliamentary life, of the problems of Members collectively and individually, of the moods and foibles of the House. This is an experience which can be acquired only from many years spent on the benches of the House itself. He must have a deep seated reverence for the institution of Parliament, an under-, standing of what lies behind the outward ceremony and a faith in democratic government.

The writer goes on to describe those inimitable qualities which must grace the incumbent of the speakership of a great national Parliament such as this. Integrity, judgment, common sense, patience, tact, a sense of humour, presence of mind, and firmness tempered with kindliness are the qualities, in addition to impartiality, which are required. I put to the House today that these qualities are held in ample measures by the honourable member for Angas. We believe that the interests of this Parliament demand a return to the impartiality and dignity of the speakership exhibited by successive previous holders of this office. The honourable member for Angas has the unanimous support of members of the Opposition parties. I commend that nomination to the House.

Mr CROSS:
Brisbane

- Mr Clerk, as the seconder of Mr Cope’s nomination I wish to speak in support of that nomination. Mr Cope, the honourable Member for Sydney, was the Speaker of this House in the last Parliament during which time he showed those qualities of impartiality and fairness to which the honourable member for Flinders (Mr Lynch) referred. The honourable member for Sydney is a man of wide parliamentary experience. He was elected to this House in 1955 as the member for Cook. On the abolition of that seat through redistribution he served as the member for Watson and again, following a further redistribution, as the member for Sydney. The Speaker, of course, not only presides over the debates in this House but also is associated, in conjunction with the Clerk, in the management of all other affairs of the House and of the Joint House Department which call for his day to day action.

I think that honourable members would all agree that Mr Speaker Cope has been a very approachable person and has been assiduous in his attention to his duties. For 2 parliaments prior to his election to the high office of Speaker at the start of the last Parliament Mr Cope was a Deputy Chairman of Committees. If one looks at his record in the Parliamentary Handbook one finds reference to his attendance at conferences of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and parliamentary delegations to South East Asia, East Asia, and elsewhere. Attached to his experience is also an experience in local government. I think that members of this House in their wisdom will agree that these qualities well fit the honourable member for Sydney to discharge this high and important office.

The point was made that there was a ballot .within the Government party for the position of Speaker. That reflects the democratic tradition of the Australian Labor Party and is a departure from the authoritarian system in force on the other side. Mr Cope in his words and deeds in the former Parliament showed his respect for that democratic tradition. I ask the House to uphold that tradition by supporting his candidature.

Mr SINCLAIR:
New England

– On behalf of members of the Australian Country Party I would like to join with the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party in saying that we believe that the honourable member for Angas has qualities which we see as eminently suiting him for the occupancy of the position of Speaker in this chamber. We are concerned at the fact that it is necessary, as we see it, for the Opposition parties to put up a nominee for this position. Honourable members who were here in the last Parliament will recall that after the December 1972 election the position of Speaker was not contested.

But on this occasion the qualities which my colleague the honourable member for Flinders has expressed as being necessary in the person who is the Speaker in this chamber have been demonstrated to be lacking in many instances in him who is the Labor Government’s nominee. It is interesting that within the Labor Party Caucus obviously many felt that they did not have confidence in the honourable member for Sydney. The voting within Caucus was remarkably close. Of course, not only one person contested that position; there were a number of persons, all of whom obviously believed, as they offered themselves as candidates for election as Speaker, that either they had better qualities or that the man who is the nominee of the Government is unsuited to hold the position of Speaker. So today we have the farcical representation of apparently unanimous support from Government supporters for the honourable member for Sydney.

Mr Snedden:

– It will be interesting to see whether he has it.

Mr SINCLAIR:

– As my Leader says, it will be interesting to see whether he has it. As Speaker the honourable member for Sydney was responsible for putting out of this chamber more honourable members than any previous Labor Government Speaker. That of itself demonstrates his incapacity to hold the position for which he has been nominated today. But, Mr Clerk, in addition - I know that the Leader of the House (Mr Daly) has some responsibility for this - as Speaker, Mr Cope has let through more guillotine motions than any previous Speaker. In other words the man who is charged with the responsibility of custodian of parliamentary practice in this place has permitted that practice to be distorted and abbreviated in a manner which is. totally unacceptable to the normal practice of parliamentary democracy.

In contrast the honourable member for Angas is a person eminently suited to exercise the wise and valid judgment which we believe is necessary in a Speaker in this chamber. He is a man with long experience in parliamentary procedures not only in the Federal Parliament but also in a State parliament. He is a man who in his attendance to the duties of Deputy Whip on our side of the Parliament, both in government and in opposition, has demonstrated a capacity to participate in parliamentary debate which puts him in a position of considerable distinction among all honourable members from both sides of the chamber. Finally, in relation to the honourable member for Angas, I refer to some qualities which Mr Philip Laundy in “The Office of Speaker’ states as being necessary in the occupant of that office. He states:

There are many times when the good Speaker deems it judicious to turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to a breach of discipline, as when an impetuous remark is made in a flash of anger without being deliberately calculated to offend. He will not invoke the letter of the law at every opportunity. He will avoid a rigid application of the Standing Orders and will not allow an over-technical interpretation of the rules of procedure to restrict debate.

Mr Clerk, those qualities are present in the honourable member for Angas. Regrettably they are not present in the honourable member for Sydney. I therefore have much pleasure in seconding the nomination of Mr Giles as Speaker of this chamber.

Mr SCHOLES:
Corio

– The position of Speaker of this House as of the presiding officer in the other place, where Senator O’Byrne has just been elected President, is one of great difficulty and one which requires experience in chairmanship and in Parliament. Both these facts have been stated before by other speakers. Mr Cope has been a member of this Parliament since 1954. He is a very experienced chairman within this Parliament. During the past 18 months he has occupied the chair during a very difficult period in the life of this Parliament. Many of these difficulties have been created by the fact that certain members of the Opposition have found it very difficult to live with Standing Orders which they imposed on this House in order to give Ministers certain privileges in the House. It has now become apparent to them that life in Opposition is not the same as it was in Government. The Standing Orders have not been altered by this Government. The persons who framed Standing Orders to give privileges to Ministers have found that the frustrations of Opposition, which they did not expect to experience, are not in the best interests of the Parliament. The Speaker has presided in this Parliament during periods or organised and deliberate obstruction. The fact that so few honourable members were suspended from the service of this House is a tribute to the Speaker’s tolerance.

Honourable members opposite have made much of the fact that some honourable members on this side of the House also sought the nomination for the position of Speaker and contested a ballot. One of the things that we on this side of the House are entitled to do is to choose the people who will represent us in the Ministry and the people who will stand for those offices in the Parliament for which they are elected by the members of the Parliament. No honourable member opposite has said whether a ballot was conducted to decide who would be the Opposition’s nominee for Speaker or whether he is the nominee of the Leader of the Opposition, who holds a dictatorial position in nominating all those honourable members who will hold office within his Party.

With the exception of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate, every member of the Australian Labor Party who stood for office was opposed for the office for which he was a candidate. Members are entitled to stand for election to an office. It would be surprising indeed if members forwent the opportunity to contest that position in this House. A number of honourable members did that. The fact is that when the votes were counted Mr Cope was the winner, and he won quite comfortably. I think that that is the important fact. When people are excluded from running for office that means that a party does not have enough confidence in its parliamentary members to allow them to choose the people who will sit on its front bench and not enough confidence in the party. To suggest that because they propose a ‘unanimous’ nominee of their Leader, that means that that person is the unanimous choice of their Party is, I would say, utter nonsense.

I can see on the other side of the House honourable members of both Opposition Parties who are far more experienced than the present nominee for the Chair and who have far better qualities - known qualities, and I do not challenge the qualities of the honourable member for Angas - of chairmanship, tolerance and experience in this House than has the Opposition’s nominee. Had the Opposition seriously sought this position and seriously sought to put forward a person as Speaker it would have chosen a person who is known to have both those, skills and not a person who has never sat in the chair of this chamber even as a Deputy Chairman. I support the nomination of Mr Cope for Speaker. I believe that this House will serve itself ill if it does not support that nomination.

Mr KILLEN:
Moreton

– I have no wish to hurt the feelings, as yet, of any honourable gentleman on the Government side, but I am bound to say to them, on behalf of the Opposition, that the Opposition cannot concede that the honourable member for Sydney is a latter day Solomon. One has only to look at his performance in the last Parliament and the manner in which the honourable gentleman summarily removed from our presence on a number of occasions members of the Opposition who had given but scant cause for offence. I can recall vividly the impeccable behaviour of my friend, the honourable member for Mackellar. He is possessed of no more than a very gentle spirit that seeks to express a point of view, and on several occasions that led to the honourable gentleman being removed from this place in a manner which hurt the feelings of us all. Also dealt with in this way was the honourable member for Barker. Who will forget the injured, the pained, look on the face of my friend, the honourable member for Barker, as he left the chamber? Another was the honourable member for Wannon.

Mr Lynch:

– What about the honourable member for Flinders?

Mr KILLEN:

– And the honourable member for Flinders (Mr Lynch). It is a quartet.

Mr Nixon:

– And the honourable member for Gippsland.

Mr KILLEN:

– And the honourable member for Gippsland. It rolls on. It is the role of melancholy behaviour; that is the only way to describe it. All of these honourable gentlemen have brought to the conduct of this Parliament a quiet, firm, insistent dignity. Another honourable member who was suspended was the honourable member for Kennedy. One only has to look at the countenance of the honourable member for Kennedy to realise that he is almost in a state of grace. Imagine him giving offence. Yet the honourable member for Sydney named him. It would hurt me, it would pain me, if I were to detail all of the blemishes that we have apprehended on the part of the honourable member for Sydney. Indeed, that would detain us in this place beyond the point of forbearance.

On the other hand, we come to the splendid, lively qualities of the honourable member for Angas. He, in his own way, has brought to this Parliament a great feel for the parliamentary institution. He brings to parliamentary activity a quiet, insinuating sense of humour, but beyond that he brings to the Parliament a very profound understanding of what Parliament is all about. This is the judgment which will be made by all honourable members. Having regard to the massive sense of impartiality that pervades the Government side, I am quite sure that a number of honourable members on that side will join the Opposition when the vote is taken.

Mr DALY:
Minister for Services and Property and Leader of the House · Grayndler · ALP

– I support the nomination of the honourable member for Sydney (Mr Cope) for the reasons that have been stated by the honourable members who proposed, seconded and supported his nomination. Undoubtedly, he is one of the outstanding Speakers that this Parliament has produced. I was interested today to hear the Deputy Leader of the Opposition go back to 1377, to the time of the choice of the first Speaker. He said that the honourable member for Angas is eminently fitted for the task of being Speaker. He said that the honourable member for Angas has judgment, tolerance, understanding and all those other abilities which are so necessary. He may have them but they are extremely well hidden. The honourable member evidently was not good enough to be promoted to the position of Whip, but the Opposition has decided that he should be the speaker. The honourable member for Lilley said in this Parliament on one occasion that he would not accept the lowly position of Deputy Whip if he had to serve under a former Prime Minister. This is the lowly position from which the honourable member from Angas has come. Now the Opposition seeks to put him in the exalted position of presiding over this House with all the tolerance, understanding and knowledge that are necessary. It would be almost ludicrous if it were not so serious.

Who seconded the nomination of the honourable member for Angas? It was the most obstreperous member of the Parliament, the Deputy Leader of the Australian Country Party. He has broken more rules than anybody knows. He works under Rafferty’s rules exclusively and wonders why the Speaker calls him to order. I wonder whether a deal has been made. I wonder whether he will be allowed full rein should the honourable member for Angas be put in the position of

Speaker. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition blamed the honourable member for Sydney for using the guillotine. Last session I was the one who was blamed. I congratulate the honourable member on his change of front, because it shows that he was not aware of all the facts. When I heard the honourable member for Morton defending the conduct of the honourable member for Mackellar when supporting the appointment of the honourable member for Angas as against the honourable member for Sydney, I thought we had reached the very heights.

As honourable members know, the fact of the matter is that those honourable members who have been defended today - the honourable member for Sydney who is about to be appointed as Speaker of this chamber knows this - undoubtedly were the ones who caused him the most trouble in the last Parliament. Yet today they are the sponsors of the nominee whom they want to take his place. Let me remind the House that when the honourable member for Sydney was appointed as Speaker on 27 February 1973 he was appointed unanimously. He received congratulations and good wishes from members from both sides of the House, from the Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Australian Country Party. The Leader of the Opposition, who will find out shortly that he lost the election - I repeat it; and in another place they reckon that is right, too - said on the occasion of the honourable member for Sydney being elected as Mr Speaker:

We know that you have served long in this Parliament; we know that you know the volatility of this House; we know your own periodic bad temper; and we know your ever ready flow of wit.

What a compliment from the Leader of the Opposition. He went on to say:

We on this side of the House will co-operate. We will not interject while you are speaking, provided that you do not speak for too long. We will be courteous at all times . . .

The Leader of the Country Party said on that occasion:

I congratulate you on your unanimous election to the position of the supreme office bearer of the House of Representatives … In the period in which you were a private member of the House of Representatives, members of the Country Party who were members of those earlier Parliaments knew you and liked you as a person.

Why has there been this change of front? The Leader of the Country Party continued:

They believed that you were a man of honour. We believe that you can fulfil the role that has been cast

These are the types of things that honourable members opposite said. Let me say to the honourable member for Sydney - Mr Speakerelect - that you possess that rare quality, so valuable in your exalted position in this House as Speaker, of being able to divorce politics from the duties and responsibilities of that onerous office. You are unbiased and impartial, and I feel that in every way you will continue your illustrious career in that office following, as you say you do, the examples of previous Speakers appointed over the last 27 years by those opposite.

I feel that no comparison at all can be made between the qualities of the honourable members seeking this position. I commend Mr Cope to the House, and I base that commendation, amongst other things, on his experience and the knowledge and the dignity with which he carried out those tasks previously. He received commendations from honourable members opposite until they decided that they would not obey the rules of this place and you had to take appropriate action. The record of the Opposition in the last Parliament was one ofwhich it could not be proud. Several members from that side of the chamber were suspended from time to time because of misconduct. Not one honourable member on this side had occasion to be called to order. Therefore I suggest that the honourable member for Sydney is the one to occupy the office of Mr Speaker.

Mr WENTWORTH:
Mackellar

– In some ways we have departed from the practices followed by the House of Commons, and in one way which is relevant I am not certain that the Australian Parliament has acted wisely.

It has been the custom in this Parliament for a speaker to be elected from the Government side. In the House of Commons the Speaker is believed to stand and generally does stand above the political maelstrom. I think there is a case to be made out for having a Speaker who is not elected from the Government side. In this respect perhaps we might return to the traditional wisdom of the House of Commons and adopt what has not been the Australian parliamentary practice but what does seem to be the practice in other parts of the world.

It is very invidious for a Speaker who is elected from the Government side and is be

The Speaker had invidious duties to perform in the past Parliament. When the verisimilitude of the Prime Minister was called into question and when we knew that the Prime Minister had been deliberately making false statements to this House, it was quite invidious to ask the Speaker, who came from the Government side, to bring the honourable gentleman to order. He had to defend the Prime Minister against charges of lying and use his position as Speaker in order to do

**Mr Speaker** 9 July 1974 REPRESENTATIVES 11 {: #subdebate-6-0-s9 .speaker-JSU} ##### Mr BRYANT:
Minister for the Capital Territory · Wills · ALP -- Honourable members from the other side told us earlier that the honourable member for Angas **(Mr Giles)** had been chosen unanimously as candidate for the Speakership of this House. Our friend, the honourable member for Mackellar **(Mr Wentworth)** has just spilled the beans: The honourable member for Angas was not chosen unanimously. We have heard a fine series of orations this morning from our friends opposite. I was not surpirsed at the tone of them because I understand that the honourable member for Angas is a noted breeder of bulls. We are here this morning to choose the man - or perhaps the woman - to preside over this House. Our friends opposite have chosen to place before us the bright product of an authoritarian system and I simply rise this morning to remind my colleagues of the parliamentary record of the honourable member for Angas. While he was Deputy Whip of the Government parties he used the guillotine and applied the gag more than anybody else in history could have done. I suggest that honourable members do as I have done and just take at random one series of the Hansard record for 1972, the last period in which the honourable member for Angas held that high and exalted office. My copy of Hansard fell open at page 2833 of 18 May, where it states: >Motion (by **Mr Giles)** put: > >That the question be now put. A flick through the pages will reveal the record of the honourable member for Angas for everybody to see. Honourable members can try it for themselves. They will see how the debate stops and is followed by lists of members voting. Let me quote from page 3005 of 24 May 1972. This was not just a weekly aberration; those who were here in 1972 will remember that it was almost an hourly aberration. This particular action was a sin of great magnitude. The Hansard record states: {: #subdebate-6-0-s10 .speaker-JSU} ##### Mr BRYANT:
Wills · ALP **- 'Mr Deputy Speaker-** Motion (by **Mr Giles)** agreed to: That the question be now put. {: #subdebate-6-0-s11 .speaker-K5O} ##### Mr CORBETT:
Maranoa -- It is interesting to hear the treatise of the Minister for the Capital Territory **(Mr Bryant),** who just sat down, and who has a record of defying parliamentary procedure by not leaving the House when he was suspended. This is the man who got up as the great proponent of the rights of the honourable members of this House. Although suspended he sat in his place with Australian Labor Party members around him. He would not go. He would not abide by the orders of the House until the Speaker had to suspend the sitting. That is the record of the Minister for the Capital Territory. So he certainly should not be speaking about who is to be the Speaker in this House when hehimself will not obey the Speaker. As my friend the honourable member for Mackellar **(Mr Wentworth)** asked: How much notice can one take of the Minister for Services and Property **(Mr Daly)** when he has said in this House that honourable members of the Australian Country Party have never been elected on the first ballot? It was proved to him that they have been. My friend said that the Minister tried to change Hansard, but in any case the Minister has never withdrawn that allegation and it still stands to his discredit. Those 2 Ministers are the people who are backing the Government nominee. How much 12 REPRESENTATIVES 9 July 1974 **Mr Speaker** notice can be taken of them? How much worse they are by comparison with the honourable member for Angas who has done his duty as Deputy Whip of his Party and has done it well. There are times, as everyone in this House would know, when the gag has to be moved, and it is moved by the Deputy Whip on so many occasions. To accuse the honourable member for Angas of being unfair because he did something which is generally accepted and which was necessary on occasions is unfair in the extreme. I think that the Minister for Services and Property said that the Government's nominee was the most outstanding Speaker. I think that he was just slightly out. He should have said that he was the most out-sending Speaker because he sent so many people out of this Parliament in the course of his time as Speaker. On at least one occasion he did not give a warning. I believe that to be tolerant and impartial a Speaker should give a warning to an honourable member before he is suspended unless the honourable member is acting completely irresponsibly in the circumstances. That did not apply on the occasion I have in mind. So there are reasons why we on this side of the House are nominating the honourable member for Angas, who we feel is eminently suited to fill this very responsible and honourable position. The fact that the Opposition did not nominate someone on the last occasion is not any indication that we, after having served in the previous Parliament under the previous Speaker, should not now nominate someone if we are not satisfied with the impartiality of the Speaker of the last Parliament. That is our right. That is our duty if we feel that it is necessary and I believe that in the nomination of the honourable member for Angas we have chosen someone who would be impartial and who would be able to fulfil the responsible position of Speaker of this House with credit to himself and to the great advantage of this Parliament. I have very much pleasure in supporting the nomination of the honourable member for Angas. {: .speaker-10000} ##### The Clerk: -- In accordance with the Standing Orders a ballot will be taken. Before proceeding to ballot, the bells will be rung for 2 minutes. (The bells having been rung.) {: .speaker-10000} ##### The Clerk: -- I have to announce the result of the ballot as follows: **Mr Cope,** 63 votes; **Mr Giles,** 57 votes. **Mr Cope** is therefore declared elected. {: #subdebate-6-0-s12 .speaker-10000} ##### MR SPEAKER:
Hon. J. F. Cope -- I wish to express my grateful thanks for the high honour which the House has seen fit to confer upon me. **(Mr Speaker having seated himself in the Chair.)** {: .speaker-10000} ##### Mr SPEAKER: -- I call the Prime Minister. {: #subdebate-6-0-s13 .speaker-6U4} ##### Mr WHITLAM:
Prime Minister · Werriwa · ALP -- **Mr Speaker,** you have had for the past 16 months the task of presiding over this House. When we congratulated you upon your attaining the great office of Speaker, barely 16 months ago, we scarcely thought that we would have the privilege of again electing you and of again congratulating you so shortly thereafter. You have presided over us during a momentous period in Australia's history and a stirring time in the history of this Parliament - a stirring time and, I fear, all too often, a turbulent parliament. You have been well and truly blooded. It may be - who knows - that you may soon have a larger task and that the good order of this chamber may be challenged by an infusion of others less obedient and less decorous. In such an event we look to you with confidence to preserve the same good order as you have preserved and will continue to preserve in our chamber. {: #subdebate-6-0-s14 .speaker-DQF} ##### Mr SNEDDEN:
Leader of the Opposition · Bruce -- In 1973, **Mr Speaker,** I congratulated you on your unanimous appointment by this House as its speaker. At that time, I told you that we had no experience of you as a Speaker but that we admired you as a man and admired your characteristics as a man. We felt confident at that time that you would conduct the Chair in a manner which was suitable to the best traditions of Parliament. {: .speaker-SH4} ##### Dr Klugman: -- The last time you were right! {: .speaker-10000} ##### Mr SPEAKER: -- Interjections are out of order. I call the Leader of the Opposition. {: .speaker-DQF} ##### Mr SNEDDEN: -- We have now had experience of you, **Mr Speaker.** I must say to you that we would hope that in this coming parliamentary period you will be able to see that this is a volatile place, that people, on occasion, will want to defend their rights as strongly as they know how, and that you, **Mr Speaker,** have a responsibility to ensure that every member of this House has his rights assured through your agency. We look forward to your doing that. You must accept that when, in our judgment, you fail to do so we will draw your attention to it. We will use whatever means we can to redress any errors that we believe you have made in the interests of maintaining the freedom of action of the members on this side of the House. Having said that, **Mr Speaker,** I congratulate you on your return to office. It was said earlier today that there may be errors in the practice of this Parliament of selecting its Speaker from the majority of the House. I share that view. I would like to see the position of Speaker become superior to Party politics and a situation where a member with a safe seat occupying that Chair can continue uncontested and remain Speaker. That is not for tomorrow but it must be for the future if this Parliament is to have the dignity that it ought to have. I want to put that on record. The other thing that I say to you, **Mr Speaker** - I am sure you will accept it in the spirit in which it is said - is that I do hope you will be able to say that magical word 'order' with a slightly different intonation. {: .speaker-10000} ##### Mr SPEAKER: -- I say it every morning before breakfast. {: .speaker-DQF} ##### Mr SNEDDEN: -- It is good to know you practice it, **Mr Speaker.** I hope that when you do use the word 'order', as you must, you will apply it just as readily to members on the Government side of the House as to members on this side of the House. We will cooperate with you, and what we want from you, **Mr Speaker,** is your co-operation with and understanding of us and our role in this Parliament which we are determined to play and which we will play. {: #subdebate-6-0-s15 .speaker-BU4} ##### Mr ANTHONY:
Leader of the Australian Country Party · Richmond -- **Mr Speaker,** on behalf of my Party I congratulate you on being re-elected to this august position, the supreme position in this House. Members of my Party along with all other members recognise the importance of maintaining law and order in this Parliament so that the proper procedures can be carried out. When you were first elected, I congratulated you. I made personal remarks about you as a person whom we liked and respected and who had a great sense of humour. I do not deviate from those remarks. It is a genuine feeling of my Party that we have a very likeable person as Speaker. I believe that you, **Mr Speaker,** have the qualities and the attributes to make a very talented Speaker of this Parliament. However, the experience of the previous 18 months did see a few lapses in your impartiality and those lapses caused considerable concern. It was this concern that caused the Opposition parties to contest the position today. You have won it, and we respect the fact that you now hold this very important position. The volatile reaction of the Opposition during the last Parliament was brought about largely by the provocative actions of the Leader of the House **(Mr Daly).** I know that it was difficult for you to give a ruling that did not discriminate against a Party colleague. There were also occasions when we felt that you had been influenced in your ruling by a previous disposition towards the Prime Minister **(Mr Whitlam),** your Party leader. We understand that Party loyalty is a necessary quality in one, but there must be no bias whatsoever in the Speaker. Provided that you can dispense rulings from that chair with completejustice and with complete impartiality you will have the complete support of the Opposition parties. I hope that there will be no occasion on which you will have to use a heavy hand against members of the Opposition. But if we see a repetition of the incidents that were created by the Leader of the House I can well imagine that there will be stirrings in our ranks and that you will find yourself in a difficult position. I hope that does not happen because the Opposition wants to see this House maintained in an orderly manner. I say again: Congratulations and best wishes in carrying out what is a very onerous and important position. {: .speaker-10000} ##### Mr SPEAKER: -- I should like to thank the Prime Minister **(Mr Whitlam),** the Leader of the Opposition **(Mr Snedden)** and the Leader of the Australian Country Party **(Mr Anthony)** for their words of eulogy and for their constructive criticism. I was the Speaker of this House for approximately 14 or 15 months during which time I served an apprenticeship. I think that I have learnt quite a lot from it. I hope to improve as all honourable members would hope to improve. That would apply even to the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. There is always room for improvement. When I was elected to the position of Speaker in the last Parliament it was my aim to emulate the deeds of **Sir John** McLeay and **Sir William** Aston, who were my two immediate predecessors and who I believe carried out their duties in an impartial manner. At times they were faced with the same problems as I was faced with in the last Parliament, although I will admit not quite so many. If the honourable members would like to go through Hansard and check the rulings of the two gentlemen I have just mentioned they would see that my rulings are in conformity with the rulings made by them. So before any destructive criticism is made about some of my rulings I ask honourable members to peruse Hansard to see the rulings that were made by my predecessors. Again I would like to say thanks very much to the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Australian Country Party for their words of eulogy and congratulation. {: .page-start } page 15 {:#debate-7} ### PRESENTATION TO GOVERNOR-GENERAL {: #debate-7-s0 .speaker-6U4} ##### Mr WHITLAM:
Prime Minister · Werriwa · ALP -- I have ascertained that it will be His Excellency's pleasure to receive the Speaker in the Library of the Parliament this day at 2.42 p.m. {: #debate-7-s1 .speaker-10000} ##### Mr SPEAKER: -- Prior to my presentation to His Excellency the Governor-General this afternoon, the bells will ring for 3 minutes so that honourable members may attend in the chamber and accompany the Speaker to the Library, when they may, if they so wish, be introduced to His Excellency. Sitting suspended from 12.33 to 2.41 p.m. (The House proceeded to the Library, and, being reassembled.) {: .speaker-10000} ##### Mr SPEAKER: -- I have to report that, accompanied by honourable members, I this day proceeded to the Library of the Parliament and presented myself to His Excellency the Governor-General as the choice of the House and that His Excellency was kind enough to congratulate me on my election as Speaker. {: .page-start } page 15 {:#debate-8} ### COMMISSION TO ADMINISTER OATH {: #debate-8-s0 .speaker-10000} ##### Mr SPEAKER: -- His Excellency also presented to me his commission authorising me to administer to members the oath or affirmation of allegiance. I now lay the commission on the table. {: .page-start } page 15 {:#debate-9} ### MEMBERS SWORN The following honourable member made and subscribed the oath of allegiance: Bennett, Adrian Frank, Swan, Western Australia. The following honourable member made and subscribed an affirmation of allegiance: Wallis, Laurie George, Grey, South Australia. {: .page-start } page 15 {:#debate-10} ### MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL The Usher of the Black Rod, being announced, was admitted, and delivered a message that His Excellency the GovernorGeneral desired the attendance of honourable members in the Senate chamber forthwith. **(Mr Speaker and honourable members attended accordingly and, having returned)** {: .page-start } page 15 {:#debate-11} ### MINISTERIAL ARRANGEMENTS {: #debate-11-s0 .speaker-6U4} ##### Mr WHITLAM:
Prime Minister · Werriwa · ALP -- **Mr Speaker,** I have the honour to inform the House that the Ministry is as follows: {:#subdebate-11-0} #### Prime Minister - The Honourable E. G. Whitlam, Q.C {:#subdebate-11-1} #### Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Overseas Trade - The Honourable Jim Cairns {:#subdebate-11-2} #### Minister for Minerals and Energy - The Honourable R. F. X. Connor {:#subdebate-11-3} #### Minister for Social Security - The Honourable Bill Hayden Leader of the Government in the Senate, Attorney-General and Minister for Customs and Excise - **Senator the** Honourable Lionel Murphy, Q.C. Minister for Foreign Affairs - **Senator the** Honourable Don Willesee. {:#subdebate-11-4} #### Treasurer - The Honourable Frank Crean Minister for Services and Property and Leader of the House - The Honourable F. M. Daly. Minister for the Media and Manager of Government Business in the Senate - **Senator the** Honourable Douglas McClelland. {:#subdebate-11-5} #### Minister for Defence - The Honourable L. H. Barnard Minister for Agriculture - **Senator the** Honourable K. S. Wriedt. Minister for Northern Development and Minister for the Northern Territory - The Honourable Rex Patterson. {:#subdebate-11-6} #### Minister for Labor and Immigration - The Honourable Clyde R. Cameron {:#subdebate-11-7} #### Minister for Education - The Honourable Kim E. Beazley Special Minister of State and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister in Matters Relating to the Public Service - The Honourable Lionel F. Bowen. Minister for Repatriation and Compensation - **Senator the** Honourable J. M. Wheeldon. {:#subdebate-11-8} #### Minister for Urban and Regional Development - The Honourable Tom Uren Postmaster-General - **Senator the** Honourable R. Bishop. {:#subdebate-11-9} #### Minister for Housing and Construction - The Honourable Les Johnson {:#subdebate-11-10} #### Minister for Transport - The Honourable {: type="A" start="C"} 0. K. Jones. {:#subdebate-11-11} #### Minister for Health - The Honourable {: type="A" start="D"} 0. N. Everingham. {:#subdebate-11-12} #### Minister for Manufacturing Industry - The Honourable Kep Enderby, Q.C Minister for the Capital Territory - The Honourable Gordon Bryant, E.D. Minister for the Environment and Conservation - The Honourable Moss Cass. Minister for Aboriginal Affairs - **Senator the** Honourable J. L. Cavanagh. Minister for Science, Minister Assisting the Minister for Foreign Affairs in Matters Relating to Papua New Guinea and Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence - The Honourable W. L. Morrison. Minister for Tourism and Recreation, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Minister Assisting the Treasurer - The Honourable F. E. Stewart. Representation arrangements in the Senate are as follows: **Senator Murphy** will represent me and the Minister for Science; **Senator Willesee** will represent the Minister for Services and Property, the Special Minister of State and the Minister for the Capital Territory; **Senator McClelland** will represent the Minister for Education and the Minister for Tourism and Recreation; **Senator Wriedt** will represent the Minister for Overseas Trade, the Minister for Minerals and Energy, the Treasurer, the Minister for Northern Development and Minister for the Northern Territory, and the Minister for Manufacturing Industry; **Senator Wheeldon** will represent the Minister for Social Security, the Minister for Health and the Minister for the Environment and Conservation; **Senator Bishop** will -represent the Minister for Defence and the Minister for Labor and Immigration; **Senator Cavanagh** will represent the Minister for Urban and Regional Development, the Minister for Housing and Construction and the Minister for Transport. **Senator Ministers** will be represented as follows: I shall represent the Minister for Foreign Affairs; **Dr Cairns** will represent the Minister for Customs and Excise; **Dr Patterson** will represent the Minister for Agriculture; **Mr Bowen** will represent the Minister for Repatriation and Compensation and the Postmaster-General; **Mr Enderby** will represent the Attorney-General; **Mr Bryant** will represent the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs; and **Mr Morrison** will represent the Minister for the Media. The Government Whip is the honourable member for Bonython, **Mr Nicholls,** and the Deputy Whip is the honourable member for Hunter, **Mr James.** {: .page-start } page 16 {:#debate-12} ### LEADERSHIP OF THE OPPOSITION {: #debate-12-s0 .speaker-DQF} ##### Mr SNEDDEN:
Leader of the Opposition · Bruce -- **Mr Speaker,** I desire to inform the House that the Parliamentary Liberal Party has elected me as its Leader and the honourable member for Flinders, **Mr Lynch,** as Deputy Leader. The honourable member for Curtin, **Mr Garland,** has been appointed Whip and the honourable member for Griffith, **Mr Cameron,** has been appointed Deputy Whip. {: .page-start } page 16 {:#debate-13} ### LEADERSHIP OF THE AUSTRALIAN COUNTRY PARTY {: #debate-13-s0 .speaker-BU4} ##### Mr ANTHONY:
Leader of the Australian Country Party · Richmond -- **Mr Speaker,** I desire to inform the House that the Parliamentary Party of the Australian Country Party has elected me as its Leader, the honourable member for New England, **Mr Sinclair,** as its Deputy Leader and the honourable member for Calare, **Mr England,** as the Whip. {: .page-start } page 16 {:#debate-14} ### AUDIT BILL 1974 Bill presented by **Mr Whitlam,** and read a first time. {: .page-start } page 16 {:#debate-15} ### GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S SPEECH {: #debate-15-s0 .speaker-10000} ##### Mr SPEAKER: -- I have to report that the House this day attended His Excellency the Governor-General in the Senate chamber, when His Excellency was pleased to make a Speech to both Houses of the Parliament. The Speech will be included in Hansard for record purposes. (The Speech read as follows) - Senators and Members of the House of Representatives: In the elections for both Houses of Parliament on 18 May 1974, the people of Australia confirmed their decision of 2 December 1972. In preparing legislation for the 29th Parliament, my advisers have taken .the view that the first responsibility of the Government is to carry out, fully and promptly, the program for change twice endorsed by the Australian people. Developments at home and abroad have created new and, in some respects, difficult economic conditions. My advisers 'believe that this in no way lessens the obligations imposed on the Australian Government to continue and complete its program but rather heightens the sense of responsibility and challenge which it should bring during the next three years to the task of leading Australia in a time of rapid change throughout the world. The legislative burden of the session must necessarily be extremely heavy. There are certain legislative provisions which lapsed at the end of June and which should have been reenacted before then. There are agreements with the States and rural assistance programs which should have been enacted before the end of June. These measures must receive prompt attention. Further, the Government will again submit important measures put forward in fulfilment of undertakings given to the electors in 1972 and repeated by the Prime Minister during the May elections. These measures include the six Bills which were twice rejected by the Senate and whose Parliamentary history provided the grounds upon which I granted a dissolution of both Houses on 11 April. Those Bills provide for electoral reform, for Senate representation of the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, for the implementation of the Government's undertakings on health insurance and for a Petroleum and Minerals Authority. My Government will proceed immediately with these Bills. My Government will continue vigorous efforts against inflation. Despite the world-wide nature of this problem, the Government is confident that its measures can protect the Australian economy and the Australian people from the most harmful economic and social effects of inflation. If this is to be achieved, however, it will call for restraint and responsibility on the part of all sections of the community. My Government acknowledges its duty to provide leadership in this direction. In determining priorities and in carrying out its program while continuing the fight against inflation, my Government will be guided by certain principles. These are: protection for the weaker sections of the community; a firm, commitment to the principle of full employment; equity in sharing sacrifices as well as prosperity; and the need to ensure that any deferment of expectations shall not be made at the expense of those for whom deferment could mean a lifetime of deprivation - for example, children at school and migrants. The Government will continue its measures to strengthen and modernise the Australian economy, to improve the quality of the Australian workforce, to expand Australian resources and to promote Australian control over those resources. The Government will amend the Prices Justification Act to strengthen the Prices Justification Tribunal and make its operations more effective. The Trade Practices Bill will be re-introduced to strengthen control of restrictive trade practices and to protect customers from unfair practices. Further steps will be taken to promote customer protection. There will be legislation for a Securities and Exchange Commission and a National Companies Act to achieve uniformity. The Government intends to re-introduce legislation to examine and, where needed, regulate activities of non-banking financial corporations. The Government will establish an Australian Government Insurance Office which will compete actively in all forms of insurance and which, in particular, will provide the widest possible cover for homes at the lowest possible premiums. The recommendations of the Committee on Taxation under the chairmanship of **Mr Justice** Asprey will toe taken into account in this year's Budget when my Government will give urgent consideration to the restructuring of the taxation system. The Government intends to extend the provisions of the income taxation laws governing deductions for dependants to provide that migrants maintaining dependant relatives oversesas shall be entitled to the taxation advantages which are already available to those maintaining dependant relatives in Australia. . A Relief Board will be set up to consider requests for relief from estate duty on grounds of serious hardship. Provision is to be made for exemptions of the matrimonial home from estate duty. The home-building industry remains overstretched despite efforts by my Government to bring about a moderate abatement in the level of activity. The Government will continue to maintain the closest watch on the position, but until balance is restored between demand and supply of resources, existing restraints must be maintained. The Government is determined to provide adequate finance for an expansion in welfare housing which has suffered severely because of inflationary conditions. This will be done as soon as circumstances permit. The Housing Agreement will be amended to permit a higher proportion of funds to be .allocated to the Home Builders' Account. Most Australian home owners and home buyers will receive relief from their interest repayment burdens through the provision of tax deductibility for mortgage interest repayments. Further measures will be taken to achieve sound industrial and resource development with the maximum Australian ownership and control. They will include reintroduction of legislation to expand the activities of the Australian Industry Development Corporation and to establish a national investment fund. The Petroleum and Minerals Authority will participate in the search for resources, assist Australian interests previously relying on foreign companies for development and progressively reduce foreign ownership and control of Australia's resources. To intensify surveillance of foreign investment, new legislation will be introduced to replace the Companies (Foreign Take-Overs) Act. A Structural Adjustment Board will be set up to supervise assistance for firms and individuals adversely affected by the Government's program of structural change in industry, in cluding the reduction of tariffs and the removal of subsidies. The Government is committed to the development of a coherent manpower policy to achieve the best possible use of the national workforce in social, economic and human terms. The reports of the Kangan Committee on Technical and Further Education and the Cochrane Committee on Adult Training and Retraining provide a valuable basis for the development of an integrated manpower strategy for Australia. There will be a Technical and Further Education Commission. Existing training schemes will be amalgamated into a single national employment and training program. Amendments to the Conciliation and Arbitration Act will be again introduced: to ensure effective observance by all parties to industrial agreements; to promote amalgamation of industrial organisations; and to rectify the problems created by conflicting and unco-ordinated Federal and State industrial laws, and urgently brought to the attention of the Australian, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australian and Western Australian Governments by the Australian Industrial Court as far back as February 1969. My Government is keenly aware of its responsibilities as Australia's largest employer. A Royal Commission has been appointed to inquire into the Australian Public Service. My Government has accepted the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Post Office to establish an Australian Postal Commission and an Australian Telecommunications Commission (incorporating the Overseas Telecommunications Commission) and to give them control over the conditions of employment of their staffs. In recognition of the need for restraint on the growth of government spending, in the present inflationary situation, a ceiling of 2.6 per cent has been imposed on the growth of the Public Service and Government Authorities. The Australian Government seeks similar restraint on the part of State Governments. Among measures to assist the States to carry out their responsibilities, the Financial Agreement will be amended to provide for the formal take over of SI, 000m of State debts and an interest-free, non-repayable capital grant of almost $3 00m will be provided for the States' works program. Australia's sound overseas trading position is to be further enhanced by legislation: to establish an export bank; to expand the overseas investment insurance scheme; and to revise the export incentive scheme for the next five years of its operation. The Government will continue to negotiate trade agreements to provide a firm and enduring basis for increased trade with other countries. . The Government recognises the fundamental importance of the farm sector to Australia's trade and to the prosperity of the whole Australian community. The report of the working group on rural policy will greatly assist the Government, the Parliament, the Australian Department of Agriculture and the community in establishing the principles which should be adopted towards a sound rural policy for Australia. Important measures on matters affecting the farm sector will cover the new wheat stabilisation plan, financial support for wool research and promotion, adjustment assistance and marketing arrangements for the dairying industry, continuing financial assistance for major water projects in Queensland and for beef roads in Queensland and Western Australia. In co-operation with the Governments of Queensland and Western Australia, the Government will press ahead with studies of the potential of important regions in northern Australia, including the Burdekin and Bowen Basin, north-western Queensland and the Pilbara and the Kimberley regions. An Australian Science Council will be established to assist the Government, the Parliament and the community to develop a coherent national role for science and technology in our modern society. Better transport is needed for the efficient development and use of Australia's resources. The Government proposes to legislate this year for the re-establishment of the Inter-State Commission. The Commission will play a major part in the reform and co-ordination of our national transport. Legislation will be introduced on the Australian National Railways and to ratify agree ments with the States for the construction of new railway lines to Alice Springs and Adelaide and, subject to completion of the agreement, for a new urban railway line radiating from Parramatta. The Government will introduce legislation for a new Roads Assistance Scheme to provide assistance to the States over the next three years. The Australian Government will in future take responsibility for constructing and maintaining a national roads system in those areas which fall within the Government's own constitutional responsibility. It is proposed to legislate for a national authority on road safety and standards. The Government intends to introduce legislation for a rationalised system of road and urban transport assistance to the States. The Government will introduce legislation to ratify agreements with all State Governments for the provision of financial assistance for selected urban public transport projects. Participation by the national Government for the first time in Australia's history in the modernisation and reconstruction of the urban transport systems is an essential part of the participation by my Government in the modernisation and reconstruction of Australia's cities. Within the broad sweep of national priorities, my Government is determined to continue its commitments to rebuild our existing cities and to build new ones so that there will be more equal opportunities for all Australians wherever they choose to live or are obliged to live. My Government will promote these opportunities by continuing commitments to develop Land Commissions and new growth centres, the national sewerage program, area improvement programs, environment impact studies, and through the constant monitoring of resource allocation within our great urban areas. Parliament will be asked to approve legislation and administrative decisions reflecting the Government's view of the significance of the Australian Capital Territory as an area for initiatives in urban affairs and public participation in community affairs. Arising from the report of the Committee of Inquiry into the National Estate, my Government proposes to establish an Australian Heritage Commission. Legislation will be introduced to establish a National Parks and Wildlife Service. My Government regards the Great Barrier Reef as a precious part not only of Australia's heritage but of the world's heritage. The Great Barrier Reef will be reserved as a marine park. Legislation will be introduced to implement the Government's policy of ensuring that needs of the environment and the views of the public are fully considered in governmental decisions particularly in relation to projects under the control of, or funded by, the Australian Government. The Government is continuing to develop, in co-operation with the State Governments, an organisation to deal with natural disasters. The legislative program and the administrative decisions of the Australian Government represent the most concerted effort in Australia's history to promote, protect and preserve Australia's resources and to use those resources for the greatest benefit of all Australians. The primacy the Australian Government gives to our most precious resource - our children - remains undiminished. This finds special expression in the national Government's involvement in education. A major initiative in education during this Parliament will be the development and implementation of programs for the care and education of pre-school children. An Inquiry will be made into the place of the languages of major migrant groups in the school curriculum. Legislation will be introduced to establish a Curriculum Development Centre. During this Parliament the Government will be considering the Universities Commission's Report on Open Tertiary Education and the development of appropriate measures in this area. An Academic Salaries Tribunal will be established. My Government will continue its reconstruction of Australia's social security system. The National Rehabilitation and Compensation Committee under the chairmanship of **Mr Justice** Woodhouse of the New Zealand Court of Appeal has completed its report and it is now under consideration. An interim report of the National Superannuation Committee of Inquiry is also being studied. The next Budget will make further increases in social security and repatriation pension rates and take the next step in the abolition of the means test. It will also provide for increased assistance for the handicapped and disabled, further assistance for organisations conducting aged persons' homes and nursing homes and help for the homeless. Under new legislation, funds will be available through the Australian Assistance Plan for every region in Australia. The Government will continue to improve the health care of Australians in keeping with its constitutional responsibilities to provide hospital benefits and medical services. In addition to the two Health Insurance Bills twice rejected by the Senate during the 28th Parliament, a Bill will be introduced to regulate private health insurance associated with the Universal Health Insurance program. The Community Health Program will be further expanded. High priority will be given to a full examination of the Report on Hospitals prepared by the Hospitals and Health Services Commission. The Australian Government must play a greater role in the planning and organising of hospitals in Australia. If necessary, the Government itself will construct and operate hospitals in areas of need. The Medical Benefits scheme will be extended to cover consultations with optometrists. Legislation will be introduced to establish a Pharmaceutical Corporation to make, market and develop drugs. The Government recognises the link between the basic health and well-being of the Australian community and the opportunities for Australians to make better use of their increasing leisure. The Government will expand its program of grants to sporting and youth organisations and increase its assistance for the creation of community centres and for building of sport, recreation and tourist facilities. Bills will be introduced: to enable the Housing Loans Insurance Corporation to insure loans for tourist accommodation; to license travel agents; to provide financial assistance for tourist development projects through the Commonwealth Development Bank; and to enable the Australian Tourist Commission to undertake domestic tourist promotion. An Australian Film Commission will be established to foster and develop Australian film and television program making. The Broadcasting and Television Act will be amended to place beyond doubt the powers of the Broadcasting Control Board to expand opportunities for Australians to make their own radio and television programs. The introduction of frequency modulation broadcasting will also enhance these opportunities. The introduction of colour television on 1 March 1975 will increase opportunities for the sale of Australian-made programs overseas. The Government will re-introduce the Australia Council Bill and will bring forward legislation to establish the Australian National Gallery and the Australian Archives. Provision will also be made for a public lending right for Australian authors. My Government will submit to the Parliament a number of measures designed to reform the laws under which Australians live and to protect the rights of all Australians under those laws. The Family Law Bill will be re-submitted. The Australian Government is convinced that the High Court of Australia must become the final court in all matters pertaining to Australia and to the legal rights and obligations of its citizens. It will proceed with legislation to abolish appeals to the British Privy Council. Legislation will be re-introduced to create a Superior Court of Australia, a proposal initiated by the previous Government more than a decade ago. Legisation will be introduced to establish the office of Australian Ombudsman, together with Deputy Ombudsmen, having special responsibilities for the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, and to establish a Defence Ombudsman. Legislation will be introduced for a Freedom of Information Act to give a right of access by members of the public to official documents, subject to appropriate safeguards. The Government will appoint a judicial inquiry into the security services. The Government proposes to legislate for the disclosure of the sources of funds passing to all Australian political parties and for the limitation of campaign spending by political parties and candidates. The partly nominated Legislative Council for the Northern Territory and Advisory Council for the Capital Territory will be replaced with wholly elected Assemblies. Legislation will be re-introduced to permit Australia to ratify the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which came into force in January 1969. Legislation will also be introduced to supersede certain provisions of the Queensland Aborigines Act and Torres Strait Islanders Act which are contrary to the principles embodied in the Racial Discrimination Convention and in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Australian Government will not allow the overwhelming decision of the Australian people in the referendum of 1967 to be any longer denied or disregarded. My Government has accepted in principle the recommendations contained in the Second Report of the Aboriginal Land Rights Commission and following consultation with Northern Territory Aboriginals will legislate to give effect to its policy on granting land rights to these Australians. An Aboriginal Land Fund Bill will also be introduced to establish a Commission to operate the program of land purchase for or by Aboriginal communities. By these measures my Government seeks to ensure that there is no inconsistency between the principles it pursues abroad and their practice at home. In its relations with other nations, my Government will consolidate and broaden the new priorities and directions it has given to Australia's, foreign policy since December 1972. It will develop and further diversify its new links in Asia, Africa, the South Pacific and Latin America while maintaining and maturing its traditional associations. Negotiations for the proposed Treaty of Nara - a basic treaty of friendship and cooperation with our major trading partner - are proceeding harmoniously and constructively with the Government of Japan. Regional co-operation, including defence co-operation, will remain a principal objective of my Government's policies, especially in the Asian and Pacific regions. My Government is committed by the clearest pledges to continue substantial aid to a united Papua New Guinea before and after independence. Since Papua New Guinea achieved self-government in December 1973, the relationship between the governments of Australia and of Papua New Guinea has been based on the principles of equality, mutual respect and mutual co-operation. Pending the final decision of the House of Assembly to declare independence for Papua New Guinea, the Australian Government will conduct its relations with the Government of Papua New Guinea as a government of an independent nation to which Australia has certain special and inescapable obligations. The Government will encourage and support measures designed to remove tension amongst all states' and welcomes the moves by the United States and the Soviet Union to stabilise their strategic relationship. It will pursue actively the objective of nuclear disarmament. At the same time it will continue to strengthen Australia's security. Under the direction of the Minister for Defence, my Government is creating the most effective, mobile and professional defence force in Australia's peace-time history: The Services are also being equipped to play a greater role in case of emergencies and natural disasters within Australia. The Parliament will be asked to deal with legislation to complete the amalgamation of the former Service Departments. My Government will strive to ensure that its development aid programs make the highest possible contribution to raising living standards in the developing world. Legislation introduced during the last Parliament for the creation of an Australian Development Assistance Agency will be re-introduced. Australia shall continue to do its best to play the part required by her wealth and prosperity to combat the scourges of hunger, disease, poverty and illiteracy, especially in this region where history and destiny place us. {:#subdebate-15-0} #### Mr President, Senators **Mr Speaker,** Members of the House of Representatives. The Government of Australia in no way seeks to conceal from the Parliament or the people the difficulties and complexities facing Australia at home and abroad in the years ahead. My Government is confident, however, that these can be surmounted, not only through the program I have outlined but by the endeavours of a strong united people and the efforts of a Parliament dedicated to the service of that people. I now leave the Australian Parliament of which I have been a part for a quarter of a century, as a member of the House of Representatives and then as the representative of the Queen of Australia. With a confidence born of long experience that you will fulfil to the utmost of your abilities the deep responsibility the Australian people have placed upon you, I leave you to carry out your high and important duties. {: .page-start } page 22 {:#debate-16} ### ADDRESS-IN-REPLY Motion (by **Mr Whitlam)** agreed to: >That a Committee consisting of **Mr Young, Ms Child** and myself be appointed to prepare an Address-in-Reply to the Speech delivered by His Excellency the Governor-General to both Houses of the Parliament and that the Committee do report at the next sitting. Sitting suspended from 3.54 to 5 p.m. {: .page-start } page 22 {:#debate-17} ### DEATH OF HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, THE PRINCE HENRY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER {: #debate-17-s0 .speaker-6U4} ##### Mr WHITLAM:
Prime Minister · Werriwa · ALP -- His Royal Highness, the Prince Henry William Frederick Albert, the eleventh Governor-General of Australia, died on 10 June. Prince Henry was the last surviving child of King George V and Queen Mary. Their youngest son, Prince John, died in 1919. The House of Representatives has passed motions of condolence in 1942 on the death of Prince George, who had been designated as GovernorGeneral and whose wife, elder son and daughter have since made memorable visits to Australia; in 1953 on the death of King George VI, who had opened this Parliament House; in 1965 on the death of the Princess Royal, whose elder son contributes so much to the style and fortunes of the Australian Opera; and in 1972 on the death of the eldest member of the family, King Edward VIII, the most charismatic British prince since Bonny Prince Charlie. Prince Henry was created Duke of Gloucester in 1934. For 6 centuries kings of England have created their sons Dukes of Gloucester. None of them enjoyed the length of life of the prince whom we mourn today. Only one left an heir to succeed him. Thomas of Woodstock, the youngest son of Edward III, was murdered in custody. The good Duke Humphrey, the youngest son of Henry IV, died in custody soon after his mistress and second wife, who had been imprisoned for treachery and witchcraft. Richard III, the youngest brother of Edward IV, was slain at Bosworth in his thirty-third year. Henry, the youngest son of Charles I, scarcely survived the Restoration and lies in the vault of Mary, Queen of Scots, in Westminster Abbey, William, the heir to Princess Anne of Denmark, died a few days after his eleventh birthday. William Henry, the third son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and the first Royal field marshal, was the only Duke of Gloucester to reach his sixties and the first to leave a son, also a field-marshal. How fortunate, by contrast, was the king's son who was created Duke of Gloucester in 1934, who married a direct descendant of Charles II's eldest son, and who leaves a son. His Royal Highness was a professional soldier. He was Chief Liaison Officer with the British Expeditionary Force in France until Dunkirk and was mentioned in despatches. He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. In 1955 he became the fifteenth and latest member of the British Royal Family to be appointed a field-marshal. The Prince's associations with Australia extended over 30 years. He represented his father at the one hundredth anniversary of the foundation of Melbourne. Through the happy inspiration of Prime Minister Curtin he served for two years as GovernorGeneral. He represented his family at the fiftieth anniversary of Anzac. The range of occasions on which he represented his father, his brothers and his niece is demonstrated by the knighthoods he received from the Emperors of Ethiopia and Japan, the Queen of the Netherlands, the Kings of the Belgians and of Norway, Denmark and Thailand and the former Kings of the Hellenes and of Romania, Egypt and Iraq. Throughout his long life he snowed a sense of duty worthy of his high station. The following message sent by Prince Henry's present successor as GovernorGeneral to the Queen on the death of her uncle will express, I am sure, the sentiments of honourable members: >On behalf of the people and Government of Australia I offer deep sympathy to your Majesty on the death of his Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester. In Australia he is honoured and remembered with respect and affection as a former Governor-General. We also recall the service he gave and the close links he found with many Australians as a soldier, as Colonel-in-Chief of the Australian Light Horse, and the Royal Australian Army Service Corps, as President of the Royal Humane Society, Scout Association and National Rifle Association, and as Grand Prior of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. The encouragement and example he gave in these and other public duties in which your Australian subjects share, have become part of the noble tradition of the Royal Family in Australia.' I move: {: #debate-17-s1 .speaker-DQF} ##### Mr SNEDDEN:
Leader of the Opposition · Bruce -- The Opposition supports the motion moved by the Prime Minister **(Mr Whitlam).** The Duke of Gloucester was the first and, so far, the only Royal Governor-General of Australia. He was by nature a soldier, having chosen that career, and he devoted himself to that career in a way which is not normally associated with soldierly duties by a member of the Royal Family. In fact, he served in France in 1940. He was there wounded by a bomb explosion. After the war he came to Australia and served, so I am informed, for 25 months as GovernorGeneral of Australia. He made another visit to Australia later on in 1965 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Anzac. He made a contribution to this country as Governor-General. He will be remembered by the older portion of the community; he will be known of by the younger. He will be remembered with respect for the contribution he made. As Governor-General he travelled in Australia very widely. He had his own aeroplane, which was called 'The Endeavour' after Cook's ship, which is a touching selection of name by a Governor-General of the Royal Family. He may not have had the charisma to which the Prime Minister referred. But amongst all the interesting pieces of history which the Prime Minister has strung together he mentioned Bonnie Prince Charlie. We might add the further bit of information that Bonnie Prince Charlie was a Jacobite who was born in Rome on 31 December 1720 and failed in a rebellion in Scotland in 1745. With those few pieces of disjointed history finding their way into the debate on the motion before this House expressing the condolences of the Australian Parliament and the people of Australia to the survivors of the Duke of Gloucester, and appreciation of the service he has given to Australia as Governor-General, I think it is appropriate that we should all concur in the motion moved by the Prime Minister. {: #debate-17-s2 .speaker-BU4} ##### Mr ANTHONY:
Leader of the Australian Country Party · Richmond -- I would like to join with the Prime Minister **(Mr Whitlam)** and the Leader of the Opposition **(Mr Snedden)** in expressing the sympathy of the Australian Country Party at the death of our only Royal Governor-General. The Prime Minister is forwarding a message to Her Majesty the Queen, and I hope that mention will be made to the Duchess and Prince Richard of the sympathies of the Country Party. Prince Henry, along with the Duchess, carried out loyally his duties as GovernorGeneral during the latter part of the war and in the immediate post-ward period. He is remembered for his very exhaustive programs of meeting the Australian people. Obviously he liked the Australian people and the Australian people liked him. He managed to keep the morale of the people high and their optimism for the future bright. The Duke of Gloucester was the last surviving son of King George V, and so an era has ended with his death. He was a very uninhibited man, informal in his approach. I clearly remember when I was a schoolboy his visiting my area, meeting countless school children, going from one school to another and being happy to shake hands and to speak to as many people as possible. We express our appreciation for the loyal and dedicated way in which he fulfilled his task and we will remember him as our only Royal GovernorGeneral. {: #debate-17-s3 .speaker-MI4} ##### Mr PEACOCK:
Kooyong **- Mr Speaker,** I wish to be associated directly but particularly briefly and personally in supporting this motion. My wife and I were friends of the Duke of Gloucester's eldest son and heir, Prince William, who died tragically in 1972. We shared many happy times together and the Duchess of Gloucester has graciously befriended my family on more than one occasion. I wish to express my sincere condolence to her and her family. Question resolved in the affirmative, honourable members standing in their places. DEATH OF FORMER SENATOR N. E. McKENNA **Mr WHITLAM** (Werriwa- Prime Minister) - The Honourable Nicholas Edward McKenna died on 22 April. He was a senator for Tasmania for 24 years from 1944, sitting for 20 of those years on the front bench. He had been successively an Australian public servant, an accountant and the law partner of a Premier and a Chief Justice of Tasmania. He quickly justified the great reputation which he brought to the Parliament. He was Minister for Health and Social Services from June 1946 to December 1949. During that period he acted as Treasurer, Attorney-General and Minister for the Interior. All these posts he held with great distinction. Indeed, he was for long affectionately known as Labor's man of distinction. **His** period as Minister for Health and Social Services was of particular importance to the Labor Government of the time and of particular significance for the welfare of the people of Australia. He was the first Minister to operate under the new powers achieved for this Parliament by the referendum of 1946. This, perhaps the most important of the few referendums to succeed, included in the powers of the Parliament: >The provision of maternity allowances, widows' pensions, child endowment, 'Unemployment, pharmaceutical, sickness and hospital benefits, medical and dental services (but not so as to authorise any form of civil conscription), benefits to students and family allowances. Accordingly, **Senator McKenna** had a pioneering role to play and he played it with success and compassion. He sponsored the Act and made the arrangements under which tuberculosis has been eliminated in Australia. He made arrangements with every State under which hospital treatment became free throughout Australia. Only now are we returning to his grand design. For over 3 years he and I served together on the Constitutional Review Committee. We formed an abiding trust and friendship. Without his support I would not have become Deputy Leader and later Leader of the Australian Labor Party. He said of himself when he retired from the Senate in 1968 that he departed with bitterness towards none. It was a feeling towards him unanimously reciprocated by the Parliament, his colleagues and his oppenents alike. Words like 'integrity' and 'loyalty' may be thought to be the cliches of condolence motions, but they are words which come immediately and sincerely to mind when thinking about Nick McKenna. He was a senator. He had a deep respect for that institution. He had, however, a deeper respect for the Constitution which establishes that institution. Jealous as he was of the proper powers of the Senate and its proper role, he was zealous that it should not abuse its powers or its role. In particular, in a record term of 15 years as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, he acknowledged the total impropriety of action by the Senate which would have the effect of sending this House to the people without senators themselves facing re-election. He firmly opposed suggestions of such a course whenever they were made. He recognised that the Senate could only damage itself by such falsification of democracy. He was a loyal member of the party which he loved. I know of the deep happiness which he received from the return of the Australian Labor Party to office after the long years of opposition, frustration and bitterness which left him, however, without bitterness. He lived to see the Senate attempt to take the course which he had so long, firmly and consistently opposed. I deeply regret that he did not live to see the people of Australia reject that course. I move: >That the House expresses its deep regret at the death on 22 April 1974 of the Honourable Nicholas Edward McKenna a former senator for the State of Tasmania from 1944 to 1968, a Minister of the Crown from 1946 to 1949, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from 1949 to 195 1 and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from 1951 to 1966, places on record its appreciation of his long and meritorous public service and tenders its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement. **Mr SNEDDEN** (Bruce- Leader of the Opposition) - The Opposition very readily associates itself with the motion. I remember **Senator McKenna** well. He served his party extremely well. In fact, he served on the front bench for about as long as almost any other person in the history of the Parliament. He was a Minister for 3 years until 1949, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from 1949 till 1951, I think it was, and then he was Leader of the Opposition in the Senate right through until 1966 when he retired. As honourable members in this chamber will know, there is not a great deal of opportunity for members of this chamber to have close associations with senators from the other side of the House. Therefore, I did not have the advantage of close personal relationships with **Senator McKenna** but whenever I met him I found him to be an extremely charming man, a very sincere man and a man who commanded the respect of both Houses of Parliament and of all parties. Whenever I heard him spoken of it was in terms of great admiration for the qualities the man possessed. He chose his own time to depart in 1966, having served the Parliament, the nation and his party extremely well. We very gladly support the motion. **Mr ANTHONY** (Richmond- Leader of the Australian Country Party) - I would like the Australian Country Party to be associated with this motion. Like the Leader of the Opposition **(Mr Snedden),** I did not personally know Nick McKenna, but he had a reputation of being a very forthright parliamentarian and a very dedicated member of the Australian Labor Party. He was in fact one of the most brilliant debaters in the Senate and I often got a great deal of enjoyment in listening to him debate and in reading some of his speeches. He was an able man and certainly deserved the high position that he earned in the Labor Party over the long period of 24 years that he was associated with the Parliament. He will always be remembered with a great deal of respect as a man who was very generous in his friendliness to members of the Opposition and a man who made an outstanding contribution to his party and to the Parliament. I tender the sympathy of my party to his family. {: #debate-17-s4 .speaker-SH4} ##### Dr KLUGMAN:
Prospect -- Honourable members of the House might be surprised that I have risen to speak to this condolence motion. I never met **Senator McKenna** and I know little about his background. I heard him speak only once in the flesh, in 1951 when the Communist Party dissolution referendum was before the people of Australia. At the time I was either the President or the Secretary of a branch in New South Wales of the Australian Labor Party. The Party as a whole in New South Wales, I am afraid, was divided or at least not completely committed to opposition to this referendum. Some people in the ALP and in the trade unions, for good or not so good reasons, were strongly opposed to the Communist Party and its members and they did not feel like working strongly for the defeat of this referendum. We have to remember that this referendum, if carried, amongst other things would probably have removed some of the communists from the political and industrial scene. **Senator McKenna,** as he then was, was known as a Catholic who was strongly anticommunist. He came to the Sydney Trades Hall to speak to a meeting of Australian Labor Party branch presidents and secretaries and union officials about the referendum. I attended that meeting. That was the only contact I had with him in any way. He made a calm, brilliant, rational and extremely well argued speech in which he showed that anybody believing in democracy had to oppose that referendum. In retrospect I am sure that that speech was probably the greatest single contribution leading to the defeat of that referendum in New South Wales and in Australia. I remember him for that one particular speech which galvanised the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party into action in opposing the referendum. I conclude with a word to the smokers in the audience: He was a smoker and he died of carcinoma of the lung. {: #debate-17-s5 .speaker-JF7} ##### Mr BEAZLEY:
Minister for Education · Fremantle · ALP -- I knew Nicholas McKenna fairly closely from 1945 to 1966. The last time I saw him was at the requiem mass for the late Arthur Calwell. As far as I can remember, there are now 4 surviving members of the Chifley Ministry, of which **Senator McKenna** was a distinguished member. The 4 surviving members are Reginald Pollard, Nelson Lemmon, Cyril Chambers and John Armstrong. There are survivors of both the Curtin and Chifley Ministries - Norman Makin and Francis Forde. When I first came to this Parliament, **Senator McKenna** befriended me as a junior member. He was a man with high qualifications in law and accountancy. He was also a man of very considerable political wisdom and, as I remember them, his contributions in the Parliamentary Labor Party were always pointed. They were always what he believed and they were usually effective. He advanced them because he believed them without trying to be a sponge absorbing approval. I think that everything he contributed was an attempt to set the direction of Australian politics on a wise course. He was a very distinguished and courteous parliamentarian. I think as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate he helped to maintain a very high level of conduct there because of the way he laid down the course for the Opposition. I think that if there are surviving members of his family all members of this House would want .to join in expressing sympathy to them. {: #debate-17-s6 .speaker-KDA} ##### Mr DUTHIE:
Wilmot -- As a Tasmanian it is only proper and right that I should make a contribution to this debate, so ably introduced by the Prime Minister **(Mr Whitlam),** in respect of the death of a very great friend of the Labor movement, Nick McKenna. Along with the Minister for Education **(Mr Beazley),** I was in this place in 1946 when Nick McKenna was first elected to the Chifley Cabinet and as the Minister for Educa tion said, his was a most distinguished contribution to the work of that Cabinet. As the Prime Minister said, he was the architect of the first Australian national 'health plan which foundered on the non-co-operation of the Australian doctors. Of the 7,000 doctors at that time, 162 supported his plan. One of the greatest setbacks and greatest disappointments that Nick McKenna had was the reception that that all-round and splendid scheme of free hospitalisation met among the doctors of Australia who he thought could be brought back to support it. But it was not so. Nick McKenna was a logical, forceful, forthright and convincing speaker. It is an amazing thing that most lawyers seem to develop this sort of pattern in their speaking. They have a lot of training at it. They are in court and they may have to defend somebody who is undefendable. They must put up convincing and forthright arguments. Nick McKenna was one of those who in the great tradition of Australian lawyers knew what to say, when to stop and the efficacy of logic and truthfulness in his arguments. This was the pattern of his speaking in the Senate. It was also the pattern of his speaking at our Australian Labor Party conferences in Tasmania, which he never failed to attend. He was a giant in debate at Australian Labor Party conferences. He put those conferences on the right track many times when they were going far off the track. He brought us back to the argument and to the case in point. Nick McKenna was a friendly man and 'he had a great sense of humour. He will be missed from the Labor movement. A remarkable fact is that in the 24 years that Nick McKenna was a member of this Parliament tie spent fewer than 18 months on the back bench. As one who has spent all of his time as a member of this place on the back bench, I feel that that must be a marvellous tribute to any man. In conclusion, I point out that the Minister for Education who spoke a little while ago mentioned the 4 surviving members of the 19 Chifley Ministers- {: .speaker-JF7} ##### Mr Beazley: -- There were also Norman Makin and Francis Forde. {: .speaker-KDA} ##### Mr DUTHIE: -- **Mr Makin** did not actually serve in Chifley's Cabinet. Neither did **Mr Forde. Mr Makin** was sent off to Canada as Australia's High Commissioner to that country in 1946. So he did not actually serve in the Chifley Cabinet. But that statement does show to honourable members what time does to parliamentarians. About 150 members of this Parliament have died in the period since I was first elected to this place. It is sad to stand here and speak about the death of one of my great friends, a great friend of this Parliament and of the Labor movement, Nick McKenna. I extend my sympathy to any members of Nick McKenna's family who remain. Question resolved in the affirmative, honourable members standing in their places. {: #debate-17-s7 .speaker-10000} ##### Mr SPEAKER: -- I thank the House. {: .page-start } page 27 {:#debate-18} ### DEATH OF MR J. C. SEXTON {: #debate-18-s0 .speaker-6U4} ##### Mr WHITLAM:
Prime Minister · Werriwa · ALP -- **Mr Speaker, Mr Joseph** Clement Sexton died on 22 April 1974. For all his adult life Joe Sexton was a unionist, a union official, a Party official or a member of this Parliament. Before being elected as member for Adelaide in 1958, he had been Assistant SecretaryTreasurer of the Building Workers Industrial Union of South Australia in the years 1950 to 1952, then organiser of the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party. In 1953 he was elected Secretary of the South Australian Branch of the Party, a redoubtable training ground for parliamentarians, his predecessor being **Senator Toohey** and his successors, the honourable member for Bonython **(Mr Nicholls),** the South Australian Minister for Transport, and the new honourable member for Port Adelaide **(Mr Young).** Joe Sexton was the kind of man who forms the backbone of political parties and, it should be said, of this Parliament - men who are hardworking and never self-seeking. This Parliament could scarcely exist and could certainly not long survive except for men like Joe Sexton. Such men seek little or nothing for themselves. They gain no fame or personal profit from being here, but they do the work; they keep the great business of the nation going. The parties need balance; the Parliament needs ballast. It is men like Joe Sexton who provide our parties and our parliaments with balance and ballast. I move: {: #debate-18-s1 .speaker-DQF} ##### Mr SNEDDEN:
Leader of the Opposition · Bruce -- The Opposition very readily supports the motion. Joe Sexton is well remem bered by those of us who knew him as a very pleasant man. He enjoyed the confidence of his own Party and colleagues and he was also greatly respected from the other side of the House by members of the present Opposition. I was going to say that he was greatly respected by members on this side of the House, of course he always served on this side of the House. One could say without using an Australianism over much that he was a good bloke and he was recognised as being such in this Parliament. We very readily join in the motion and express our condolences to his family. {: #debate-18-s2 .speaker-BU4} ##### Mr ANTHONY:
Leader of the Australian Country Party · Richmond -- I would like to join with the Prime Minister **(Mr Whitlam)** and the Leader of the Opposition **(Mr Snedden)** to express the sympathy of the Australian Country Party at the death of Joe Sexton, a late colleague in this Parliament whom I remember well. The Prime Minister very aptly described Joe Sexton as a good Australian and a modest man. He was not self-seeking. He was liked. He was a quiet man in this Parliament. He was absolutely dedicated to his Party. He was very warm hearted and instinctively made friends with everyone in this chamber. I found him to be a pleasant man. He was unassuming, but he was very strong in his dedication to his Party. He had strong principles. I recall his very great concern about aged people and it was in the area of social welfare that Joe Sexton made a real contribution to the debates and discussions of this Parliament. Joe Sexton was known to be a very good local member who attended to his duties. I am told that in attending to those duties much of his time was spent with aged people's organisations in trying to look after their needs. His family can be very proud of the job that he did as a member of the Labor Party and as a member of this Parliament. I express the sympathy of the Australian Country Party to his family in their time of bereavement. {: #debate-18-s3 .speaker-AV4} ##### Mr HURFORD:
Adelaide -- I rise to support this motion which honours a former Labor member for my electorate of Adelaide. I will not repeat **Mr Joe** Sexton's history because this has already been ably outlined. However, I, as did the Leader of the Australian Country Party **(Mr Anthony),** the Prime Minister **(Mr Whitlam)** and the Leader of the Opposition **(Mr Snedden)** in paying their tribute, want to say a few words about his character. Joe Sexton was a man who never forgot what motivated his political activity and the activity of many others. In his case it was a desire to help people in need, a desire to alleviate the misery of poverty, a desire to protect the weaker citizens of our community - those who were most vulnerable. He set about this work as a politician and a parliamentarian, and as a private citizen after he left this place, in a most competent and sincere way. As has already been said, he had a very sincere manner. This was the essence of his character; this was the mark of his personality. A myth grew up after his defeat at the polls in 1966. Those of us in public life experience these myths which are often built on fiction and are sometimes nutured in the media. This myth was that his illness - he was a diabetic - had slowed him up and was responsible for the success of an energetic campaign on the part of a very young opponent. This was given as the reason for his defeat at the polls in the 1966 election for the House of Representatives. I take this opportunity once again in the interests of truth to seek to kill that myth. The swing against the Australian Labor Party in the division of Adelaide in 1966 was the second lowest percentage swing against my Party in all the South Australian electorates in that year. Only in the electorate of Grey was there a lower swing. We concede that the unpopularity of the Party's Vietnam policy at that time brought about this swing. However everyone knows that that policy of the Australian Labor Party on Vietnam was correct. But this temporary unpopularity was responsible for the defeat of the man we are honouring on this occasion. **Mr Sexton** continued his social work after his defeat. He was a foundation member of the board of Southern Cross Homes Incorporporated. At the time of his death he was a liaison officer between the board of that association and its tenants. He had held the position for a number of years. Prior to that he was in charge of the maintenance of the homes. In both capacities he gave unstintingly of his time and ability. Much of his work was done in an honorary capacity. At the time of his death **Mr Sexton** had been a conscientious, hard-working and popular politician. He will be remembered affectionately not only by those who worked with him in the Labor movement but also by many older citizens whom he helped. He will be missed by all of his many friends. His large and devoted family already know of my sympathy. Today I am pleased to have this opportunity in this Parliament to pay this tribute to **Mr Joe** Sexton not only on my own behalf but also on behalf of those whom I represent and whom he served. {: #debate-18-s4 .speaker-KB8} ##### Mr GILES:
Angas -- It is not my intention to enter into any statement of political controversy but I go on record as saying that I knew Joe Sexton as well as many of us did for many years until I became associated with a campaign committee in his electorate. My admiration for Joe Sexton was largely founded in his adversity. After a campaign of some public notoriety at that time, particularly in my State, Joe Sexton found himself defeated. The redoubtable Andrew Jones, full of vital, youthful energy, was one aspect with which Joe Sexton had to cope. Of course another aspect was the changing nature of the seat of Adelaide at that time. But I must say on behalf of those who worked closely with Andrew Jones at that time that Joe Sexton in defeat, with the amount of help and encouragement which he gave personally to a young member regardless of political affiliation, was the object of very great admiration by many of us. Many of Joe Sexton's family live in Mannum in my electorate. To them and to the rest of his family I express my great sympathy at his passing. Question resolved in the affirmative, honourable members standing in their places. {: .page-start } page 28 {:#debate-19} ### CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES {: #debate-19-s0 .speaker-KID} ##### Mr LUCHETTI:
Macquarie -- I move: {: .speaker-K9J} ##### Mr Keith Johnson:
BURKE, VICTORIA · ALP -- I second the motion. {: #debate-19-s1 .speaker-5E4} ##### Mr SINCLAIR:
New England -- I move: {: .speaker-KIM} ##### Mr Lynch: -- I second the motion. **Mr LUCHETTI** (Macquarie) - I have nominated the honourable member for Corio, because of his outstanding service to the Committees of this House. Over the years his work has been recognised by all parliamentarians as of outstanding merit. He has adopted an attitude of tact, consideration and understanding in dealing with the affairs of this Parliament. I commend him in particular for his close association with you, **Mr Speaker,** as the Speaker of this House, because of his relations with Temporary Chairmen of Committees and because of his consideration for honourable members generally. The honourable member for Corio is a man of sound judgment. One expects him to be a man of that character because in 1967 he was elected by the people of Corio, an area renowned for sound judgment, discernment and discrimination. He has held the seat since 1967. His work in the electorate is well known. But we who have been in this Parliament must pay a tribute to him for his outstanding qualities - for the manner in which he has tried to keep the business of this House proceeding along correct and proper lines and for the fact that he has given great consideration to the Standing Orders of the House. There is probably no one in this Parliament better informed on the Standing Orders of the House than the honourable member for Corio. He has studied these rules carefully, and with justice and fairness he has applied them in permitting the debates to flow as they should do in Committee. We all know that the Committee debates are exceedingly difficult debates. The complexities of legislation which comes before the House call for the wisdom of a Solomon at times to see that honourable members discuss the very clauses which are before the Committee at the time. The honourable member for Corio has watched these matters with patience and consideration and has shown great generosity at times to honourable members. I pay a tribute to him not only for understanding the Standing Orders of the Parliament but also for having read extensively matters concerned with the statutes of our parliamentary system - the Westminster form of Government - such as May's 'Parliamentary Practice' and all these matters which help to strengthen one who sits in your seat, **Mr Speaker,** or that of the Chairman of Committees of this House. In electing the honourable member for Corio I am sure that the House will make no mistake. This is not a question of engaging in a conflict. It is not to say that other honourable members do not also possess qualities of very great merit. But we do know from past performance that the honourable member for Corio has given commendable service to this House. He has given a type of service that one should applaud, and the best way that we can applaud the honourable member for Corio is by electing him once again to serve this Parliament as the Chairman of Committees. I am pleased to propose the motion and I hope that it will be supported by the House. **Mr SINCLAIR** (New England)-Mi Speaker, ]. commend to you and to the House the appointment of **Mr Philip** Ernest Lucock, C.B.E., the honourable member for Lyne, as Chairman of Committees of this House. There is no doubt that in his parliamentary service, elected to this chamber as he was initially by a by-election on 22 March 1952, and in his subsequent effective membership of this chamber he has demonstrated a knowledge and a capacity which I believe of itself alone qualifies him for the appointment which this House is now considering. But beyond that he served as Deputy Chairman of Committees from 23 February 1956 to 20 February 1961. He served as Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees from 8 March 1961 to 27 February 1973 and then again as Deputy Chairman of Committees from 1 March 1973 to the dissolution of the Twenty-eighth Parliament. He has demonstrated in practice and effective form his own qualifications for this position. Indeed, in opening casually Hansard of 25 November 1969, as the Minister for the Capital Territory **(Mr Bryant)** did this morning, one is interested to see that even the present Prime Minister **(Mr Whitlam),** then the Leader of the Opposition, in commenting on the attributes of the honourable member for Lyne said: >I would like to congratulate the honourable member for Lyne **(Mr Lucock)** on being elected again as Chairman of Committees and Deputy Speaker. The honourable genetleman has held this office longer than anyone has in the history of this chamber. He has had very great experience in it. If you do not mind my saying so, **Mr Speaker,** where his rulings differ from yours we believe he is correct. I can praise him in no more warm terms. There from the mouth of the Prime Minister is a recognition of the qualifications of the honourable member for Lyne which is shared by all of us on the Opposition side of the House and I believe by many on the Government side of the House. It is 'important however that we consider not only the qualifications of the man but also the qualities required of the position. The Opposition nominated the honourable for Lyne not because of any particular concern at the administration of the honourable member for Corio **(Mr Scholes)** in his previous occupancy of the position. We recognise that the honourable member for Corio too has a knowledge of the Standing Orders of this chamber and has done his best in the circumstances when he has been in control of the chamber; but the position, **Mr Speaker,** is that he who is elected serves first as your deputy and secondly as the Chairman of Committees. It is of concern to us on this side of the House that when we are electing a Chairman of Committees we recognise that there should be an adequate availability of Committee procedures to permit an adequate consideration of the legislation which comes before this chamber. **Mr Speaker,** it is regrettable that during the term when your deputy was the incumbent of the position which this House is now considering filling there was, perhaps largely because of the activities of the Cabinet, perhaps because of the activities of the Leader of the House **(Mr Daly),** totally inadequate opportunity for Committee consideration of significant pieces of legislation. We believe it is quite critical that a man should be appointed to this important position in this chamber who is able to ensure that the parliamentarians of this place, all of whom are meeting for the first time in the 29th Parliament but some of whom are meeting for the first time ever in the House of Representatives, are given during the life of this Parliament an adequate opportunity to debate all those pieces of legislation which come before us. The way in which we on the Opposition side believe this can best be ensured is by appointing the honourable member for Lyne to the position which this House is now considering - your **deputy, Mr Speaker,** and the Chairman of Committees. In that way I believe that the rights and privileges of the private member can best be protected and the prospects for democracy in this chamber enhanced. {: #debate-19-s2 .speaker-K9J} ##### Mr Keith Johnson:
BURKE, VICTORIA · ALP -- I seconded the proposition that my very good friend and colleague, the honourable member for Corio **(Mr Scholes),** should be Chairman of Committees in this House. I did that deliberately and with great pleasure. Having served in this Parliament since 1969 and thereby having seen both contenders for the position in operation in the chair both as the deputy of the Speaker and as the Chairman of Committees, I would find it very difficult, I suppose, to choose between them in respect of their competency. The honourable member for Lyne during the period of his occupancy of the chair, in my view, performed very fairly and within the Standing Orders, as did my very good friend, the honourable member for Corio, during his occupancy of the chair. The honourable mem ber for Corio performed impartially, firmly and within the Standing Orders. I am surprised that the honourable member for New England **(Mr Sinclair),** a man with long experience in this Parliament and a man who is to boot a lawyer, albeit a bush lawyer being a member of the Country Party, dared to assert during the course of such a debate as this when we are speaking about the attributes of 2 people that the Chairman of Committees in some way, whether he was acting as the Chairman of Committees or as the deputy for the Speaker, had some sort of influence on the procedures of this House. In his words, the honourable member for Corio in effect had never allowed proper Committee procedures to be followed. He said that the honourable member for Corio had not provided adequate time and facilities for Committee debate. I am very sorry to hear such a statement from such a learned gentleman. I thought he might have known that all the procedures of this House are regulated by the Standing Orders. I might remind him further that the Labor Government since coming to office in 1972 has not changed Standing Orders. In other words, the Chairman of Committees, whoever he may be, and the Speaker in this place, whoever he may be, operates within Standing Orders that were brought about by those who now find them very uncomfortable because they did not expect to sit on the Opposition side of the House, where they will probably sit for the next quarter of a century. The attributes of my colleague, the honourable member for Corio, are well known. He has had to contend with some very unruly elements in this House, especially in the southwest corner. Somebody just said that they are political bushrangers. They are not political bushrangers. To call them that would be unparliamentary. The unruly elements that have come to the fore in this House in an endeavour to frustrate the very democratic processes that they now profess to support have been very firmly put in their places by my good colleague and friend **Mr Scholes,** and I have no doubt that after his appointment to this high and important office today he will again deal with those elements in the firm, fair and just way in which he has dealt with them in the past. The House could do worse than support the candidacy of **Mr Scholes** because, **Mr Speaker,** it is important that there should be friendship in the relationship that exists between your deputy and yourself. I am not suggesting that there is no friendship between yourself and **Mr Lucock,** but for a variety of reasons I believe that a stronger friendship would exist between yourself and **Mr Scholes** than between yourself and **Mr Lucock.** Of course, the co-operation would be the same no matter from which party the Chairman of Committees was elected, but, this friendship, this co-operation, this liaison between the principal officer of the Parliament, the Speaker, and his deputy, the Chairman of Committees, is very important. By supporting the candidacy of **Mr Scholes** we can ensure that the friendly and co-operative relationship that has existed in the past will continue. We can ensure that everybody who wishes to speak and who has the right to speak under the Standing Orders will have that right guaranteed by electing **Mr Scholes** as Chairman of Committees. I commend his candidacy to the House and I will be most surprised if, when the ballot is taken, there are fewer than 125 votes for **Mr Scholes.** {: #debate-19-s3 .speaker-KIM} ##### Mr LYNCH:
Flinders -- I indicate at the outset that I was surprised at the very partial political comments made by my old friend and colleague, the honourable member for Burke **(Mr Keith Johnson).** As I recall it, he indicated that the House could do worse than support the nomination of **Mr Scholes.** I confess that that really is a matter of political judgment upon which there are certainly different interpretations on different sides of the House. In fact, the honourable gentleman almost made me cry. I wondered why in so firmly supporting the nomination of **Mr Scholes** for this very responsible position the honourable member for Burke might not, during the earlier deliberations of this chamber today, have supported **Mr Scholes** for a position which in a sense is superior to that of Chairman of Committees which we are considering at the present time. I welcome very much the opportunity to join my colleague, the Deputy Leader of the Australian Country Party **(Mr Sinclair),** in supporting the nomination of Philip Ernest Lucock, C.B.E., for this most exacting and responsible position of Chairman of Committees which carries with it the obligation of conducting the business of this House when it is in Committee. As the honourable member for Burke made it clear - and I accept the impartiality of this observation - **Mr** Lucock as a former Deputy Speaker, Chairman of Committees and Deputy Chairman of Committees has established on both sides of this House a very impressive reputation for effective chairmanship in the Committee stages of consideration of many difficult Bills. His capacity is a matter of record and is well understood and appreciated by members on both sides of the House. **Mr Lucock** was a member of the Australian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly and a delegate to the Commonwealth Parliamentry Association Conference. 1 have no doubt that he possesses in ample measure those qualities of impartiality, firmness and independence which ought properly to characterise any one occupying the position of Chairman of Committees of this important House. The nomination of **Mr Lucock** is unanimously supported by members of the Liberal and Country Parties, and I commend very warmly that nomination to this House. {: #debate-19-s4 .speaker-10000} ##### Mr SPEAKER: -- Order! In accordance with the Standing Orders the bells will be rung for 2 minutes and a ballot taken. (The bells having been rung)- {: .speaker-10000} ##### Mr SPEAKER: -- Order! Ballot papers will now be distributed. Will honourable members please write on the ballot paper the name of the candidate for whom they wish to vote. The candidates are, in alphabetical order: **Mr Lucock, Mr Scholes.** (A ballot having been taken)-- {: .speaker-10000} ##### Mr SPEAKER: -- Order! The result of the ballot is: **Mr Lucock** 54 votes, **Mr Scholes** 64 votes. **Mr Scholes** is declared elected. {: #debate-19-s5 .speaker-6U4} ##### Mr WHITLAM:
Prime Minister · Werriwa · ALP -- **Mr Speaker,** it is just 7 years this month since the honourable member for Corio **(Mr Scholes)** was elected to the House. I was closely associated with him in the couple of weeks before that occasion. I came to know his qualities very well. It is with very great pleasure that I, for the second time, congratulate him on being elected Chairman of Committees. When I did so 161/2 months ago I said that all those who had served with him in the Parliament knew what an avid student he was of parliamentary procedures and what a redoubtable proponent he was of parliamentary rights. My experience of him in the Chair has confirmed my high opinion that I then expressed. I believe that he cancount on the support of all honourable members when you **Mr Speaker,** are not in the Chair. I believe that the House will be orderly and effective in the discharge of its business when he is in the Chair. {: #debate-19-s6 .speaker-DQF} ##### Mr SNEDDEN:
Leader of the Opposition · Bruce -- **Mr Speaker,** I congratulate the honourable member for Corio **(Mr Scholes)** on being elected by the House as Chairman of Committees. It was, of course, a division on Party lines. If my hearing of the numbers is correct, he seems to enjoy more support than you do, **Mr Speaker.** As Chairman of Committees he has displayed that he possesses a determination to maintain order in the chamber. I agree totally with his purpose, but I think he may discover that his method may not. always work. A loud voice and a knowledge of the Standing Orders are not always the means of obtaining a peaceful chamber. I would suggest to the honourable gentleman that he try to learn a little humour. {: .speaker-K9M} ##### Mr Les Johnson:
HUGHES, NEW SOUTH WALES · ALP -- You can talk. {: .speaker-DQF} ##### Mr SNEDDEN: -- The Minister for Housing and Construction is the greatest joker in the outfit. He wants to have an examination made to learn why so few houses are being built. He is the man who supervised the greatest decline in housing and the steepest rise in interest rates in Australia's history, and he is talking about having an inquiry. The Minister for Housing and Construction, **Mr Les** Johnson, is a great joker. I assure the honourable member for Corio that he will have the cooperation of this side of the House. We want the Committee stage of debates developed, and we want that stage to be conducted in an appropriate way. We will give him all the co-operation that he deserves. When he deserves it, we will give it. When he does not deserve it, we will stand up for our rights, **Mr Speaker,** in just the same way as I indicated to you this morning we would stand up for our rights when you are in the Chair. {: #debate-19-s7 .speaker-BU4} ##### Mr ANTHONY:
Leader of the. Australian Country Party · Richmond -- I congratulate the honourable member for Corio **(Mr Scholes)** on being elected Chairman of Committees. He has had previous experience as Deputy Speaker and as Chairman of Committees. He certainly knows the Standing Orders extremely well and performs very efficiently. He has a smile on his face now, having been elected. I hope it is the start of a new era in which he will look happy in the job and not scowl too much at members of the Opposition when they are finding reason to misbehave. I am sure that he will get full co-operation if he shows the impartiality that is needed to make the House work successfully. **Mr Speaker,** perhaps from time to time you will be able to hand on to him some of your witticisms which can make the House a little lighter during the agonising Committee periods that we have to suffer at times. I wish him well in his new job. {: #debate-19-s8 .speaker-KIH} ##### Mr LUCOCK:
Lyne -- I take the opportunity now of thanking the mover and seconder of my nomination for the position of Chairman of Committees and those who gave me their support, and of congratulating the honourable member for Corio **(Mr Scholes)** on his being appointed Chairman of Committees and Deputy Speaker of this House. I know that the task is not an easy one. I offer him my congratulations and best wishes, as I do to you, **Mr Speaker,** on your appointment. I say to you, **Sir, and** the honourable member for Corio that I will be only too willing at any stage during this Parliament to give you whatever assistance I may be able to give. {: #debate-19-s9 .speaker-5J4} ##### Mr SCHOLES:
Corio -- I thank the House for the honour it has done me in again electing me Chairman of Committees. I really do not think that one is elected Chairman of Committees to be a comedian; I think one is elected Chairman of Committees to conduct the affairs of the House. If some honourable members believe that other methods are better, that is their prerogative. People have different approaches to what they do and all of us are different. I shall seek, as I have in the past, to conduct the affairs of this House, when I am responsible for the conduct of the affairs of this House, in accordance with the Standing Orders which have been determined by this House and in accordance with the wishes of the majority of members expressed in this House. I thank my proposer and the seconder of the motion for the very kind words they have said about me. I hope to get an inscribed copy of the remarks of the mover of the motion so that I can pass it on to all of those people who would challenge my ability in this place. There is no way in which I can prove myself to be up to the standards which the mover set for me and there is no way in which I can express my thanks to the House better than he did in proposing my nomination. {: .page-start } page 32 {:#debate-20} ### ADJOURNMENT Motion (by **Mr Daly)** agreed to: >That the House do now adjourn. House adjourned at 6.32 p.m.

Cite as: Australia, House of Representatives, Debates, 9 July 1974, viewed 22 October 2017, <http://historichansard.net/hofreps/1974/19740709_reps_29_hor89/>.