COURSE OF MR. COLES

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 83, 4 October 1941, Page 10

COURSE OF MR. COLES

TERMED "IRRESPONSIBLE"

(Rec. 1 p.m. CANBERRA, October 3,

The Minister of Labour, Mr. H. E. Holt, replying to the de"bate on behalf of the Government, said that. Mr. Coles, after being elected as an Independent, swung behind the United Australia Party and then became a protagonist of a National Government, but later Changed those views.

Mr. Coles was the only .man who walked out of the joint party room when Mr. E. G. Menzies resigned • as leader, and members generally pledged their loyalty \o Mr. Fadden. Mr. Coles had an unbalanced and irresponsible political mind, and the Labour Party should be careful about accepting assurances from him. Mr. A. Wilson (Independent) left no doubt about his attitude when he said: "My sympathies have always been with the Labour Party, and I never had much enthusiasm for the Govern- j tnent's policy, which is lopsided." PRESSURE BY UNIONS. Mr. Wilson added that he had no corriplaint about the £322,000,000 budgeted for by the Federal Treasurer, but did complain about the methods where- ] by the money was to be found. He then proceeded to» analyse the weaknesses of the Government's taxing methods and its-failure to give adequate attention to rural interests. Two important critics of the Budget were Mr. Beasley and Dr. Evatt, who were followed by tha Army Minister, Mr. P. C. Spender, who twitted Labour with seeking office under the guise of dissatisfaction with the Government. Mr. Spender declared that militant sections of the Labour movement in New South Wales, concerned only with gaining power, had brought the utmost pressure on the Federal Opposition for weeks past to oust the Government.