COMMON POLICY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 304, 23 December 1944, Page 7

COMMON POLICY

ANTI-LABOUR FORCES

AUSTRALIAN LIBERAL PARTY

O.c. SYDNEY, Dec. 19. Formal unity at least was at last achieved by the week-end conference at Canberra at which antiLabour forces (except the Country party, which insists on going its own way) agreed to scrap their separate organisations, and also their numerous past names, to form the Liberal party under the Parliamentary leadership of Mr. Menzies. The chairman has not yet been chosen. The important change in organisation is that henceforth one common policy will apply to all the State branches of the party. The structure consists of a supreme Federal Council, with powers of veto, and under it State Councils in each State and sub-branches within each State Council. There was much argument on the process of pre-selecting candidates for Parliament. The constitution now vests the power of veto over selections approved by sub-branch conventions first in the State Council and finally in the Federal Council. Mr. Menzies at the conference appealed to employers to help by granting leave to employees who might be selected to contest an election. "Employed people are the backbone of our organisation and they should be in the national Parliament," he said. "The obligation on an employer is more than just making a modest contribution to finance an election campaign. It is his obligation to make it possible for those who serve him in turn to serve their country in a wider field."