A REFERENDUM.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19889, 28 March 1930, Page 7

A REFERENDUM.

FEDERAL CONSTITUTION.

WIDER PARLIAMENTARY POWERS.

(from our own correspondent.)

SYDNEY, March 20.

Before very long another nation-wide referendum will bo taken in Australia on proposals for a vital amendment of the Federal Constitution. The Labour Party is undaunted by the fact that so many similar referendums in the past have been defeated, and has come forward with ideas far more drastic than those presented by any other Government. The most far-reaching proposal is that the Parliament should have the right to amend the constitution without submitting the questions to a referendum. A second proposal is that the Commonwealth should be given complete powers in industrial matters only. The major proposal seems certain to be defeated, though it is far too early to make a reliable forecast. The minor proposal may be agreed, to. The point made by. the Prime Minister (Mr Scullin) in advocating the granting of full powers to the Commonwealth Parliament, is that Parliaments in other parts of the world are untrammelled by what in Australia are called State rights. It must be remembered that the States are very jealous of those rights, and that they will not surrender any of them without a great fight. Therefore, the States, whether governed by the Labour Party or otherwise, may be found fighting the Federal authorities. It is certain that the Nationalist Governments will fight, and the Premier of New South Wales (Mr Bavin) has already announced his attitude in that direction.

Mr Scullin maintains that the Federal Parliament should represent the people with a broad national outlook. He says that there has been great difficulty in the interpretation of the Constitution by the High Court, because changes in the personnnel of the Court have brought about conflicting views. For that reason important changes in the Constitution should not bo left to the Court to decide, but to Parliament itself. "Parliament will not, know where it is if it relies on the vagaries of the High Court," he said. "By a decision in 1920, the High Court held that a State could not interfere in interState free trade, but it said that the Commonwealth Government could interfere. The Constitution never intended- that. There is also great uncertainty as to the company law. There has been too much litigation and delay in determining whether Commonwealth legislation is upheld by the Constitution." Mr Scullin has directed attention to the fact that a recent Boyal Commission proposed many important changes to the Constitution, but every time an alteration to the Constitution was proposed it was necessary to hold a referendum at great cost and turmoil. The need for increased industrial powers for the Commonwealth was urgent. It was probable that every word in the existing law relating to Conciliation and arbitration had cost £IOOO to decide its meaning. Under the Constitution to-day the Commonwealth had no power to intervene until a dispute extended beyond the borders of one State. The two recent judgments of the High Court in the coal dispute had shown that it was not possible to make such a dispute by serving claims on the parties concerned. Apparently there had to be a real dispute, an actual stoppage of work, a strike, or a look-out, before the Federal auth.orities could intervene. He 1 was not criticising the Court for' its judgment, but merely pointing to the urgency for an amendment of the Constitution. It was common knowledge to the people of Australia that there was a dispute in the coal industry in which the whole country was vitally interested, yet the Federal Government could do nothing. It is explained by Mr Scullin that the founders of the Constitution 30 years -#go recognised that changes would be needed in it as the country progressed and as new problems arose, yet there had been no substantial changes. The only alteration that could he regarded as Important was that in 1828, which enabled the consolidation of State debts. With free trade and commerce between the States, aeroplane services linking them up, aid wireless theqe never had been a time when Aus-

tralia was more united, but its unity was not revealed in the Constitution, Very early in the history of the Commonwealth it was discovered that there were weaknesses in the Constitution, and one Judge described it as "the weakest in the world." There were four attempts up to 1919 to alter the Constitution by giving the Commonwealth full industrial powers, but all of them failed. This has made the Federal Government impotent in many directions. But its impotentcy has not been confined to industrial matters. For instance, under the Constitution it can build a dockyard for navy purposes, but it cannot keep it open. The Constitution provides that it cannot be used in times of peace for general work, but must be reserved -solely for naval work, and used in time of war. One of Labour's greatest arguments is that the Parliament of the Commonwealth has less power than the Parliament of New Zealand. "Can it be said," it is asked, "that Australian members of Parliament are less to be trusted than New Zealand members, and that Australians are less able to govern themselves than New. Zealanders t"