REHABILITATION IN AUSTRALIA

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24571, 21 May 1945, Page 3

REHABILITATION IN AUSTRALIA

PREFERENCE BILL DEBATE (Rec. 7.30 p,m.) SYDNEY, May 19 The return, of Australia’s 800,000 servicemen to civilian life is an issue being hotly debated by the Federal Parliament Opposition members declare that the Re-establishment and Employment Bill now before the House of Representatives will not satisfy the nation’s conscience. They are seeking the withdrawal and redrafting of the bill. The debate, which has been in progress four days, will continue next week. Sharp criticisms by Opposition members reflect growing doubt whether the measure in its present form will guarantee effective preference to former servicemen. Certain classes of civilian war workers are included among the persons entitled to preference under the bill. This caused the Leader of the Opposition (Mr R. G. Menzies) to say: “The moment you get away from servicemen you get into uncharted seas. If everyone has preference no one has preference.” Close examination of the bill has led critics to fear that it may not in practice prove to be binding upon employers. Several speakers in the House have suggested that under its present provisions preference to unionists will override preference to servicemen. Unionist or Soldier Commenting on this aspect, the “Sydney Morning Herald,” in a leading article to-day, says: “Rightly or wrongly the suspicion is growing that the Government is watering down its preference programme in deference to the trades ynions. Even in the course of the debates some supporters of the Government have made no secret of their belief that the unionist should come before' the returned soldier, and the principle of preference to the latter has been hotly contested by trades union leaders ever since Cabinet began to draft the bill.” The bill’s restriction of soldier preference to seven years after the end of the war has been condemned by the Opposition as “an insult to servicemen.” The Leader pf the C oun try Party (Mr A, W. Fadden) warned the House that if this limitation became law'any Government with which he might become associated would consider its repeal. 300,000 Already Demobilised, The Opposition estimates that from 600,000 to 800,000 Australians will have to be assisted to find suitable jobs after the war. Already 300,000 Australian servicemen have been demobilised and more than 130,000 have been assisted to secure positions. The Opposition is also seeking extension under the bill of vocational training for former servicemen, claiming that of those already demobilised only 2 per cent have applied for fulltime training and 7 per cent, for pgrt-, time training. The Government contends that the Opposition is attempting to employ the Rehabilitation Bill to drive a wedge between soldiers and civilian workers. Some Labour members have said during the debates that soldiers did not wish for preference, but they supported the ideal of work for all. Thus criticised both inside and outside the Government, the Re-estab-lishment and Employment Bill has been described by a former Prime Minister, Sir Earle Page, as “a hybrid such as a mule, with no pride, in its ancestry and no hope-of posterity.” Canada and- Aid to BukUl—Canada has suspended mutual aid to Russia pending the drafting of the new policy which is now under discussion. The decision conforms to the United States suspension of lend-lease.—Ot-tawa, May 19. Repatriation of Prisoners.—Discussions among Russian. British, and American Army groups about mutual repatriation of liberated prisoners of war are progressing satisfactorily, according to Supreme Headquarters.— London, May 19. * Hitler’s Car.—A Paris report says Hitieris other famoaa w^SSSSIiSSJK,