Australian Letter Increased Pensions In Federal Budget?

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28922, 16 June 1959, Page 13

Australian Letter Increased Pensions In Federal Budget?

(Australian Corre:

ipondent, N.Z.P.A.)

SYDNEY, June 14.

Although the Federal Treasurer has warned against expecting too much in the coming Federal Budget, sharp increases in pension rates are considered certain. There may be tax concessions, too.

Pressure on the Treasurer (Mr H. E. Holt) to grant big pension increases has mounted since the Federal basic wage jumped 15s earlier this month. It has been strong since Federal Parliamentarians received substantial rises in salaries and allowances. Organisations representing 500,0U0 pensioners are now drawing up petitions to send with deputations to Canberra before the Budget is presented to Parliament in August.

The old-age, invalid and widow’s pensions are now £4 7s 6d a week, compared with the new Federal basic wage in New South Wales of £l4 3s. No increase was given pensioners in last year’s Budget, which was prepared on the assumption that the public would be unlikely to provide all the money necessary to finance the Government’s programme of public works.

This assumption has been proved not only pessimistic, but almost 100 per cent, wrong. Thanks to the way in which investors have supported Commonwealth loans, Australia approaches the end of the financial year in a very heartening position. Three cash loans this financial year have been oversubscribed by a total of £5B million. To this may be added the fact that Australian farm income in 1958-59 will rise by £6l million over the previous vear. The overall total of £204.5 million loan money raised this year is only £5.5 million short of the year’s loan programme for State works and housing. Political observers believe the good loan response must influence the Treasurer in framing a “popular” Budget in August. Business leaders have called for tax cuts. They said the cuts would boost Australia’s prosperity and export earnings. The secretary of the Sydney Chamber of Commerce (Mr A. J. Birch) expressed the popular idea when he said: “Tax concessions would lead to an expansion of business, exports and trade. The heavy tax commitments of the business community are contributing to the cost level. That is the biggest hurdle against an increase in Australia’s exports.” Meanwhile, the New South Wales Government plans to grant travel concessions in the State Budget. The Premier (Mr Cahill) will announce a reduction in train, tram and bus fares for all children still attending school. At present, schoolchildren more than 15 years of age have to pay full adult fares outside school hours. Soon they will receive the same concessions as schoolchildren under 15.

Magistrates in Melbourne and Canberra have imposed curious sentences on traffic and criminal offenders.

A Canberra Magistrate’s order that two youths go to church once a week for the next three years as a condition of bonds on which he released the youths passed almost unnoticed. The youths, aged 14 and 15, had pleaded guilty to breaking and entering charges. A Melbourne Magistrate’s order that a speeding motorist work as an orderly in a Melbourne hospital raised the interest of everyone —and pleased no-one, least of all the hospital authorities.' The Magistrate's order to the motorist to assist in Royal Melbourne Hospital's casualty section every alternate Saturday night for six months as part of a good behaviour bond set off a series of reactions.

Crown law authorities ruled that the Magistrate had no power to impose such a condition. Hospital authorities complained they did not want their overcrowded casualty section made penal reform centres. The Hospital Employees’ Federation said the motorist would have to join the union and be paid for any work at the hospital. The motorist, John Craig, aged 50, a waterside worker, said he would report at the hospital as ordered, “and they can fight out the legal position among themselves.”

While the Magistrate (Mr A. H. Pfeifer) has warned the union to take care it is not guilty of contempt of Court, the legal tangle has Melbourne’s leading lawyers delving through dusty tomes.

A fortnight ago it was reported that workmen were tearing down a partly-built school in the Sydney suburb of North Ryde because it had been built across a proposed six-lane expressway. This week, the Minister for Edu-

cation (Mr R. J. Heffron) intervened to stop the “resumption’ of land in Chester Hill to build a school.

A number of Chester Hill residents were nonplussed when they saw workmen making test drills in their backyards. The Education Department had “grabbed” the land by merely making a declaration in the Government Gazette—and without telling, let alone asking, the owners first. When one owner complained that workmen were trespassing, the foreman replied: “No, you are trespassing. The Education Department has resumed this land.” After protests, the Education Minister apologised to the owners for his department’s “high-handed treatment,” and said the resumption was “not definite.” He promised to have a look at the school site himself. ❖ * ❖

A most novel claim was made in the Sydney District Court by a new Australian who said a man’s jaw struck his fist during a brawl at a party. The man was ordered to pay £7OO damages to the man whose jaw “struck his fist,” and who suffered a compound fracture of the jaw. ❖ sje

Sydney will soon have a round-the-clock clinic to handle would-be suicides. Psychiatrists and welfare officers will staff the clinic, which opens next week. Last year 3999 people were admitted to mental hospitals in Sydney after trying to commit suicide. Their ages ranged from 18 to 73. More than two-thirds of them were men.

At the new clinic, staff will be on hand day and night to answer telephone calls from would-be suicides.

New South Wales recently passed a new Mental Health Act which makes it no longer an offence for a mentally ill person to attempt suicide. ❖ £ =1:

While the New South Wales Government is considering steep increases in third-party insurance premiums, the Deputy-Leader of the Opposition (Mr R. W. Askin) has made a plea for a better deal for wives injured in road smashes. Mr Askin said existing thirdparty insurance legislation gave wives a “shocking deal.” Now, if a woman is mutilated when a vehicle driven by her husband overturns, she cannot claim damages.

The premiums advisory committee of the State Government Insurance Office has recommended an average increase of one-third in motorists’ third-party insurance premiums. Insurance authorities say the rises are inevitable. The Government Insurance Office has an accumulated loss of nearly £4 million.