Whitlam may survive

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34104, 17 March 1976, Page 21

Whitlam may survive

(N.Z P.A. Staff Crspdtj SYDNEY. March 16. The Australian Labour Leader of the Opposition (Mr Gough Whitlam) is expected to survive, with a censure, when the Labour Party caucus meets in Can* berra tomorrow. Members of the House of Representatives and senators at the meeting will discuss Mr Whitlam's role in the so-called Iraqi fnds affair, a role which has already brought an official condemnation from the party’s executive.

In better times Mr Whitlam would probably have been dismissed without qualm, but in its present knocked-down position after the December General Election defeat, and with no obvious successor standing by, the caucus is likely to stick with Mr Whitlam. Caucus members have been telling reporters in Canberra that there is no way in which Mr Whitlam can escape a rebuke from the caucus for failing to tell his colleagues that the Iraqi funds offer might be accepted by the Labour Party.

The sum mentioned 5500.000, intended to help towards Labour’s election campaign costs. The same caucus members say that the anti-Whitlam forces lack the numbers to oust him as party leader, at least at the moment.

Many caucus members were strongly against Mr Whitlam when the affair first blew up, a month ago, but continuing publicity, the official inquiry by the party executive, and the news of police inquiries into the matter have all tended since then to swing support back to Mr Whitlam.

There now appears to be a strong feeling that Mr Whitlam should not be evicted as the result of what many party members see as a newspaper campaign against the party supported by police inouiries inspired by the LiberalConntrv Partv Government. Tommorow’s meeting will

[involve all 63 members of the j Parliamentary caucus, which is made up of members and 1 senators from both Houses in Canberra. The caucus re-elected Mr iWhitlam to the leadership in ‘January in the aftermath of i the election defeat, but it ’decided then to vote on the [leadership every 18 months. 'Normally there would be no leadership vote tomorrow, but standing rules could be sus- [ pended, and the leadership could be declared vacant. I A Federal police report on [the Iraqi Funds Affair is exipected to be in the hands of the Attorney-General (Mr Robert Elliott) very soon, and informed sources in Canberra say that it will contain a 40-

page statement by a Sydney businessman, Mr Henry Fischer, who was the alleged “go-between” in efforts to raise the $500,000. A spokesman for the Commonwealth Police Commissioner (Mr Jack Davis) has declined to comment on a report that a new name has emerged in the affair. The London newspaper, the "Sunday Times,” has identified the “mystery man” as a Mr Tito Howard, a former nightclub proprietor from Alabama now working closely with the Syrians. Asked if Mr Howard had been included in the Commonwealth Police inquiries, a spokesman for the Commissioner replied: “No comment.”