AUSTRALIA “FED UP”

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 96, 18 January 1924, Page 6

AUSTRALIA “FED UP”

IMPRESSIONS OF HON. C. J. PARR EVILS OF THREE-PARTY i SYSTEM FUTILITY OF COUNTRY PARTIES PLAYING INTO HANDS OF LABOUR-SOCIALISTS Everybody, down to the man In the street, is fed up; men of good Judgment are asking whether representative government under such conditions is worth while. In these terms', the Minister of Justice and Education, Hon. C. J. Parr, summed up his impressions, in response to a request for his opinion on tiio poltic.nl outlook of Australia, with especial regard to the three States he has just visited—Victoria, New Smitili Wales, and Queensland. “Politics are rather chaotic in Australia,” said Nir. Parr. ‘"There is hardly a Government, either Federal or State, which has a majority of its own behind it. The three-party system has proved a real curse to Australia, just as it seems likely to be the bane of Great' Britain. Strong legislation and resolute administration are very difficult under the present circumstances.

Country Party Controls Situation. “In New South Wales. Sir George Fuller’s Government has only 39 supporters in a House of L’O members; Labour has 34. or 35. and the Farmers’ or Progressive Party the balance. The Fuller party is. cf course, the largest, but it is quite powerless unless the Country Party votss with it. In other words, the Country Party absolutely controls the politcal situation—the Fuller Government stays in or goes out at its whim. In a recent test division on the Estimates the Country Party yxiined with the Labour Party and voted the Government out. ’Pho following week, alarmed at its action, and at the certainty of an immediate general election, should it persist. the Country Party calmly reversed its vote and kept the Fuller Government in office. Such a position obviously creates complete insecurity of Government and administration that is bad for the body politic. “In Victoria, the Country Party has amalgamated with the Government Party, and has secured three seats in the Ministry. Consequently Victoria seems to bo efficiently governed. “In Queensland, the same internal dissension among moderate men contributes largely to the success of Mr. Theodore’s Labour Government. Unquestionably the three-party system snells insecurity and inefficiency in Government. Worse still, it has most materially depreciated Parliamentary institutions in the public view. Is it worth While? “There is the very striking fact that everybody, down io the man in the street, seems ‘fed up’ with Parliamentary Government. Men of good judgment seriously ask whether representative government, under such conditions is really worth while. 'l’hey argue that Parliament can function only where there are two parties, one in Opposit’on, with strongly-marked principles and policy. “The trouble in Australia, is that the farmers are building i.p separate political parties. I was unable to discover what advantage the farmers of New South Wales had gained by having a separate party. They have obtained no legislat’on specially favourable to their interests or their industry, and they seem no better off than before; rather are they worse off, because their existence as a party is regarded bv ether interests as a’ challenge. Bv hiving themselves off as an independent political party they have merely made the position of the moderate forces in politics quite insecure, and have played into the hands of the Labour-Socialists, who are not displeased to see the split. “The moral is obvious. The farming community in New Zealand will do well to ponder the experience of New South Wales, in particular, before launching into the creation of a separate political organisation. Political chaos has been the only result so far achieved by such a course.”