OPPOSITION WITHDRAWS AMENDMENT AND CLAIMS SUBSTANTIAL WIN

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 7, 3 October 1941, Page 8

OPPOSITION WITHDRAWS AMENDMENT AND CLAIMS SUBSTANTIAL WIN

The second reading debate on the Social Security Amendment Bill was concluded in the House of Representatives last night. In die afternoon the Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, asked for urgency to end the formal debate that night. It was evident that it was nagging, and after a speech bv Mr. Fraser early in the evening it tailed off into undisguised electioneering by Government back-benchers who were encouraged to make the most of the broadcast. r * ~• The Prime Minister attacked what he described as unfair tactics and misrepresentation employed outside the House in °PP° s ’ tlol \ ° the Bill. He then held out the olive branch to the medical pi ofessio whose co-operation, he emphasized, the Government earnestly desired in operating the scheme. It was noted with interest that Mr. Flaser based his appeal on the amended Bill rather than on the original as it appeared three weeks ago. “The pledges given (to the public: at the hst two elections) are going to be. fulfilled ™ co-operative a way as possible, and that is the aim of the amendments, hC S The Opposition withdrew an amendment it had moved onSeptember 11. This was to the effect that the Bill be deferred till the end of the war. The Opposition took the line that by the ments to be incorporated by the Government, it had & ot substant.ly "'‘“Replying to the debate the Minister of Health Mr. Nordmeyer denied that the Government bad brought in the s * en “ 'Y' 1 , 1 ' ’J? mind On the contrary, he said, it had obtained all the information it could from overseas and had gone to great lengths to det^ rm what the doctors wanted. He predicted that the great mass of the neonle would bless the Government for the Bill. P The committee stage will be taken today,, when the amendments announced by Mr. Nordmeyer will be written into the Bill. Just before the adjournment the Land and Income Tax Amen ment Bill was introduced. The House rose at 10.30 p.m. till 10.30 this morning.