FEDERAL LAWS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 39, 14 August 1926, Page 9

FEDERAL LAWS

COMMONWEALTH PROPOSALS

CHANGES IN CONSTITUTION

DIVISION AMONG PARTIES.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, sth August. On 4th September the people of the Commonwealth will be called upon to vote on two referenda proposals affecting the Constitution, and since voting, as at *he General Election in November, is compulsory, everyone eligible for a vote must exercise that vote under a penalty of a fine of £2. Because so many cross-issues have been introduced into the Opposition campaign, and the purposes of tho proposed amendments of the Constitution have been so little understood, or so much misinterpreted, it is as well hdre to give an unvarnished statement of what the proposals are. The referenda arise from the election time promises of the Prime Minister (Mr. Stanley Bruce) to widen the powers of the Federal Parliament to deal more easily with industrial disputes, especially those relating to public services, and to prevent conflict and overlapping in State and Federal arbitration. The first referendum concerns industry and commerce. It is proposed to amend section 51 of the Commonwealth Constitution, dealing with the powers of Parliament. This section provides that Parliament shall have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to subject matters set out in 39 sub-sections. It is proposed to amend sub-section 35 and to add four new sub-sections. DETAILS OF ALTERATIONS. Sub-section 35 at present reads: "Parliament shall have power to make laws relating to conciliation and arbitration for the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes extending beyond the limits of any one State." Under this, Federal laws are helpless unless a strike is in progress in more than one State, and in the past disputes have been artificially created in more than one State in order that tho Commonwealth Arbitration Court might be competent to deal with it. It is now proposed that the sub-section shall be altered by the deletion of the words, "extending beyond the limits of any one State." This will give tho Commonwealth authority over the intrastate as well as interstate disputes.

To section 51 it is proposed to add the following three clauses, to be known as sub-sections 40, 41, and 42, giving Parliament power to (1) establish authorities with such powers as the Parliament confers on them with respect to the regulation and determination of terms and conditions of industrial employment, and of rights and duties of employers and employees with respect to industrial matters and things; (2) invest State authorities with any powers which Parliament has vested or has power to vest in any authority established by the Commonwealth; and (3) to deal with trusts and combines in restraint of trade, trade unions, and association of employers or of employees for industrial purposes, including the formation, dissolution} regulation, and control thereof. UNIFORMITY OF AIM. i By these amendments no new powers will be created, but the industrial powers which the States now possess will, in effect, be transferred to the Commonwealth. To an extent, the States are to continue to have concurrent industrial powers, but the final authority will always be the Commonwealth Parliament. Whenever there is conflict between either laws or awards, the Commonwealth will prevail. W^iat *s aimed at is uniformity of industrial legislation, consistent with a due regard for variations in the nature of employment and the location of it. The last subsection is designed to give the Commonwealth power to deal with great trusts or combines which are .acting detrimentally to the public interest, and for the regulation and control of trade unions and employers' associations.

_ The second referendum concerns essential services, and is an additional subsection, to be inserted after sub-section 5, of section 51, of the Constitution. It proposes to give power to the Federal Parliament to "protect the interests of the public in case of probable or actual interruption of any essential service." The Commonwealth can now punish persons interfering with public services, such as foodstuffs and communications, but has no power to restore or continue interrupted services. To carry the amendments it will be necessary to have not only a favourable majority of all the electors voting, but also a favourable majority in four of the six States. CURIOUS POLITICAL SITUATION". The referenda proposals have created curious currents in the various political parties. Mr Bruce has carried the majority of the Nationalist organisations to vote whole-heartedly for both proposals. Other Nationalists are opposing both proposals, and these include the Leader of the party in Now South Wales (Mr. Bavin) and a prominent Victorian Nationalist (Sir Arthur Robinson). The latter, a former AttorneyGeneral of his State, as Mr. Bavin is in his, was so bitter in his opposition that he founded the Federal Union, whose sole purpose is to provide opposition throughout Australia. Yet again, some Nationalists aro voting for the essential services referendum, but opposing the first. The Country Party seems generally favourable to the proposals,. And what of Labour? It is as curiously divided as the National Party. Mr. Charlton and other Federal Labour members, as well as certain Federal unions, support the first referendum and oppose the second, and have advised Labour supporters to vote accordingly. In this they are directly opposed by some of the State Labour Parties and unions, the strongest opposition from Labour coming from the Australian Workers' Union, the most militant of all Australian unions. How, then, can one forecast the result of the referenda poll? It is impossible.

The main ground for opposition from the Nationalist "antis" is that the referenda mean an immense stride towards unification, or the abolition of State authorities And Parliaments, and unification is described as a Labour policy, not a Nationalist', v These opponents believe that immense administrative power will be placed in the hands of "professional politicians sitting in Canberra," out of touch with their constituents, and that State rights will disappear. The principal reason for the attitude of Labour opponents of both proposals is that in the industry and commerce referenda, sub-sec-tion 42 will rob' tho trade unions of every vestige of their power, and that the essential services referenda is the "most dastardly attempt that has ever been made upon the liberties of trade unions in Australia."