THREAT TO DEMOCRACY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 6, 7 July 1938, Page 8

THREAT TO DEMOCRACY

DELEGATED POWER

GOVERNMENT BY REGULATION

(From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, June 24. , An attack on the growth of govern' ment by regulation is expected in the session of the State Parliament which opened this week. Regulations made under the Transport Acts, governing cruising of taxis and denning built-up areas where speed is restricted to 30 miles an hour, will be tabled. A livelydebate on these points is certain, and at the same time a number of members threaten to open up the whole .question of regulations. Practically all legislation gives the Minister in charge of an Act power to make regulations, which, after approval by Parliament, have the force of law. There is no objection to the general principle of this practice, which is recognised as necessary, but members complain that unfair advantage is taken of it by some Ministers and their Department officials in a manner that challenges democratic government. Some Ministers are accused of promulgating important regulations while Parliament is in recess. It is also claimed that regulations ars tabled in such a way that members do not realise the importance of them and have not the time to comb through them with a view to objecting to them if necessary. It will be suggested that in future when regulations are tabled, a written notice, explaining the effect of them, should be circulated among members. Though Parliament has the power to disallow regulations, this is seldom done, largely because members either have not the time or are not energetic enough to watch them closely. Thousands of regulations are tabled every year, but in the last twelve years only fifteen have been objected to in the House. Of these fifteen only three were disallowed. This is an indication of the enormous power which Parliament has delegated to officials to order the life of the community,