AUSTRALIA’S NEED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21619, 23 January 1945, Page 4

AUSTRALIA’S NEED

BIG MIGRATION PLAN COUNTRY PARTY’S VIEW GOVERNMENT CRITICISED <lO a.m.) SYDNEY, Jan. 23. Large-scale immigration - in the interests of Australia’s welfare and safety.” was urged by the Federal council of the Australian Country Party at its annual conference. ine delegates agreed that a sound immigration policy was not merely a matter of expenditure of millions oi pounds to bring people to Australia, but also of providing conditions to encourage the investment of capital. “The antagonistic attitude of the Federal Government towards individual enterprise” was regarded as a fatal bar to the absorption oi immigrants. The conference also decided to urge a more vigorous policy of decentralisation of population and industry by such measures as Federal aid to rural electrical extensions. Federal aid to district water supplies and cheaper freight rates. The Federal Country Party leader, Mr. A. W. Faclden, said the party must act to ensure that farmers received an increased share of the national income. Although the standard of living had risen for Australians as a whole, the farmers had not benefited to anything like the same extent as the people engaged in secondary industries. The monopolistic power of big industrial unions by which they obtained more than their fair share of national income must be challenged. This might not be palatable to organised labour, but it is an essential condition to improve the farmers' standard of living.