FEDERAL POLITICS

Grey River Argus, 3 April 1943, Page 6

FEDERAL POLITICS

REPATRIATION BUI ; Passed by House I ■ ■ ! SENATE AMENDMENT accepted. 'i CANBERRA, April 2. The Government has accepted in the form insisted on by the Senate, the amendment to the Repatriat on Bill, providing for preference turned Servicemen in Common wealth employment, after the war. By doing this, the Government eapitulated for the third time in the last three weeks to the Senate OpposiHon After the amended Bill nau i passed, Parliament adjourned until ! JU lrf'the last three the Op- ’ position in the Senate, holding a , majority of 19 to 17, has forced the Government to drop its proposal t ! retain income tax refunds, cancelled (the clause linking the Sociap/jCn fare Bill with Income Tax Rates Bill, and has now insisted on a clause giving preference only to soldiers th Repatriation Bill. The . Government had agreed to compromise with tne I Senate on its preference clause by suggesting that preference should be (extended to include merchant sea men and. civil aviation P llot s> (served in combat zones, but the Sen ate declaring preference for civihans had no nlace in the Repatriationßill rejected the Governments sugges- | tiO At a meeting of the Labour Party I Caucasus to consider the Senate rejec tion, Mr . Curtin is reported to have told members that he , and _ other Ministers were mentally and physic- . ally exhausted, and in no state to continue fighting with the Senate. Pointing out that soldier pensioners would be deprived of nearly £200,000 in increased pensions lor every month the Bill was held up, he suggested that the best course was to accept the Senate’s demand and introduce a comprehensive preference Bill later. This course was lagreed to. , , “The preference issue was ended in the defeat of the Government and ; its retreat into the recess, comments the “Sydney Morning Herald , '.editorially. “Licking their wounds, the Ministers may reflect that they will be at least acquitted of the I charge of pursuing party warfare to the point at which either the genuine interests of ex-servicemen would I have to be sacrificed by the withdrawal of the Repatriation Bill, or a premature dissolution of the House of Representatives brought about. Political circumspection is not one of the qualities for which Senator McLeay and his friends of the Senate Opposition are renowned. They insisted on humiliating as well as defeating the Ministry ignoring the fact that petty party triumphs of this kind in wartime may be purchased at too high a cost to the renutation of the Opposition. Unless the Senate majority abates its preferences for party politics at all costs, it will bring grave damage upon. the Opposition cause.’’

Third Liberty Loan MR CURTIN'S DISAPPOINTMENT. CANBERRA, April 2. Australia’s third Liberty Loan of £100,000,000 is lagging badly. This was revealed by the Prime Minister (Mr Curtin), speaking on the adjournment of the Federal Parliament, when he asked every member to devote all his energies to advancing the progress of the loan. “The slow progress of the loan is an effront to our nationhood,” declared the Prime. Minister in a warm speech. "It represents a triumph for selfishness and complacency over the obligations of a country in deadly peril. Failure of the loan would represent not only injury to us as a nation—it would be a severe blow to the United Nations’ cause. Hundreds of thousands in the past few days have cheered the Ninth Division, who fought valiantly for us overseas’and have returned to fight at home. Is our appreciation of these men to stop at cheering, flag-waving, and lipservice ? Is the civil population, suffering nothing and sacrificing little, to take refuge in all manner of excuses' for failing to measure up to the standard of Australianism, which our fighting men have set.? It is nonsense to talk of taxation as a reason for non-participation in the loan. While rececourses attract record crowds, while outside, theatres queues wait for. admittance, while money is still being scent recklessly on all kinds of things that could, and should, and must wait, there can be no such excuse as that. Australia must produce tangible evidence of its strength of purpose or this nation cannot, with justice, put a case to the leaders of the United Nations for assistance to hold out.”

U.A.P. Breakaway Group DISSATISFIED WITH LEADERSHIP. CANBERRA, April 2. The recent strife within the Federal Parliamentary Opposition boiled over when seventeen members of the United Australia Party formed a breakaway group. They announced that they would remain within the framework of the party, but were disi satisfied with its leadership, and would refuse to attend party meetings. Members who have broken away are calling themselves the National Service Group. They include the Leader of the Senate Opposition (Senator McLeay) the former Prime Minister (Mr R. G. Menzies), who was previously defeated in the attempt to oust the veteran politician, IMr Hughes, from the party leadership. A letter to Mr Hughes, signed by all the breakaway members said: “We, the undersigned members of the United Australia Party, feel it necessary to record our grave anxiety at the recent drift of events. We draw attention to the refusal of the Government to create one Australian army to render maximum service to the Allied cause; inadequate appreciation of the war effort of Great Britain; the alarming rise in prices which the Government is failing to control; allocation of huge sums of new taxation to social services instead of to war; grave incidence of coal strikes, wharf troubles and absenteeism; disorganisation in food and man-power; and the reluctance of the Government to give service people adequate preference. In view of these grave developments, we consider it is essential to reorganise the United Australia Party, under new and vigorous leadership, but in order to avoid dissension, we intend to act within the party as the national service group.” Political observers believe that one of the purposes of the move is to return Mr Menzies to some form of political leadership.