Political “Personalities” on the Air

Grey River Argus, 20 October 1948, Page 7

Political “Personalities” on the Air

CANBERRA, Oct 18.. A new broadcasting control Bill which the Australian Government hopes To submit to Parliament beioie the end of the year, proposes to give a board of three power to ban broadcasts of “'political dramatisations. With majority approval from the Labour Caucus, the Government is now drafting the Bill. At a recent caucus meeting, about 15 members tried unsuccessfully to refer the proposed Bill to a parity committee for investigation, they claimed that the proposed section conferring power to ban political dramatisations was too wide and dangerous. Members who supported the Bill argued that the only dramatisations the board could ban be those in which actors simulated the voices of living Ministers- and members of Parliament. It is believed that the members who opposed the Bill in Caucus are unlikely to vote against it in Parliament.