AUSTRALIAN LABOUR WILL STICK TO CONSTITUTIONAL ACTION

Grey River Argus, 7 October 1949, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN LABOUR WILL STICK TO CONSTITUTIONAL ACTION

Banking Policy a Case in Point

CANBERRA, Oct. 6. The Australian Labour Party Federal Executive has reaffirmed Labour’s Socialisation policy, but has added a declaration that the party would implement its policy only as permitted by the Constitution. Addressing the executive, the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. J. B. Chifley, warned the private banks that they could expect virile competition. “It has been one of the cherished hopes of the Laobur Movement that banking—with its bad record in hard times—should be under national control,” he said. “The banking issue would not have arisen as- it has, if the banks had been prepared to accept the judgment of the Australian people at the 1946 elections, when we went to the country with the 1945 Banking Act and were returned to office.

“The Opposition had said that, if it were returned, it would go back to the Commonwealth Bank Board. Later the banks made it clear that they would not recognise the legality of the vital section of the 1945 Act dealing with deposits. Finally, the matter went to the Privy Council. “We don’t know whether wq shall get the reasons for' the Privy Council judgment before the general elections, but at the elections I consider we should say, ‘Yes, we believe that banking is a national utility.’ While our belief is not lessened, we definitely will not do anything that would be outside the Constitution.”