AUSTRALIA'S PROBLEMS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18423, 12 June 1923, Page 7

AUSTRALIA'S PROBLEMS

ARBITRATION AND TAXES.

A SOLUTION IN- SIGHT.

INTER-STATE CONFERENCE.

[FROM ; OTJR OWN CORUESPOKDENT.] - ' -;:'': ; SYDNEY. ; June ■1.

The decisions arrived at by the interState conference of Federal and State Ministers in regard to arbitration and taxation bring, within measurable distance the most important constitutional changes yet attempted since federation became a fact a' little over 20 years: ago. ....:; There has been no factor so potent of dangerous friction between tho States and the Commonwealth as > the overlapping arbitration laws. There has been no line of demarcation between the jurisdictions of the two sovereign authorities in each State, and the rapid multiplication ; of awards in recent years has resulted, in grotesque complexities. Not only might a body of employees on ' one establish-, ment be governed by dozens of sectional awards of the State Courts and boards, but a substantial portion of them might be governed also by- overlapping awards, with no correlation whatever,; issued by the Federal ..-Courts. ; :"

The position has become so chaotic ' that industrialism in Australia at the present moment is-entangled in an intricate mesh of { litigation;' So'; far,, ins ; New : South Wales is concerned, the Attorney-General is now drafting an entirely new law under which conciliation methods will bo largely substituted > for t the costly litigation to which almost ; every industrial cause '.'■■ -; is now ■ subjected. ; However, ; the stumbling block both here 'and in other States has been ' the independent Federal Court, which, under recent Privy. Council decisions, has even had its power extended to State Government : employees, thus scrapping the almost sacred' doctrine of the immunity of State instrumentalities. Under ■ the agreement announced: to-day, the industries over which ; the Federal Court has jurisdiction will bo tabulated and incorporated in the Constitution,-and the list will be subject to a defined process of revision in five years. ■: Thus specified .. industries of a purely inter-State character, such as ; shipping, will be handed over; entirely to the tender mercies of the Comnjonwftalth judges, who will be powerless.to interfere beyond that restricted field. Each State will be ■■■ left free, to act as tit likes -in - the residue 'of industries,, with, this exception, that y the Commonwealth will retain an. appellate jurisdiction over the State .tribunals, and be competent to ; make < an ; order where there is no State industrial authority, ; ;or in any case where an industry in: a State, by reason of any Stato determination or absence of such, is prejudiced substantially by inter-State competition. .:; State instrumentalities will bo restored to their old immunity from Commonwealth ; jurisdiction. . ;:•;■.-' '.;'.'• g- ' i

So far-reaching are . the agreements reached by Ministers on this question and on taxation, that the matters will not be finally clinched until a, further conference in a fortnight's time, after Cabinet consultations, and in any case the decisions will probably be subject to legislation. The taxation agreement provides; for great changes in regard' to income taxation. The Commonwealth will retire from this field of- impost except in regard to the undistributed profits of companies, which will bo taxed up to a maximum proportion of 2s 6d in, the £ on a company's earnings. In return f, the States will relinquish the per capita payments of 25s hitherto received from the Commonwealth, and. the : interest which ;; has been ■ paid by the; Commonwealth on pro-, perties transferred • from the States. It is expected that the i change will; result in considerable relief >'■ for ,'. taxpayers, as, ;on the balance, the Commonwealth 1 will lose about £1,400,000 per annum, and there will be "a big saving, .; estimated> /at £400,000, in.; the cost ■of collecting ; the unified income tax. '-'-''*;,', ,-! ,'