REJECTED PETITION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22119, 27 May 1935, Page 9

REJECTED PETITION

WESTERN AUSTRALIA REQUEST FOR SECESSION WHY IT WAS DECLINED CONSTITUTIONAL POSITION By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright LONDON, May 24 The full report has been issued of the joint Parliamentary Committee, consisting of Viscount Goschen, Lord Wright and the Marquess of Lothian, which heard argument on the question whether the Western Australian petition for secession from the Commonwealth was proper to be received by the British Parliament. The finding is that it would not be proper for Parliament to receive the petition, as the prayer asks for legislative action which, in the committee's opinion, it is constitutionally incompetent for the British Parliament to take except upon a definite request from the Commonwealth conveying clearly the expressed wish of the Australian people as a whole. Also because the petition is presented by the Government of Western Australia, which, as a State, is not concerned with the subject matter of th« proposed legislation. Effect of Joining Federation

The committee said it did not consider its duty limited to reporting merely on the propriety and form of the petition for the purpose of its reception by Parliament. There 'was no question as to the undoubted and ancient right of Parliament to receive whatever petitions it thought fit, and of the historic right of subjects of the Crown to present petitions to Parliament. However, these rights, like the abstract right of Parliament to legislate for the whole Empire, were exercised only on relation to affairs in the Dominions, in accordance with certain long-established and clearly understood constitutional principles to which Parliament has more recently given its formal and statutory approval in the Statute of Westminster.

Western Australia, in joining the Commonwealth, surrendered all the powers it had previously enjoyed as a self-governing colony, and thereafter continued to exist as a political entity in respect only as to the powers which remained vested in States. Matter for Whole of Australia

The State had no locus standi in asking for legislation from the Parliament of the United Kingdom in regard to the constitution of the Commonwealth any more than it would have in asking for legislation to alter the constitution of another Australian State or than the Commonwealth would have in asking for an amendment of the constitution of the State of Western Australia.

The Parliament of the United Kingdom, in enacting the constitution, was giving effect to the voice of the people of the continent of Australia and not the voice of any State or States. It was only, therefore, when it was invoked by the voice of the people of Australia that, according to constitutional usage, the Parliament of the United Kingdom could properly vary or dissolve the Federal union.

It was true that, as things stood, the Parliament of the United Kingdom alone could pass an Act which would have that result, also that this Parliament had, in law, full competence to do so even against the wish and without the consent of the Commonwealth.

The report added that the legal competence of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to legislate for the internal affairs of any Dominion or self-govern-ing State or colony can only be reconciled with the fundamental conception of them as autonomous communities, and it would be easy to state practical difficulties which would follow any departure from that principle. Disappointment of the Delegation

The secession delegation, in a joint statement, declared that the report will occasion great and widespread disappointment, " and we fear much resentment in Western Australia. Its adoption by the British Parliament might be fraught with grave consequences." The delegates will further consider the report during the weekend.

The Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. J. A. Lyons, commented: "I am pleased, of course, with the substance and unanimity of the report, not because I desire to suppress discussion of Western Australia's special problems, but because I feel strongly that any such discussion should take place in the proper forum, namely in the Commonwealth Parliament or before any commission such as the Grants Commission established for that purpose. " The report marks out the respective jurisdictions of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and the Parliaments of the Dominions in such a way as to avoid the future embarrassment of any of them."

MATTER NOT ENDED STATEMENT BY PREMIER FUTURE OF FEDERATION MELBOURNE. May 25 Tho Premier of Western Australia, Mr. Phillip Collier, who is visiting Melbourne, .stated to-day that the report of the joint committee of British Houses of Parliament on the secession petition did not represent the end of tho matter as far as Western Australia was concerned. There certainly would have to be a change of mind and attitude on the part of the Federal Parliament toward the smaller States, as the position existing to-day was absolutely intolerable.

Unless grave changes of the Constitution were made, the federation would not last 10 more years.