NATIONAL INSURANCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23568, 3 August 1938, Page 12

NATIONAL INSURANCE

BRITISH EXPERT'S WARNING POLITICAL INTERFERENCE (From Our Own Correspondent) SYDNEY, July 22. A parting warning "not to allow politicians to debauch" the new National Insurance Scheme was given by Sir Walter Kinnear, the British expert principally responsible for the formulation of the scheme. "Unwise interference by politicians with the national insurance scheme is a danger, which cannot be emphasised too strongly," he declared. " Before leaving Australia I want to sound a note of warningdo not let" the scheme become a political shuttlecock." " I go away feeling that you have a great insurance scheme," said Sir Walter Kinnear. "As the years go on you will have every reason to oe proud of it. It is a sound scheme. See that it remains sound. I know that the Act and its administration are in good hands." He said that he found in Australia one of the most generous non-contri-butory old age and invalid pensions scheme in the world, but there was a sobering side to the picture—the rising cost of that scheme. He had been struck most by the lack of proper pensions for the widow and allowances for the orphan. Australia had sadly lagged behind in affording social protection far her wage earners. He regarded the National Insurance Scheme as one of the greatest measures of social reform ever presented to the people of Australia. It was sound on an acturial basis. The benefits were roughly 75 per cent, more than the benefits under the scheme in operation in Great Britain. One difference between the British and Australian schemes was that in Great Britain every approved society was permitted to retain its own surpluses, so that some of them had more than they knew what to do with, while others had no ap- ■■ preciable surpluses. , In Australia one half of the surplus had to be put into a common fund. That was going to be an enormous advantage to societies which carried heavy risks, or had not the best classes of lives.. He thought that the. starting of the scheme in Australia was going to be more difficult than in Britain, because of Australia's -vide, sparsely populated areas. It would be necessary to have a network of approved societies all over the Commonwealth. Sir Walter Kinnear said that he expected the national insurance scheme to stimulate the birth rate and migration, and to forge another strong link in the Empire chain. " I suspect," he said, "that one of the factors against migration has been the circumstance that a man and his family, linked with the national insurance scheme in England, have known that if they went to Australia, for example, they would cease to derive the benefits of the

scheme. When the scheme is in operation in Australia it will be simple to transfer the insurance from one country to another. No man will then lose anything. The basic solution of Australia's population problem lies in a natural increase, and I consider that national insurance may stimulate the birth rate. Men will no longer fear poverty later in life. They will know that their wives and children will be provided for, and it is reasonable to assume that they may have larger families." Trade unions are permitted under the scheme to form approved societies. Many of them have shown hostility to the scheme—possibly because it was introduced by a nonLabour Government—and they made inquiries for urgent advice on the matter of the British Trade Union Congress. This advice has impelled a prompt decision to apply for registration as approved societies.

The British unions' opinion was that the Australian scheme was a modification, and in some respects a distinct improvement, on the British scheme. Urging Australian unions to profit by the experience of British unions, and avoid a bad start, it was said that the big insurance companies in England, by means of their army of canvassers and nation-wide machinery had scooped the great bulk of the insured persons into their approved societies. The health insurance scheme should provide statistics enabling industrial diseases to be singled out and tracked down, but, owing to the approved oocieties of the insurance companies not being on an occuoational basis their statistics are useless. The Australian scheme's provision for the pooling of surpluses was approved, and the information was given that British unions had been trying for years to have the same system adopted so that all societies could be treated alike.