ADDITIONAL POWERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25566, 20 June 1944, Page 5

ADDITIONAL POWERS

AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT THE REFERENDUM CAMPAIGN (N.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent) (Rec. 8.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, June 19. Advance copies of the official pamphlet outlining the cases for and against the powers referendum, to be held on August 19, have been released. This marks the opening of the referendum campaign. About 4,500,000 copies of the pamphlet will be distributed to voters.

In brief, the case for granting the Commonwealth 14 additional powers stresses that post-war reconstruction is too big a be left to the six State Governments. The “no ” case says that tiie granting of the powers would mean industrial conscription. Some of the reasons why the Federal Government says it needs the powers are to facilitate the rehabilitation of servicemen and women and provide work for all, to guard against another depression resulting from the changeover from war to peace, to improve housing, to ensure proper living to the man on the land, and to prevent profiteering in the disturbed conditions after the wai\ The Labour Government pledges itself to oppose industrial conscription in peace-time. It claims that the small business man will have little chance unless monopolies and combines are subject to national legislation. Business will be allowed to make a fair profit, but the Federal Government sesks power to prevent such profit from becoming extortionate. Centralised Control

The “no ” case warns that the people, having had a taste of centralised control in war-time should vote against the granting of the additional powers, which would mean a continuance of the present abuses. It says that the granting of the additional powers would mean industrial conscription. the wholesale elimination of the small trader, and control of industry by talkative amateurs. The “no ” case adds that the referendum# proposal is misleading, since the people must vote for all of the powers or none.

Commenting on the referendum, the Sydney Morning Herald to-day says in an editorial: “First thoughts that the'Commonwealth should be granted more powers are being revised in the light cf accumulating proofs that the special authority vested in the Federal Government for war-time purposes and delegated to a swollen bureaucracy has been grossly and unforgivably abused. Traditional respect for public rights and liberties has been thrown into the discard and the sanctity of mails has become a jest. The very processes of justice are perverted and befouled by the employment of agent provocateur methods by the prices branch to entice persons into the commission of offences against the new war-time laws. Recent revelations have wrought irreparable mischief to the Government’s referendum plans. The Public Angered “The public, angered by them, will be more disposed to heed such criticism as that advanced by the United Australia Party conference—that the new powers are designed in part to perpetuate a system in which the central power is sustained upon' the basis of arbitrary executive action and the subordination of Parliament to officialdom.” Although the Herald warns that the Government’s failure to keep the pretensions of bureaucracy in check has gone far to put the referendum in jeopardy, other political commentators believe that the hope of ensuring a continuance of war-time prosperity will impel the electors to support it. They say that the Government’s “bread and butter ” propaganda must make a strong appeal to both workers and soldiers. In view of the trends evident in some recent State elections, however, it is clear that the Federal Government faces no easy task in persuading the unanimous support of the States for its wider post-war powers.