NEW VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23322, 4 October 1945, Page 6

NEW VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT

Political Trickery Alleged MELBOURNE. Oct. 2. A scene unprecedented in Victorian Parliamentary history was witnessed when Mr lan MacFarlan, deputy-leader of the Victorian Liberal Party, who was granted a commission to form a new government, met Parliament late in the afternoon. Only seven members, of the new Cabinet sat on the Government side behind Mr MacFarlan. The rest of the members packed the Opposition benches. After a debate, in which much bitterness and irony were expressed, supply was granted’. The former Premier, Mr A. A. Dunstan, decribed the Government as a thing of shreds and patches. “This Government is a pathetic thing. Portfolios have been hawked round for the last few days. We have here a political ragtime band. The only redeeming feature is that It is only a temporary administration. It appears to be an unwanted child, with no one to own it. Mr MacFarlan apparently has been collaborating for the purpose of upsetting the Government, of which he was a member.” Mr E. J. Hollway, the Liberal leader and formerly deputy-Premier, said he was unable to congratulate the Government on the means by which it gained office. Earlier in the day the council of the Liberal Party censured the five members who ousted the Government. Mr Hollway told the meeting that their action was the most disgraceful political trick that had ever blotched State politics. He suggested that Parliament adjourn to the Tivoli Vaudeville Theatre, which would be an appropriate setting in which to deliver its policy speech. Irreparable harm had been done to the Liberal Party, because of the greedy ambition of a few persons anxious to gain office at any price.

Office Handed Over

(11.20 p.m.) MELBOURNE, Oct. 3. The MacFarlan Cabinet met today and decided that the State election should be held on November 10. At the official handing over ceremony of the Premier s office, Mr A. A. Dunstan, wno had been Premier tor 10: years, wished Mr MacFarlan a pleasant and interesting, if not a long, term oi office. “I have no regrets,’ said Mr Dunstan. “This is the most ruthless game of all. A politician has to be a good loser and be able to give and take.” Mr MacFarlan agreed that politics were ruthless. Lately there had been a little more ruthlessness than usual. No matter how untiring a man’s efforts might be, the time would come when a Premier had to go. If a man entered politics thinking any other fate was in store for him. then he was asleep and it was time he woke up.