THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE: TWO IMPORTANT ELECTIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 740, 19 April 1933, Page 6

THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE: TWO IMPORTANT ELECTIONS.

A Sydney Letter

Has West Australia Constitutional Right to Secede from the Federation? (Special to the “ Star.”) SYDNEY, April 13. Two remarkable appeals to the electors have been conducted in West Australia and South Australia respectively. At Perth the appeal to the electors on general political issues coincided in time with the Referendum, which put to the electors the question whether they should or should not secede from the Australian Commonwealth and the two issues were to some extent involved together.

JN WESTERN AUSTRALIA Labour has never adopted the menacing and aggressive attitude favoured by the leaders in New South Wales, and Mr Collier, who will be the new Labour Premier, is a moderate and reasonable politician—at least compared with Mr Lang. But Mr Collier throughout the electoral campaign, though he was careful to sa> r very little about secession, made skilful use of the general discontent and the effects of the depression which were being utilised by his opponents as an excuse for breaking away from the Federation altogether. As a matter of fact, public feeling in Western Australia is strongly in favour of secession, as the vote on the Referendum proved—and for this Sir James Mitchell, the head of the Nationalist Government, w r as far more to blame than Mr Collier. Genuine Grievances. Of course Western Australia has certain genuine grievances. Without doubt, she has never received proper financial or political consideration from the Eastern States or from the Federal Government; without doubt, being largely without manufactures, she has experienced the worst effects of the Federal Tariff without enjoying much direct benefit from it, and without doubt federation has proved much more expensive to Western Australia than was expected or promised. Sir James Mitchell throughout his campaign for secession has insisted that his reason for urging Western Australia to break loose from the Commonwealth is that she cannot afford to stay inside. Of course, against these arguments the Federal Union, headed by Sir Charles Nathan, put up a strong case, and its speakers were careful to warn the electors first that even if Western Australia could break away, her financial resources and her credit would be destroyed, and secondly that as a matter of constitutional law, she would not be permitted to secede without the consent of the other States. But Sir James Mitchell kept recalling that the people of Western Australia had been promised that federation would cost them only 2s 6d per head per year, that it is costing them £9 per head, and that last year they lost an additional £6 per head through “ excess costs ” due to the tariff engineered on behalf of secondary producers of the Eastern States. Labour Swept the Polls. These arguments prevailed, and the Referendum gave a vote of two to one or more in favour of secession, while at the same time the alternative proposal for a Federal Convention to discuss the whole N position was heavily defeated. But Sir James Mitchell has little reason for personal satisfaction, for the Labour Party practically swept the polls. Sir James

himself lost his seat after holding it for twenty-eight years, two of his Ministers were also beaten, and Labour gained seven seats which the Nationalists lost. The net result of the political contest in Western Australia has therefore been the recording of a strong vote in favour of secession and the Substitution of a Labour Cabinet for the Nationalist Ministry. Mr Collier Moderate. Needless to say, the victory of Labour in Western Australia has been hailed by supporters of Labour in New South Wales and Victoria as pleasing proof of the revival of their party’s strength and a happy omen for the future. But Mr Collier is, as I have said, an essentially moderate man, and he is no more likely to make an obstinate stand against the P'ederal financial policy than Mr Forgan Smith is likely to repudiate the Premiers’ Plan in Queensland. Labour rejoicings here over the defeat of the Mitchell Government are thus misguided, and the victory of Mr Collier at Perth has been more than ■ offset by the heavy defeat that Labour has just sustained at Adelaide. In South Australia, the Richards Labour Government was almost overwhelmed by the Liberal-Country alliance, which gained thirteen seats while Labour lost sixteen. As the House of Representatives numbers only forty-six members, the Government will be in a strong position with twentyeight seats, giving it an absolute majority. The reverse to Labour here is undoubtedly as severe as it was unexpected, and the 4 ‘ Labour Daily ” is reduced to the expedient of emphasising the return of “ three Lang Planners ” as a sign of the revival of the “ true faith ” in South Australia. No Political Effect. These momentous events have naturally aroused great interest in New South Wales, wljere the Parliamentary recess has left the political stage comparatively empty for the time. The threat to the fortunes of the Commonwealth conveyed by West Australia’s vote for secession has by no means been ignored; but the weight of expert opinion here is that the Referendum can have no practical effect. Mr Lyons, who made a tempestuous progress through part of West Australia in defence of secession, warned the people solemnly that they have no constitutional right to secede and that neither the Commonwealth nor the Imperial authorities would and could permit them to do so w’ithout the consent of the other States. That, of course, has been the opinion of the constitutional lawyers all along. But though the vote for secession can only be regarded as " a political gesture,” it has at least had the effect of emphasising strongly the genuine grievances of the Western. State, and will almost certainly result in the convocation of a Federal Conference to promote their redress.