The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 1943 AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL ELECTIONS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 200, 25 August 1943, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 1943 AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL ELECTIONS

'T’HE Australian Labour Party has succeeded in winning a sweeping victory at the polls. The result is not surprising but the extent of that result certainly is. Prior to the elections the state of the Federal Parliament was unsatisfactorily constituted save for those people who have a love for Independent candidates, for at Canberra the Independent tail appeared to have some chance of wagging the political dog. Ip this it never succeeded, because no Parliament will suffer itself to come to the undignified position of having an irresponsible few dictate to the many. The Irish Party in the House of Commons for years hoped to be in the position of the tail that wagged the dog. but it found that the Liberal and Conservative Parties were capable of coming together for the purpose of frustrating the Irish members operating as a balance weight, and so dominating the situation. In the last Australian Parliament Labour held 36 seats and the United Australia Party and the Country Party combined also held 36 seats. There were- two Independents. Labour, with the support of these two Independents, held office, electing a Speaker of the House and having a majority of one. Labour never allowed the Independents to dominate the situation, and to put an end to an unsatisfactory situation Mr. J. Curtin appealed to the electors. The elections soon revealed that there were a large number of people who were willing to enter the political arena. There are 75 seats in the Federal House of Representatives, and for these there we»e 346 candidates offering, and 70 candidates were available for the 19 Senate vacancies. The Labour Government was the largest individual party in the House. Mr. A. W. Fadden was the Leader of the Opposition, but as he was the leader of the smaller section of the Opposition, the Country Party, the situation was unsatisfactory and there was general discontent with the situation. This placed the Opposition at a serious disadvantage. Mr. R. G. Menzies, a much abler man than Mr. Fadden, was being- pushed forward by his friends, resulting in personal frictions within the inner camp of the Opposition. Mi’. Curtin’s personality is said to have been the major factor in the decided swing in the electoral vote in favour of his party. Undoubtedly his strong action in speeding-up the war effort and in taking action against those who retard production, commended him to the majority. In all 107 Independent candidates presented themselves, but the people rejected them almost en bloe, realising that these irresponsibles, who depend upon the parties to provide the policies and then hope to be given freedom to decide whether they will support or oppose them, are not of any value in a period when team work and reconstructive- thinking and effort are required. The new parties which have sprung up for the purpose of contesting the election have also been ignored, a course of conduct on the part of the public which can be thoroughly appreciated. The election result in Australia will possibly prove to be a pointer to the course which the forthcoming elections in New Zealand will follow. In New Zealand it is the Labour Party which is in the process of disintegration. Mr. Fraser, Mr. Lee. and Mr. Serimgeour are exchanging political pleasantries, but the public is not so much interested in these personal squabbles as they are in the destiny of the Dominion and the problems of reconstruction after the war. The public is concerned at the shortage of supplies which it knows to be in part due to the restrictions which were placed on importations in consequence of the mismanagement of the Dominion’s finances prior to the war breaking out. The public is also concerned at the disturbance which must naturally follow upon the alleged rehabilitation measure which has just been passed but which measure is, in fact, a doctrinaire effort using the servicemen as political stalking horses. If Australian experience is anything wherewith to measure the forthcoming elections in NewZealand, it is to be anticipated that the contest will be between the two main parties. The Independents will be ignored. The disrupted state of the Labour Party in New Zealand will’lead to similar results as those which have been suffered by the disrupted Opposition in Australia. There are not wanting in New Zealand men of sufficient perspicacity to foresee here the probable trend of events and the actions of those who have rushed in to disrupt the National Party’s following by the advocacy of strange doctrines, such as’ attacks on the party system as not being political activity, can be set down to the desire to sow dissension in the interests of the Labour Party. From the standpoint of political strategy no objection can be taken to this, so long as the public is not deceived—which it isn’t.