VICTORIAN POLITICAL CRISIS

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21039, 15 February 1940, Page 6

VICTORIAN POLITICAL CRISIS

Still another Empire Parliament is discovering the need for adjustment of its basis as the result of conditions which have arisen out of the war. The Premier of Victoria, Mr A. A. Dunstan, has appealed for and obtained a dissolution of the State Parliament and an early election. The war in this case has only an indirect bearing on the situation, but as elsewhere throughout the Empire, it has placed responsibilities and burdens upon governments which were able to function without undue embarrassment under conditions of peace. Difficulties in Victoria have been developing for some time, chiefly because the central council of the Country Party, which holds the Treasury benches with the support of the Labour Party, has allegedly been attempting to dominate the policy of the parliamentary group. Not all the members of the central council are members of Parliament, and the Premier complains that the Government is being subjected to “outside dictation.” Since the majority of the parliamentary group are out of sympathy with the council, it is obviously a situation in which dissension is bound to arise. Mr Dunstan’s aim is to seek a mandate from the people which will destroy the over-riding power of the central council and leave the people’s elected representatives free to operate the policy which the electors have approved. If the position is as Mr Dunstan represents it, his request for a dissolution and an election is amply justified. The same principle is in operation in other countries. Parliaments are elected by the people for the express purpose of operating the policy that has been submitted to the electors. There may be no objection to a non-elected council of the party assisting the parliamentary representatives to implement the approved policy, but there Is a very strong objection to a non-elected group dictating new policy measures and forcing them upon Parliament. If that state of affairs weie allowed to exist and develop the whole basis of democratic government would soon be swept away. Parliaments cannot delegate absolute powers to any outside group. If they do, then a position has been created in which an election should certainly be held.