Legislative Assembly THURSDAY SEPTEMBER · 2014. 6. 23. · Supply. [27 SEPTE~IBER.] Supply. 3()3...

Queensland

Parliamentary Debates [Hansard]

Legislative Assembly

THURSDAY, 27 SEPTEMBER 1934

Electronic reproduction of original hardcopy

Supply. [27 SEPTEMBEIL] Questions. 361

THURSDAY, 27 SEPTEMBER, 1934.

:\[r. SPEAKER (Hon. G. Po!lock. Gregory) took the chair at 10.30 a. m.

QUESTIONS.

COLLECTIONS BY DEPART~1ERT OF ArmiCt;LTURE FROM BUTTER FACTORIES.

Mr. NICKLIN (2viurrumba), for l\Ir. \YALKER (Cooroora), asked the Secretary for Agriculture-

" 1. 'What v.as the total amount of collections of his department in 1933-1934 from butter factories-(u) For the purposes of the Dairy Produce Acts; (IJ) for any other purposes ?

'· 2. \VIwt was the ratr of levy per lb. of butter in each case?'

The SECRETARY FOR AGRICULTURE (Hon. F. \V. Bulcock, Barcoo) replied-

" 1. (a) Butter tax, £4,608 19s. lld. ; factory registration, £53; total, £4,661 19s. lld. (b) Nil.

" 2. Rate of ld. for every lOO lb. of butter manufactured bv the owner of the factory." "

GRASSHOPPER PLAGuE r:-~ GooNDIWINDI AND

YELARBON DISTRJrTS.

Mr. DEACON (Cunningham), [or Mr. COSTELLO (Carnurvon), asked the Secretary for Agriculture-

L Has his attention been drawn to the serious invasion of a plague of grasshoppers from Now South Wales into the Goondiwindi and Yelarbon districts?

"2. \Yill ho give instructions that immediate action be taken by his department to assist in the combating of this invasion 't"

The SECRETARY FOR AGRICULTURE (Ilon. F. W. B)Jlcock, Barcoo) replied-

" 1 and 2. Departmental entomologists have been investigating the grasshopper plague on the Darling Downs since the 19th September, and definite arrangements have been made to assist the per,ons in the affected areas to combat the plague."

?liAOKAY HARBOUR CoKTRACT.

i\lr. NI:\1MO (Oxlcy) asked the Treagurer-

" 1. Has the contract been signed for the construction of the Outer Harbour Works at Mackay?

"2. If so, what is the contract price? '' 3. By how much, if at all, is the

contract price below the engineer's estimate?

"4. Is the Board's engineer satisfied that the lowest tenderer can do the work for the amount tendered?

" 5. Is it a fact that the Government agreed to allow the successful tenderer to depart from the conditions of tendering by conceding him the right to charge the Board any increase in wages during the currency of the contract? If so, did the Board ask the Government to agree to this concession?

362 Questions. [ASSEMBLY.] Supply.

" 6. \V ill the Gover11ment give an n8surancc that all other condHions of tendering will be adhered to. particularly the clause providing that the contractor \I ill lodge a cash deposit of £20,000 on signing the contract?

" 7. If the coutract has been signed. has the contractor lodged the £20,000 cash referred to in the pn•vious question?

" 8. If the £20,000 cash has not been lodged. has the Government agreed to the acceptance of the bond of the State Insurance Office?

"9. Is the Government satisfied that the plau of the worb and the conditions of tendering will preclude any extra cost being entailed o\-C'l' the conh-act price?

" 10. ·what is the name of the sue ccssful tendorcr?"

The TRE"\SGRER (Hon. \V. Forgan S1nitb. Jiuckay) replied-

" 1. The deed of contract has not 0 et been cumpletecl.

"2. The contract price is £785.213 18••. 6d.

" 3. £120.049 3s. 7d.. the difference being due to th0 handllng cc~t.' of UJe -:;tone.

" 4. There i~ no re.ason to doubt the capability of tlw succe,sful tcnclc·;·r·r.

"5. Tho buard vi·ith the appruval of i lte f'ng-lnpCl\ after investigation; by the Bureau of I ndu:-tr~v, desire th0 power to Yary the te-rms of the contract, in certain particu18rs, and legislation has been introduced t·o gi;-c the hoard the llCt€·S

sary power. The board \Yill be amply ~,afcguarded in <Hty variation of coHditions that may be made.

"6. It i' not !ltc intention of the Goven1n1Pnt to jntPdcrp v•ith the board in tho exorci"'' of tlH'ir blatutory fuuctions, provided that the public Interest i ~ observed.

"7. See ans\Ycr to ~~o. 1.

" 8. See ans•ver to X o. 7.

"9. :\" o extra co't will be ent a ilccl on nccount of matters \Yithin the conltol of the bnarcl.

" 10. Gcorgc A. Stronaclt.

"It has not escaped the notic2 of the board and the Trcasurv that effort-, haYe been made bv an interested svndicate to induce the ~ncc0ssfu1 tc_,ndel;CT to surrender his contract, with a view to the acceptance of a higher tender. I hope the hon. mcmlwr is not acting as th0 mouthpiece of the syndic•ate concerned.''

DATE OF PRES~XTATJOX OF AUDITOR-GENERAL'S REPORT ON Pt:BLrc Accou::-<TS.

Mr. MOORE (itubigny), without notice, asked :Mr. Speaker-

" Have you an:c ide"' when the report of the A urlitor-Goncral on the public accounts will be pn-'entcd? "

:Mr. SPEAKER: Last vcar I marlo inquiries rtnd "·as told the approximate date the Audrtor-General expected to present his report to the House. I will make inquiries, and shall bo prepared to furnish the hon. gentleman with a reply on Tuesday next.

PAPERS.

The following papers were laid on tho tnblo, and ordered to be printed:-

Report of the Queensland :Meat Industry Board for the year 1933-34.

Fourteenth annual report of the Public SerYice Cornn1issio11er, being for the you 1933-34.

Eighteenth annual report of the State Go-vcrnn1ont Insurance Office, being for iho year 1933-34.

The follo\\'ing papers were laid on the t.abk:-

Hegulation, dated 12th September, 1934, under " The Prjn1arv Producf'r:-i' Org-anisation aud 1\tla~·ln:ting .:\et~~ 192:1 to 1932."

Ot·cler in Coljncil, dated 20th September, 1934, under " Tho Tobacco Indu::;trv Pmtcc·l ion Act o£ 1933." -

SA.'\IL-\L\HJOD BILL.

lXITI.\TlOX.

The SECHETARY FOR PCBLIC L\:'\D::' (.lion. P. I'ctcl'. Hrrbut): I move-

,, That the IIouSf' \vill, at ju;. lJCX1

.. ~itting. rc:so]yc iLclf inLo a. ContmittP(' of the \\hole to consider of the de .irablc•lll'Ss of i11troc1nci1lg a Dill to proYide fo1· t!J;~ rn·oscrYatio;l of sandah\OOf~ and foi otner pu.rpo~es. '

(~uestion ]JUt and pa:-;.scd.

LOA:'\S GL\lL\:'\T.EED BY SL\TK

ORDER FOH HETUR:_\,

2\lr . .:\'DI:\10 jO:rl, .'1): I moYe-

•; TlHH tlrere Lo laid upon tlr(· 1 able· of dH• llou~P a return ~!10 1:.-ing varticuJai's of thP contingent liabilitjps of the State-(fl) Total aniouHt of guaranteed loaus to loeal authorities: (b) details o! all other guaranteed loans, O'.crdrn.fls~ ''nJ debentures."

Qu€'stiou pnt and passed.

SuPPLY.

FIX\NCBL ST\TL\lE.:\T-RES"G)Tl'TJO::\ OF DEB.\T£_

(Jlr Jlr1,1S0n) JJu.'anda, in the clunr.)

Questiou stated-

" That thl're be granted to Hi.s :i,lajcsty, for the s<'H ice of the vear 1934-35, a SlH1l not C'Xcocding £30Ju to defray the salnr.Y of the .Aidc-de-Carnp to llis Excellency the Governor."

:Vlr. FOLEY jTormanby) [10.40 a. m.]: The Treasurer is to bo congratulated upon the nrcsentation of a Yerv ftne 11"1nancial. i:\tat~mcnt. In that Statement the Treasurer laid all the c'uds upon the table, franklv statino· the difficulties of the State, the pl~ogres.-:; ~-hich had been n1ade despite these difficulties, and the rn'ospccts bcfol'l' the State a-; tho re-sult of the advantageou~ poli< beim; pursued bY Labour.

It is pleasing· to note that tho actual deficit has been reduced to £1,128,531. Thi~ is £426,000 less than that of the previous year, and £947,000 less than the deficit in the year 1931-32. As has been stated, the

Supply. [27 SEPTE~IBER.] Supply. 3()3

-cldicit for 1933-34 ie a n•clndion of 27.39 per 'c·nt. on the deficit for 1932-33, and a colllllllri'on of that reduction \Yiih those of other States of the Commonwealth pro Ye' that Qncensland i, in a most faYoured position. For exan1ple. the rcdnctions in the othf-r :-:.rates are-

::\t·w South \\'ales Yil·toria South .. .Au,;:,tralia \\-e'tnn Australia

Per cent. 9.34 5.51

16.34 8.69

Thu') 1t 1s apparent that Queensland i:) approaching much 111orc closel)' to Budget. cquilibriurn than any other State, and it i . .., noteworthy that thP Opposition l1aYe been singularly f!ilcnt on that aspec-t of the po:-ntioll.

Another pleasing fcatLU'P IS tbat the receipts were £656.450 iu <'XC<'"S of the <•stitllaic': aud that withont adopting any dcfiationar~· Inethods, \Yithout < au~Ing Jargc cli:;cmissals in the public senicC', and \Yithout -in1p11iring· efficiency. thP total exjlenditnre fm 1he year 1933-34 was £63. 121 mtder the pstimatc.' I think it should be quite apparc•nt to hon. mernbprs t1Jat thE' increase in rpccipb is due to the sane ar1d ,,·i:-;.e policy a_doptPd b\' the GoY('rnrnent since thl'ir acct· .. :t>Ion t11 offi{'P. TlH' land rereipts show an im ,case of £157,898. mining £1,695_ railway' £268.881. end e>ther receipts £95.975 OYN

the rcepectin' estimates. It should be quite apparPHt that if the GoYernmcut were carrying ont a policy IYhich wa.-; clisa~t rou?. to I-lH' State. as has bePn clairned hv hon. ""'ml:ers opposite. the conditioll r(,flected hy tLo~P figures would not exist.

Tlw Treasurer has pointed oul that one Df our greatest rlifficnliiPs in regard to BudgPt equilibrium is tlH exchange costs, whiclt a!llonnted to £853,409 for the last financial :.'- ('ar, notwithstanding that there W<1"i .'1 considcrabl0 saying Q\\ ing to the depreciation of the Am cri< ,,ll dollar. Another itcrr1 n1entionetl hv the 'Treasurer \V a~ the sinking fund co;-;t-,. · \Y C'H' it not for tl10of' two itcmo, in all probability the Budget would haYo been balanced and a small ~urphH shown instead of a deficit of oYer £1.0L0.000. It iR worth \Yhi!P keeping in mind that if the dollar appreciates in value tho~c co:--ts will again i11crea~e, and that if our Ol\'ll enJTcncy dcpn'riutf~s to an eYcn grcatn extent than it has already done, as compared with sterling, our remittances to Groat Britain will be increased. Ko doubt it is the wish of all of us that those eo.sH will be kPpt down to a minimum and that "·e shall thus be enabled to avoid some of our n1any dlfficul6es.

A good deal has been .said during this dcbatt' in rC'gard to ;oan t'XlJf'llcliture by the Uon~rnnwnt since thPir accession to offic0. .During the last financial year £3.166,481 waF> t.'xpendcd on Yarious public 1vorks and nndertakings under the control of the Go~ vPrntneJJt. That was £978,459 in excess of the 1932-33 figures, and was the largest expomliturp from loan fund in Queensland since 1928-29. Every member of the Oppo· sition has declared that we are running the State on to the rocks by excessi vo borro,ving and excessive loan expenditure; but I aRk them w hi eh of th0 items that :na,·e been outlined in the Treasurer's Statement thcv would reduce or eliminate if thcv had the" handling of the State's finances'?

Some of tlw principal items that haYe bcPn UlP1ltiOll1,_'d lli'C-

Buildiug.s Main Roads Loans and Subsidies (Loo~!

Bodies) Rural AdYancr.'} and Countrv

Dcvelopn1Pnt · Pttb!ic Estate ftnpronemcnt Forc.;try Cranb and Loun:"

Prospecting· Hail\va.v~

in Aid of

£ 114,007 368.493

376.192

76.714 37.770 25,898

30,000 296,610

AnothPr li:-.t. :-oho\vi11g the expenditure ju providing; Pnlplo_vnteut. is to Lw found on 11age 16 of the 'rreasurer's Stat~>mcnt-

RailwaY:-, -\o·ricui'tnrul Tiauk l1~ildil~g--Fol't'~ti'V ] .and SettlQrnent

£ 366.281 153,518 357.208

70.000 171.857

Loan:-, and t;uLsidie::; to Lo(;al Autlwritit'·, and other bodies 966,184

T\la in Roads 872.844 Pri.ckl~--pcaJ· l .. a.ud Cornn1js.

SJOn 61,665 Cmnmon\YCLllth Loan for

Rclid of Cnemployment Ni!. l"m•mplo.nnent Relief .. 1,543,996 State AdYances Corporation

\Yorkers' Dwellings \-\-orker::;' IIon1cs

Buildings ImproYCnH•nt Act

197,747 28,988 39,468

There i:-o an enutncration of ><erne of the project' upon vchich our ioans and other funds han• bPi'll QX!JCl!dod during the la,t financial ye:n, and I challenge hon. memben; oppo~ite to point to any one itetu therein that the:· would reduce or that thev would a ltc get her cut out. \Ye spent £11~,007 on building,. \Yill hon. members opposite maintain that we should not proYido accommodation for Government departments"! It is on the· reconin1eJida.tion of our responsible ollicors thnt the <'Xtra accommodation is provided. \Yill hon. membe1·s •·ay that if the: "\Yl'l'e in charge of the adrninistration of the finances of this State they would close domt the activities of the Main Roads Commi'8ion? \Yould thev cut out the item of £76.714 for rural advances and countrY development' That ic an activity that i"s a distinct adyantage to settlers 111 the dcvdopment and further improvement of their lands \Vith the object of increasing the productiYity of the land and enabling them to combat, the diHiculties that beset them owiug to lo\v prices foi~ their commodities. Tlw expenditure of £37,770 for public estate ituproverncnt is incurred for the purpose of rnaking acccs~ roads into new 1ands tha.t arc being opened for settlernent. Surely country rnernbcrs on the Opposition cannot object to that particular item! Under the headin8· of fmcstJ·y a total of £70,000 has lJe"n provided. At a time especial~} when the dcm»nd for timber supplies is cxcct,ding-1y heaYy, it is sound policy to put sornl'thing at least back into our timber land" by reforestation. Advances in aid of pros· pccting \1 ere £30,000; would hon. members arguC' that this amount expended in aid of rnining. particularly goldrnining, is excossiYc or not ~~·arrantcd? Personally, I think the Govemment arc rather stingy with reo·anl to the vote for mining and that a go~d deal more should be do~e to create

Mr. Foley.]

364c Supply. [ASSE:\IBLY.] S~tppi:J.

facilities for prosjH•ctors and miners in the ''ay of crushing and similar facilities. The rcsLllt v, ould be a vcrv bT<Catly increased production of gold. It i"s a '"''ll !mown fact that at the moment gold is ono of the few commodities that can be marketed at remunerative prices to the State and without any dilliculty. These are just a fev. of the item" that I could wucJ1 LlilOn. If hon. rncmbcrs were fa,jr in their c-riticlsrn, instead of talking· 'vith their tungues in tlwH· clwcks they 'vould take some particular items they object to and let us lnwYv exactly where they stand on tb0 rnai ter. I claim that no hon. member Oll th~ ol'PO· sition side c:m logically object to a.ny of the itc>ms that have boon included in the Treasurer's S1-ateinent.

The hon. member for Keunedy mbrnittf~d to this Chan1ber a uuts3 of figures relating to the various funds. He assorted that all was not as it should be, but it was particularly noticeable that when deal~ ing with the increased public debt of the State he utilised the figure; frcm only one s.ido of the ledger. He referred to the liabilities but he completely ignored the assets. He did not mention the benefits, direct and otherwise. that Hawed from th<' expenditure of loan ·morlPy. He completed his speech by appealing to the Government to reduce taxation and borrowing and to allow private enterprise to haYe its vYay, a"scrting that it would lJa YC the IYay to prosperity.

Tho hon. member for Cooroora harped upon the same string-taxation and boaowing. It appears to· 11w that hon. member' opposite arc obsessed about the question of taxation and borrovYing bccathO each one has harped upon those factors to the exclusion of all otlwr considerations. The hon. member for Kc•nnech- dcelarcd that if private enterprise lrPr'e giYcn full S\vay it v>:ould pa ye the way to pro~1Jerity. Is he not aware of the u11holv lUPss that has LcetJ crPated throughout the \\oriel by privalc industry? Is he not a11 arc that priYatc enterprise has exercised an unrcstrict('d sway throughout the countries cf thce world -inc1nding Queenslancl-orer a. long period of years and that throughout its histor.\' it has had to cornbat crisis after crisis, lrading up to the greatest rri~is in thn hi~tory >Cf the world' Fm, the past ftn• :<·c'ars the ,,_,hole \'\'odd lH1S been grappling -with this n1enace, bankruptcies haYc occurred by hundreds of thousands c,ncl wo haYe had to face an unemployment problem unparalleled in the historv of the ,,-orlcl. The L'nited Statc.s of Amm;ica, one ·of the most hig·hlv dn·oloped countries in the "·odd, mcchanicallv and tcchnicalk. finds itself in an appalling position. ·so do Great Britain. Germany, and other countries throughout Europe. The United States of America can boast that the hxation impcsed in that couutry is at a minirnurn, and that thoro are no irksorno restrictions upon industry. yet it is faced with tlw problem of providing work and the whereY\'ithal to Jl,,·e for 20,000.000 unemployed workers and their dep0ndants 'vho are suffL·ring privation and misery as the natural ccnsequenre of the full and unrestricted sway giYcn to private enterprise oyer the years that ha vc gone. I am of the opinion that in the interests of the people as a whole thoro should be greater and still greater control of priYatc enterprise.

[.Mr. Fol,ey.

Tlw bou. llll'HdJ(_'r for \Vvnnun1. \•;ho tall

be desC'ri bed as an nltra-(~onserYa ti Vl'. ha-; ~uch a u:;nfnsing idea of the econmnic . .., ot the capitalistic systorn that every tirne he rises in this Chamber he has a different cure to offer for our econon1lc troub1es. Only last sc.,ion he pointed out that Au'tralia suffered serious setbacks in her export trade because· of the lo\1 standards of liYimt in the other countries of the world, bu't when he was pinned clown by way of ipterjection as to what he really meant tlw bc·st lw could 'aY "~"s that if we desired lo compete successfully with those countries '"'"c should ha vc to conte down to thPir level. L1 other words. if they came down to a peanut a day the people of this ('Ountry y;,Tottld have to come do\Yn to a peaHut slH-'ll (L da.v. That }:-; what his argnnteut an1ounteJ to. Later on Ice refprrcd to the high cost' iu inclustrv and still later contended that P'\:CC'_·sivc borro\Yiug hy GovernnH:nts wa~ responsible for ~0111e of our econornic ill:'. Later on, again. he expressed the view that cxcef'~j,-(' taxation wa:-:: r(sponsiblc fol' ou1· trouble". and at a11othor stage, in an en~ deavour to offer ~~on1o suggestion for the rPlicf of th" debtor section of the community, he adYocatccl an clastic yardstick with which to measure the Yaluo of om· Clll'rf'DCY. ProbaLlv '"hat he 1neaut "\\a,-; that the coUntry shoul(1 use a pound notP of rubber er 80UH~ o1;:her clastic material which could he stretched or contracted as circumstam;c•' demanded. That hon. member should stndv the cco11ornics of the capitalistic f'y;;;tC'rn,~ of \Yhich he j;;:. ~o keen a supporter, l'YCry timP he rnakP~ a speech. As I point0d out, nohYith~landing thf' nnrestrict0d sway pri, ate cnterpriqc has had throughont tlw ,yor1d. we can p iut a~ a result to one of the y, orf't pictures of unernployment and misery which ciYili:-at1on has eYer ~('CD. ='Jot only are the pffccts of that ~vstem so markod(v felt hv· the great ma.,oos of the world, but it h·as also made the position of thC average rapitalist very insecure. Ko -capitali:;;t anp0a1·~ to know \Yherc h0 ~tand-;;. Bv vav of -illmtration, I could remind hon. n'!Crnbel·s of thc shipping Iuag11ato who died in England a few years back lt1 aving u.n estate renutcd to be 'vorth £12,000,000. IIts h us tees -took ~onw tinH~ to achninli-itcr the estate. and ~-hen finality 'vas nchic'ved it was found tltat as a result of the gTeat slidP in values onh· £2,000,000 of the ostnt0 re· maincd tn be· dislmrsed to the beneficiaries,

::Wr. TOZER: That ,,-as owing to the ckath and succession dntic~.

Mr. FOLEY: Taxation had nothing to do with the din1inution in values; it \vas a result of tlw contradictions of the capitalistic svstem. ~\Yhe'l the economic crisis developed th0 cornhinccl world-"ide will of the capitalists was unable to stern its deYastating Hood. The r<'sult of that crisis 'vas a continmt! slide in values which affected not one counh·,- bnt eYcrv countrv. ...._!\~ a resuJ r, <tll capital;stic investrnents slcmJpecl to zero. Although the oYcrso~s capitalist instinctively ding--: to 111~ :;w~tt'nl because he knO\YS ne· oth~-r) bi~ position to-day is very 1nsPcurf·. That insecurit\· ha~ been broug}Jt about not l1v taxatio11. i1;du~trial conditions. or wag·cs. L;1t purely as a result of th< contra~ict!OJ:s that have deYcloped withm the capJtahstJc order of society.

What do hon. members opposite reallv mean by their continuous advocacy of a reduction of taxation? Arc they ad,:ocating

Supply. (27 SEPTEMBEH.] Supply. 365

that tl:l-' ~~·.vOO workers and fanners brought l_IY tlH:~]r t_;o,;ennnent \Vithin tho ambit of i1;cornc tax should be exempted from thar. funn of taxation. as they pro"·iou~ly \Yere undL'l' a Lal)our Adn1inistration. Thev are ind( finite in their adYocacy, but ju(lging frorn tbr<ir rernarks what they actually meau is reduced taxation for yested interests, because they cling to the belief that if sm·it a pulicy were adopted industries would flonrLsh ruigiitily. The Cornn1issioner of Taxt->"', ~tt page 2 of his report on incorno tax for 1933-34, discloses that the total number of taxpayers in that period WitS 64,372, whil. the tot a I taxable income was £14.920,67[1. The total anlOllnt of tax a"~essed, -including ~uper tax and additional t11x was £1,531,485. ( hw \Vculd i1nagino after listening to hon. rnL'lll bcrs opposite, that as a result of L;clJour·, policy the whole taxable income of taxoayl'l's v,'as taken by the Con1n1i~sioner of Taxcc. If these individuals have anv dP:-in• to inYE'ot in industry, then surcl~· to goodnhs the £13,389,193 that is left them ]J, the Ccnmnissioner should be sufficient to ~Rtisfv tll0ir desires! An analysis of table G on page 23 of the rqJOrt of the Commissione:· in rc•ferencc to assoss1nents 1nadc in 1933-34 on incontcs earned by companies during thu year ended 30ih JunP, 1933, is further proof of the big rnargin that is }pft to corrtpanies aftpr taxation has been ]laid. For exnntplc, in regard to (~ucenslancl con1panirs, under the lu-,adi11g of ·• Banks " one con1pan~ with a taxable inconw of £45,728 paid £10,975 in tax. '::hilst uncln the heading of "I3rewero and Maltsters " six companies with tho taxab],. incomes of £111,828 were assessed to thP l'XtC'nt of £17,021. Nix conlpaHIP;:, carrying on dw ln1sint ~ of life rn~urancP ·wcr·e as.,c"ccl to tax of £15.328 on a taxabl,, income of £114,150, that being 3.568 per cem. of the· total tax, of Queensland compani, '. So 011 down the list, which shows a total of 911 Quccmland companies, having a taxable income of £2.570,490, and being asor,ssccl to tax £430,093. Can it be said that a big 1nargin is not left to these corn· pa11ir,~ for tht~ conduct of their operations? Forrign con1panies in the sarno table number 734, and were .as,es:,cd to the extent of £388,421 on taxable incomes of £2,212,998. That is another strikiug illustration of the comparatively small pcrceni 'lge of the taxable income which is paid in taxation.

A glance at table CC of the report also indicates the small extent to which taxation Js l8\·ied on incliYiduals whose taxable income was derived from both personal exertion and propert~' during the ye11r ended 30th June, 1933. For example, 2,584 taxpayers \Yith taxable incomes from personal c·xertiou of £2,007,291 were aesossecl for £219,144, and if we consider the taxation imposed in restoect of income from both personal exertion and propcrtv \\'8 find that the total. a;n1ount ass?sscd for y}ri1nary, super, am! 11dchtwnal t11x m respect of these 2,584 taxpa:-ers was £270,842. for a total tax<1ble income of £2,464,437. Ag<1in the arguments .advanced by hon. rnf'rnbPrs opposite are discounted, for it is clearlv shown that the taxation paid do£''· not left\~,. the.'e taxpayerc with an in;;;ufficient margin on which to pursue their busine"-;;;;es.

. As a fm:th.er proof that Labour's policv IS not rcstndmg tho dcYclopment of industry in this State, I bring to my aid certai;1 inforn1ation contained in a circular i~sued by the Bank of New South Wales on the

23rd July last. where all index of shar c l" icl'·, ,,;th a base of 100 for the war 1926. rcYeab that in 1931 the ordinary snarL' pnct~ ''"' 51.9 am! that Lotwithstancling all the Pxcc~;;,iv(: taxatiou that hon. nJen1bcrs oppocite oo glibly speak of. in April of this year the share price l1acl risen to 93.6. or ;tpproximately what it "·as in 19261, whicl1 ha...; bl•cn us·ed as a starting potnt. I hat _Hl

it ... plf :-:}wuld couYincr· hon. rnPnl hers oppo::;Iie oi tlw uufairne~s of their C'ritici~rn during 1 !1i:;; di~ru:'-i3lon. If ho11. rnetnLer::; oppo:;;ite. ·when thf'.,' wr'rc di--c·us~ing tlw qne~tion of ta'Cation, would but think in terms of comHlodltics rather ihan in ten11s of rnoney they would realise that had therP b0en heavier taxation. not nccPs~arily in this country, but tll]'(lllghout the world. OH'r a period of say, tt•n Y:'al's-prior to ilH' ccmtoruic dcpre~~ion\Yl' ~JJOnld not be snfTcri11g fro1n it to-da~·. For. :-!)Caking-· in comn1oclitY terr11s and not n1onet;uv tP;'lll ', thPn' wOuld have been c·.xtracte(l from inclu~try a greai:Pr portion of the total product, and if that had been cli,trihllted in the form of 'ocial benofit.s to the people of those countric's, there \vou1d 110t l1a\·e btcn the P1Iorn10U:o' accurnulntion of eon1n1oclitics on the IYorlcl's 1narkct-. thrn brought a bout tiH• present orld-wiclc cco11omic crisc"'•· That wa~ the basic faf'tor in the causation of HH' econornic crisi~. l'apitalistic industry had had unrostrictccl 11lay. cornrnodities had been churned out as fast as thPv could be produced by capitali"t cnteqn:ises. each endcayouring to get a greate1· and st11l great2r share of th_e L'xi~ting 1narkct, ·without any plan or orgalll· ,ation. ::\ow the world', markNs are glutted ancl th(' ro:;ult i~ a cri~l~. Once tlH_' ('risis take~ 1llaco the individuaL- n•::;po11siblc for it en nnot check it~ course. If hon. n1cn1bcr~ o);pocitc had looked .at the matter from that point of ,~j('\Y, probably tlwir arguinents 111 thi, Chamber would haye been different.

For the benefit of hon. members opposite, I refer them to I-Iarold Groves, professor of finance at the UniYorsitv of Wisconsin, Cnitcd States of America, ,~·ho was recently appointed tax expert of the United States Treasury. An article \nilten by him entitled ·' RecoYery by Taxation" appeared in the :IIarch issue of " Current History " for 1934; and in that article he made the sugg-e,tion that in order to bring about a greater (listribution of the total products produced in that countrv bY means of the Yarious social services V undvcrtaken bv tho Governmem. there should be grcato1~ tax11tion. He recognised that had that been done in America she would not be suffering from the tragic results of the crisis as she is to-day, nor would the people throughout the wor J.d be suffering.

ReYerting to the question raised by the hon. member for Kennedy, I would point out that the Treas11rer made no attempt to cloak the issue or hide the fact that the pnblic debt of Queensland had incre11sed during our term of office. In his statement he points out that the public debt at 30th J uno, 1932, was £111,911,000. The increase 'ince that date has been £5,906,000, and the increase for the current vcar is estimated at £2,100,000; so that, for the Government's term of office, there will be a net addition to the public debt of £7,500,000, or an average of £2,500,000 per annum. Although those figures may not coincide with those quoted by the hon. member for Konnedy, they arc sufficient to enable us to test his

Mr. Foley.]

366 Supply. [ASSEMBLY.] Supply.

assertion that it rs detrimental to the interests of the State. Although every few minutes he claimed that he was endeavouring to be fair in his argument, on no occasiou did he quote any of the assets or benefits that have accrued from the expenditure that has taken place. If he had been fair, he would have mentioned the improvement that llas taken plar8, since Labour has been in power. in business actiYitics a~ .--hown hy the busine,;s index published by the Bureau of Industry. That is an improvement greater than in any year since 1929. He might have sho,\n the increased export trade which has taken plttco. He might have mentioned that there has been a wonderful increase in bank clearances and in savings bank deposits, and recalled also the fact that there have been fcwPr insolvencies and a rige in the share market. J would also point out to that gentleman that if he had been fair in his discnssion->ts he claimed he was trying to he-he would have mentioned the amount iiJYestcd in our railway sy.,:tem, and said that cpart from the fact that thev represent direct as,d, worth £30,000,000, the railways art> of e11onnouf' Yalue to the S.tate indirectly. I shall read a leaflet drawing nttention t,o sornc of then1-

" In a comparati ,-e]y short life the Qur-ensland railways have grown to sorne 6.560 miles of tracks. The area covered t;, these t.ntcks is seven and a-half time, ;.;i:eater than that coyered in ·victoria; but Queensland is so widely spread that no more than 20 per cent. of the country is more than 100 miks distant from a rrrilway.

'' In a State of the magnitude of Queensland, railways arc a matter of vital importance. This State is unique in ,'\ustra!ia in having pursued from the initiation of tho first railway an active policy of decentralisation. The three main systems-Southern, Central, and :'Jorthern-tap all the pastoral and agri<'ultural lands of the State.

" In keeping vvith the Government's policv at all times, encouragement and ··llpport arc giYen to the man on the land in regard to railway freights, etc. Primary products of all kinds, such as slJgar-canc, agricultural product, fruit, etc., arc carried at specially low ro,tcs. This policy has enabled the railways to so develop the State that the population has increased and greater areas are now undter cultivation than ever before."

Fron, tktt short extract it should be quito c!Par that the hon. membPr for Kennodv did not state the caoe fairlv. lie had not (HIP \rord to sav about t'hc 111ain roa·ds r xpc•aditure si ace: the ec;tab!i,lnncnt of the i\Iain Roads Commission. It was left to Labour to establish that C'ornmission with a. ,·i·.=-w to dc-.;;ising an up-to-date main roads sy~tPln throuu;hout the State. 1rhe n>.,ult ha, been that remarkable work has been done, and the cost of transport has been t·cduccd very considerably. The monetary advantages of such work, cannot be set clov-n in a ledger, nevertheless they constitute an indirect asset to the State. Another item of a similar nature is the advances for rural development. These factors have all helped towar.cls g-reater productivity, but on the other hand, naturally increase the monetary indebtedness of the State.

[Jfr. Foley.

Another Yrry in1portant question wa~ raiseJ bv the Treasurer in his Staternent in the follo~wing paragraphs:-

" The Commomvealth Bank Board adYised the Loan Council, at the meeting in June, that it wished to di,sociate it,.elf from re·ponsibi!it.v for the amount of rcv·enue deficits, or the methods by which deficits are adjusted, and asked that, as from the 30th J uno, 1935, the Loan Council \nmlcl itself arrange. by lonn·-tcnn borro\ving. the ii.nanco consi·d(~rc~d neee~~arv for deficits. 'rhe Board furtlwt· stt;ted that, in the meantiinc in order to assist the Loan Council, it 'v~s ''"jlling to pro,~ide finance ~or the C'>timated deficits for 1934-1935 m the san10 rnanncr as heretofore, on the con~ clition that not less than half the amount of anticipatt~d deficit~ for the year is wisecl on the JJ'arkct bdorc the 31st December, 193~, and the balance by the 30th June. 1935.

''The conditioJJ imposed by the baHk will t'lrJbarrass all the States. Our pre~ f:t'nt ca'3h 1 e:-.ources. con1prised of cash ill ham!, c>timale<l repaymcnb to the Loan Fund. aJJd Treasury hilh temporarily caneC'lkd aJJd available for rcissuP will h(~ sufliciPnt to meet our requirr:ments for some Jnonths, and I do not aJJtieipat<' that it will be necc·'8ary to ask for the issue of Treasur:- bill,; to meet the current vear's rcycnue deficit until tO\\ ards the end of the finaJJcia] year.

'' If ihr bank insisb on the funding· of ReYenuC' Treasury bills, a contribution to the• SinkiHD: Fund of 4 per cent. per annum on the "amount of the funding loan will bo imposed on the . States, under the proy]s.;',ions of the F1!lanc1al _.-\grecn1ellt. J n addition to this con~ tribntion. the States will incur a further charge for intcl'f.'"t. equal. to the Lhffercuce betwct·ll th0 present chscount. rate of 2k per cent.. on the b~!ls, and thfl rnterest on the loan. Tins J:l not hkely to be less than 15s. per cent., which, with the Sinking Fand contribution of 4 per cent .. vrill make an increased charge of £4 ~5s. per cenL per annum. I arn not satls.1cd that the bank is justifie-d in endeavouring to irrq1o:;;p this additional ~urd.cn on tlw budrret' of the Strrtcs, anu I mtend to haYe" tl1e maticr fullv discuss1•d at the IIC'Xt meeting of the Loan c·ouncil.

Instead of continually harping upon uniruporta nt n1a tters in t hci r critiCI:~~n of t ht' GoYf'l'Ull)Pnt hou. nH'rnbors o_ppd.::.Jte ~hould at 1t 1st u.ttPrnpt to a~'3ist the GoYorn1neut b,\' protesting agaiwt (he altitude of the ComlllolnYoalth Bank Board Ill adoptu"'!g the Chinese method of squeezing ancl squcPn.n;.;· a littl,, bit more out of Goyernments, winch undoubtccllv rntht be for the beneftt of the priv~t(' l?a~ll;;:~ng institu~long ~f thi::; SL~,tc~ I tlunk rt wt!l be adm1tted tnat all folnb of life on this planet carr:r parasttrcal growth. That i' true also of so_croty, but one of the worst of those parasites I8 n? doubt the banking institutions. An antrLabour Gon•rnment in New Zealand set up a ro~al commission to inqu!re into t~e banking syetcm in that Dornmwn, >tnd rts report points out. that exactly the _same_ ta~tics ar<> being adopted by bankmg mstltutions in that country in an endeavour to squerLe the last ounce from the Government of that country. A portion of the report

Supply. [27 SEPTE~IBEH.] Supply. 367

appeared in the "DailY Stanchnl" of 2Dth St•ptembcr, 1934, which. made this comtwmt on it:--

" Let u~ l'xarniuc thl::; report v.·hich inf'pired ~uch con!llH'llt. It cl?als w~th t•very phase: of nation;{l produ('tion, linance, rnarketlng. ancl banking, but it is on the banking system that th" hammer head of critic·ism falls most heavily.

''It cha.rg.:.. tlw CoYenJntt'tll llOn1illcP·, on the board of tlH' Bank of ;\'" C\\ Zealand \Vith havillg -~crYcd tht· intt~rc~ts of the shan'holdtT:-'i ratllCr than tho;.;c of the State and ,]c,cling "·ith interest C'har~es lc~Y·ird h~Y dH' banks in respect of Treasury Lill~ it n:ft·l'S to thcrn as · exorbitant.'

u Interest c·hargr':-- on ordinary accoJllmodation cxtcn(lcd to bn;:,incss, a,grF;ullnrc, and industry, are rondmnned as cxcessiYP a1ul thP rcp0rt rccmnu1cnds tlwt on oYcrdJ·afts thC' 1naxillllllll intct·-cst on first-cla s acconnis -.:hould not exceed 3~ per cent., and in other rases should 11ot be Inore than 5 pet cenr. as a Ina-x_i'lJllftl.

'' The report J'PftJii rnLr'd the pararnount ~~ utl1oritv of t llP C OYernn1ent in r:.lone-1 ary !ll~tttcrs. Ull(1 irHhcfttPd that tt~c flOlicy of the• b'l,llk throughout d1e dcpres~·ion h.td bcc11 to in1piL.;c on thP DorrJi!tion's authoritY in lhc cont1·ol of the crrdit systcn1. '' ·

1 do not provosc to 1-ead the whole cf the l"L'port, hut it wa~ rL'ported tu conc1uUe ,,·ith a rather interc:--ting COlilJllcllt-

" The com111i,,:-;ion support:-:; the policy of the G-oYL'l'1tllll'llt in raisinrr tho cx•:b:1ng,::. rate. anJ. ,,igorou;·ty cot~J.crnns not only thP rate:-; of interc~t b{~ing eha.rgeJ by tltL' hank,;; to 1n·iyat:) borrower::;, but thP ratP~ being c·harged 1:0 the GoYcrnrnerJt 011 Treasnry bills."

ThPre is an i1lus'"t·ation of just how the banking f:y:cJtCn1 is opc'ratcd not only in Australia but abo in othcl' countries. It is prepared to suck the last ounce of blood fl·orn Go,Terniuent~. l i~~ne the wtrning that. if this practice is allm,·ecl to continue aHd the intere-;t cllal'ge .... !lpou Trea-.;ury LriJJ:;; aud oiher fonn.:; of O\'t'nll'afts are incrca~ed by this S'.·stem of '!JUPr•zc lll'Gctiocd bv the ba.uking irhtitutions thrcngh the Con~n1on. ·c·aith Ballk Board the clifficuitics to be Pn:·ounte.rcd in effecting budgetary cquilibr;.unl '\Ylll be accentuated Yel'Y n1uch indeed. Thf' 1najorit:',r of the conuni:;si~ncrs appointed to inqnire into the system in New Zc;:dand ·weru anti-Labour non1incr"', but they eondornncd exactly the sarno squeezing n1ethocl~ as were adopt.ed by the big banking interests in t1Ji::; country. Hon. rnernbers opposite should not be obsPssocl -,yith factors that Llo not operate to the detriment of industry; I suggest that thev utili.O<? some of their powers of criticism i"n the direction of checking the unwarrant0d activities of finaHc1u! institutions \\ hich an' tlPtorrnincd to bleed further large amounts of intPrcst from Govu·nnlents throughout ..:-\ustralia.. B~· that me'lns our Governments ''"ould be e'nabled to reach budg·etary equilibrium without further increasing their difficulties. Before concluding, I desire to offer a few cornn1Pnts on the attitude of the GoYernmcnt towarcb certain borrowers from the State. The Treasurer points out that the Government h<1ve decid,.cl that from the 1st January, 1935, the

Yat0 of interest charg0d on loans adYanced under rhe pro,~isions of the \Yorkers' 1-Iorncs 1\ct , the State AdYlmces Acts, the Slate AdYa.nccs Corporation Bui1dings IrnprovclllE'nt. ~\et. the Disehargcd Soldiers' l')cttk'rncnt .. :\c~s, the Incon1o (l;nc1nployrnent R.ulief) Tax Act, the Agricuhnral Bank Acts, the Cppcr Bul'llett and Callide Land Settlemcm \et. and the \Vater Acts shall he rctlucPc1 by 1 per cent., provided that the r~tte shall Eot be redllcecl below 4 per cent. llf'r annum. That will giyo "ondnful relief to rnany of the smaller settlers and n1any \\·orkersv who now find then1solves "up against it :' as a result of seasonal conclitious and uuernpluyulcut. 'fhis concession · i 11 mean a 11naucial s"crifice on the part of i.hc_~ GoYt1 l'1nncnt, be, J .. u:::.o t}_,~~y haYu to pay llllll'P for mmll'Y than the rate at which theY inH'1H1 to knd~ it to State bolT01~-ers in th'e. future. ~)oubtiPss before thi~ debate con('1udc:"> hon. nwrube1·s oppo::;.ito \\ill conJmnn t 1r' Governrncnt for giYing this re1ief to Statt' and t.hns increasing' the

, of the State. ~

::\otwithstnncllng all the criticisn1 directed again:-;t the Labour Party on the grouuds of Pxccssive taxation and ex(·essive borrowing, I clain1 that that policy \vberoyer it ha::< been pur i11to opcrarion, judged fron1 ~nn· an£..dl' from ~'" h.i('h :"'t tistics are consldcrc·d, uh~~ dei-i.n1rcly Lu_'ll proved to haY{' bentficial rcfL xr _ in a1l those States \Yhcre it has becll adopted. Let 1ne: refer to the Piiec:t o:n uncn1plo~-nu:~-1t. Thi:-::; is OitP

o£ the be ·-t indexL to \Yhich •'J' can refel~ to check lll• thr effect cf ail,'.. GoYPl'IllHCllt 1)olicy. Th( :a.h'8t figu1" ~-. UYailu blP for t~uecnsJand. ~1-:.o,,. that the percentage of uncn1ployn1ent a1nong trac1P unionjSL4 lu this

has -during the la~t quarter rPdw:ed, the lJC·n·c-nt.tgc llOY.·

15.6 pet· c0nt.

:.Ir. ~1.\.X\YELL: You doa't lH:=>lieve that. do you~

:\h. FOLEY: It is true.

l'1Ir. ~{\X\VELL: It is not true.

:.\1r. FOLEY: j}:.T figures ;-nl: taken frmn 1 he Commcnwealth statistic~. A little n_'fir-ctiou on the percentage f1gurcs fot· unPrnr·lO.'dnent exisr.iup; on the 30th June. 1929, is very profitable. ThP :\Ioorc Aclminisfl·ation assmnctl oflicc in ,June, 1929, with a legaC\" frorn the Labour Uo\·ennnrnt of an uncrn~1J1oyrncnt perccnta.go of 7.6 per (·cnt. Thtit percE.: 1tagc conlinunJl:v ro~c dunng their three yca.rs of ofRL·e untjl the peak \Yas rc•ac!wd at the end of the June qunrtcl' in 1932 with 19.9 per ccut. That is jnst one• illustration of the effect of the drastic anti-Labour pol·icy. rrhrough the advof'acy of our Treasurer at the Prcn1ic·rs' Conference iu 1932 tho deflationist policv then being· adopted b.'- the Loan Council. with <'!.. firncra1 rf'"trirtion of borro1dng, was reYiewed. The result has been that from that t.l1ne 011\". ard tt genera 1 in1proYcn1cnt has resulted from this spenclinl( policy, net only in Queensland but also in oth0r States. The adYantagc to Quecnsla nd has been a big one. The peak figures of unemployment in Queens!rtnd of 19.9 per cent. in the .Tunc quarter of 1932 has been progrpssi,·oly reduced until flt the close of the ,June nuartcr 1933. the CommomYcalth Statistician reports the figures as 15.6 per cent. Those flgures show an im]1roYcment of 21.6 11er cent. for the twehe months. If wo anal::se the position in \Vestern Australia, and other

Mr. Poley.]


States whore Labour Administrations are in power, it will be found that as a result of a similar policy a similar gradual improvement has taken place. The unemployment indexes arc generally recognised as the best guide as to whether the policy adopted by a Government is showing the best result,; for the State. Naturally, if a greater number of men are placed in employment tlw consequential increased })Ul'chasing power has its effect right throughout the country. That is what is cperating in Queensland to-day.

In conclusion, I suggest that as this dis<'Usc;ion proceeds. hon. members opposite. who have thP pet obsession about borrowing and increased taxation. should indicate to Parliament and to the ·people of this State just what section of the community they would relicYe from taxation, and whether that section would he the great mass of people who were caught by the taxation lPg-islation of tlre :'vloore Government. They might also deal seriatirn wjtb the iterns of expenditure, indicating just which it.ems ,]wuld be reduced or eliminated. If hon. lll('llllwrs opposite did that we should have 'ome idea of where thev stand. I definitPlv dt1irn that the sta'i:istics. which arc our Gnly guide) proYe that Labour's policy is beneficial not onlv to this State but to c.-rry othcl' State whcl'e it bas been applied.

:VIr. TO'l:ER ( G.iJmziie) [11.38 a.m.]: ThP hon. mc1nber who has just resumed his scat should have been the r.rst speaker on the Go,·crnnlcnt side if wr' are to take seriouslv his rcque-t that nwmbers on this side shoulct ~peak in a certain \vay. \Ve arc not likely to do that.

Tn his Financial StatenH:>nt the Treasurer said-

" I knO\Y that then~ are so1ne people who, in spite of these facts and of the results we ha H' shown, will still repeat, like parrot~. the cries of extravagance and of oYcl·-borrovving. Such vrould cheerfullv borro1v anv surns of monev to fight· a war. but ··for the economic defence of their own kith and kin they haYe nothing to contribute but carping· criticistn ... ')

Let me say at the outset that it is our dutv to deal with finance. If there has beei1 extravagance. then we 1nust criticise the Government. If there has been overborrowing it is our duty to draw attention to it. The reference to parrot-like cries is beside the point, it is only natural that many members YYho haYe to speak on the same subject will touch on similar points. It has been said that notes are passed round on the Opposition side and that we all epcak from these notes. I can a>,suro the Committee that if anyone else got hold of mv note-, he would not be able to sneak at· all. and I most certainly could not speak frorn anyone else· s note's.

Let us commence with the statement in the Policy Speech of tlw Treasurer-

" Relief from the burden of taxation can be looked for in the direction of a policy which is conducive to increasing employment resulting- in greater industrial activities generally."

Later on, when speaking at Gympie, the hon. gentleman said that his policy would not attract further taxation. Let us consider particularly the statement that " Relief

[.Mr·. F'oley.

from the burden of taxation can be looked for.'' vVo have looked for that relief and we cannot find it. When such a definite statement is made in a Policy Speech we expnct. that at son1o tirne during the lifP of the GoYcrnment concerned we shall lind that the promise has been honoured. In the first t\\o sebSions of this Parliament there has been no relief from the burden of taxation. and in the third session, ;~·hen naturally we look for it more justifiably than before. we cannot find it. Is it strange, tlwn, that we should ,;peak on such an imrJortant on1ission '?

:\'ow consider the statcmPnt that the ]Jolicv of the _Go,·crnrnent would _not attract fnrther taxatwn: we find that m the first H'',sion the super land tax was imposed to tlw e'<tent of approximately £130,000. Is 110t that increased taxation? Should we not ha Ye some relief from it'! In the <.:.phPt'C' of incotne tax the aYcrag-e annu~l increase by the present Gove~·nn1cnt IS

£270,000, apart from an annual mcreasP of £325.000 in rail fares and fretghts, and £48,045 in motor transport feeo. The unomplovntcnt relief taxation has been- increased ln- · £486.000. All told, the increased taxati-on of the present Government an1ounts to £1,259,045 a year, and that dec]1ito the statern<•nt that we could look for relief from the burden of taxation and that tbe policy of thP Qoyernment would not attract further taxation. Is it not eYident that we have ~oJnetJJjll\?,' to con1plain of and protest about IYhon we' find that two contradictory statetnents haw• bPen made bv the hon. gentlnlnan. one in his capacityv as ·would-be Prf'mier and the other in his capacity as Trea~urcr '! As Trea:;urcr. he prartica11y countcrH<'ts what hP said in his policy speech as Pren1ie-r to he.

The Financial Statcrnent is a long one and conblins a lot of substance, but the I rend of it is to shov1' the increased bencfttthat Queensland ha' derived from the pollcy of tl;e GoYennnent; in particular that. although there has be<'n a policy of borrow-in~ have had the benefit of that borrow-ing· ·v\·ay of the circulation of that n1oney. In his Statement the Treasurer says-

.. I maintain, howeyer, that the policy of the Goverrlrncnt in encouraging expenditure by loco 1 authoriti0s and other semi-go,·ernrnental bodil's on publlc v 1rks, and by spending funds on GO\·ernment worh, has matreriailv contnbntcd to the betterment which ha's taken place in businc~s conditions g0ne1·al1y .during tlrc' last twehe months. By these means the Yolunoo of money in circulation has he en increased and ·the velocity of circulation has h"en accelerated. The latter is an in1portant consideration."

That is what mig-ht be termed a gambler-'s point of Yiew. Evidently the Treasurer has not taken into consideration the amount of money that is being borrowed and ultimatelv has to be repaid. The Government ~arc continuing to borrow more Inont~:v from dav to dav. From 1915 to 1929, when Labour · Gover,;-ments were in power in this State, the national debt was increased by practically £56,000,000. They spent on an aYcrage of about £4.000,000 of borrowed mone0 a year during- that period in an endeavour to purchase prosperity. Wben they left office we had a period of three years during which the Moorc Government

Supply. [27 SEPTE:VIBER.] Supply. 369

wen~ -in power and no loan n1oney was available. In 1929 the people realised that too much money was being borrowed and Hw~· changed the Government, but the pre· ~ent Government have embarked on the 'arne policy of spending as previous Labour GovPrnments. In the course of three years practically £7,500,000 more has been borrowPd, at the rate of £2,500,000 a year, and added to the national -debt.

The hon. member for Normanhv stated I hat printic industry had failed and quoted the number of bankruptcies. If this State wPrc called upon to repay what it owes it would not be able to do so. The interest that itas accumulated from year to year is becouu11g such a he a YY burden, that, if a La hour G overnrnent ren1ains in po\''er long {'noue:h and bon·ovvs at thP sarne rate as hitherto. we shall not be able to pay our mtert''i. Durmg the tune the Government han• been in office thcv have had the benefit of the reduction in th'c rate of intcl'C'·.t and the rate of exchange. In the Financ.:ial Statement it is claimed that if it had not been for !he rate of exchang" which had to be paid and the sinking fund payments the I'r('a~urcr would have been able to balance tiw Budget. During the period that the ~Ioore Govf'rnnlent V'i'Pro in pO\YPr th•" rate of exchange was considerably higher, and the~· had not the be-nefit of the reduced rates of i uterest.

\11 through hi, Financial Statement the TreasurPr elainB there is- buo"f,-ancv in the re\-PTllH\ tJ1at things haYc in~'lH·o,:ed. I-Ic prPclictcd in his policy speech that t her•' \\·o-:._dd bH sunshine and happine;:;~ th~~oughou~ the• ~talc. T}H-'l"'L' i:-3 a cprtain .arnount of :::-nlL"hinc C'\·ery day-when it is fine, and then• j-. a CQl'tain amount of happlnes:;. an1ong t1u, r)eoplc-pcople on the v>holo ar.-• happy. but one fails to find that any sun· shu1e and happ1IH•s::; has been introdnred into their lives by Labour's Jinancial policv. t;o out ir:>to the countrv, 1neet anv one Rt all. and find out if h;, has recc1ved anv wonderful benefit owing- to the policv of th'e \H'f::'.C'llt (;ovPrnnwnt. It ·will be folind tha1 11(' has 110t. :=\lost certainly a certain arnount of borrowed mouey is circulating. That. of (•mu::;c~ givf~S an i1nprcssion of prosperitY. but it j, a false prosperity, because, if thr' people wcrP forcer! to repay the money it would be found thev could uot do it. That is this " bnoya,nt 1:-cvcnue " that ha", b0en t-o ruuch talked of.

Y Cl'\' cften the renwrk is m cl de that, the Moor~ GoYc1·nn1cnt had sou1c avdul deficits. In fact, it was stated here that the !at,~ Trea~nrer of the I\1oorf~ GoYernrnent wa", th:: " Phar Lap" of deficit'.

:i\Ir. \V. T. Krxa: The "Bradman" of deficit'.

:i\Ir. TOL':ER : Aho the " Bradman " of deficits. People who make these statements should b< able to suppmt them, but what do ,.,.E' fi.11d? During thn administration of the Moore Go\·ernrnent the following Wet' tlw po~ition a-: rt~gards deficits:-

1929-30 1930-31 1931·32

£ 723,184 842,044

2,075,180

TlH· last was the wonderful deficit that appealed to those hon. n10ll1bers on the Government side, who were then in opposi· tion. They loudlv proclaimed the fact that

we ·bad thi> awful deficit. It is recognised throughout Australia, and practically throughout the world, that the three years we were in po\ver ·were the worst three year::: of the dPprc"ion. Our income in Australia had fallen from £650,000,000 to £450,000,000. and Queen~land. being one of the big producing Stat~es, nahu-ally felt that loss more than thl' other States. \Ve admit that the Moore G-overnment v, nt behind to the extent of £3,640,408, but one would naturally expect with thes<' heaven-sent financiers on the other side tlwv woulcl do a wav with all that; that ther:e would l>t' no deficit at all. Thev had the bn1elit of increased taxation to the extent of over £1,000,000. they had the benefit of the reduction in interest ratE.'., and l':\.Change. \;evcrtheh_·~~. 1vc find their deficits

1932.33 1933.34 1934·35 (est. I

£ 1,554,443 1.128,530 1,050,000

Th1· grand total of tltc"'' tbrce deficits is £3.732.973. or £92.565 more than the deficits of the :;}Ioorc GoYPrnn1.cnt V'hPn in power. Thi~. non,-ithstanding tbe irnprovmnent j;_t conditions, iHcn•a -:cd taxation, and th~~ bcrwfit rhcv have received from the redue· lion of the l·ates of 1ntprc::~t and the exchange ~ (\ne• would have naturally expected that with ·~uch in1proYed conditions the present CoYel'nlnPnt would baYe LCNl able to balance thr-ir Budget. The T1en~urer in his Financial Statcrnent, wl1ich. of conr~e. contains a fair ammmt of propaganda. practiccrlly dates rlu::: impruvenH:nt in the ('Ondition;:; not merply of Queenelancl. lmt of Australia, from the datP when he first attenrlccl the Loan Council n1ceting::<. HP is not prepared to give any {'rcdit to }lr. Stevcns or to .anv of f-.hc oti1cr Pren1iers or to ;Jlr. Lvons ;~ he takes practically the whole creclit unto himself. The improvenwnt was not brought about Ill('I'Cly becan:-:c the Que0nsJand rrrcaSlll'C'l' attended a Loan Council rneeting and '""" abh· to persuade Mr. Stcvens to support him on the um]prstanding that he should support :Mr. Stevens and thereby obtain inlTeascd an1ount:'i of loan n1oncv fDr thcil' re~pect1vc States. ~

The improvement in our conditions i:'; due Yrry largt-ly to incrca~ed "\Yool prices. lJnfortunately, th<• 11rice of wool has receded to oome extent again, but the probabilities arc that it 1vill recover again. The position has been imprond very considerably by the faet that good seasons have been enjoyed thl'Oughout 1\ustralia. If the present Govern· ment crnnot rely upon the continuance of good sra"on~ then inevitablv they 1nust crash. If th<' ~·ood seasons do 'not 'continue the prc~ont burden of taxation cannot be 1na intained, so naturallv the GoYcrnment nntst look to the contitnlnncc of g·oocl .~easons if they arc to rcrnain in control of this State. \Vh.lt would be the position in this countrv lf a serious drought occurred or a feriou·s epidemic LrokG out amongst tl1e peovlc, or eYcn amongst our cattle and sheer? \Vhat would be our position if we IH'l'C f·1ccd witTl tit<' terrib]P calamities that occur in .Japan and in diffrrcnt part~ of the l)njted States of America': Let anything sPrious happen, such n:-1 an t'arthquukc---

:\Ir. \Y. T. Kr:-<G: You are looking- for troublt'.

~J ,.. TOZER: I am not. I am merelv rPminding- hon. members opposite of th.o

Mr. Tozer.]


a vvful consequences -of c:;uch cata::::trophics. Thev have had the benefit of ~·cod seasons in this Stat<>. and they should. give credit where credit is due.

Yfr. \V. T. Kn;G : The ~Ioore Government enjoyed good scaeons during their three years of otrice.

::\f1·. TOZER: Some of the time. There has been a revival in industry in the Southern States. \vhich are important lnarkets for our, cmnu10di tit'f:.. Ca11 it be said that the policy pursued by the Govcrnlllent in Qn0unslancl has any effect upon industrv in the Southern State'. I submit not. 'Th£> Southt'rn States l1aYe n1ade remarkablc> progress under the beneficial policy of the Lyons Government and Wl

ha ye rPapr•d a C'orresponding bPncfit by being n blc to place our co1nrnoditics on tbe Southern markets. Queensland produces ntany producb that are n~quircr1 by the ;SnutlH'rll Siai ec.;. There is a gPnerrtl reYiYal o£ confidcnc< under the policY "f the LYons Coyernn1cnt. · ~

:\Ir. \Y. T. KrxG: Oh. no:

I\1r. TOhER: The J1o11. nH'lnber 1nay say, '·Oh, 110,'' but that does nut get hinr an~~wherc.

:VIr. \Y. T. KEG: Ynn COY, ·'Oh. 0-e, but that does not get you anyv:ht>rc either.

3.Ir. 'TOZER: I ha Ye not said, " Oh. vcs ... I prDp(.'lO to subn1it figur(''3 in ( dnfinnUtion of rny contPntion. \Yhcn the Scullin GoYernrncnt were in pU\H'r in rhe Federal SJlhere Auslrnlion bond.> f<'ll to £70. mrd l bdien' thnt in the Unitrd StatP:c; of _\rn(C~rica theY f,!Jl a~ lO\\' as £55: but v:hpn the Lvcn1 Gorcnurl('nt \Vf·n~ plnced in control and 'confulence was rc~torr~d. there was a br>neficial riPe in tLc Yalue of 1-'\ustrnliaL ~tr_~cJ~>. -:-:,JH1 in J1.lly la~t the~- \Ycnt n br_},-r par to -rhe rdea~1ng figure of £111. Thel'c n1ust ha,-e been sorne rr~l~OH for that. 1t was because 1~1e people cf Australia an') th" people of Urcut Bnt<tlll, ~-\1ncnca, and other parts of the wmld had the utmoet coniidcnop in the policy of the GoYernment ill power in Auetralia. The pr~_sent GoYernn1ent are now ~;n~oying a saYing of £134.000 pr:r annurn in 1n\erest and excLa,ngP payn1ents on London ~oans converted by J\Tr. Brncc. l\Ir. Bruce b regarded by S01?J-C hon: rnc1nbers opposite as ~ person who 1~ anxious to injure Aus~ traha. whereas he IS tho biggeot Australian l,-;·c hEtve. l-Ie 1s clorng niorc for Australia than an_v other person. He is a man of ability capable of mixing with the best people of the world, Ho is perfectly at C:'i"O \VIth thc'n1, and when he doe-s rnakP contact v.-ith them he achieYec much that i~ for the benefit of Australia as a 'vholc. Ho \\,ls rnstrurn('ntal in having considerablv ovc 1~ £1CO.OOO,OOO of our loan indebtedness" over~<>as conycrtecl at a lower rate of interest That was not achieved by any action on th~ ~a_rt ~f tho ~oYernment in Qncen'"land; :vet lms ~tute. 111 consequence, now enjoys the bcrwftt of a reduction in interest. and exchange payments amounting to £134,000 per annun1.

\Yn 1HLY0 al~o the benefit of thl' incrca~o wh1ch has taken place in thP price of gold. Has that been brought about b,v the present Goycr_nment ·: They ha Ye not contributed anythmg to the increase. Some little time back gold was .-aluecl at £3 17s. an ounce, although g?lll ~von in sonH: districts. by reason of 1ts nchne"· was worth £4 an ounce. I beliP\'e it is announced in this

[Mr. Tozer.

rnorning's press that go1d has ri~en ir1 value to £8 an ounce. This i1w1·ease in the lJl'ice Gf gold \rill leacl to the reopening of many Iuiiws which \verP prC'\·ionsly clo.,ecl bocau~e the Ol'C was of too lo·w a oTade to tl'Pat o1· lwca use of tho low price ~nd the incre~scd

ost of all n1aterials used in connecti:Jn \Yith 1lli11ing and of wagF-:, .... ho1·ter \YOrking hours, and rf'strictive labour COllditiolls. .Al t rltC:'E~ factors contriLutPd to Inake goldlninlng in this Sta,te unprofHabl0. )._s a re~mlt ·of the incrca~ed price of gold lfi<Ll(Y

lllC'll iu Queensland ancl throughout A_u~tralia arc s0arc1Jing for this preeiou2. rnetul. ~anu·ally tbcre is a n1uch iu1proyed chancl~ of ncv: fields LPing lou1t'--cl. In a big State like Quc~"u~laud, ns in other large arc.as of ~..\ n:-,tralia, rnany districts ren1aiu unGxplored~ Souw nH'n at sorne tirrw or other 1na v ha YC

traYelled from north to south. or ,:nst to 1\ est.. but nHLll.Y place'~ in Australia. "tiJl retnaiu untouched bv lllall. ...._\_ considr-rab1P ;:unount of ore of t~C'eptional rif'hne~::: may be Iocat('d in a snwll a1·ea. Take. for in:3-tanco, JYiount }'!organ. That 1niue has produced a. trmnendons an1ount of gold. nncl hrtcl th0 )n·cscnt price of gold rnlcd from the opening of that rnino its returns '(,·onlcl ban• been p•·actic<11ly double. That applic> also to the Croydon. Chgrtcrs 'To"·ers. Oyrnpie. 1:Lv.~cusv:o:;d, Eid~,-old. ~fount Perry, a.nc1 oihl'r g-oldfield~, whpre tho rctunis \\ere rich nnfil 1ninin12' C'XjH:nscs conlpoJ1lecl the clo""un~ of oper-.:1Lio11:::. People' an:; l't~ali~ing th:-1t ·with the pn :-:011t price of gold n1an.'~ of tbt"-'C fields \Yould a~::tin pay !!andsoln({y. The principal drg,vback to thE~ rc~nllll)ij~'n of opc1 at ions ou thPsc olc1 golclftclds is tlw tmublc of de-watering the !aincs, b:.1t oncP tl1at \\Ork is acco:mplishcd ope.·at.ion-: c~u1 rec>)l1lll!£'11CC a.ncl returns eau be looked for ~u.rai11. \Ye a1·c• all feeling the benefit of the Southern capital that is now flo\Ying lnto QtH'<'nsln.nd to dC'Yclop our rnin~ng fields. \t. thr- prc ... Pnt tim0 au ac-rial creoloo·icnl and P'l'Onhysie'·ll :"Ul'\-t'y is lJcinrr ·~t-ld0° of _._\u~tr;lia· l~v the Corr;mon,xcalth Govcrnn10Ht. in conju~1ction with th0 Stat0 CovC'rnn1ents of \Yo~tcrn _\ustrali~ and Queensland. I understand that onr GovernH1cnt arc contributing' £15.0C0 t H\ ards the oxpens(~s; that \Yos1eru Au;;:.t.ra1ia is contributing a like amonnt. and the Federal Govcrnnwnt ~mnf'thing lik(-~ £,35,000. People may be sc0ptical as to the rrc-.nlt of such a survev. I admit that \Yhrn I first hoard of it I "was sceptical. I conlcl not imagin<> that. any g·-:·ologist flying at a height of 5,000 or 6.000 fr•d could possibly locate any Ycim. reefs. m· formations. I could not understand how such a sur.-cv would be of any use at all. but when 0;10 goes into the matter and consults with the officers "-ho a ro carrying out the \York and poruf'Cs the photographs they take h0 is compelled to realise that there is somt·thi11g in it. and that it is not a waste of monev. It is the eves of the camera which do tl10 work anrl n~t the geologist who :-its in the 'plane a11cl v orks the camera. 'Ylwn thP photograph is r1c,·olopcd the result is wonderfnll.v revcalirig to an ('xpert geologist. It is lilcc takin~ an X-ra:v. Such 11hotographs arc taken and rertd by experts only. The original photo~Taph is Ollly about the ~ize of a. postage sl .nnp, but when it is enlarged-I do not r-mtcnd that it ,.,·ill reYeal yeins. reefs. or lodes-it disclose' to the e'<:pert where there is a likelihood of minerals being found. and ,,~hat areas lend thernselvcs to pro~pccting with a reasonable chance of success.

Sttpply. [27 SEPTEMBER.} Supply. 371

I have pointed out the advantages that the present Government have obtained, none of which weril enjoyed by the previous Government; but, notwithstanding, taxation per capita in Queensland increased from £4 4s. 10d. in 1931-32 to £5 2s. 1d. in 1932-33, which is the highest in any State. If, as the Financial Statement would lead us to believe, conditions are improving, why the necessity to increase taxation? Some definite reason should be advanced. \V e claim to be the• leading State and to have the best Government of any in the Commonwealth; yet other States, controlled by CoimtryNationalist Governments, are in a better position so far as the reduction of taxation and financial conditions generally are concerned.

Reference must be made to the unemployment relief tax. Other St,ates have unemnloyed, too, but it is claimed that Queensland has fewer unemployed than any other State. If that claim is correct, why was it necessary to increase the incidence of the unemployment relief tax? Last financial year £1,903,888 was disburse·d from the Unemployment Relief Fund, as compared with ;£1, 771,111 during the previous year, or an increase of £132,777; and if it is true that we have fewer unemployed than before, I should like some explanation of the increased expenditure under this head of £132,777. The receipts into that fund were £1,967,942, as compared with £1,806,010, or an increase for the last financial year of £161,932. How can these factors be reconciled? Fewer unemployed and greater receipts and disbursements; there must be something wrong somewhere.

Mr. W. T. KING: We have increased the benefits by over half a million.

Mr. TOZER: The hon. member for Maree interjects that the benefits have been increased. I understand that the Government pay unemployment relief to the extent of £1 7s. 3d. a week to a. man who has a wife and child. Does any hon. member on the Government side think that is reasonable?

The SECRETARY FOR PuBLIC INSTRUCTION : Y OlJ. considered much less than that was reasonable.

Mr. TOZER: When these people are put on rotational relief work or secure a job on the railways lasting six or eight weeks, or even longer, they are asked to pay 25s. before they are allowed to start work. Five shillings of that goes to the "Worker." Under the Australian Workers' Union rules there is a political fund to which you can subscribe. At any rate, 25s. is t1aken from these men. I think it was in Mr. Denham's time that it was suggested that the minimum income tax should be 10s. per annum. An awful cry was raised by Labour members then in opposition. So great was the outcry ag,ainst "this awful poll tax," that the pro· posal was allowed to drop. Yet we find practically the same class of people who would have been affected by that poll tax of 10s. are asked to pay, not 10s., but 25s., or an increase of 150 per cent.

Mr. FuNNELL: Don't you believe in carrying out the law!

Mr. 'TOZER: Yes, I believe in carrying out the law, but I say there should not be an iniquitous law; and a law that provides that 25s. should be taken from men like

that, practically for political purposes; is iniquitous. Men have come to me and said, "We have to pay it." I have been asked to pay it for them, and on an odd occasion I have done so because the men could not get the work, and they had not the money themselves. Subsequently provision was mad·e allowing them to pay it by instalments, but it has to be paid. What necessity is there for that law if our conditions are supposed to be so good in Queensland ?

The Treasurer takes credit for the State Government Insurance Office. He contends that the fis-ures show how the people approve of 1t. The receipts of this otiice increas(ld last year by nearly £145,000, and expenditure decreased by £114,000. If the receipts increased by that amount why was there not a reduction in the insurance rates? The activities of that office include a monopoly of workers' compensation. Every employer of labour is compelled to take out a workers' compensation policy with the State Government Insurance Office, and failure to do so means a penalty, in addition to responsibility for any employee who was injured before the policy was taken out. At one time the Government were giving the agricultural societies a small amount of subsidy, and they told them that a condition of the subsidy was that they must take their insurance away from the private companies and give it to the State. At one time ther_e was a loud cry by the Labour Party agamst monopoly; but it seems that once they attain power what they do is right and what thl' other fellow does is wrong. Our hospitals are not all under the hospitals boards, but it sometimes happens that an agent from the fire insurance branch of the State office comes along and says, '·Your buildings arB not sufficiently covered, you have to increase the amount." If the committee increases the amount, the premium, of course, is increased, and all that, too, goes into the St.ate of!i.ce. The State is carrying a certain amount of life insurance, but not, up to the pre-sent, endeavoured to create a monopoly •for the State in that regard. I believe that Mr. Fihelly was in favour of wiping out the Australian lYIL!tual Provident Societv and all ether life insurance societies anci no doubt if his Government had had the power they would have done it.

According to the Treasurer's Statement, £3,166,481 was expended from loan funds. That exceeds the expenditure during the previous year by £978,459, and is the largest expenditure from loan funds since 1928-29. The Government have not reached the £4,000,000, which they were spending at one t1me, but I understand they will es:c<,~d that amount this year. Loan fund rec.,ipts last year were-

£ Repayments by local authori-

ties and others ... 1,405,518 Expenditure provided by the

Commonwealth ... Land Sales Proceeds Act Domestic issues ... State's proportion of loans

36,086 14,446

662,770

raised by the Commonwealth 970,802 Treasury bills . . . . . . .. 1, 775,000 Loan from Commonwealth

Savings Bank 475,000

Total £5,339,622

Mr. Tozer.1


I always thought that the Loan Council had a certain sav in the matter of loan fund raisings and" expenditure, but it seems the Government have unlimited power to isslle Treasury bills. I understand that. throughout Australia there arc Trea.;ury bills to the extent of over £100,000,000. People do not appear to recognise that is !J.<1 rt of the national debt and has to be pa1d by somebody at so,;e time. There seems to be some means whereby Treasury bills can be reca,lled a,nd then reissued w h•cn the opportunity arrives. What is the r8aso,: for ~h1s expenditure? \Ve find somcthmg 11ke £2,000,000 the first year, £3,000,000 the second and then £4,000,000 for the thnd. vVhat 'is the necessity for the increase·d expenditure during the third year? We were told by the Deputy Premier that money was plentifuL If, as the Government state, things were bad when they took over the a,dminstratlon from the Moore Government, and loan expenditure is a cure for such ills, why did they not then spend £4,000,000? Then after having thus brought about an imprbvement during the first year, the amount could have been reduced year by year? Simply because there is an election looming in the thud year.

Mr. W. T. KING: You know that is wrong.

Mr. TOZER: Is the election not coming on? I thought it was. Has there bee!1 an extension of the life of Pa,rliament to five years?

The hon. member for Norman],.y tioned where there could be a reduction taxation. He stated that, in effect, we, on this side, would give the . b.:;nefit. of snch a reduction to our caprtahst10 fnencls. In answer to the hon. member I would suggest that a commencement be made" l::y a reduction of the unemployment reLer tnx. Such a reduction would benefit people who actually need the mon~y it would save them. Reverting to the questiOn of the pubhc debt and the figures to be found m the Tr~asurer's Financial Statement, I am rmpel1ed to remark by the way that it seems that if one is an expert figures can be made to speak. The hon.. member for Kennedy ~s an expert, a,nd drd make the figures at Ins disposal speak for themselves. At rate, he showed how the figures supplied the Government were inaccurate in many instances. The public debt at 30th June, 1934, amounted to £117,817,352, being- au increase for the year of £3,286,497. On tJJe 30th June 1932 it was £111,911,000. The increase since that date is £5,906,000. The .anticipated increase during the current year will amount to £2 100,000. The addJt.wn during the term of ~ffice of the Labour Government will be about £7,500,c00, or an average of £2,500,000 per year., At the time the people found that the natwnal debt was increasing to the extent of £4,000,000 a year they raised their voices irt protest-they changed the Government. 'the preoent Government are following in the same lane by increasing the debt to the extent of £2,500,000. I, together with other hon. members can remember that before the Labour Gov~rnment obta,ined power in 1915, ono of their &trong cries wa,s " over-borrowing and over-taxation." The Little Red Book that was issued at that time said, in effec;, that when people realised the amount of interest tha,t they had to pay on loans they wollld rise and push out of power the party that was responsible. The public debt was then

[Mr. Tozer.

onlv £56 000 000. Labour incr011sed it by ano"ther £56,000,000 in the course of its fourteen years of office. As a matter of faci, during the regime of the Moore Gc.vernment the debt was reduced.

At 12.24 p.m., Mr. GLEDSON (Ipswich), one of the punet

of Temporary Chairmen, relieved the Chair· man in the chair.

Mr. TOZER: It has been stated that if certain other amounts had been taken into consideration there would not have been ~n actual reduction. However, the figures d1d show a reduction as at 30th June, 1932, the public debt having been reduced by £951,000 to £111,911,000 during the term of the l\foore Government. The fina,nce ~ulletm issued by the Commonwealth Stahstwran sets out that at 30th June, 1933, the rates and taxes in Queensland were heavier than anywhere else. For the fina,ncial year 1932-33 State taxation in Queensland amounted to £6 Os. 4d. per head, compared with £5 12s. per head in the other States. We know that at 1st July, 1915, it was only £1 Ss. 2d. per head, and that at 1st July, 1929 It had reached £5 ls. lld. per head, but now 1t has been increased to £6 Os. 4d. per head. The rates collected by local )authorities, represent £2 lls. per head in Queens1and as against £1 18s. elsewhere. The mdebtedness o£ the local authorities a,mounts. to £25 2s. per head in Queensland, a,s agamst £9 17s. 9d. elsewhere. In the face of those figures, how can it be suggested that the State of Queensland leads all the ?tj1er States of the Commonwealth in provrdmg benefits for the people?

The service charges on the public debt Queensland a,mount to £6,433,523, but receipts from loan works and services amount to only, £2,640,503, leaving a, deficiency of £3,793,000 to be borne by the gene;-al . tax-

of the State. The figures mdrcate 59 per cent. of the public debt is unre

Inunerative, or, in other words, that \-ve ar.e losing 12s. in the £1 on our loan expenditure. In Queensland we pay practically £1 per head or nearly £1,000,000 per annum on loan works that are not reproductive, yet the Government are prepa,red to borrow and increa,se the public debt with a full knowledge of those facts. It cannot be honestly claimed that loan money is now being expended upon reproductive works. It will be discovered, when a balance rs made if ever it is made, that a large' proportion of the money is not being expended on reproductJVe works. Large sums of loan money are now availaJ:lle to Governments but if it is accepted wrth the reservation 'that it is not to be repaid, then it is being secured dishonestly. It is practically being obtained under false pretences. Some hon. members opposite ma,y know whether it is the intention of the Government to repay the money tha,t is now being borrowed or whether there will be no need to make repayments at all when Labour's objective-the socialisation of the means of production, distribution, and exchange and the socialisation of banking-is achieved.

1\Ir. GODFREY l\foRGAN : Repudiation ! That is what they did in Russia.

l\fr. TOZER: We are not in Russia and I hope that none of us will be called upon to suffer as the Russian people are suffermg to-day. In 1914, 86.4 per cent. of the public

Supply. [:Zi SEPTE:\IBER.] Supply. 373

earned the interest charge involved, but 1928-29 it had fallPn to 49.3 per cent.,

,wd in 1932-33 to 41 Jll.r ceut. How can that L1e a-ccounted for'( }t wa;:, because a Labour Covel'l!Jlle11t 1vas in l10WP1' duriug that )'Priocl. T\obod_v ciSt• would ho responsible for thut. Tile, .. rnu~t take the b1aule for it-for having bmTo\ved to the extoont that they did and for having spent the rnonoy HlJOn works that \Y(•rc not rcprodlKtive. You know. Mr. GlPd'<Jll. that during this Jleriod the 110licy of State cntcrpri'5os \Vas ernbarkc<l upon. The Gon_·rmncnt of the cl a v told us timt thPy wnc going to he of 'ronclcrful benefit to QuePnsland, >Y]Jcreas thcv resulted in a ]os·- of £4.500.000. vYe have. not onh· to repay that rr1one~'. we have also to pa~· luL FP~t on iL ar:cl keep on 11aying iuterc~t on n. Iu twc'l11.Y year:-. at 5 ],C'r cent. that at.uowJt ~~·1!} do_ublt' itself, but we ;;-till rnm~t !!O ou 1)ayrng lllt('re.-;t.

The TEl'I!P(IHAHY CHAlR'\IAC\: Order~ T1H'l'e i:-3 too rnnch noise on both side5. of the ComntiUcP, :-·o 1nnch that it is irnpo-;'3ible for the S]leah'r to be heaTd.

::\Ir. TOZER: Tha11k you, Mr. Cledson. \Ye are told thai eo!llparison;:; an~ odious,

1Jut in financial rnaitPrs it j,~ ad\·ir,.ab]c to dra\•· conlJJari:;:.on:-'. \Ye haYc been able to dra·w corn])ari;.;on:··< e.<:::peciaHy cornpariso11s durinQ· certain neriods when Labour and anti-Labour Co-\·ennnents were in office. Tho~P cn~nparj~Oih have been ba.:;:,cd largely on quest1ons that haYc bE:cn thrashed out in tlH· pa:--t. and I dP"".ire to rnake a COI11llari·'"'Oil on a subject which is rnore or le--~ new, althoug·h one hon. tl1CI!1bcr mentionctl it ~T··tt-rda\· In ~('\\' ;-;ouih \\'ale:'-' and in Qnc{_'lli·d<l.Hd \YC have -two Govern~n1.cnt in P"'· er who were elE--·tcd on practicallv the ~amc.' Ja~·. and. eorJ..-Pqucntly. have been in pO"\\'f'r about the sanH' tin1c. The Tn::-a~urer·; in both States introduced each his third and la;.;;t Budger on Tucsdav last. ~cw Sonth \Vak·~ is -gonrned bv a'Xationalist Cm·ern· JllPllt and QnN'nslalJ<.l hv a Labour Governwent. After listPning to the speeche·· deliYCrC'd by l1on. u::ernbers opposite a11d hearing of th' 'YOI1Jlerful bcnciits the State has enjoyf•d d:rough Labour being ln vower, of t lw wonderful thiJJg,; it has clone for this ?t<lh\ ·''"hirh resulted in its workers enjoying the Jng}wst. wages and :-;hortest hours in Austcalia. as well as the lowest percentage of unemployment. ono would naturally think that the Statf' go,·ornecl bv a Labour GoYc-rnmcnt would he the leacling State. One \Yould not imagine that a State controlled by a '-'ationalist Government could compare with it in anv w~ v ! But wl1at arc tho a dual fwures '?·In 1931-32 the deficit in :"i'ew South vYales was £14,200.000; in Queenslal!Cl it ''·a' £2,075.531. Admittedly there is a big clifrPrcn<'c in the populntion of the tv o States, but proportionately thos0 figures fayour Onernsland. If \1'0 take the anticipated ;lof!cit in the two States for the cnrrnnt vear \VC find that in 2\Jew South \Vales it. is £2.900.000. whereas in Queemlancl it is £1.001.457. or noarlv half the prospective cl elicit of ~ow Soc1th \Vales. UnE-mployment in 2\'Pw South \Vales has born reducNl from 115.000 to 85,000. According to published figures in this State the number of unemployed has been red1wed from 35,310 rlnring the same period to 26,607. It is a noculiar thing in this connection that th<' Secretary for Labour and Industry, in replying to a question by the hon. membr•r for Wide Bay as to the numbers of

unemployed single men in 1932 and 1934, g·a vo figures which disclosed that in 1934 about 983 more single men were unemployed than in August, 1932. Yet we arc tol-d there is a decrease in unernployrncnt! An0thcr cornparison which is illu!ninating is in respect of the building permits. 'Ihe value of building permits issuer\ in 1\cw South Wales increased from £1,782,362 m 1931-32 to £6.170,000 last year, \Yhile in Queensland it increased from £87,421 in 1931-32 to £1.083.307 in 1933-34. \Yhon we effect a COillj)arison between Xew South vVales ancl Queensland concerning taxat.ion. including ~rwcial uncn1p1oymt'nt 1·Plicf ta.xat1on, we ha ,-c this resnlt-

1932-33 1933-~ ~

1934-35 (r ,t.)

Xe·,y South Yl ales. Queensland. £ £

16,423,969 12.406.799 11,495.850

5,097,519 5,229.943 5,310,000

T n :\"" cw South \Y ales a progres::-iYe reduction is :"hovvn: in Queensland: a progrcssiYe increase.

From the point of new of expenditure. Xr•w South vVales shows a redur·tion from £56.6-14.635 to £45.232.619, hut in Queensland tlw incrpase is from £16.269,967 to £17.299.792.

It shoul-d be remembered that from 1915 io 1929 Labour Go,-emments had the advantagp of ri:;:.ing revPnue"'. ranging frorn £i1.COO.OOO to £16,000.0~0. but the conditions 0xi~tirw: at tl1e time of the 1-{oore GoYern~ uicnt l~e . .;u1h'd in the rcn'nuc being reduced to £11.000.\QD or £12,000,000. :-Jaw the pre::-C'nt GoYC'rllnlcnt baYe a higher l'C'Yenue.

The TE'\lPORARY CHAIRMA?\: Orcl0r 1

'Ihc- hem. men:bcr has cxhaustf'd the tinw ll1lm.-ed him unde1· the Standing Orders.

:vir. BEDFORD (1\'urrrua) [12.38 p.m.]: 'Ihc hon. memh<'r for Gympie has made n)ore than a suggestion to the effect that dH: Labour progrmnme would be to incrC:l"'e borrowing more rnoney, and fiually rcpudi~ ate. Tl'(e real monetary proposition of Labour is that it should generously f'manc0 the do,-elopment of the country in peace in the ~?-rne \Va?' . _as . the ColntnOJH\-calth under 1ts own Institutionthe Commonwealth Bank-financed the per~ fectlv indcfe11sible busjness of war. Secjng that" under Denison Miller the countrv was enabled to raise £400.000,000 for wat~ pur~ poses. it would be quite a wis0 procedure for this particular State, under the new monetary system that we believe will be in use lwfore long, to borrow £3.000.000 or £4.000 000 a vear spending it wisely on reprocl'uctive '~ork~, quite satisfied that in fifty years. on the borrowing of :£150.000.000, the national wealth \\·oulcl have mm·eased by fourfold the amount of that expenditure.

'Ihe notrtble contribution to the· de>bate from the Opposition benches was that of the hon. member for Kennecly. who wal!O\Yed in figures-figures V\Thirh arc quite unintelligible to the great ma>S of the electm-~. In point of fact. much of the electorate 1s gener-ally ·~o mentally la7.y that the Tory l'm·t-.-. in order to meet the mental .wcaknes~es of its supporters, decided to kick out Senator l\fat Reid. because he was too far down in the alphabet and put in Mr. Cooper in the list of Senate candidates. Presumably, if they do not win this time, then in order to try

M1·. Bedford.]


to get a largf' quantity of their Yoters who can only count up to '; 01Ie, b;o;.To, three, four, plenty" in the black fellow's way, ihev will put in somebody named Baby and consider he is worth 30,000 ,-otes on the score of his position in the alphabet alone -and probabl.'· he will bP no less a dud than the three ::'-Jationalis~ candidates for the Senate on this occas10n.

Mr. R. M. ]\:IJS"G: Yon are rougl1 on c·our opponcnL1.

Mr. BEDFORD: :Vly t·ernarbl cuP per· fcctly kindly. It was the olcl ·say 111

politics that when you had inconvenient opponento you enlisted the help of a few trusty agent~ vvith svvords and bludgeons and murdered th1•m on the wa v home. The Moore Govcrmnent. being un~blc to r!o that. decided to n1urder four constituenrie"' which could ncn•r cycr hop0 to han· any otlwr than Labour representation--the Balomw. Mitchcll. Flir,ders, and Leichharclt constitueucies. That practically. was the finest a.ttcrnpt at stat smanshij> of which th~y wc•re capable. It "·a.s also the la•t. bPc~us<~ eYcn with lhPir faked redislribution of clPctorates, thl'' l't ople 'XOnld ha Ye nu n1orc of them.

The hon. UlCillbPr for Kcnnedy, who 1s

apparently qq_alifyiug-vvhcn he has very ·v hite whi~kPrs and is about eighty-seven c'ears of agc-(laughter)-for the job of Trca~un~r in th0 next Torv Government, tbcd quite a lot of figures ":hich, r,s I say, are unintelligible to the majority of the t>lcdoratc and which. in anv ca<;;c, are capable of any construction tha·t is likely to be placed on then1 ill any gi\"('11 incidPnc,~.

\Ye know, for instancP, that the l'erdriau Ruhher Company had a claily audit. the sum total of which W<IS Eilecn \Yall. The hon. member for Gyrnpie said just now that during the .lVIoore Government's n'girno there 'vas a decrease of £951,000 in the public debt. Enrvbodv knows the method of. finance indufged 'in by the 11oore Govm·nrnent. An instance of ih methods was pro,·ided in connectioll \\·ilh the railway indebtedness. when it thoug·ht it would save itoelf from the liabilitc· of £28,000,000 by taking .t mcmorandLtm of the I.O.U. from a hip-pocket and sticking it in its boot. (Laughter.) Therefore I am not surprised to find this maelstrom of figures from the hon. member for Gympie-quito honc-tly auxious, I believe, to state the position as he sees it. He stated the public debt decreased by £951,000 during the Moore Government's term of ofHce. The Moore Government deficits amounted to £3,640,000; and thC' Counuonwealth Goy(•,rnn1c1lt relieved the State of loan liability for £1,560.000, on nccount of transferred properties. If those I,. o amounts had been taken into account I here would have. been, not a decrease of £951.000, but an mcrease of £4.249,000. So much for figures!

The hon. member for Kennedy attacked the Gon•rnment for the difference between the outgoings from the Brisbane harbour h:ust fund and the incomings. He had, for Jumself, one unfortl].nato illustration. He alluded to the harbour of Townsville. Everybody knows the Townsville harbour works should never have been put there; that the trade should have gone to its natural port of Bowen.

The SECR>;TARY FOR LABOUR AXD INDUSTRY: \\'hat rot! (Laughter.)

i.:J.r. Bedford.

Mr. BEDFORD: Sec how devotion to an electorate obscurf's n rnan's principles. (Renewed laughter.) 'l'ownsville should never have been made a port. It was only put there lo satisfy the vested interests and the people in power in the old days-Mr. Philp being Premier at the time and a member of the firm of Burns, Philp, and Con1pany.

An 0PPOSfTlOX YIE)JBER: ·what about Hock· hampton?

::\ir. BEDFORD: In the case of Rockhampton, here \VC have sorne .vcst.ed inter~sts sitting· at the end of a dram S!lle-lrackmg Gl,lClstone as the natural port. and to a large extnnt <lt ..:ounting for nllprodu('tiYe public worb reflected ill the public debt.

:Vlr. GODFREY 1\IoRGAX: You had bcttc't' "'nd for the hon. member for Rockhampton.

2\Ir. BEDFOHD: That is all right; if he L' not lwrc, I \vill tell him priYatcly. (LauglJtcr.) r_rhe position in regard to .Brisbane '.vas thi:-:. lierc ·was a place w1th a .~hallow bav, on which a cettlemcnt was c·sta blishcd_.::._and it could not be alteredthe originally basic reason being· the avail<tbilitv of fresh water. But to gPt on to mattc'rs iu the Budget, it will be noticed ihat onr Yl'l'",T ingenious but disingenuous accounhnt, the hon. member for Kennedy, did not clo anything more than relate figures from 1924 to 1934. in his modesty saymg nothing of the terrible figures which were created as a result of tho :VIoon:o Governrncnt's n·~in1e. Dospit0 what any perso.n may sa0·, the Quccnshtnd deficit for the financial Year 1933-34 is a reduction of 27.39 per cent.·· on the> deficit for 1932-33, . ":nd is dcfwitelv an improvement on the posrtJon of other Statf'", where the reduction"\ in deficits haYO been-

::\' ew South Wales Victoria South Australia West ern Australia

Per cent. 9.34 5.51

16.34 8.69

The cost of exchange is high, but it is well to remember that the exchange payments are not necessarily high because of public borrowing~ but have been rnade necessary bv the urgent necessity of getting something li.lw a price for primary products exported over.seas. SureJv the Labour Governrncnt are not to hlarnc for the low price of commoclitie'·! In· the minds of some of our critics, even if we were rcsponsiblo for bringing· about the millPnllinm-which. of c::,un;e, is irnpossiblc-tho changed position would be attributed to naturl11 causes or I he act of God; whereas. if t hpre is an itlcrease in the egg production of the State, it is immediatelv ascribed to the benevolent Arlhur Mooro [md his deep sympathy for lite inclustrious hen. (Laughter.) In addition, the l)Cl'CPHlagc of SaYings Bank deposit~ .i:; better in t~ncensland than in any other ~talc.

Dealing with the question of unemploy· ment relief, I \voulcl like to mention the case of a local authority which apparently loves the British workhouse system of the dole and is not content to a;_,ail itself of the remarkably liberal terms offered by this GoYerrnnent of 50 per cent. subsidy and 50 per cent. loan on long terms for local works.

I haYe had an application from the Murweh Shire Council to haYe relief money sent out

Sup]Jly. [:!7 SEPTE}IBER.] 375

to Aug\.the1la. The Go\·crnn1ent art.3 at~.30· lutclY and utterly oppooed to any <extcnswn of thc>e relief ac:ti\itico. The whole scheme 1Vi1S ne\~C'l' ·LlilY l.tlOl'P than a valliatiYC_, an(l it is a barl l"{lliatiYc. lb wor ,t rcoult is to d0strov the rnanhood of the conntrY. an(1 that i~ the moral fibre of the le: o st;·onglylninJed worl.:;:er. Tlli~ (;ovcnnavut, fl·orn irf: bcginni1rg;, lHt~ been iutcnt on ollh- one 1hing: to wipe out all une;uplo.qHellt relief !)y nu1king it Ul1ilc '( ··"iar~·. And tu that end we ha vc done so rnnch that we can say that IllUl't> Hll'll an~ llO\Y cnJployc•d u11cler

.nwarcl rates tiJan otl~L'l' period in tbG histor\ of The rl'a~--on fo1· the ~Iun<·eh EOt doing tlL ~aine is bccall''; lr \\ qnt:-: to g-ti itF- tuunicipal \Yorks at :--tarYa!-ion nll · because it. \rishes to :--.pn'ud the• {:0:-J ~f work-, over t h0 whole of th" f)tut<'. Tlwy repli•·cl oni (h<•rc to locai deputations of uncwployecl that they were not goi. n to avad tlJenl:-ch-e~ of the GoYC'rnmonr's off(~r~it i--; HOt only a ::''CJWrou ~. it a just offer-if only for the l'Pason thnr it V·,HI~d nhan an inrrl.l~'c on 2d. or 2~d. <IS l't-de:-; at tand. If that is tL: ki1·d o£ locd tlw Opposi-tion is pri1ud of, well, it!

Si!lce v~-e hnvc been Lish'Hing to all these rcn1ark,; ubout onr s1Jnrtcor..1 iug~. it is just a:-: VYell to d \Yh 1t this l\'lnon: Gon~rr:-

did while ,,·as in power. Out oide of of it, trPlncndou~h- clr'\"CT action in

of ,!Jiftillg £28.0CO,OOO of LO.t'.'s from ito hip pocket to it' booL thcr" is aho the f'", that mo-t of it- legislation consisted of 11ndoing t11at which \Ve had done -good. bad, ot indifl'l'l'Ntt. Hon. J1H'111l1crs opposite lntrot1nccd a H.cpudi;'tiOtl _\.c-1-. for th~ purpose cf taki11g a,v ay fron1 n few Labour mcrnbcro of the extinct Legislative Council thf'ir 1·ail\Yny pa:-,_,(1

:". No'"· was not thnt fnll of merit ,and stntc-,nwnshjp? Tlwy pa"-'od the Electoral Districts \et. They passed the Industries As<isbl!co Act to produce the• Reno'• n Hubbor Company. This shO\Y,"- YOU tho dcu~gcr of ncun-iug the 1 J1iid bPforc it. i~ b·_}rll, or at k<lE>t tl1c '"i~don1 of not narnir:;; it until ;;;on1c fnrthcr triurnph o£ ran prove sex bcfnrc birth. It no good dr~ciding that your chilrl is going to he cnlled "\Vil1iarn" \Yhcn it-s nlnsical conformation demands that it be ~na.rned '' _il..lar:y·." (Lang!ttcr.) TI.v 1nuni11g that nH~asnre with thf' Indu~tric_: _.t\:-;:-:i~tancf' _.\et they inAidod no injtbticc. be,·au<' tbo child that they !honght tho Bill a' goiHg to prcducc tunwd out to be a falsP alat'HJ. They introduced the Haih:ay Snprrannuation Act which we haYc just burned out in the back yard. Then, for the purpo'e of doing that\\ hich was unworth-, of an~, party, they rlcciclerl to alter tlw whole or mnclt of the nlachlnc'ry of juf'iicp, To get rc:vengP in the Mrmgana case they alter£<! the ( Jf!iciH l Jnquirif·-; Evidcncu Act. they altnred the Crown Remedies Act, and thcv al!eretl tlw ,Jurv Act. Thn,- also made .an alteratioH in the law of !'ibcl.

J\h. DEACON: What do you think of tlJO J m·y Act?

Mr. BEDFORD: I wi1! tell the hon. n1embrr. Thev nwdc an alteration Jn the law of lihcl. "

]\fr. DE \CON: 'fhat is a sOl"e point, is it?

Mr. BEDFORD: Kot so sore as the hon. member's head whenever he trios to think. 'l'he whole scheme of trial by jury was introc:uced to correct certain injustices, certain

p1 C'JUdic<H;::. and even corruption on the part of JUdges. Ono cannot think much of the -Jurv '-et at the tinw when the notorious Jmfge Jl'ffrcys was officiating. IIe had fH'Oplo hanged, burned. or transported hdore tlrc got into the dock The innat•' desire o{ 1no::·t n1en is for justice. I do not be1jevc thn t cyorybody on Ute other side of the Committee thiHks an injustice to 1nc is a good injustice lwc:a.use I ant an oppon('nt. Tbo dcsjro of 1ncn genL'rally for iu::;ticc \vas such that nt la,t decided that the more fact of a n1an a citizen :-:hould n1ake hi"t liable for tlw · ''l' ice on tho jm·y. I n1cntioned during· tbe dl'bate ou the ~Ioor~' Governrncl1t":5 Jury Bill, that 111

1393 when the v."orst of the srnashc.~ of the laud buon1 was occnrring and I ~t r0]~0J'tf'r on the ~. ~_\gc ... I attended 11 \\- < l!Ht:-. otK n1ortnng aud ;-;rt,' · a rnan

for stc.ding l1a1£ a .._·hc:-t of tea. ;' cnt to :--lto\Y rhat he hat1

Leen out of '.York o·wing lo the bank sn1ash~ that his \Yifc aud childreu wen~ starving, that Le ·aw the tea on a clrav aud look it (,ff: and I think I '\ ould ha\c hpen -.,vit1J lti111, too. FiOI\l'rf'r he was H ~ltc·nred to iJupri'"r;1llllCJit for th;:ec yt~Ql'H. On thr sn1nc d::._y u ;;:pPcial jury, a sectional jury, which Y',"'-L' tl1n sectional · aimed at bv the 1Ioorc GoYel'~lnlcnt. that -,,-a,, l'eiarded as ccrtDin not to ._~., Labour 1nan a. Yen1ict. heard a of fraud as a banlc0r. prcsPnted Sir :\Iatthcw DuYi( ('· ·,;h,-J as inten• ... tC'd 111 the J\Icrcantile Dank of _l\u·-:tralia, anc1 Elliott Dnd Con1-

and GcJ5coyllc and Contpany: corn-11Ull1Pd after hi~ infant so11s which

cLtnin.~cl trcniPIKLJns I)YerdLtfb Irmu the ::\Icrr:~q;iile DoJ.nk of IYhich Sir ~.L1Uhcvv 11·us the chainnan. The charge ag-ajn< Si1· ::\Iatih~-.~~.,, DaYH'':\ \Vas consjdercj bv tlk jury, this seh_,:;~(·d jul':.-, aud ~ . -

],lr. l't. l\1. Kt:\G: On the eYidcnce.

l\I1·. 13EDF0HD: ::\o c\-idctH·<• \Yas addurcd --the grand j Ltry ckcidcc! to throw out tho i1ill of pro·-ernt.io11. Before tl1c tTnrv Art was arurntlccl by tLc j.loorc Gorcr!Jnle:nt c\·cr_Y wuge-earnCr '''a-. 1igible for a position on a ~pecial jury. 011-1:.' one alteration vras necessary. The jurv had lll'('viou.:-ilv been ~elected fnHu the ,,:ard~ in Bri·,banC', and when the local authorltv al'('[t bccarnc the Gre-atel' Brisbatw arua, Itaturallv the '1'holo of the new rnetropolitan art'a had to Le included for the purposes of the Jury Act. The ~.foore GoYnnnwnt werG not content with that. Thev decided to restrict lhe special jury h't to accountants. architects, auctioneer~, conunission agents, auditorf J civil e1tginecrs, Cro-wn lcsseus~not even a honseho1Jcr-----.,dircctors of coiJ1panys, farn:ors~not fa.rn1 ernployecs-anJ garage proprietors. I sec no reason why garage proprietors should be regarded as haYing nny finer ~cnse of justice than anybody else in Yiew of the charge' that t!re_y make £01· their wurk. 'fho list also inclndPs indent agc11t~. insurance agents, brokers) n1echani-utl and n1ining engineers, 1nercantilc rr1anager\ 1ncrcantilc t.tat.ion managers, storekeepers and 1Yarebouscn1en. ='\o ·wages men were included in that li .t as being eligible to sen-o on a ciYil jury. The population of this State must be at least 75 per cent. ·wage-earners, but they were debarred from the right to serve on a civil jnry. Anybody would do for a general or common jury, as they wanted it to bo called,

Mr. Bedford.]

:!76 Supply. [ASSEiHBLY.] Supply.

where a man'o liberty or life was at stake, but whore a man's money or reputation was at stake the dice must be loaded against the litigant on the wrong side of the politi· cal fmwP. The dice were loaded, not to catch me, but to secure a favourable verdict ior the late Government in connection with Mungana. However, it fell short of that objective aud it got me, and it got the hurL member for Kepp0l--quite an unjust vt•rdict.

2\!Ir. R. M. KmG: The case is wb judice, i::; it not'?

-:\1r. BEDFORD: Tlw case. is sub judice 1

On the ,·cry day of my first trial the Leader of the Opposition brought a motion into this Chamber to place Talty at the bar of the Hous0, where it had boon 'arranged by Dugdale, a " Telegraph " reporter, and Talty and Kenny to make certain false charges in1·olving me. Do not talk to me about what is sub judice and what is not! The hon. 1nt 1nber i:1 too rnuf'h inclined to allow formCJb to run away with principle.

Mr. EDW.IRDS: You are talking about son1cthing that has hit yourself. Give us ~o1nething in the interests of the country.

1\Ir. BEDFORD: Go away and play with something you understand, Let us take the c.ase as it was. Lot us take the fact that I as a citizen ha .-o had to spend nearly £2,000 in nearly fifteen nwnth' in proving that the generally accepted libel law of this country i~ \Yrong, t..hat, under tho accepted idea of it,~ it \vas ]JOssiblc for the ''Telegraph,. or any other paper to say thai the DC'puiy Leader of tho Opposition had embezzled trust fund' and C.icape the payment of damages for defama· tion merely by saying that the publication was made in the publi<' interest and that it did not believe it to be untrue. It 1·equiwd a costly visit to the High Court of Australia, after three judges of ihc Full Court of Queensland had said that it \Yfl.S wrong, to fmd that five judges of the High Court also said that it was wrong. 1 ha.-e changed the law at a cost of ncarlv £2.000 to mvself. Let me submit these. facts to the ~~hambor: For three years I haYe boon associated with the Cracow field in carrying out hard work and spending much money, and the onlv return I have is the satisfaction of ~ knowing that lEt. large nurnbcr of men are now employed on the spot that formerly \\·as merely bush. I have struggled c-ourageously against difficulties, mostly in the form of incompetence and bad sen·icc, but against difficulties that seemed to increase even day by clay. While doing that, suddenly some irresponsible paper says. " This rnan has been in a conspiracy." That is the finding of the High Court, not mine. A man struggling against difficulties attracts the sympathy of decent people, as an off· ,et to the yapping of cnrs that hate any· thing better than themselves.

At 2 p.m., The CHAIRMAN rt>smned the chair.

The argument of the 1\foore Go1'ernment on lho Jur.~,, Act was that it was wrong to present casn~ involving civil actions in which money was concerned to uneducated men, meaning thereby that the tremendous amount spent on compulsory education in the State has left 75 per cont. of the people, who in that State earn wages, too ignorant to sit on a civil jury. Of the people who because

[.il1r. Bedford.

of their tremendous ability are ~elected ro sit 011 these P.pC'cial jurlc~. tht're is no guarantee of all-round intelligen~c·. There haYC' been fatheaded accountants. fat· lwaclccl architects, fatheadecl auctioneer' and commission agents, fathcaded br'lkNs, fatheaded civil engineers, fatheadPcl Crown lessees and farmers, fatheacled indent agenh. fatheadcd insurance people fat· 1H~adcd rncchanical and rnining engr-nePr~. fatheadcd mercantile rrlanager:-, stor('kerpers, and vvarehousctnen, but the· fact does remain to anv fainninded man that there would be plenty' of labourers with an immeasurably finer sense of justice and a. better sense of making common-sense values, tha>: a munber of these people who are declared sacrosanct for special juries. The re.1l rctwn for the alteration was to secure for thr lVIungana case a jury that would not haYe a Labour elector on it. Th,, question is, how far has the libel la 11 and the jury hw left the public absolutely unpro· tectcd '! I ha Ye bad something to do wit11

editors of irnportance, ancl I also kne\v such "1ars in the busine~s as Archihald, Ed1nond, David~on, Prior. and othc•r '·, but there are editors and editors. The gra van1cn of a libel i:-:. tliat the charge of ,-ice i~ Yer:r f'.asily brolicncl, and the subseq<wnt dc'lial of vie" and tLC' substantiation of Yirtuc is ovcrlookc'd. Ilutnan nature is ~o construetcd that it is mora intensclv interested in a horrible diYorc'' case ihnn lt is in a ra.o:;o of terrible hon sty. U11o rornocly would be, seeing that the charaeters of citizen::< are ::;;o tcrriblv in jured bv some of tho•o little editors 29 inches around the chest an<! 12 inches around the neck to publicly exhibit t:,em 'O that people could "'e the source from wbiclr libels cn1anute. The next best thing, tho t being impracticable, is that eYery statement in a newspaper should be signed, by which at least some people \Vould be able to gauge the value of the statement made.

Mr. GonFREY JIIIORGAN: You want an cditm· to l!c judged according to the size of hi i belly?

Mr. BEDFORD: 1\o, I do not. and judged tlw hon. membo,· by the size of h''ad he would be in Goodna.

\\~hat is the history of this paper? Jc attacks all \\·hom it thinks will not rc\ent attack. It attacks nuns and convents; it attacked a little 1 rish bride and attempted to ridic,,lle her; it attacked, for the purpo::~e of n1akiug ir-, miserable circulation a liitle greater than it is a ladv \\ ho carnc fron1 England, and ,.·ho~e mPar;s were such a~ to prevent bet· traYclling de luxc, and rnadP insulting inuuirie, about h<'r bona fides from Mol· bolunc, and then being wrong IH~Vf't' v;ithclrew it. Take the case of this paper con· tinuallv talking of the immoralitJ of the Labom~ Parte'• pretending to be a little better Christian than most of us. Dy and by we disconr what kind of a Christian il is. It is this sort of a Christian : It is a potty larcener, it publishes a paper with yesterday's llB\V~ and to-dav's title on the front page. the inside pages 'all being titled "_yesterday .. , This is merely an attempt to obtam twopencp by false pretence;', the meanest . kind of. a, theft, only comparable w1th steal~ng penme.; from a blind man's hat. Th1s nrtuous rag said the Labour Government were immoral in making promises for the purposes of catching votes, well knowing . that thev would never be able to redeem them.

Supply. [27 SEPTEMBER.] Supply. 377

Remembering the lHoore Government's J,romise of £?5,000 for 20,000,000 jobs or '<lme such thmg, I agree. I read this m the "Telegraph" dated the 7th April inside and the 8th April outside and I immediately wrote a letter to th~ editor of the " Telegraph " and I said :• I agree that it is wrC:ng, that it i~ 1mmoral, that it is t.hoft to make promises wh1ch cannot be redeemed in order to get so11Je benefit, but what do you think of publishing yPstcrday's paper with to-dav's elate ?ll it., Don't ":ou think that is also petty 1arccny. obtauung 1noney by false pre· tences c" And "·hile stating that this State 1s g?ing to pieces under Labour rule, it is, for the purpose of imposing on the credulitv of ach-ertisers~beeausc both statements cannot be true--aclYertising in Xew South \\'ales that Qu0ensland iH the rnost progrcssiYo and prosperous State of the lot. I will read a statement made by this paper, which under a la_w r;nablmg a moron in deplorable possession ;;t a pnntmg press to hold up my businecs for nftcen monthe, was permiti ed to put me to the expense of nertrly £2,00{) in prm-ing that I was not gudty, as the Hi~h Court said. of the: charge I was charged with of criminal CO!"pll"acy to defraud shareholders of the gold in the mine of which I was a director~ I wish to reacl you the moral side of the "'Telegraph." It nretends to ha Ye a circulation which enti-tles it to charg·e 5s. an Inch \vherc tho "Courier-::\Jajl" charo·es Ss. The ': Courier-~fail" ~as the cour~go to ha ,.o Jts accounts aud!tPd bv the Bm·eau of A ndit Circulation, which ,:et urns its circulation at 60.000. On the basis of ihat the circulation of the " Telegraph." Yrhich will not face the Bureau audit and which charges 5s. an inch. should be somewbere 'ikc· 40.000, and on the basis of th<' facts as I haYc th01n the ('hargc of the "Telegraph " slwnlcl be about 2s. Sd. an inch. \\ hich prm·r., it i.• taking down the public lw lies for 2s. 4d. an inch and therebY adi1;g in resiraint of trade (incrc::tsing tho OYcrhcad ,,f and prcYenting the return to pro:-poritv Y;hich hon. n1e1nbers O)lpesiie talk so mJ;ch about.

In an article published by the "Telcon the 15th J ulv, 1930. and signed

80a nJdight," we r~acl·--" If I were Tr0nsnrcr I would call in.

for instance, the 'rax Conunissioncr, and •ay unto him, politelr but firmly: 'Mr. f'omrnis".iOn€'r, T,~ou haYe on your staff .395 officers. That number mr;y not, in yonr opinion, be excessive. But it Jnu::;t lw red uc0rl for tiJC simHI c an cl so.Jid n'aSOJl i hat th~~ GoY('l';lnlcnt cannot affon1 to kt~ep thcrn.'"

Tl]Lfl 1w Fay,, later-

"' Take t hoc0 yyonying pcopl0 in the Taxation Depttrtment, fwm whom so 1nanv of us hear oftencr than and in -.,·aY.~ that we do not rdish, although it i" not their fault and thev must frequently sympathise with their ,-irtims."

That is an apposite introduction to this r•xtract from the records of the Clerk of Petty Sessions, Brisbane~

" On 27th 1Iarch, 1934. at Brisbane, one Martin Luther Heading, journalist (who is identical with tho editor of the 'Telegraph"), was fined two pounds with six shillings costs for failure to

furnish a land tax retum to the ComInissioncr of Taxes.~'

:\1r. W. J. COPLEY: Was that published?

:Ylr. BEDFORD: It was published nowhere, and it is five months' old. Let this honest ne\\ ,paper publi'h that !

Getting away frorn tl1is unpleasant subject of a rag which dare not face the 13urPau of Audit Circulation. a paper which lies in a hunclred. waYs. that has traduced nuns and convents, that has traduced people who 'i'I'Cl'e visitors to our shores, including the little Irish bride who did not do anybody any harm and who apparently dicl not have" any fricnd,big c~oug·~1 to go and slate ll10 Telegraph or g1Ye It some expenst~ gdting away from that unpleasant subject, [r,t us get on to on0 not so unpleasant~ the speech of the hon. member for Hamilton.

The hon. membPr for Hamilton in talkin,; rather int0rpstedly of his Yisit to England. told us what we all knew before~that the difficulty of rc>turn to a large and open market for Australian products was largely owing to the fact that there WC'l'O Britioh Yestcd intcr0st:; in other countries. Everybody knew that. EYerybody knew that the' sugg0stion of the inferiority of the Australian 1neat product is largely engineered propaganda from the pc'ople who aro intcrestted in the meat business of Argentina. And there arc other intcrests~the butter interests of Denmark. for example, ·>.nd other iut0r0sts 'Yhirh genPrally arc against all that stupid talk of the brotherhood of nations (thf'y an all arming together harder than they did bPfore 1914). the brotherhood of man, and especially the tremendously interlocking frin1elsltjp of the people of thl' British En1pirc.

\\'p have tlw instance of Lancashire talking of boyrott.ing- Australian good:;< because .Japal! had beaten it in this market. In addition to th rulva.ntages they have as " n 'Ult of the Ottawa Agreement there is a proposal for a boycot( of Australian cornrnodities n1ade by certain illterests, although Britieh manufactured goods ''"joy an Australian preference equal 10 about £8.000.000; and despite that fact an allegedly inferior cotmtry can 't:md np to them and pa:· the fnll duty. All the 1 alk nf frcn tradr, and protect. lOll is a matter i"'culiarl} for Australia. and the man who \Yauts to give anything rnore to Britain-and not take , ::~rne frorn thcn1-is disloyal to .\ustru lia. The farmer.,' rcpre~cntativc' in tl1is Stat{1 -dto \Yant~ to give a wnv anY 1norc. IJr con~Pnt to allo'v conditiOns t'o rP1nai11 a~ thcv arc \vithout a lx~tter Larga1uing, is dislo~·al to his constitncut~. to Qucrn~land. and to ~.l~ustralia. Th0 socia1isation of 1nonev 'vas PYid0nced hPrc Juring the \var, wh(_~Jl the Co:mulonwcali h Bank financed the war to the extent of £400,000.000. If a Commonwealth Go,-cnnncnt can do that in tin1('S of ~-ar, it ca11 do it in time.-; of 11eacc. If a Comnlonwealth GovernmPnt can clo that for the purpo~cs of an ex:t.ra-tl'rritoria1 \Yar, it can do it for the purpo:,es of deYelopment. \Vhat \Ye as a party desire to get a'vay fron1 is overseas borrmving. \Ye know that it is not pounds that come in here. a loan is not given as money, hut as goods, and every thousand pounds worth of goods that comes in puts a couple of good Australians out of work. The hon. member for Hamilton talked of our extension of the market to which we have

Mr. Bedford,]

378 Supply. [ASSE~IBLY.] Supply.

a mora.) right-if there arc moral rights in trade---and to v:hich ,,-e have the right by kinship~if thc,rc arc any rights of kinship anJ. trade; nnJ cvc~r,dJOd~v knows there arc not. Tlv• J apanc'e or British do not buv butter, 1vhcat,- n1e:.1t .. or wool from us bocaus~ they love US 1 hut because they must have it. The hon. nwmber for Hamilton ins·inuatccl vcsicl·day that Britain ,,-as th" bright anc! ~hining cxall1]J!c that bought so1nc goods from us that she could hav(' done without. If somebody tells 1nn Great Britain or .J apaH

1

or auv other country bnys wool frorn us bccauf''C she lo\~f'~ n~, because of kinshi11-thcn I believe in the apocryphal story of the ha11kC'l' 1vho once lent nlOIH'Y for God's sake. !Laug:hier.) ~

The other cl a v the Lonclon '·()b .pn·er" had tiw following t'o .-ay

"\\'hen the ~\ustralian Board of Crieket Coutl·ol hit on the bright idea that a stout fellow at.btudo would enable dwn1 t,-, OYCrJ·idc the laws of cricket nncl purge the English team of its n1ost fonnidabh' n1en1bcr:-;, thPv borrowed a politician'~ '.--capon "which rcc1ucccl the test lDUichC' . .., tO [t .ink('. rfbe tPl1l}lOl'ary succ•ss of their deYice oer~uaded thP _-\u-tralian Go,·errnncnt th;t, it coulll use it '\vith equal succ{'_,s, hence it is driving a coach n nd fom through the Otta '""· agreen1ents.

''This polie~· l'C':itd on the as-;u1nption that the :->plnclf' 511(·'·, of ihc l\Ial'Ylebolle C1·jckPt C'lnh 1 . ..; reprc~cmtaiiYc ~f Brit.aill. Thl•!'i' eonld not br~ a greater crrnr. It~ i~ (lllC thiog to .~urTC'ndcr the 'a::-:hP::-:,' \d1ir-h h<lYC lost their f'porting significanct'. lmt .another to aequic·~cc in the breakiw:r of an cconon1ic agrccrnont, causillg ln.Jur.~- t0 thouEand~ of wagP~ f'ariH::>rs. Lancashire is convinc£'d that the Oila\Y<.L benefits to cotton uxport:3 a.n~ being clclibcrawly ob,tmc,ecl by the Comlllonwcalth Govcrnrnc:nt, v;,rhich 1irst pleads thnr th(' Tariff Board j rc,ponsiblc. tlwngh 1t ha;:; rejected its advice on t ouutle:.;..., occasions, and then al:cgf's la{;k cf rlarlianwntar:v· authority, though it ha-3 U-i~lH'nsed wit-h this in parallel case~.

"Lanca:-hirf) ff'c'h th.a.t it has flrst bef'n clcniccl it· rights, one! then trifled 'rith. The boycott i' the outcome of spontaneous re:-;entnH•ut. Both .Australia and t~1e Empire 1nay pay dearly for an:v clec~ t1ouccring profit \Yhieh i~ cxpcr:tcd frorn th0 c nutnoenvrc'-."

Tlte rnen who '"ain to keep .Australia out of ~erondar!· indu;:;triP''- arc gnilty of disloyalty to ~-\u:-:,tralia, which ic.; a rnucb rnore ~;crious thir:g than the ft)ti~hisrn of lovaltv to the Briti>h exporter. To satisfy" tha't ff'ti:l1isrn and the London ';Observer," we should permit 1\Ir. Larwoocl to fix the An~iralian tariff on Briti~h llHLnufact.uros.

:\Ir. GODFREY MORGAN (Jiurillu) r2.17 run. j: Tlw hon. member who ha~ just rcnuned his Pat took to task tho hon. n1cn1~ her for KPnnccl_v for quoting a lot of figures that would not be understood by a considerable nnmbPr of electors. and he further stated that the ::'-J a tion a lists .i cttisoned Senator Mat Reid because thev desired a candidate \vhosc nan1e st.aTtcd'"' with "C" eo that their Senate candidates would appear fit·,t on the ballot paper and thov would thus be likely to poli more votes, which was an insinuation that a great number of the elec-

[Mr. Bedford.

tors o[ Quccnslaml have not suflicient intelligence to yote as they ''"ish. The hon. JlH"mbrr went on to state that tho Moore GOYl'rninent altered the J urv __ \et in order to prcyent m<~ny of thPse m11ntelligent electors frorn sitting on a c.1se he 'Ya:-3 interested in. l-Ie abo rnade a rcn1ark in regard to a tnnsfcr of £28,000,000 from the railway debt.

1 that. it was changed frmn the

hip-pocket to the boot. \Ve know "·hen a buslnnan gor,, into a country town \Vith his cheque, and int.encls to go on the S11rce, he shifts his monev from his hip-pocket to his boot, because he considers that it is safer there. \Ye thought the £28,000,000 should bo shifted from the pocket !o the boot, or, in other worcle, ohoulcl be bun1c b,,- the whole of the people of QnPcnsland instead of the employees of the Hailway Dqmrtment and those wbo n1akl~ use of t.hc ra i h\-ays. (GoYerrnnl'llt dissent.)

The CI-LAIH:\L-\:'\: Orclcr !

1vir. GODFREY JI.IORGA:'\: 'l'he :\iinister for Transport i~ at pre,e:ut in the ChutnbeL That hon. gcutlcn1aH attc11dctl a confercncR of the he>Lds of the ~\ustralian railway dcnartment.s at ,Yhich a rC'solntion for the rcCluction of tlw < rpitali"rtion of railway' \Yas carric<l unaniruoasly.

To deal now "·ith the Budget, I first of all t:tkc the ~tatf'lllC'llt made by the Treasnrer-

·• If the bn:'incs.s \". orld generally cannot dlscon•l' a wa-,~ ont of the rnora:-3~ in which it flncls it~c 1 f, thP Co\'LrllnlCllt"rnu~t ~u~tain the pPovlc as best tlleY can.n

But that appears to be " threat by tlv· Treasurer that if prin1tc enterprise doe:, not rise io the occasion and expend rnortt lllOllev and tbu:-:; create greater crnployniCnt: 1 h0 (3oYcrtnnent ·will illlpo,.:.c furth0r taxation in order that work nHr·: be made fol' the unf~rnployPcl. _L\ -;iruilar ~ :c"tatcntent 'va~ rnadc bv the hon. gentlornan dul'ing the lirst ,essiou in which he occupied the officr of Pl'cmier, but appareut!y it bas hacl no effect on the business {'onununity of (Juecn~laud. ln order that priyatc cntcrvrisc call ex panel and thereby a be orb ome of the uncruployccl it nmst iirsl of all hav". the wherewidt;d to do so. If it. l'annot., If It has 1101 the rnonc\', ii· lllll::Jt bon·o\v, but bcfon~ it can borl'0\\7 it rnuf't haYe fCCurit)' for the acconnnoclation. The Uovcrnrncnt are taki11g f'O rnuch by way of taxatio11 from prin1te enterprise in Queensland that the~· arc leaving vcrv litile or no mow~~· with which to establish its industries; as a consequrncc there -j~ difficultv in kcep-iug workrnen in cn1ployrnc11t.. It is on1,\ owjn,:2..· to the fact that the Gm·crmnent hav<' horrowccl ~nc:h a considerable arnount of nrorwy and obtained such a buge au1ount [,, wav o[ taxation from Qneencland citizen, that ih<v are able to crnploy so nrany artisans or vvorkrnell. Perhaps the;; arc proYiding D grcat('r an1ount of mnployn1cnt thnn j~ ''"arrantcd under the circninstanccs. ThP rPo.son why priY-atc enterprise ('annat 0xpand or carrv on its vvork is bceanse thf' UnYl'l'llDH'nt arP bleeding it white by way of tilxation. a.nd unless the Go,Terument arc prepared to 1nakc a rednC>tion in taxes then neither the TrC'a.surer nor anvbodv else can expC'ct pri,-atc induetry to fir';d ct11ploymem for those desirous of obtaining it. For theil' own ben0Gt the owners of private industric> desire to >CC them expand. Under all r.h" cii'C'lllilShtncPS I do not sec how the rrrcasnrcr

Supply. [27 SEPTE~IBER.] Supply. 379

can expect priYate enterprise to employ a greater number of men than it is doing at the present moment.

Mr. '\V. •r. KING : Do vou not think the expenditure of loan mon~y helps'!

-'\lr. GODFREY M ORGAN: Loan monec·, yes; but a person who obtains a loan should Jirst Le satisfied that he will be in a posit ion 11ot only to pay interest on the borrowed Illoney but also to reduce the prinripul.

:i-lr. W. T. KING : That is so.

.:Yh. GODFREY MORGA:\': But the point 1s: at tile prc':lent nro1nent dof'" private enterpries see sufficient indications of an iruprovement of !-he con?itio!ls operating in Queensland to JUStify It to further commit itself'! So far as Queensland i~ concenwd it see~ that it will be placed in such a position that it will not be able to meet competition hom the Souther11 States. Should there be r.I"O storekeepers selling the same article. one at ~uch a price as will recoup hirn fc)r thr• cost .anU enable hirn to pay a living wa,,-':L' to llls employees and thP other at a lmYer pricP: in·csppctiv'e of co~t aiHl \Y'agcs paid, tt., \\'Ill be follnrl that tlw [';Oneral public will purcha·~P thP article IlHll'kcd at the chcapel~ price.

Despite the good intentions of the storekeeper to provide further emplovment he is compelled to dismiss his hands bedause comjwtition is so keen. That is what is !lappPuing ·with our industri(~S in Queensland to-clay. \V coklv and monthlv industries arc closing down because retailot:,, at·c able · ~o purchase on a cheaper scale fron1 Inanufacturerr in the South. Our O\Yn secondarv industries, in n1any cases. have c~ascd t~ operate. and people have ·been thrown out of cnlp]o~Tmcnt. \Ye boast that in Queensland we pay ,a higher wage than is paid in any of the other States of lho Commonwedth; but _that was w during tho JYlooro rPgnnc. cle"plte the fact that the basic \Yage was reduced dunng that period. vVe also boast that the cost of living in Queensland 10-day ts lower than in any other State of Australia; but that was also the case durIng the Moore regime. I intend to snbmit sum" fig·urcs to the Chamber to prove just lww we suffered during tho period from T1 to 1929, when a Labour Government

wa:-. in power in Queensland. If hon. mcrnhc>i'S opposite doubt my figures, I invite them to go through this citv >and observe the numerous factories built m;:lllv year, aQ'o. 110"\\' carrying ,, To Lf•t :, Ol' "Fol· s'alo" 1Wtices. At Oil<' time these places cmplovecl !~;~mdreds, jf not thousands, of workillen. lh~so figures show the emplo:vccs in farrunes per 10,000 of the mean population------------- --i 191+

New Sout~~¥ales--

1-- 626

Victoria . . ~t32 Queens!Hn<l . . GH South Australia . . 611 Westem Australia .. 1 ;)43

720 Inr:·easc lOJ 880 I ncreasc 48 484 Dreren,s:c 15 7 63:) 1 ncreasc 34 495 Decrease 50 4 io Increase 2G Tasmania 1 450

~--~---~----- __!_ _______ _

During. that_ period two States experienced a declme_ m the nun_rber . of employees I·Hgagcd m rnanufacturmg Industries one being Queensland, with a decrease of 157, ':nd the other \Vestern Australia, with a decrease of 50. Despite our boast that industrial conditions arc better in this State

than in any other State in Australia the figurf's shov-l a serious decline jn the nu~ber of factory employees in this State. The hon. member for \Vynnum has pointed out that 1 t appears to be the policv of the present Government to ha Ye half of the w_orking people employed in industrv at lngh rates of wagt\,, whilst the other· half l!re c·ompelled to walk the streets.

-'\Ir. WATERS: What about the tariff?

, i\ir .. GOJ?l?REY MORGAN: I am glad of tnat mterJectwn, because it gives me the opportunity to remind the hon. member that t !,, pffects of the tariff barrier are applicalJle to the whole of the States of Australia. Tl1at effectively deals with any contention "gatmt my argument on that score. The f~C;tu0s that I have quotedprm·e conclusively that whilst \YC ha,-:, Jo,t JJJ the employment of factory workers m th1s State, other States haYe g·ained at our expense. No State in Austrnha should be able to produce more dtc tply than the State of Queensland which

a vreater quantity of coal than anv otlll'r m the Commonwealth. ·

IY c all know rhe importance of coal to lllilllufnc1 uri11g. Coal should b0 saleable to IllafPJf.acturt'r~ in Qupeusla11cl at a lovirer price than 111 an:v othc1· State jn the Con1rnonwealth. '\Ye ha,-c tlw rmy material here ;.)r-ciHg that Vi'P lJaY(' \·a'-t dPposits of coai allJ hll the othm· l'U·' lllaterials required for uutnufac:tunng, there is no excuse \i\Thv ';e .:-;hot~.l~l uot 1JL• a. grear n1anufacturing State. Llle trouble 1;; that the conditions ~Jpcrailng in QuPE'n::<land do not conducc to ;,I11Y('f't11l~"nt on lhe fHtl't of the inYestors. 1 hey 1 rflfp:· to nlanufa.etul"e in othfr States and sdl tlwir products to QEeensland. We Ul'0 only a rctallin:~ Statt'. I-Ion. 1nembers CJlposit~ know that in this citv there is many 11 r<'lH'f-'ScntatiYe of 1argC Southern ltlal_Hlfactun•r:-J who .-:in1ply an office, a typi:-;t and a typcwl'itor. are manv :--,npplicr" to our n·tailcn::. \Yt~ are ]o~1ng pnpulatio11 on that au:ount. and vcar <-tfter ycai' vvc arc goin;2· to thr bad. If "\YC ha.·d nniform industrial la\~~- -..Yhcrchr all ,_,-orkcrs in :\_lFtr_~lia perfonning the · ·.;mne work rncen-cd bl'e -~anle wag('~ nud "\Youlcl be unrler ::.i:uilar conditions. e ~honld go ahrad bv lr up:; and bounds bccan~c ,\-(' cold cl und0rsdJ Southern n1annfacturcr:3. bccau-;( "\Y2 have ilw coal and raw marorials to establish factories her('. ·cntil vve rccogni:Se the need for uniforrn wages and conditions our indu"-1 rial position will not iu1proYe. I am not eonccrncd IYhcthcr thP ba.sic \Y[l ;~e is £3 14s. or £4 all OYer Australia nor am I concerned "hellwr the working wc~k all OYPI' Australia i.-; forty-four hours) or fort .'.'-eight hours: hut hccausc• of the need to e'tahlish manufarcturing industries in Queensland. I arn anxious that our industries should Ojlcrate under :;.imilar la·ws to tho":r' in othPr parts of Australia. 'Cntil ,-o recognise that ncressitv ,,.e shall rm11ain a retaili-ng rtl!cl not a rnanl{facturing State.

I regard the Budg-et in the same terms ;';sod by an ex-Premier of Quee-nsland, Mr. lheodore, \Yho Jm·entcd the phrase ''scientific taxation." '\Ye know that '\Tr. Theodore \vas a pa2t 1naster of S('ientii1e taxation. I-Ie deflncd scientific taxation as the extraction of taxation from the pockets of the people without their knowledge. He recognise-d that if the san1e arnonnt of taxation was extracted from the pockets of the taxpayers by some more direct means that they \Yonld object

]h, Morgan.]

380 Supply. [ASSEi'.IBLY.] Supply.

to it. but when it was done scientifically no protest can1c from thCi11. T'his "'ciontific nwaus of levying taxation is for the purpose of deceiving, perhaps. the half-wits referred to bv the hon. member for \Varrego. That hon." member said that there was a large percentage of the population in this State who were so foolish that thev could not nnderf-tand fignrc ..:;, alld ·were so" foo1ish that

did not know ho\Y to caf';t. an intelligent

The Tcasurer is budgeting for a deficit of £1.C·l1,457. That is purely and simplv on

\VP must take into consideration the that the deficit last year was £1,128.074. Trca:-;urPr wants to lead the PrCJniers,

and people of the other States bP i~ briEging a bout a rcduc

c1eflcit for the current year, but tbat rs not so. His intention is to deceive the people of Queensland and also the Treasm·crs of other States so that it will " make his nutrblc good n when he goes to the Loan Council. The 'Treasurer would lolld the people to bl'lien' that he is reducing his df~ficit this year bv a considerable an1ount, Lut we fin(l that~ the l1on. gentl01uan is adding- lo his ren'mH' £286,000 which is in the nahtn_; of a (rift fl·o1n thC' Cornmonwcalth Goycrnrnf'llt. "

:\lr. \Y. T. KI:\G: He is entitled to do ; hat.

:\fr. GODFREY ?\IORGA;\: Ho may be : ntitlod to do that, but it is a deceptiYe 1'. "Y of doing it. \Vhilo the hon. gentleman rnay not be doing anything which would '1\·a::r.aut his being put on trial or cornmit~ ting a crime or anything of that descrip, ion. his action is one of those scicntifL wllys of dccoi Ying the people.

~lr. KEOGH: !\h. Chairman. J rise to a point of ordPl'. Is the hon. member for '\lurilla m order m imputing dishonest moti1·es to the Treasurer 9 The hon. member has stated that the Treasurer is <loing so!nething dishonest.

'The Cl-L\.IRJ\L\::\ : I did uot take the remarks of the hon. member fOl' J\Iurilla to mran that. The hon. rnen1ber "\YOulcl not be entitled to attribute dishonest motives to anolhf'r hon. member.

:\Ir. GODFREY 1\IORGAJ'\: Nor did I, '\fr. Chairman. I am saying that the Trea~ln·cr is doing these things in a scientific '';ay. and that it is decqitiYe. The Treasw·er stated that the interest bill was less last ,·or by £130,912, 1and one \VOuld have thouf'ht tbat a similar amount this year, ir' aclrlition to the £286,000 I have already rderrcrl to, WOl!ld have brought about " considerable reduction in the estimated rkficif· for the current financial vear. But. in addition to that, the hon. gentleman has taken £250,000 from the Main Roads Fund.

:VIr. W. T. Knm: \Vhat did vou take from t be Real Property Assurance 'Fund?

:\Ir. GODFREY MORGAK: I am dealing with the Main Roads Fund, and we did not t~ke anything from that fund. If the Treantrcr produced a document in the form of a balance-sheet that could be understood thoroughlv. his estimated deficit would be something. like £2,000,000. Many people who do not inquire into these matters to any extent are unaVI"are of the reasons vvhich actuate the Government in taking £250 000 from the Main Roads Fund. Some pe~ple

[Mr. Morgan.

1roulcl .'aY, "Isn't it foolish for the Govern· nwut to take £250,000 from the Main Roads Fnnd ancl dnring thc same year lend £400.000 to the Main Roads Commission for expenditun: on road works? " It is a Yery shre"\vd, "-d)-thought-out move, but it does not decciYe some people, who realise that the u• king of the £250,000 from the ]\fain Roads Ftwd cnab1es the Treasurer to reduce his rlcficit by that amount.

Tlw SECRET.\RY FOR ::'.Iro:ES: That ;, •: hat ::ou did with the railways.

::\Ir. GODFREY 1\JOTIGA:'\: If thf' hon. !..!.'L'nt.lc1nnn keeps quiet he ,, ill ht JX sorne \mnlo of wisdom. (Opposition laughter.) \ l'lt v should the Treasurer wish to show a rccliiCccl deficit? rrhe answ0r is, so that he rnny go to the Loan Council and, by reason nf having reduced bis dt'flcit by ~o Inan? rhnu" lJJd pounds. be able to borrow an extra £2';0.000. In othN words, by doing what Ji,' has done, the rrrrasqrer \\~in be able to o:__:t il in a greater amount o£ loan n1one.Y than 1 .. would obtain if the deficit were ~~TP11"r.

Tltc~ Loan Connci1 bave corn+' to the con· ciusion the g-reater the ddit·it i.:, rPd UC€d ln- a Stato tlH") ~.Tcah'r thn antouHt of ntorwv it~ shonld be ab1P to botTO"\Y. Th(• ddicit H

look~:d upon as a part of a loan. ..::\. dfdici~-. of £1,000,000 rncall;-j a loan of £1,0CG.OOO. bccau'e it has to be met eventually by loan monev. If the deficit sltoulcl hP £2.01 instc<tcl of £1,000,000 it means drat TI'P[lE'Ul'('l' i.s unable to bon·o'\'.' r1n

£1,000,000 from tlte Lo:tn Cmmcil. Trc~surcr's tarticf' ir1 n1onc·~· taken fro;n ("Crtain funch and put reYellllC' are an indication of his f-hr('wdncs, ..

Mr. V\'. T. Krxo: That is sci ·ntific.

::\Ir. GODFREY MORGA:'\ That io cint, the hon. Dlf'tnlJcr doe~ 'i.Yith hi;;; Dpponent~ in a witness box; he attempts to blind them ·with science. T:uaginc a person cmnlng to YOll. :!:Jr. 1:1;:uJ~On, and borrowing £20 free Of interc'st. and latPI' on von are hard up an cl go to hin1 ar1d t;ay ... VI want £20 hack,., and he sayf', .. I will not '· it to vou. I wiil lend it to you and I 11·aut ~nterest on it." That is exacth· v.rhat i.~ ha)lpening in regard t.o the 1\l;,in Hoa<h Fund. The Govonnncnt are bon'O\YJilg"

£250.000 from the 1\lain Road' Funcl n.nd lending it £400,000. And charging iut •ri "t on it~ 'What do you think of that for high f-inance·: ... .\. n1an who is capable of I)Llhi11_~ that oYer the eJector~ is wa-::ting his tirne in Parliament.

The Treasurer endeavour . ..: to conviw..--~: people that he is doing almost the same a, 1\lr. Stevcns is doing in ::\ew Soul h \V ale'. \VC' know the 'l\·•~asurer aud Mr S1 cvul' both assnrnccl office about the snu2 time. but the former took over from " Government who had acted on economic iincs. He fouud there had been no increase on the national debt, and very lit.tlo incrpaoo in general taxation n.ntl PVPl~ything '' .1s in ~tH:h good order that during his tcrn1 of offi{'c bP has altered little m· iJOthing of the pulic:y laic! down by the 1\<Ioore Government. F.H· o":er bvo years the pre~cnt Governn1rnt hr;_y~ had contt·ol of the Trcasurv bene he'· an<i fiXCC]>t for the fact that they have indulged in an extensive borrowing policy and inten· sive taxation. thev haYe taken adv~ntage ot the policy ca1-ricd .. out by the Moore Government and the economics effected by th<' Government during the worst period Aus· tralia has €'Xperienccd. That Goven1m1m~


became disliked by a certain sedion of the COllllllUllity.

Mr. \Y. T. KrxG: Hathcr a big section.

1\Ir. c:ODFREY ::\lOHGAX: I admit tlmt. Tonch a man's pocket and you touch the n1c~t tender part of his anaton1y! Have the CoYernrr1ont restored tho~e eul;; ,-,-hic~l the }Iooro Govcrrunent found it llOC!:.'S:3Drv

to 111akc? I-Inxc not HIP present GovGr 1'utcnt taken advantage of the unpopular legGlation whirh the :.\Ioore Government thought psseutial fm· the welfare of the country? The,,- h<:. ,-c and ha Ye benefited nccnrdingly.

\Y(' l1eard the cou1ment of an hon. n1ember on tb· .Jury "\et. It rnnst. not b0 forgotten that rltp Act. as anlclldccl bv the lVIoorc l~oyr ·mncut. is still ln opt·r;"J.tion. In fact, it ctJn be said that the LalJOur GoYcrn1ucnt hrn c 11wdo little or no altcT.ation in anv of th<' ,t,nntc's pnssed by the Moorc Go,:Nnltl<'l!t. The :\Iooro Geverument left oyervthtng in apple-pie orcl0r for their ~uccc's~ol'~. bnt the Stcven C ovennnent had to tnk0 (J\"Cr t ho State of K cw South \Ya~c~ in a stat'' uf ,~!Jaos bP<]Uf'athed to it bv the Lang .. Adn1i11istu1tlon. ::"\cw South \Ynle:3 v.,·as alrnost on the verge of a rt'Yo1utloll. The Stc\·cns Govcrnn1ent ha vo been able to gf't :::\pw South \Ya1Ps i11to its prcs0nt C'nvi" bl~ position. The Treawrcr of Queensland took control o[ a State that was then in as good, if not a bctier position than anv other SbtP ill Australia. In 1931-32. wlicn the SteYf'Ib Govcrnn1ent took over control fron1 tho Lang- Go,-ernmcnt, they found a dcftcit of £14.200.000. The Smith Governrrwnt in Quecn,lanrl found n deficit of onlv £2.075.180. That is an enormous difference. \Ye aclmit that thcrp is an enormous difference in the population of the two States, rrnd tlwt Queensland has a much larger area titan :\c·w South \Yale"

:\Ir., \Y. T. KEG: \Yhat else ar0 you goiug to auu11t?

:\h. GODFIU;y l\lORGAX: I will admit enT~-tl>ing that is trne. The hon. member is not "'"en prepared to admit those things that are correct. For tho current vcar the GoYcmmont of :\Tc"· South \Vales ~re budgeting for a deficit of £2,900.000. Hon. members 'vill note the great difference bctmccn £14.200,000 and £2,900 000. The Smith Government in Queenslnnd • is budgetmg for a deficit of £1,001,457. Ncvcrthelf'.''· the Treasurer in his Bud"ct Sneech en de<; n~ured to tell us that he w~s reducing In- {[0!1c1t to a greater oxtPnt than anv other State in the Commomvealth. Such a sratl'Ineut is ridiculous.

In 1932-33 the sum received in Queensland In· "' '' of taxation amounted to £5,097.519. Thr c·.stimate for 1934-35 is £5.310,000. It is "''il to remember what J\"cw South \Vales has clone in regard to taxation. In 1932-33 direct taxation in that State amounted to £16.423,969. It is estimated that the amount rceei,-cd this year will be £11,495,850, or a rPcluctwn of £4,928,111. New South Wales PllJo~·s a reduction in taxation while, unfortunate'!~". ''e in Queensland arc· facing increased taxation. There is no bright outlook for the private individual in Queensland of less taxation and more employment. The Queensland Government recei,-ed the same relief by way of reduction ln interest chargeq on borrowed 1110nev as did New South \Vales, but New South \Yale' passed on that relief to the tax-

lHt~'{'I""-. ihu.~ Pnabling t110tn to u:;c that nwllr-~\ ia giYing c·rnployn1cnt, i11stC'aJ of t }w GoYt'rnnJC'nt--a;:, is the caf:::e in <-lw.:;enslancl. T!wt is the difference between the policies of the two Go,-ernments, and it "·ordrl appear that the GoYf'nmient of Queensland wid1 to control the indi,-iclual.

Tlw Go\ernmcnt are not prepared to nssist indu~ir_v to expand and tlw·1cb~7 pro,-ide aclditiomtl permanent employment. !Jl.lr. to PlHploy as rnany 11eople as pos:-:.iblc ln u. \\"a\- that suit~ their O\nl dPsirc~. Last year the. nu1nbcr o£ uucn1ploved in Ke·;"· South \Yalcs "·as reduced bv" 30,000, whilst the r0dnction in Qncenshuid \Vas only 8.580---a cmnpari ou which "-lefinitcly confinns the argurnent:-3 adclnecd fron1 this side of. the Cbunbcr that a polir:- \vltirh pcnnit~ priYah: ir:du.-..t!"' to utili~P tlH• lllOllC'\. \\hich other-

\Yould be extnwted b-y \~·u\· of taxation thC' poli"y that. '"ill c.Yent-t;ally get the

con!l1rv out of ib difficultY. :'\o solution cc111 lJ,; fotll!ll in a policy of borrowing a.nd ~~wndittg i11discriininatel,\~. In cyery State of the Cotutnollwcalth ,,·hen' taxation haf' heetl l'L'clucecl the decrpn..::c in thP nu1nber of tla• unC'lJJ pb;-('d La:;; l}ccn e:;rcate~t and wlv-'l'P ta-...-:ntion 1w:-> br(~ll incrP'"tSf'd the bunl~'ll npon t!JC' Cl!ll)Ioypr~ in iuclu:-.try ha:-3 been accentuatl'cl.

During· the Pnsning financial vE:'ar dJc Gon•rmncnt propose to spend £4.400.000 in carrying out their loan prograrnn1f'. It \Yill lJe r0mc·mbNed that ham 1915 to 1929 Lubour CoYl'l'lllnents ~pent on an average of £4.000.000 a ,·par from loan funds. and t.hcY ea niP to be regarded as <t • • Gone £4.000,000 a ~·ear Cowmnwut.•• ::-;ow it is Jll opo~ed to exceed thttt ~tal t ling r<"('Ord ~y c'lC!llling £4.400.000, ,. h•ch 1' £1 234.000 !ll

P1

xccs.s of the loan expenditure .la~t year. l'hc GoYcrnlnent cannot dai1n that they were unable to pro,·irle employment in the inHnediate past be,:-·au.se funds \H'l'C not aynilnb!P. The mouev was at their hands practieail~· lying- idle: but they "·ere not anxious to assi."t the unernployC>d worker 1nHil the tin1e was n1ore opportune for thcmsdve>. TheY were prepared tD allo" the nncmplo:·ed i>eople to Jiye on the dole. ahno2t on the ycrgf' of ~tn.rva-tion for t:Yo \'Oars. :-'O that theY could <H'cun1ulate a nice i1e~~t egg that ·wOuld ~erve a vcr:.· usefnl pmposc chtring their last year of ~fi?ce. They cherished the hope that for poht1cal purposes and for political purposes only they •Yotdd then be able to make a groat splash. Thev- were content to sec the unemployed [WOJ,IlP half-fed and half.clotlwd for two years, believing that. if these poot1le were r>ro,-idc cl with plenty during thoir last w•ar of office thcv would forget all about il1eir two ~-cars of f'Uffcring and would rt•cord their votes in favour of the Labou: Party. rrhe ll10V(' is nothing rnorc nor les:::> titan a political ono on the part of the Treasurer. Hon. meml)Prs on this side of the Chamber have no objection to expenditnre upon rPprocluctin' works. \Ve know wPll that there i> muplc scope in this State for bl'ndicial work of that nature, but I clairn that a great deal of the n1oney no\v bl·ing .;pent by the present Governn1cnt "·ill not be rcprocluctiw. If the loan funds now being utilised carry an interest rate of onl:; 3 per cent. and it is expended upon such works as will return only 50 por cent. of the interest charge, it means in effect that the works concerned carry an interest charge of 6 per cent. If the money were

Mr. Morgan.]

382 Supply. [ASSE1IBLY.] Supply.

expended upon works of .a reproductirc 'nature and the money could be utilioed to provide further ompioyment. there would be no objection whateyer.

That brings to m, mind the proposal io construct the Kangaroo Point Bridge. Thi, is an undertaking that will not be of a reproductive nature, although the Treasurl'r will probably say it "·ill pay for itself by "·a,.· of a toll. Onlv a Yen· small section of uthe people arL a.r;xiOUS to~ :.;('(' t hP bridge :-·cmstructecl, and I Yenture the opjnion that If a Yote of the people o£ Brisbane \Y<'re iaken to-morrow the propo•al would he ~onden1ned by a 90 per cent. 1naj ority. and If a yote of the pf•ople of the whole of Queensland \VL're takeu 95 llC'l' c<~nt. of the people ·would negntiYc it. The Gon:•rnrncnt have no rnaudate to ('011:-:truct thi.;;:: brid!..!'C'; the Treasurer has decided to do it pn~PlY a1Hl snnply ·ofF h1:- O'.rn bat and in dcfiancP

o11t of this n1orH'S. This 1noney is being L'xpcnded because the Gon'rnment find it clif!'Jeult otherwise, to spend the money which thev have at their disposaL They have w 'rnuch loan money that thoy say local authorities arc not adequately responding to their appeals to make applications for loans. Thev arc not " taking the bait," as it were. "'fheY "ere a bit dubious about it and did not 'feel rlispos<'d to run their ratepayers into debt. It is because tho UoY<'rmnont find it difficult to get l'!d of their supply of loan money that they are g·oing to con1pPl the Con1n11 ,,~:none1: for _RailwaYs to spend it \Yhcther he hkcs It or not on railwa,· work \Yhich will not benefit the Railway Department financially.

of the wishes of the majority of taxpayers of the State. I ha,-e alreadY .stated that when the project '' completed and the people engaged upon its con:-;truction haYe finished their task not one additional indiYidual will Le proYiclerl \\'ith pumanent crnplo:·mcnt. \Ye arc told that the cxncnditure will be recouped lw wa,- of a toll to ~e lcYied upon tlie tN'rs 'of tl~e bridgoc. bnt lS It not appal'ent to cYeryboch~ that an ap;ita.tion will lw iulnlediai:eh· · set afoot by thr- users of thP tn·idge to ha n· the toll abohshccl '? Tlwrc i" [roiHo· to Le a COll

tinual agitation on thc' pal~ of t}H -,f' US(~rs. They will oay. "\Yh,- ,hould tlH• Kan"aroo Point 13ridgc be a toll brirl{!e \\hen the" VictorJa and Grey Struet Brid&(t:~ :.tl'(' fl·ee to the people ?n Vic·toria BI~idP·c wa~ fir~t con~tntcted r~ ;1 toll bridge. fl.JJ,d seein-g that th0 toll ·wa~ ren:10Yc~d in tl1at c:-t~P it i~ onlv a matter of time \Yhen tlw toll \Yill be n;nwYcd from the l{angaroo Point Bridge.

T~c' loan C'Xpenditnrc 011 the raihYa\·~ is of H10 ~arnc t ha1·artc_r a:=.: th0 loan expf'nr1itur0 1 ilrongl;out the. \·anons departmpnt, of the StatP. In the iLrst tWD vears uf tln: Labour GoYennncnt the raihray·:' \VCl'P nq:::lcc-teJ in thA rnattc•r of loan expcnclitUl'C'.- bnt an Pnor~uous am.ount of loan nHHle>v has been prondcd for tlwir third an<l litst Year of officp, In tlNir lir·,t Yen 1 the Gm·;'rnment proYiclcd loan ltlOlll'~- for the raihYa-v~ amon11ting to onh· £69.67C: in tl10 scc-m1d year they decidrr1 to ,e;iYr- lllOI'P \York and pur 011 further hands h....- nroviclinn· for the <:'Xj1Cnditure ont of locil funds of r£36S.281. v hde. ~ccor.ding to thf' EH-irnarc...; they propnsP th1s :,7t.·1.r to spend out of loan n1oncv £693.500. T!;,, :\lame GoYNlllllOllT found it nc~e:'sar_v to rcc11!CC tl1c ('apitalisation of the rarhvays because thPv had lwc-on1c over~ cap it ,:.liscd. That bcir~g so. the C:OYC1'11tnent

should corbider con1plcting ~0111e of the proposed -yyt;rks out of reYcnue and 11ot loan rnoney, espcciallv ,<.s .sorne of the work is not ab3olute1y nccessa.~ry. Son1c ho11. 1nctnbers oppo:-ite go ;;;o far a~ to ~av that the railwavs arc ob~olctc and out-of-d~tc and n1nst gi~-e way to road traffic. T"hosc are not 111v yicvvs. JVIy Yicws are that tlH~ rai},, aY~ \Yill~ ahvaYs be a nc::essity in Q4eemla1;d_ A large arnount of the \York being undertakc11 bY the Govern1nent under this l1cading is urn;ece~~ sar,\ in so fa1· a.,. bcucf·iting thl' railwav"' or helping tl1e people who use tl1e railw~Y' is concerned; it has only bee11 unch'rtakeu ~with a view to proYiding work for a section of the people. :\'o new railwaYs will be built

[M1·. Morgan.

I do not know just what is l1appening with rq;ard to the finaneo·-. of the GO\·ernment. Printing Office. The rovenuo of this office in 1929-30. thP fll·st ;-ear of the ::Vloore Go,-ermnent. \Yas £180,531. and the expenditure £157.408, kaYing· a surplus of £23,123. In 1930-31, the revenue amounted to £152,315, aml the P'<flcnclituro £126,431, leaYing- a surpluo of £25,886. In the third year of the :\Ioorc G o\-crmm'nt the reyenuc was £143,515, and the expenditure £117,777, leaving a 'ltrplus of £25.738. In the first year that Lahonr \Y,ts in control the reYonue of the c:oYNillllC11t Printing Offiee totalled £129,746, and the expenditure £127,810, ]ea.-ing a sm·plLl' of onlv £1.936. Therefore, the surplus of rcc"•ipt~ '0 Yt1 r expenditure in the arcounts .,£ this institution had fallen from £25,738 in thn last year of the reign of the Moore GoYPrnment' to £1,936 in tho fLr·-t year of the Labour _\dJninistration. rrhe revenues cluri11g 1932-33 dropped hy £13,769, showing that thoro had boen a decrease to th>;t extent in the awount of ·work don0. It 1s

the <•xp<'nditurc· that I cannot fathom. I \Yani it c.,~plained. )\ot'.nthstanchng that the rc•ycnne hv.cl rlroppe<l by £13,769 tho <''<llCilllitnn' im·rl'asNl lw £10,033. \Yh,-? In' 1933-34. t lw rl'Yenue · of thn of!'! cc was £135.781. aml the expc>Jditnro £129,302, leaving a surpln' of £6,478. That shows that the fi11ancial po·,ition of the GoYe:·nrncnt Printing· Office has bccon1c ~;-orse dun~_Ig the t \YO -;~car~ that the 11resent C;loYernment ha Ye ha<l 'control.

I ha \"0 con~i:;.:tPnt l,;,' oppo::<ed the ro~JStructlon of u1aln roads running parallPl w1t11 the' railwaYs. for I consider that Qnc<'lJ.·land c<1llllnt'"' nJfonl two n1cthocls of ronvcyanr0 to m1e :;;pot. The lilOncy of the pE'oplc lla~ been -..p('nt iu building raihva~-s and t}w rad,Ya:vs ]JOlongo to the people not to ]11'Jva:o <'lltcrpri'e ~ but. notwithstan<ling that fact. tl:•: Labonr GoYernment from 1915 to 1929, <Ontrar)· to the policy of the Main Road·• f:~mnlis,;;,ion, constructed nun1erous roac1.'1 l'llllll:ng nara1lcl to the railwtws, thcrob: r<'dllCllllf i·ailway reYcnuc cons.iderab]~~. lteali:-3i!lg t1wt ;; nurnhPr o-£ feeder roads were rnore ncce:3s~trv, the Moore Government WC:l'f'

oppo<ec!" to the construction of roads rnnning· parall"l to the railway. The wealth pi·Odm·tion of this State would bo incr0as<'d consic!Nahlv if the l\1ain Roads Commiesio!1 construc"ted the thousands of miles of freedH roads that arc nccc:-sar~\~ in place of thP roads which are constructed parallel to rrtil''>avs purely from tlw pleasure .res?rt point of view. That is \Yhat is lirrptJCIUng 111 regard to the Xorth Coast road, ,,-hich will interfere "011 -idPrablY with railwav traffic and ma.y ;.r,...u1t in cii.3placing rnan'Y railwayn1en now in work. Yet in producing areas people

Supply. [27 SEPTE}JBER.] Supply. 383

c<ennot get their produce to th,- nearcs~ railway station because the Th1ain Road' Comlnis.sion has not snfficif'nt money to construct feeder roads !

I have referred to the transfer of ruonc0· fron1 tho 1\lain Roads Fund, and I an1 sorl'.\' tllat snch a policy is being continued. 1 1nake this TlOint. : t}Je 1\Iain Hoads Con1n1is~lou 1nay iPt into tht> same po~ition as t}H:: Railway llPpartnwnt tlid_ 1\'c should !JOt

construct any roads in tJueensland out of loan n1oney, for ,~~e l1aYe sufficient .!.·cyenut. to construct all thdt nrp noccf:-arv. '.Ye should not get into rl0ht for rond con;truction as we did for raih\ a-:,- con si ruction, borrowing 1no.:.1e:· fron1 oth' i· Lonnh·ics for the purpose. \Ye arc p,tying- the peualty to-day, The debt of thL' 1\Iain l{oacL Corurni:3slon now stands at £1.841,401. \'\hen more .advanced rneans of convcyallCe nre i1!1Toducec1, the roads may bt'c~me obsolete and we shall have .a re1wtition of the rai]\n;\position. I haYe no objection to con~tructin;" nece~~ary reads, but I sa v that preff,renrc shonlcl bo giYen to those -roads Y. hi eh will act as fePdrrs to tho railwa \'S. for the;~ arP. impol'iant to the State ho-m the rle~·clop!nental and wealth-producing pojnt of view. If after doing that \York '"o have D10l1!!"'

aYailable to construct roads which will give the people plea--ant \\Cok-end traye]lin'", then I haYo no objection to the moneyb being spent in that wav, but I do obiPct to incurring debt to cons'truct roads which should be financrd from revenue' and which other ,vi se ,,·ill he a charge l~pon future gencrabons.

The betting tax has done good neither to the Governn1c1Jt 110r to tl1o State. SonH' people think that racing is not of great Importance, but if they would onlv con,ider ihe amount of mone,- diJtributed hv the racing comn1unity to fa.rn1ers vvho · grow fodder for the horocs !hat arc trained and raced, and numbers of persons in the con1~ munit_v who find employment in this wav, they would Ill' surprised_ A good number of people \Vho prcviouslv wc~re able to earn a living in smne v;·ay 'associrtted with racing ar8 to-day receiYing the dole, ~o that aw:thing \Vhich can be done bv the Govf'rnnH'J-Jt to assist the racing C'Olnm~lnity, as is being done in oi her States. will rdicvc the strain on the Unemployment Relief Fund.

The betting- tax which was imposed npon the racing community by the ::\foore Goycrn ment has fniled in its objects. I haYe usBd the argun1ent in regard to railway r8venue that high rharges \Yill cause a rrdnction in reYcn_uc. To demonstrate how this high taxabon has resulted in a reduction of reYetnH" ~ quote sorne figures .in regard to the totalisator and betting taxes_ Th'' re-,· en uc receivc•cl f rmn the: se f'.Ourcc", 1:-; a" follows:-

1928-29 1929-30 1930-31 1932-33 1933-34

£ 93,125 90,822 98,347 86,308 80,192

Compared wiih 1930-31 there was a loss of re\'enue of £12,038 for the year 1932-33 and compared with 1930-31 there was a I~s'' of revenue of £18,155, or a total loss for the ~wo ~-cars ?f £30,191. Unfortunately, the tax nacl ocen mcrcased be 300 per cent., and as

a 1·cstdt ~taning~pricc shops ~prang up like JnushroOJn ... all over QuePnsland.

A GO'iEH'<~IEXT :\IDJBER: It was imposed h.\- your Govertnnent.

::\Ir. CODFREY ~IORGA:c\: I !wow our Governn1eut in1posed it, and if they were in power rn-da: they would realise they had 1nadc an ('lTOl'. It v-as in1poscd wtth the object of bringing in Jnorf'' rc\~enue, b~t tl:c r•ffcct \T'(_J;;;; n dccrcnse in r<·venuc. Ramng IS

declini11g in Queensland. owing to tho irnpo~itiOn nf iJdiJ tax. It is the duty of :nJctnbrr~ of tho GoYernrnent to consider this matter and haYc a Bill brought in with the c~.,ject of reducing thDt tax by half. A ._jx_pcnn~.- tax \\-ould be quite ;;:.nfficicnt. The

£n,· ~1incs should support a reduc-l ion. would rc::.alt in greater· revenue for hi:-:; Govcrn1nent .

Th_• Sr:CRl~TARY FOR )IIXE~: \Yhy not make :t ~·ar0 tax?

~h. CODFHEY ~IORGAX: l am not .,(~'!2:e~tin.t:r ·what sort o£ tax. I desire the

}llt'~'"nt rax I~l bP n clltced. for I eonsidcr it i..; u11fair. If the Gcyernrnent bring in a nill \Yhich IYill impose a tax that everybody "ill ha,-,, to pa_v, including members of the Queensland Tnrf Club, at the ;,unc time, and if a rccluctlou cf tiw pre.;;;Pnt bPtting tax to 6d. j~ pi·opo~c-'d. the \Yinll('r to pay the tax. I ,_·ill >nppon iL

l\,Ir_ \\'_ T_ KI:\G iJfru·ce) [3.16 p,m.]: The hon. member for ~1nrilla occupiNl tho 1 ime of the House for about an hour, and m;c woulcl think from his remarks that his GoYt'rlllnPnt had no sins. and he as a J\linisrer in the ('ubinet conducted his special aetivities with clue regard to the interests of the countrv. The people of Queensland knm\ that the hon. member is responsible for at lra't two specific Acts which cannot uudt'!' anv consideration redound to the credit of Iiis GoYernmont. E>orvbodv knows that he v. as n ,ponsiblc- for the Railway Superannuation BilL

:1Ir_ Go m HEY :\1oRGtX: And a gcod thing, too:

:Yir. \Y. T. KIXG: r;:,-ervbodv knows that ti1" Superannuation Bill wa~ broUght in withour the ~·e1v·m0 haYinp: bec~n actuarially irn-e·-,;tigatc-d. ,

:\fr_ GODFIUT :\lORG_\:\: That' is not true!

:\lr. 'IV. T_ KIXG: That statement is true. If an actuarial in·n~'~tigat.ion of even the "<'alltie,'3t or flimsie~t character had been made bY the ::'IT oore Qoyornmcnt, through the :\Iini,tel· for Transport_ that scheme would not ha ne been shrtecl. \\'hen the scheme was examinPd <tfter the Labour l'artv a,,umed onic0. and y;,a;:; quite opcnl:v hand0d oyer to an actuar;·, lw reported without the slightest hesjtation that it Y\as unsound and could not last. \YP. as a Govcrnmrnt said emphati< ally rhat we would he indulgmg in a form of falst' pretences if \VC allowed the :-:..chPnlc to continue. \\~c should have taken fro1H the raih:aynJPll of Queensland n1oneys which should not ]H1Ye been collected; but, in addition, we should haYe placed an undue bm·den on the whole of the people of the State. because cYcntuallv we should have had to pay out to those men more money than they had paid into the fund.

:'vir_ ~DD!O: That is not tru<'-

i\Ir. W. T_ KIXG: It i> pei'[L?r.tly true, Lot m examine the facts. The actuary who im-cstigated th' scheme could not by any

Mr. W. T. King.]

384 Supply. [ASSElvlBLY.] Supply.

stretch of imagination be said to be in favour of the Labour cause, but for the purposes of my argument I will say that he Yvas not favourable to the cause of Labour. I-Ic ·was a professional n1an eminently capable of doing his work, and at the conclusion of his investigation informed the Government that it would not be rig-ht to continue the scheme. Under the circumsbtnccs. what action could we take other than have the measure repealed 1 Should not that scheme hfLve been properly inYestigatcd at the outset? Should not a competent accountant or actuarv have been first emplowd to inye,tigate' its soundness before it was· foisted on the people of Queensland·: These facts arc incontrovertible. All the eiooucnc·: of hnn. membe1 opposite-and all rLeir arguuwnts--cannot get ~way !rmn. the Y€l'V cocrcnt fact that thCV a.SSl~ted Ill bnnging: intc~ Pxistencr a ~<'hcnle _v;··hieh on lnYP("tigation by a, IJropcrly C)Uah~ed actual')~ '\Va~ promptly declared not ;o be 111 the !Jest mterPsts of Queensland. :\ey-ertheless, the sa1;1e hon. n1ernhPrs ha Y0 the tcrrncnty to adYlSC the prt>-;ent Govcrnrncnt as to _the m~nner in which thev >hall conduct then affa1rs, ancl C'riticif'e their taxation and borrov1'ing proposals. and a hundred and one other things, On their O\Hl acts they shall stand condcnrnPd without ar1v further comn1ent £r01n mP. That -~heme alone YYill go do\\'n into historv as one of th" most flagrant brc•aches of dul-y and a~ justifvin!?; the scycre:-.t eondenlllation that could be passed on an~v ::\/Ii11istcr or Goyernnl('nt. llo\vcvf'r. \Y(' took t hr' rjght course. \Ye did not l'C'pcal this 1nca~nr0 ju~t for the p!ea~urc of repealing it. \Y0 looked into CYCTY nook and cranuy of the measure \'Yith the 'aid of a competent actuarv in order to ascrrtain \Yhethcr it containf'c1~ anYthing that •sas for the b0ncfit of Qnecnslaiid, b;}t it \\'as found to contain nothing that could in any wa.;.- hcl11 Qucen:;;;lnncl or its raihvay employees. Thr <ictuary 1W1cle hi' report~ and we accoptecl ir.

:'dr. GODFREY :\1onG.\X: You are making it a chom1ing block.

:\Ir. IV. T. KING: There i, JJO chopping block about it. The hon. member asked for a YOif' of thP railwaynH'n, and after thns fcolino; the pulse of the railwaymen he turned them clown. IImY can he justify himself' Ho only wanted to JHmdc•r to the railwa:l' people throughout the length a.nd breadth of Que< nsland. and for that rca~on brourl1t in an unsound n1casure. It.s repra:ing- will stand for C\·cr to the cr.~dit of the Labour Party, "' does also the repayment of mone•· to the men f'ntitlccl to it, from whom it should n<wer han· been collected. In plain and uncqui,-ocal language I state that the scheme was un,ound .at its inception and at its demolition, and should nevC'r have been adyocated bv hon. 1nen1-bcrs opposite. If by any 1n~~c-hancP hon. mcrnbers opposite \Yere again pla(·od on the Treasury brnd1cs, would thcy bring forward a similar measure? I .a-.:k thf'm that question in all sincerity.

Mr. DAKIEL: Yes,

Mr. IV. T. KI::\'G: The onh· hon. member \\'ho interjects is thf, hm1. · member fm Keppel. He will probably follmY me as the next speaker in this debate. and I shall listen with a great deal of intJ:>rest to the arguments that he will adduce in an endeavour to convince the people of Queensland

j1llJ·. W. T. King,

whv such an iniquitous and nefarious measure as the Railway Superannuation Act ,hould be reimposed on them.

Mr. MooRE: VVhat about the Kangaroo Point Bridge?

Mr. W. 'I'. KJKG: I propose to deal with that matter too, but I am not gomg to allow the Leader of the Opposition to sidetrack me in the deliverance of my speech. I am quite capable of making my own speech in mv own wav but I can allay the fears of the hon. me~ber by informing him that I have on my notes a reference to the Kangaroo Point Bridge, a matter of great importance io the people, and that I shall deal with it before I conclude m:v speech. How did the hon. member for ~Iurilla, when :\1 inister for Transport in the ~Ioore GoYf'rnnH•nt C'are for the railw.:.tv rolling-stock -which wa~ handed to him in reasonably good condition bv a Labour GoYernmont ·; At the present' time the GoYcrnment f~nd it nccc,sary to accept a trnder from \\ alkers Limited for the construction of locornotn·es that should haYe been built during the reg-ime of the :\1oorc GoYernment. 'l'he hon. member for Murilla should havo kept the railway rolling-stock of Qu_eensland up to its proper standard of dficwncy durmg the tinw that he was Minister for Transport. It is a pv .. r~•itnonious policy, it is a ba.d policy. a policy that is no policy at all-1f I 1nav u~e that tei~m-to consPrYe your .finan~ cia1 'rc~,)urccs in the hope of l'rcatJng a surplns at the Pxpcnse of the rolling--sto.ck ;mcl other ossentiah of State. 1\ e clann that the country will be materially assisterl b>. the ~ontinnal anrl gradual pcrcolatJOn of n1one~' throug-h socit'ty in times of need. During th0 period of the :Moore. Goyernn;ent when railway locmnotn~cs and rmlway rolhngstock cenerallv were detC'riorating the tnne \\·a~ o]lportun(, to pro_vi.de c:rnployrnent for the people in 1naintain1ng rt at a. prop!'r r-Ulndard of cfficicnc.v, tbereb:v enabling P.nr~ eha.sing- power to rJercolatc througl~·o1nt the connlrv. The hon. member for 1\IunLa tells the people of Queensland that he is the proper person to take the b1rch and r:l'hgate tl1e GoYernmcnt. Ile 1s the ycry gentleman who controll0d the railway trans_pm:r sntem for three Years a sy;:;tcn1 \VIde 111 rt~ ran1Ifications. but h~ failed to maintain the rolling--stock at a proper ~t~ndaJ:d of efficJenc:\'. The rest of his adrmmstratwn pale:' mto insiQ'nificancc con1parecl with that, and t1lC' Railway Superannuation Act, hn~ . Yer~' important factors that had a Ycry detnmentfL!' effect upon Queensland generally. On the one' hand ho did something that hf should 11ot han' done. whilst on the other ,rand hA f~iled to do what h~ oug-ht to haYc done, ,ouwthing that would bave been t.o th~ benefit of thP people of tbis country. J'\n hon. m cm bcr opposite can denv that he allowed the rollino-~stock to deprf'CJatc to a deplorable· extent. "\V<> have decided, in the best interests of the people of Queensland, to mstore the railwav locomot.ives to then· proper standard of . efficiency and \VC a1:8 0ntitlcd to the gratitude of hon. members opposite for repairing- the_ir blunders and \viping out the superannuation schen1c.

The hon. member for J',.1urilla seeme-d io air as a kind qf grieYance the fa~t that the basic \vage in this State \Vas htgher than in anv other State in the Commonwealth. He even went so far as to sug-gest that 1t "as something from which Queensl~nd was suffering. He knows that t.~e basic . wage is determined by the Industnal Court and

Supply. [27 SEPTElVIBER.] Supply. 385

in the determination of that wage cPrtain factors arc taken into consideration. Queensland enjoys a higher basic wage than the State of New South 'Vales for the simple reason that during the past three years the Gonrnment in this State has been of a better type than the Government in "Jew South \Yalcs. That is reflected in the imprO\·ed industrial conditions throughout the length all(! breadth of the State. Hon. members opposite have repeatedly slated that ·wagPs aro f-ixed by the Industrial Court. but thev fail to mention the fact that in fixing- thern tbe court takes into con "ideration prc,·ailing industrial conditions. The beneficial conditions in Queensland to-day are the result of the paternal interest of the Govemment in the welfare of the peoplc as a whole. That is why the people of Qu<•pnsland Pnjoy a higher basic wag<> than those of anv other State in the Gommonwea llh, an ;,ven highec one than the basic wa. e for the Commvnwealth itself. Moreover, tht> conditions enjoyed by the working clasc; people here arc less irksome than the <'onditions in other Statef'. V\Te have 1 JJn shortest lrour' of work in Queensland, whic·h, in addition. i'· the cheapest State to live in. These couditions did not arrive in QuecnP.-1and on'r night, nor have they like manna fallen from heaven at the feet of the Leader of the Opposition. They exist as the result of a studied and planned policy. of honest and legitin1ah"' work by a Government formed from the party with which I have the honour to be associatPCl. \Vhen hon. members oppositr' held the reins of government, gloo•11 and deprf'csion followed lwhincl. reminiscent of the period when the plagues visited Egypt of old.

The hon. membPr for Mm·illa endeavotned to tell the Committee that we were wrong· to take mone-,· from the Main Roads Fund and to accept 'cash from the Federal Government and utilise it for the purpose of balancing our Budget. Our actions are quite fair. Compare them with the actions of hon. members opposite when in power. They took cash from the Real Property Assurance Fund. They iirst took the cash, put it into conwlidated revenue, and afterwards passed .an enabling Bill to validate their action. People who come into this Chamber and prate and pose as purists should be able to stand the tests applied to purity.

Mr. Nnn10: They were dead funds.

Mr. W. T. KING: They were not. The hon. member knows that the Real Property Assurance Fund, which was put into consolidated reYenue. was kept there for the purpose of protecting the Registrar of Titles in the event of any successful aetion being concluded against him. That was not the dead fund which the hon. member for Oxlev woul<l lead the Committee to believe it was: These funds were established for specific purpoS<'S. and the Moorc Government had no right to utilise them for any other purpose, but when the opportunity occurred they took all the funds they could get their hands on to improYe the consolidated revenue account. Yet their supporters have the temerity to accuse us of not playing the game !

The Budget which the Government have presented is a very good Budget. No hon. member opposite in his wildest imaginings could conjecture that a Budget such as this one is could have been presented at this

1934-o

time. The Budget last year forecast a deficit of £1,848,402, whereas the actual deficit was £1,128,531. That in itself is evidenc·c of a reasonablc attempt to reduce the deficit. An analysis of the Budget shows that the deficit forecast for the cunent financial year is £1,001,457, but if the provision for exchange and sinking fund contributions were eliminated there would bP a surplus. Is it not reasonably fair, then. to say that this is a water-tight Budgc·t '1

Taking a general survey of the situation, one is forced to come to the conclusion that it is a fair document, designed to help Queensland through her difficulties. and showing that during the two years oific of the present Gm·ernment the State has been wisely governed.

It is undPniablc that the good wurk lwgau when the Leader of the Govemment attended his iirst meetings of the PrPmier;' Confereuce and Loan Council. Th<•rp he chauged the Loan Council from a force which >vonld not make loan money cn·ailablc to Queensland into a force 'vhich made a rca2onable amount of loan rnoney <.nail~ a blc for expenditure amougst the people of Qtwensland. On the other hand, we are told th, t when the Leader of the Opposition attend<•d ~he meetings of the Loau Counc11 he "\\as unable to :-:ecnre any loan rnoney for public works to relieYo unemp~oyrnent. Yiorcm·er, Mr. S. :YL Bruc0, then r\s;ist.ant Federal Treasurer. renutrkcd at the time that Queensland appeared to be heading for a huge deficit, and the State was rPtrogrcs,iJJg. \Ye know that tho Leader of the Opposition did not endeavour to get any moncv from the Loan Council with a view to heiping Queensland. I make no apology for saying that in tirnes such as the present \\'e n1ust gi\~e our State the ncc-es~ary nourishment. In that I am -upported by economists of world-wide fame to whom the hon. member for Rockhampton so aptly referred in the course of his speech. The· State is in the same position as an individual. What is the good of bringing along a doctor to a patient who is breathing his last? What is the good of giving nourish· ment to a patient who cannot open his .lips to receive it? That is what the Moore Government wore doing. They were allow· ing the State to die. They did not give the State the necessary fillip. As the Treasurer has so frequently said with great pertinence, the Moore Government believed in the old-time surgical method of bleeding a person to death in the hope that he m1ght recover. Science has progressed ; times have changed ; but certainly the Leader of the Opposition would not receive a certificate from anv competent board as a bleeder of men' or a bleeder of nations.

Mr. MOORE: Who is going to issue this certificate?

Mr. IY. T. KE\G: There is no back-door method by which the hon. member eau get this certificate. When he was " head man " of this State he failed miserably to· use the opportunity that was given to him.

As a party we believe in maintaining essential social services and safeguarding the· standards of our people. Our friends opposite believe in a policy of no borrowing, of allowing the State to retrogress-as Mr. Bruce said it was during the Moore regime -and of creating big deficits. When it

Mr. W. T. Khtg.l

386 Supply. [ASSE:\IBLY.] Supply.

i, 1·caliscd that we succeeded such a GovernllH'nt as the l\Ioorc Government, it is all tl"' more g:orions that within a short time Labour can produce such a satisfactory Budget.

The 0)Jposition arc raising many questions to-day merely as political propaganda for the next election. I agree with the Trea''ll'cr th.at this State cannot make progress until we get our people back to work. It is all rot talking about balancing Budgets ami Joing this and that; the main objective is to put our people back to work. The hon. tncmber for Cunningharn-an cx-11ini~ter of the Crown and the arch-gloomist of a gloomy Opposition-y<'stcrday painted a very melancholy picture of the pro,ent position of Queensland. The hon. member told us that in all probability we might get a period of bad >veather, and another hon. nwn1ber rose jn ltis spat and told us that \ve might get the earthquakes from Japan, the plagues of Egypt, and man:.· another scourgP. The greatcf't political ~courge on Quccnslrwd was the two and n-half years that the l\1oore Qoycrnrnent held off-lee, and the fact tlmt Queensland could withstand that scourge is a testimony to iL solidity. 1 1nak0 no apologies for spending loau mun(c~y. \Y c ha vc to keep our people and we have to build up our industries. \Vhat alternnt iYu do hon. men1bcrs opposite suggest? );othing! Their prcrtv is one of destitution, \rant. and miscn'--a party that can put forward nothing constructive but everything rlPstructivc, that only pleases itself, and is of no benefit to Queensland. "Cnder Labour rule Queensland is more likely to have contenteJ working people than under n Government composed of hon. members oppo::;ite.

,-\n 0PPOSITIOK ~lDIBEH: lnso]vent !

:\fr. W. T. KI::'o!G: If Queensland IS

imolvent, then it has been going insolvent for a. great man:v yr.ars. As a good Queen.:;lantlei' and Australian, viewing the position '" it a.rtunll:- exists to-clay, I am not pl·cpal'ed to subscribe to th<l doctrine of hon. m cm hers opposite. \Ye should get above the clouds of depression and view Queenslane! as true Quccnslanclers. Let us endeavour to ga1Yanise our~elYcs into action nnd gi\'e v·ork to our people! If wo do we shall be• <renti11g assets and shall be better 'lhle to 1Tpay Uw rnoncy \Ve have borrO\Yed.

It is fair to srty that if a Government can borrow moncv and so utilise it that our assets nro doubled or trebled. then it is pla:) ing the garne. It is not inaction, but nction that is needed at the present time. IIon. Hlcmb('l'~ opposite are reposing in a :"Jtato of inactiYity, or 'vandering round and doing nothing in the best interests of ( 'uccnsl and.

}fuch criticism was indulged in by hon. mrmlwrs opposite in regard to taxation. I ask hon. mcmbm·s opposite to turn up page 16 of the Budget, and after reading careft.Jly the allocations of expenditure there set out, indicate which of them they object 'o-"·hother, for instance, thev would object l<' £306,371 being spent on loans and subsidies to local authorities and other bodies, or to anv of the other items included in the £4,921.476 which is being spent for the year 1933-34 in providing employment. I ask the Leader of the Opposition particularly to itJdicatc "'·hich of those items should not be

[!lf1·. W. T. King.

"xpcnded. It is an easy mrttter for hon. HH'rnbers to generalise. rrhis StatenlOllt COlltains something tangible-something of a con· crate character. Let. hon. members opposite also give us something definite. and indicate in what way the Government are not playing i·he game in regard to expenditure, and in what respect it is not justified. If hon. n1ernbers opposite can satisfy us in that regard they will ha,·e done something. But I am "ltisfied, reviewing the whole of the circum-t-;u:ee~ and taking i11to consideration the 'we,• nf !he fact'. that no member of the

Oppo.sit.ion will be. able to do ou. The time l1a~ arrived for constructive criticisn1. VVo ., ant the help of tlw Opposition. vVe would 11·1\(• to think the party opposite were bank. :>pi of iclpas; but if hon. members opposite do 11ot S<)e fit to giYe us tho benf'fit of their ~~;\''"" .ti!d the experience that son1e of them han' had. we shall be forced to the conclu~:fJ~I thev an'. There is onlv one reason

~~y hon~ n10n1bers opposite h[iYe not given 1 ; any help in the matter, rmd that is :,,;r 'us0 they are unable to do so.

Tlw hon. member for Kcnneclv~-for whose ability I han' the greatc·ct regar~l. and whose contribution to tl1e clcbatc' was notable from his point of view-assumed the role of ic01wclast. grasping a han1mcr and cndcaVOLJring to knock the whole stmcturc of State to pieces without any thought of reconstruction.

At 3.45 p.m.,

Mr. RessELL (Hamilton). one of the panel of Temporary Chairmen. reliewd the Chairman in the chair.

i\h. \\'. T. KE\G-: He wandered through a ntaze of figures and told us what our public debt was, and how it had increased b,1 £7,000,000 dttring this Government's period of office. This Gm·ermnent were fair in increasing ou1· public debt. They did not have rcvermc deficits like the Moorc Government of £3,640.000, which haYe not been funded ami ''"ill have to bP added to the national debt nltirnatelv. and which that GoYet·nment knmy woul-d have to be added to the national debt >vhen t'J'CV left office. ThP'' ,,ay they reduced the national debt by C:950.000: but one has to take into consideration that amount of £3.640,000 and subtract 1'8"0 000 from it in order to arrive at the <'on·cct position. That is the position 'tripJWd of all its niceties, and, as the hon. member for Rockhampton said, din'stcd of all its ct·Ppe-clc-chene. There the position -lands in bold relief, in natural contour, for hon. gentlemen to behold. Those figures i1cdicatc that iho party opposite added well over £2,000,000 to the national debt whilst they vvcrc in po\vcr.

In orrlcr to support their argument that the people had lost confidence in their saYings bank and State Governn1cnts, hon. members opposite during the course of this debate han' stated that depositors could not obtain their monev from the Savings Bank in other States. , If hon. members opposite can make use of that argurncnt, f:urc 1y I can also use saYings banks deposits to support my statement. 'l'hc hon. member for Toowong should take notice of what 1 am about to say. He is gcncrallv recognised by our party as being gifted wnh a fair sense of finance. An increase in saYing~ banl.: deposits being an indication that a State is

Supply. [27 SEl'TEMBER.] Supply. 387

fH'O;-;llCl'OllS the follo\Ving figUrE";; are signif-i~ant :-

S<tl'inys liank DczJOsits, Quetnslruul.

£ Year ended 30th June. 1932 Y car ended 30th ,June, 1933 Y car ended 30th June, 1934

22.951.758 23,453,000 24,834,000

rrhc•re is .an increase in each year which indicates a confidence in the GoYernnwllt. .\s a witness to the glorions signs of the return of confidence I put before hon. n1cm bers J\1 r. Rhoades, the Iuanag111g director of Uhoadcs Limited, in the VaJle}. HP said that he \vas n1aking a profit and had not made one fOl' qnitc a time. He had made a p1·ofit of oyer £1,000 on his uud(•l·takiHg in the last ycnr.

An UPPO>ilTIOX MEMBER: Do you take creclit for that: ·

Mr. \Y. 'I'. KING: Is not that an indica· t ion of a rpturn of conJidcnct~? The Qnyenlment of i he day arc responsible for the condiLolts tlwt prevail in the State. J\lor IllOll('Y ha:> been circulati11g b~_'CaUf.{~ ·th 1,'

v.vrkers arp c·njoying bett(~r conditions to-clay than thc·v did during- tlw time the Oppositiot, '..rere in power. 1Ir. Rhoade·, is rt1 aping the bc•nclit uf onr \Yis2 administration~ and he, along with J\Ir. Lan~do'.YilC') rna11aging director of J\1c\Yhirtcrs' Limited, comes forward ttnd pays tribute to the Labour Party. Hon. rnembt'r.; opposi tc should " Render unto Cmsar ihc• tlliJJgs that are Cce~ar's." At the present tirne tht~ over~eaM 111arkcts arc placing us in a very disnJYantagpous po::;.itiou and pren:-nt the Budget fron1 contalning fcatnrH that it should contilin. Inter alia. however, the otatistics of the Bureau of Industry aw:l the hade.-, union returns ftLvour our Gon'rument. (Oppocition dissent.) The bureau's business index, the weekly bank elParanc~s, the real property transactions. ;;hare prtces index. the building porrnit,,-all these favour onr Uovernrnont. Changes for the better such as thc.v indicate could not occur OYerni.gl!t, and have been brought a bout by ,ustanwd effort.

I am p!ea,ecl the Kangaroo Poiut Bridge is to be constructed in the YPl'V near futu1·r. Its con~tructio11 \vill rncan th0 employrne11t of 800 men .foe a period of approximately ftve year., without taking into consideration ~he in~reasc in. ernployrnent in secondary mduetnes that will accompany it. Foundries will be working at fever heat.

I am pleased at tho restoration of the police p0nsions. '!.'his was an act of justice and ('qlliiy by tho Go\·cnnncnt. I arn pleased with the establishment of the Bureau of lndustrv and with its objective. In short, I am quite satisfied with the Treasurer's Budget Speech, considering the times and the turmoil existing throughout the world.

Any person who is fair and just will say that Queensland has turned the cornee and that peace ancl prosp0rlt~, are returninrr to tlw State. \Vhen ddivering theie spoe~hes m thts Chamber .hon. members opposite deal In gloorn and d1sastor. One hates to think v:hat would haYo lwen th" fate of Q.ueensland Jf they had been allowed to remain in office for ". further period. of three years. Its condition would hcwe been so desperate that I um unable ad()(watcly to depict it. vVe haYc a great Commonwealth of Australia, we bawl a g-reat State, we have gTElat resources, v-.;;-o have a great people, and above all we have a great Government. Under the

guidance of such a beneficent Government >1·ith its humanitarian legislation, which will be crvstalliscd into beneficial results in the years" to come. Queensland will enjoy a period of wonderful prosperity and progress. Queensland will move onward as she ought. and become what she is destined to be, the Q.uecn State of the Commonwealth.

Mr. ::\'I:\L\10 (Oxlry) [3.55 p.m.]: _ApparentlY the hon. member for Marcc 1s verv easily pleased, and if the other member's of his party are just as easily pleased then the Leader is bound to have a very happy tirne. Anyone who can find any pleasure in the Budget just dcliYcred is not very hard to please. The hon. member has referred to the raih\ ay '-Upcrannuation sc.:herno which \Yas inaugurated by the ::.VIooro Governrnent 1

but he did not !Pll this Chamber that his Gov0rn1nent abolished the schenw Il1l'l'Piv to make J1olitical capital. lie failed to inform us that tbe Government lL3Cd the ralhvaY tllCll as a political chopping blo( k and thU:t the railwavmcn have suffered thcreb;·. Ilad t-he raihva~7 sup(~rannuation 'i,cherrw launched b-v the :;\l~orc Govf~rnmcnt bet1H contiJ:iuecl, ti~c- railwav1uen "·otdd have hnd SOHH' protection for" all timP, lmt a warped idea of politic:-. on thP part of hon. Jnf•rnbers .opposite lo~t tbo beneficial schctlle to the l'alhvaymeu and the are now without any protection. The hon. nu•mber also accu ed the ::VIool'n Government of IH.~glecting tl1e ro1liiigstock of the State. but it.io "ell bw .. ·11 that ,,·hen tht~ previouR (~ovcrnrnpnt wen1 out of ofiice the rolling-~tock was ln an PXt'(•llent ~tatP of efficiency. ·F'or two years the pro-· Sl'!Jt Governn1C'11t neglectPJ it, as the:\' allo·sed l'verylhing to drift, until it was r0portcci that as a rc.~ult of the two vears of neglect. tl:c rolling-;.;tock in l\~orth ~Quecusland \Ya-;

in a deplorable condition. The hou. wcmbet· also stated th1t ihcrr'

had b('C'll an increase in saYing bank dPpo.it.~ during the tirnc that his G-overnnJC'llt. had been in ]Jowcr. It is il'un tha1, :-:a\'ing hank dcpo,its have recently bcocn swollen, but. that has been duP to the incl'cnscd expencht.ure of loan moncv and to lite fact that there arc no attract{vc fonns of jnyc~bnellt in this Stat:=-. The pCO}Jle ,rith rnoney ha·ve been compelled to put it in the srt\·ings bank. mt1rPl~' to keep it undt'r cove-r.

:\h. KEOGII · \Yhat rot :

:\lr. :"\IMJ\10 : Tt is not rot. I can inform the hon. memb<lr that t),ure are no aLt.radive forn1s of invcstrncnt jn Queensland to-day and that funds mnst be sPnt oubid<' of the fita.te fot· profitable utiJic.ation. It is fitting that I shonlcl quote fwm the leading article which appear": in this aftel'noon's i~sue of the '' TPlPgraph," as a reply to tho state· !ti('llt;;; that han• bPPn nntde by the hoiL ILC_ JlHT for ::\Lll'('C'. It sa.vs- ~

''In thP last two vcars there haYe 1 'C'l~n f;nch lncrr,~t~e~ in ;t.lt StntP ', a YcraginQ· for t~1c Connnonwc<t1th £1 7s. 3d. )HT head of the popnlation. Queensland shm;·s up abov<o the avomge "ith £1 lls. 7d., ln1t the rise is less than in Victoria, in South Au <tralia, and in Tasmania. Perhaps a little further informa· tion on this point will he -.ppreciat. cl. At the end of the last prr-deprcssion vear~1928-1929~thc Labour Partv having then been in offi.co for fourteen vC'ars and just received its distnissal, ~,a~ring" bank deposits per head of the population were in Queensland £8 10s. 3d. below the aYerag·e for the Commonwealth. At

Mr. Nimm.o.]

388 Supply. [ASSEMBLY.] Supply

b<t .June the difference against Queens· laud was £5 10s. 2d. Relatively, thererare, in fiye years Queensland made a gain of £3 Os. ld. in savings per head ;f the population. Of this gain £2 19s. 9d. "as made unde1· Mr. 1\loore-durmg the depression-and 2s. 4d. under Mr. Srnith."

I qLwtP that leading article to show how Pasilv pleased is the hon. member for Maree. lie Is a delightful gentleman, and so easily pleased that I am sure his Leader is delighted to ha Ye him.

The policy of the Labour Goyernment reallv aims at the elimination of this Par· liament. The importance of Parliament i< beco1niug less and less recognised because of the action of the nrcscnt UoYermnent. The Labour l'arty appe:us to have made up its rnind that it is going to assume the role -of dictator in this State and that the will of the people is to be ignored. 'l'he first step it took was to abolish the second Cham· ber. Hon. members opposite thus dispensed with that Chamber whose function it was to review all legislation pcr~~ed L._v the LcgislativP- Asscrnbly. Now everything 1:-'

being done that can be done to Ll'little the importance of this Chan1her. Last ~cssion we had the spectacle of Bills being thrown into this Chamber in the morning and !wing passed in a clay. Practicalh· no discussion was allmYcd on them. Apparently the Bills were approved by the Trades Hall, then sent along to the Legislative Asscmbl;·. and had to be nassed without amendment. Eyery Bill contained a provision enabling the Governn1ent to govern by regulation. These regulations were drafted after the Bills were passed, and notwithstanding that Parliament lays it down that ell regulations issued in the recess must be tabled within fourteen days of the fint sitting day of any session, no opportunity was given to the Opposition to discuss them. The country is actually being ruled by regulations issued during the recess, nutny of which would m•ver haYe been approYed by this Chamber. There are members sitting behind the Go,·ernment who would not have voted with the GoYcrnment on some of the regulations issued nnder the State Transport Act. Those regulations were placed on the table. and. although the Leader of the Opposition tabled a resolution moYing that they be disallowed, no opportunity was permitted the Opposition to discuss the motion. That shows that the representatives of the people haYe no say in the governmnt of the country. The Governmpnt ha,·e !lOW set up a Bureau of Industry baYing powers to embark on works involving larg-e capital 0xpenditnre without the sanction of Prtrliament. That is to say, the Government have created another hod:-· having the functions of Parliament, and with power to co·mmit the State monetarily. 'I'hat act belittles Parliament and is but another step towards its elimination.

The Budget, which is the most important -document to be presented to Parliament, was brought down on Tuesday afternoon last and hurriedly read by the Treasurer. The representatives of th0 people were called upon to discuss it the following day. This did not enable hon. members to get a thorough grip of its contents, yet we actually saw the Treasurer rise from his seat during the afternoon and endeavour to •·lose the debate.

[Mr. Nimmo.

The SECRETARY FOR I'cBLIC LAXDS: That \Yas because no one on your side was 1·eady to continue the debate.

Mr. l\1AXWELL: That is not true.

Mr. NIMMO : Evidently the Treasurer thought he would rush the Budget through. It is onlv a continuation of the "Hushhush" which permeates the whole policy of Labour.

The hon. member for Kennedy delivered " \Yondcrful address yesterday morning. He must have sat up all night to prepare his material. He deserves a pat on the back, and great credit for the facts which he brought before the people of Queensland. Thpre is no doubt that the hon. member for Kennedy put a great deal of work into the pr0paration of that speech, and for that r('ason clcscncs the commendatwn of th1s Committer•. \'1/hcn the hon. member rose to clelivor his speech eyery Cabinet Minister with the exception of ono ;vas absent f_rom the Chamber. and on occas1ons no MmJst<'r "·as prt,sent ·to listen to it. T~at _again i< proof that this Parharnent JS snnply being used as a recording Chamber. Th'_tt atteiJtiori i~ rwt given to the rnatters drscusoed by Opposition members which should be deyotecl to them, and for that reason Opposition members might just as well stop a\YaY. At times there arc only three or four" Government supporters in the Chamber. That shows that Parliament is of no irnponnnee to the GoYernmcnt party .. I strongly protest agamst th1s ;.tate of affaus. I hope that the GoYernment will conce~e to hon. members the respect th<tt 1s then· due and see that Parliament fulfils its proper functions. 'l'he speech of the ~on.- mem· her for Kennedy was a fearful md1ctment of the Govenuncnt. It showed the Government in their true position. It showed the Government to be a Government of squall· dercrs.

Mr. FOLEY: Mention some of the things that the Government are squandering money on?

Mr. NIMMO: I will tell you before I finish. I wish to refer in passing to the question of day sittings. . The Labour Government made up then mmds to degrade Parliament and to lower its status and importance' by imtituting . day si~ti~gs. Thee- know yery well that w1th .day Slttl!l!)S :Ylinistcrs cannot attend to then· ch~tJes 1_n their offices and also be presen_t m th1s Chamber. Ministers have a ccrtam amount of administrative work to do, but why should theY abse;1t themselves from t.hcir legislative duties in order to do so? It is the. d~ty of the Government to preserve the d1gmty of Parliament. That can b: best acc.omplished by the reintroductwn of mght sittings, which would enable electors t~ ?e pre•sent and listen to the debates, and Mmlstcrs to be present and by listening to the Lkbatcs give encouragement to hon. members te> analvsc carefully matters brought before tllPm. ··

I am lodging my protest at the whittling away of the privileges of Parhament. We J1aye almost reached a position in this State where the Treasurer is a dictator. Unq~estionably the hon. gentleman IS. adoptmg the role of a dictator; his word 1s. law. I have been in Parliament for some t1me, ~nd I feel that Parliament is gradually losmg its importance. Members frequently complain of losing their dignity as members of


Parliament. No "ondcr, when privileges are whittled awav and members ha.c no opportunity of seeing Bills Lefore thev are put through. •

I can see very little hope in the Budget which is simply a reiteratiou of what ha~ ],cc·n done by the squandering of loan monev. I have no fault to find with borromi"cl mouP,~, ]Wovicled it is utilisPd on reproducti,-t:' WOrk. rrhat is <1 WOrd \Yhich is V8f:J much overdone, and man; works termed ·· reproductive" are not so 'in rcalitv. \Vhat i, going to happen? Hon. rner;rbers on th<· front Government benches have appar<·mly lost interest in State affairs. All thev are looking forward to is obtaining money to ,pond, and so long as they can fill in their time until thcv come to the end of l lwir tether. ·

The Budget ;;iates that the deficit for Ja,t year was £1,128,531. That is not a \\Onderful result >vhen we consider the huge amount of taxation that has been imposed upon the people. Only recently the super land tax was reimposed and is estimated to yield £110,000. and >YP know that transJ•mt and othet· 'fees ha.-e been increased, mH·mploymcnt relief taxation almost doubled. and £250,000 taken from Main Hoads Fund. In the face of these facts, the GO\·ernment have no reason to be proud of a deficit of £1,128,531. ~ L:tst year the Treasurer, when presenting l11s Budget, s<Lrd he proposed to bridge the gap, The gap is still unbridged despite the taxation. One industrv which Labour seems to have a happy knac'k of encouraging -perhaps the only industry hon, members Di,JlOSite do encourage-is that of finding loa;r money. \Yith them loan money is a :fetish ; the more they get the more they >~-ant. They are like the drunkard who ha.-\ng_ spent his_ money in having a jolly ,-ooc, tune, has httle heed for the future.

The Treasurer also states that the receipts >~ere £656,450 in excess of the estimate which is only to be expected when loa,;_ money rs c_rrculating so freely. Visualising the expenditure of £4,400,000 of loan monov this year, .and roaJising that it Inean~<; 5lightly over £4 for every man, woman, and child in the State, it will be apparent that tllcre 1nus~ be 1ncreased spending. If there "as not mct·eased spending. it would be Jl trag:edy, seeing that we have to pay so much mtcrest on the money that we borrow.

_The Treasurer states that the total expen-rhture was £63,421 under the estimate. \\'hen one realises that work paid for out of loan money should in many cases have been a charge on revenue one can onlv sav that the expenditure should have boon ·less.·

:VIr. G. C. TAYLOR: Whv not tell us how much the revenue increased last year?

Mr. l'\IM:\10: The expenditure of the Ioan money mw::~t 1nake for an increase.

l\1!'. G. C. TAYLOR: You •av we must have -,pent more than the Budget estimate.

::\fr. :'\IMMO : It is verv hard to under;;tand the hon. member. 'rt is onlv neces~ary to refer to the appropriation of £250 000 ham the Main Roads Fund. The fact that t l1e Main Roads Fund comprises loan funds ,haws that the Commission needs the monev it derives from revenue. That money {s taken away and put into conso!id~tted revenue and then more money is loaned back to the Commission. Do you think that is

honest. Mr. Russell? I say it. " very far from honest.

(;ovER:>~IENT ME~IBEHb: \Yhy?

Mr. XIMC'\10: I leave it to the good seme of members to say whether it is right. Last year the amount Pxpended from consolidated revenue, trust and loan funds, totalled £24,123,927, and this ~-oar i he Trea,uror is budgeting for £26,095,000, yet he will show a deficit of considerably over £1,000,000.

Mr. G. C. TwLOR: 'Whore will W<> get tl1at £26,000,000 from?

Mr. ~IMMO: The Go.-ernment :<re getting the £26,000,000 from consolidated revomw, trust and loan funds. Whilst ~ have no objection to a certain amount of loan money being judiciously expended 1n a young country like this, I nm nnt in fnvolll' of spending loan money on buildings which are going to increase the liabilities of the State, The expenditure of loan monev should be directed to such activities as wifl add to the producti.-ity of the State and increase the wealth of tile countrv. For instance, if the Govf'rnnl£'nt cntbark(,d on a lJOlicy of \.Vater con;.,PrYation in this State, portions of which are Jlradinlly waterlf''S during certain periods, the expenditure would bo returned twofold.

The Treasurer states that loan funds are coming in freely from local authorities and other bonowers. In the past those moneys were well invested and producing interest, lmt now that the money is heing returned to the Govermnent I am afraid it will not be reinvested as well as it was in the past.

The hon. member for JYiaree made a great song about the expenditure of loan money, and related how the Treasurer wont to the Premiers' Conference and the Loan Council waved a magic wand, hypnotised the repre: scntativcs there, and did wonderful thing" for Queensland. I believe he has hypnotised Govemment members. I have often heard it said since I have been in this House, ~· Bc\.Yare of His ~I aster's V' oice." No person m Queensland_ can find that he did anything at tl1osc meetmgs.

A GovERN~!EKT 1\lE~BER: They changed their policy.

At 4,17 p.m., The CHA!R~!A:> resumed the chair.

Mr. KIMMO: They changed their policy from that very meeting.

A GovERN~IENT l\1niBER : He was responsible for it,

Mr. :'\IMMO: Was he the only member there? Mr. Stcvens, the Kew South \Vales Treasurer, had taken the place of a Labour Treasurer in that State, Mr. Hogan had left Victoria and a Nationalist Treasurer had taken his place, and in addition, there were the Premiers of South Australia and Western Australia, yet it is claimed that our Trea;;urer changed the polic;: of the Premiers. There has been no change in the policv at alL Everything is exactly the same. ·The trouble was that during the reign of Mr. Scullin in the Federal Parliament and Mr. Lang in New South Wales, confidence in Australia had got to such a low ebb that there was no poseibility of getting any loan money at alL Interest rates were very high until the Premiers' Plan brought them down, but that was only in May or June, 1931. The whole of the policy of the Premiers

Mr. Nimmo.]

390 Supply. [ASSEMBLY.] Snpply.

'vaf' to "\Vol·k up confidenC'e in Austra1iu. 'rhc first mouey that we got to spend "a' obtained by the l\Ioorc• Go.-ernmor,t. antl was being spent when the present Go.-ernUlent assurncd officP.

The SECHETARY FOR LABOUR A~D INDl'STHY : Do not apologise for your inaction.

:\h. NIM:VIO: I should like to draw atteui ion to the inaction of the hon. gentleman iu very many things in his department. As a matter of fact. a deputation asked him I .l gi.-e the relief "·orkers of this State an •·xtra dav's work. ·when he was on this <id" of tl1e Ch:unb<Or he said they could .-erv well be paid the fnll basic wage, and the~ ''"'uld bo paid the wage.

The SFCHFT.\RY FOR LABOUR AKD IKD"CSTRY interjected.

Mr. :i\TH'\10: Tlw full weekly basic "·ag , 1:<' said. He told that deputation he coulcl uot P'"sibl,- do that; if he did give that ''dTa dav he would have to double the relief 1 1x. Well, is he carrying out his job?

The SECRETARY FOR LABOl'H A~D INDUSTRY : Yes.

~Ir. NIJ\D:IO : He tells the people that '''" Federal Government arc taking money from the poor, old-age pensioners. Although ti"'Y are paying them 17s. 6d. a wcck-35s. n week fot a man and a wife-he has the tc'nlcrit.v to expect a J oung and Yigorous !llan and wifP to exi't on £1 Os. 3d. a week; nnd if the woman goes and gets a job cleaning out a .~ciJool Ol' doing sorr1e othPr little y;ork he HaV:-'3, "No.n th0 rnan is infonnecl: '• You lllUf'tustop at horlle now aiHl I \Yill giYe you rations. rrhat is a regular fixed income you are getting."

The SECHETARY FOR LABOl'H A"D IXDUSTRY : Your Go.-crnrnent imposed that condition, but it was 1nuch harsher then.

1\[r. :\Tl\IJUO : Our Government did nothing uf thB sort. Om· Government allowed eYery unemployed man in this State to earn np to £1 a week before he "·ent off relief work on to rations. Before I pass from this nrocpcotive deficit for which so much credit has been tn ken, I should like to remind hon. nH'mbC'r"' opposite that tho Commonwealth GoY('rnnwnt have made a gra11t to the State o£ £286,000. If it were not so the shortage at lh?xt June "ould be £257,926 more than what the Go,·ernmont an' budgeting for to-cl ty. I am very disappointed. I think thai the Budget is simply the Budget of a man who had a careful wife, tc "·horn he Jws for ~omP 1·ime hrougl1t his '~alarv of £5 each wcPk. Feeling that his growing family \H'r<' not getting enough, he w0nt to the iJ 1nk and raised an overdraft of £500 on r he security of the home his wife had paid off. H c then brings homo £10 a week until the £500 raisul on the horn<> is exhausted. That illu.sttah•s the spendthrift polic0• of the r.'J1n'a8un'r. It is a case of sin1ply bnrro\Y-1ng all the HIOllPy one can g0t and leaYing thn troubl(' io the fntur('. sow1ng the wind and rPaping H1e whirhYind. ArP tY1ings improving ln Queensland a~ they said? A grnt deal of credit i, being taken for the wonderful improvement in this State.

The SECRETARY FOR LABOUR AxD IxnvsTRY : Tl1at is so.

Mr. ND1::\f0: The hon. gentleman says so. The improvement is not anything like what it is in the Southern States.

[Mr. Nimrno.

Th0 SECHE'rARY FOR LABOUR AKD IxDUSTRY : \Ye ha ye the lowest percentage of unemployed in this State.

Mr. NIMMO: Let us analyse that statement-. \Ve have no secondary industries in this State. \Ve had .a Labour Government in po\vor for fourteen years up to 1929, with the result that every such industry disappeared. Comparatively speaking, there are no sccondarv industriPs in the State. 'We lmYc a very few employing up to 300 persons. In the Southern States we find secondary industries, each employing up to 4,000. 5,000, to 6,000 hands. Naturally, Gln-ornrnents in those States would experit•nce greater difficulty in finding employment in tlw secondary industries than is the cas0 in Queensland. Queensland is e"en-ti all;~· a primary-producing State, and during the time of the Moore Government it was a well-knov,n fact that Queen-land h td the lowest percentage of unemployment in the whole of Australia. The Secrctarv for Lahour and Industry knows that. ..

'l'h<e SEC~!;TARY FOR LABOUR AND I;o;D1TSTRY :

\Ylwn we took office in 1915, you had the ''~·hest percentage.

J\fr. XI.M:\IO: A large body of indnotrial \Yorkcrs in the South must be provided 1\ ith l?ll1llloyn1Pnt, aud the various GovernrnPnts haYe had to g-rapple •vith the problem. \Yl1c-rc 'vc en1ploy ten persons in an industr)~ in this State thousands arc employed in the South.

The SECHETARY FOR LABOUR \KD Txvr·;nHY: \Yhat about tho 10,000 jobs?

::\Tr. C\'IMMO: If the Secretary for Lahoul' and I11clustrv wi1l n1ake comrno~1~cnse interjc•ctions 1 s-hall repl;~· to him. I am now discussing his d0pa rtnrcnt, and I am pointiilg out that he is not carrying out his- job of endPctvouring to place the pt•oplc back in employment upon decent standards. The figures I arn about to quote are ba ,p<J on the numbers of unemployed unionists throughout Australia, which is more then tt

fair comparison for Queensland.

The SECRETARY FOR LABOUR AND Ixn1 'THY: \Vhv :a.ro vou al·ways decrying your O\Yl1 Stafc? ~

~,[,._ :\'Il\I:\IO: I am not c1ccrying my ""''' Statc.

~i r. G .. nR: '{ou ::trP dr•cr::-jng and cxploitlllg your State.

'\Ir. l\"I:\IMO: The l1on. member said that l have exploited mc- o1<n State. The hon. nl('tnbcr ,,hould wjthdravv that retnark.

The CIL\.IRl\IA:\' : In my opinion. the cntcrjcction was not offensive in a political :-:crn;:c nor do I think it was n1ado in a pcr~onal sense.

:VIr. J\TMMO: The hon. member statPd that I had exploited my mvn State. I haYe ne.-cr done that. He went to work for the ''tatc and has been paid by the State ewr sine he left school. He has never earned one penny jn lm:-~inc,ss. He has not done anv g·ood for the State. 'The only morwy lh;t he has ""trned lw has oarnt'd from the Star- --he hns faitencc1 on the State. The following figures, based on the number ,of


unemployed unionists throughout the Comn1on\vealth, '<hO"\Y the irnprovemcnt 1n unernployment per thousand :-

South Austrulia Tasn1ania \V cstern Australia \7'"ictJria :\'ow South \ValcQuoonslund

120 95 98 92 82 72

Qneensland is the lowest on the list, and if WP analyse the figure3 a I i ttlo further thn po,ition for Queensland is still worse. During the regime of the present GoYernrncnt the number of nnionists in this State has bren doubled because the Govermneut haYo ordered every breadwinner in the State to pay a poll tax by becoming a n1e1nber of a union. By enforcing preference to unionists, the Government have been rc:;pon::-:iblc for an increas8 in the number of unionists in this State, otherwise the per<·Pntage of improvement would have been vPry much loss in this State. The employment and prosperitv in the South are in sl!·iking contrast \Yith the Jlosition in this State. The stock and share brokers of Brisbane aro advising thoir clients to pay attention to the co1npanics that are in op~ratio" in the Southern States of _\ustralia. Although it may be claimed that certain c-ompanies in Queensland have improved their financial position. 'Ye cannot overlook th0 \\ onderful prosperity now enjoyed by comparm> in New South \Yalcs. \Vhat about lhc wonderful prosperity in Victoria and what about the \YOndcrful prosperity in :-\outh Australia? \Y a.s all this brought about b_v this wonderful Mr. Fmgan Smith, who is alleged to have waved the magic wand at the Loan Council? He has not been in control of all the Governments of Australia, }et the in1provemcnt in industry is more marked in the other States than !t is in Queensland.

:\Ir_ \Y. T. KING: \Yhy not consider the share index here?

::\Ir. KD1MO: The share holding of such <:ompanies as DaYicl J ones Ltd._ AnthonY Hnrderns Ltd-. and Farmers Lt-d., hav-e moro than doubled in value. In Quepnsland a few con1panics lmYe in1provcd their financial position.

:\fr. \VATEHR: SincP when ha no the shares doubled in price?

:\Jr. XIM::\IO: Since the Lvons Gm·ernlnent \VCl'C returned to povver. ~

::\Ir. \VATEHS: Give ns one case.

Mr. NIM:HO: The Broken Hill Proprietarv Ltd., \vhose shares incrca~ed ft·orn 16s. 9rf to 52s. Hero is a big undertaking <'ngagcd in tho manufacture of steel, one of t!to biggest works in Australia, employingfrom 5,000 to 6,000 men. Anthonv Horderns preference £hares have gone up oto 24s. 6d. whlht the ordinar;;r shares increased in price from 10s. to 18s. 6rL

::\lr. \Y. T. Knw: Since the Lyons Govern-'lll('IJt ,,., ere returned to power 't

Mr. Nll\Il\10: Yes. ::\Ir. \V. T. KrKG: That is quite \HOllg.

::\1>·. J\TI\1:\10: It is absolutelv correct. The shares of every well-managed. company m the South have nearly doubled in price. In South Australia the shares of Holden's Motor Body Works stood at 9s. 4d. the day lwforc :Mr. Lyons was returned to power and they arc now selling at 23s. 6d. Othe;,

shares have improved in the South in the sarno way.

The SECHETAHY FOH LABOl'H AXD I NDrSTHY: Bow do vou account for the fact that the same finn during last month established motor works in Brisbane?

Mr. NIMMO: I am Yery glad to haYo that interjection. That firm has established works in Brisbane for the assembling of motor cars. They import motor bodie> from South Australia to Brisbane: thev arc not manufacturing n1otor bodies in Br.isbanc.

The SECHETAHY FOH Lmm:n AXD TxncSTRY: They have estahlished a factory here.

1\Ir. ~IMMO: It is onlv n factorv for p,ssc1nbling n1otor bodies al1d doing 1~cpair \\ark. It is a crying sharnc that there are no big industries in QucPnslancl. It should he the enclc:tYour of the Government to <'Sbblish industries lwre for the purpo>e of providing· permanent employment.

Judging by the hug-e expenditure of loan money forecast in the Budget an election is shortly <hw in Queensland. E\·on with the expenditure of that loan monev the Govormnent will not accomplish tlwir object iYe because the pPople of Quel'nsland will not be decei,·ed by promiceo of a huge expenditure of loan money in order to keep rhem in power There is no doubt that the Opposition. led by the hon. member for Aubigny, will he returned as the Government l'al'tv at the next election. vVe shall then see a def-inite drive for the establishment of permanent industries. The people of Queensland are getting it firmly into their heads that as soon as the expenditure of loan money is finished the problem of unemployment will be greater than ever. There is the question of the Kangaroo Point Bridge.

Mr. GAm: \Vhat about the Indooroopilly Bridge'!

Mr. :\'Il\lMO: The Indooroopilly Bridge is being constructed hy priYate enterprise, hut the money used to construct the Kangaroo Point Bridge is the p<'ople's money. The people of Normanton, Cape York Peninsula. Townsvillc_ and other centres will be taxed for the construction and upkeep of a utility like the Kangaroo Point Bridg·c which will be of son-ice to Brisbane onlv. That bridg-e is being foisted on the· people Will it provide any permanent employment? The Treasurer .'aid that it would !ind employment for 600 men over a period of three years, while the hon. member for ::\1aree 'ccn(cnds that it would provide work for 800 men. No doubt 1,000 men will be engaged on the Kangaroo Point Bridge making the earthworks immediately before lhe elections, but when the actual construction work of the bridge is commenced the prog1·ess of the work will be slowed down because the election will be OYer. JYlost of the material required for the Kangaroo Point Brid~e will come from the Southern States, and the people of Queensland will be taxed for the benefit of those engaged in its manufacture.

A GovEHKi\fEXT l\fE:\IBEH: All the material will be purchased in Australia.

:\Ir. ~IMMO : A great quantity of the material will be purchased in New South \V ales. I am contending that the money contributed bv the taxpavers of Queensland will be used "to purchase" the steel required from the Broken Hill Proprietary Company';,

Mr. Nim~no.;

392 Supply. [ASSElVIBLY.] Supply.

eteel works and the Australian Iron and Steel Company, The ironwork will be the work of experts, and will uot be "lone by our unemployed. A gTeat many of these men will be imported from Sydney. Yet the Government for some unexplainable reason am forcing that expenditure on this State !

The Budget does not give any ray of hope or ground for confidence of permanent work. All that the people can hope for is a little temporary relief during the time loan money is ftltering· through the various GO\ernrnental channels, but afterwards, when it has rt'tnmed to the pockets of the \\'ealthy people, which eventually it will do, the taxpayers will be left to pay the interest on it fur 1nanv vears to con1e. Yet the Treasurer talks abot;t the bnovancv of the revenue ! There is no doubt that the revenue shows an increase. That naturally follows the actions of the Goyerurneut in irrigating goYernmPntal 0xpemliture with loan money. In addition to the loan money expended by the lloYerruncnt. there was an extra incon1e last year of £4,000,000 from the increased price of wool.

Mr. W. J. CoPLEY: Tell us about your 'hcep farm at Barcaldine.

Mr. ::\TMMO: The hon. member for Bulimha after bossing the public servants rode on their backs into Parliament.

C\Ir. \Y. J. CoPLEY: You got your daughter into the public sen·ice.

Mr. :;\fl:\li\'IO: If the hon. member ever has a daughter I hope he will show her more respect than he has ehown mv daughter since I have been in Parliament. My daughter is now living in Melbourne and has been living there for some considerable time. but the hon. member has neYer had anything to say in that regard. I only hope that if he has a daughter she will get bcttPr trcatniCllt fl·orn a gcntlernan, \Vhich the hon. mc>mber is not.

Mr. GAIR: You used your influence to get her a job in the public service.

Mr. ::\'IMMO: That is a dcbliberate lie! You arc a liar!

The CHAIRl'viA:'\: Order ! The hon member knows the rul0s of the Chamber and he must withdraw those offensive expressions.

Mr. Nil\IlVIO : I ask for the withdrawal of the statement made concerning myself.

Th" CHAIRMAN : I do not know whid, hon. member made the statement.

Mr. :'\IlVIMO: The hon. member for South Brisbane.

The CHAIRMA:'i": I should like the hon. member for South Brisbane> to withdraw the statement to which exception is taken by the hon. member for OxiE'v.

Mr. GAIR : I would like to know to what the hon. membr;r for Oxley objects.

Mr. GODFREY MoHGAK: You know ver.v well what he objects to.

The CHAIRMA='i: Order !

Mr. :;\fiMMO: The hon. member has repeatedly said in this Chamber that I used my influence to get my daughter a job in the public service. My daughter was a barrister and Mr. Story asked my daughter to apply for the job. (Government laughter.) I had no influence in the matter. The hon. member insinuates again that I used my

[Mr. Nimmo.

infhiPnce in the matter and I ask that he withdraw the statement he made.

The CHArRMAN: 'I'he hon. memlxr for Oxloy denies that he used influenep to secure the appointment of his daughter to the public scnice. and I ask the hon. member for South Brisbane to withdraw the exprc~sion he used.

Mr. GAIR: In deference to the !ton. member for Oxley, I will accept hi·• assurance that he did not use his influence to get his daughter a job in the public scnice.

The CHAIRMAN : I ask the hon. mcmLH'r for Oxlcy to withdraw the offensive Pxpr·es~ious }JO used, namely. "rrhat is a dellhcrate lie; you arc a liar."

Mr. :\"Il\nfO: I withdraw. Unf]uestionablv the revPnun n1ust be buoyant ·wl1cn a huge arnount of loan money is being PXJWlldcd. l\Ioreover, wool prices haYe increased and gold has risen in value. The goldrnining \Yodel is practically eXp[rieneing a boo1n, and here in Qu0ensland \YC' are getting an increased procluctiou. Tlw Government have had the advantagr·s 1 mention but still claim credit for the wonderful buoyancy in revenue. Do rot forget that the Government haYe had a drn·e among:-;;t business people to pay up arrears of income tax. These people were thruttenrd with dire nenalties and the rec,uJt is that a large sut;l of n1oney in arrears has b0Pn collected, but in the process the bnsincssc, have suffo-retL awl many employees hal'e bPPll dis!llaced.

Hdcrence is made to the fact that thl' earnin[\'s of the milways were £252.674 l::dtec than the previous year. Do not forget that thE' GoYernment increased fares and freights. anticipating that they would thus secure £325,000.

The Treasurer claims that by his policy the Yelocitv of circulation has been accelerated. vY; all know there is any amount of mol'ev in the world and that it is onlv a o-rcater . Yelocitv of circulation that. is ~equirecl; yet i:.hc hon. gentleman c!ain1.-;. credit for having accelerated that circulation.

Tht> Treasurer aho states-" \Vith the exception of the :' <·ar

1932-33, the expenditure from the revenueaccount last vear was less than in anY ye' r since th~ year 1924-25."

A verv excellent reason why the cxpenditnrP should be lower is that the Government haYe been doing all the work they possibly can from loan funds rather than from l'eYenue.

0! o cre2it is given for the saYing of £264,000 in exchange on American loans. \Ve recall how huge loans were raised in America by Mr. Theodore at a time when Labour had an orgy of extravagance simnar to that now being indulged in, carrying thl' high rate of interest of 7 per cent., which, having regard to the increased rate of exchange and other expenses, meant a co~t, to the Statf~ at certain periods of 14 pcr cent. I should like to know just what tiH' American loans did cost, for I feel sum that thev cost infinitelv more than is offset by any benefit recei,·ed" by Queensland.

A great deal has been said in the Budget about borrowers from the Agricultural Bank and the workers' dwellings funds. Those people haye not been afforded any r<>lif'f


lmt are told that next year the interest rates pavable by them will be reduced by 1 per ccnt., although .every bank or financial institution in Austraha has reduced 1ts rates of interest en an average 2 per cent. Had it not been for the motion on the businesssheet by the hon. member for Cook we might not ~1ave had any stat0n1ent relating to any rpduction of interest by those people. The Gov0rnment could not face the House and allow that motion to be debated, so they sav. " \\' e "·ill give you a rebate of 1 per ce;Jt."' I consider that interest rcbah' should be applied immediately for many of th?se people who have borrowed money arc havmg considerable difficulty in meeting their payments and are still paying the rate of interest charged \vhen conditions '5,-ere normal. Although the Government are getting money by way of Treasury bills at 2k per cent. these people are still paying a h1gh rate of interest, and I utter a strong prote,st against the continuance of that ,tate of affairs.

Wo all hoped that some relief from taxation would be indicated in the Budget. I thought oome relief would be afforded those persons v;-ho arc in receipt of £4 or £5 a week and have large families to ouppon and who c~tn ill afford to pay the large amount dcdueted frorr1 their earnings in the form of unemployment relief tax. Old people "·ho are drawing £30 a year or so fr~m the rent of a small cottage arc still compelled to pay 3d. in the £f for UJ_rernplonncnt relief. If, as the Treasurer md!catcs, we hav·c emerged from the crisis, and cvprvthin<r is blooming surelv the Governmcnt can o do without tl{e 3d. In the £1 that these old people are obliged to pay! Taxation is bleeding the country white, and there is no pos,sibility of inducing new industries to come to this State unless the burden of taxation is lightened. \Ve are collecting a greater amount in land taxation in this State than in all the other States put together.

-:-.rr. FoLEY: How do vou reconcile vour statement with the rise in share prices''

:\[r. J'\IMMO: That does not apply to Queensland except in one or two isolated pia('·'•. \Ye have \Valkers Limited in Maryhorough, Finney Isles Limited, and the (Jucr•Hsland Cement and Lime Company. Limited, at Darra, just a few companies whose shares have risen in price and are doing well; but the majority of companie,s are still in the doldrums. The balancesheet of Allan and Stark Limited is the worst they have produced. \Ve are still in the doldrums in Queensland, and we shall not emerge until some relief in taxation is afforded. When it is found that 65 per cent. of the wealth production of the State is absorbed in Government expenditure, whereas a few years ago it was 28 per cent., it will be realised that we are faced with great difficulties. The Treasurer's Budget affords no relief from taxation, and can be contrasted with the Budget presented bv- tho New South \Vales Trea,surer, who \vas faced with the most difficult job any Treasurer could be faced with when he followed a Labour Government whose deficit amounted to £14.227,845 during the last ypar of office. During the following financial y;,ar. 1932-33. Mr. Stevens reduced the deficit io £3,758,839, for 1933-34 it was reduced to £3,208,391. and the pstimated deficit for 1934-35 is £2,910,000. Considering the

difference in population betv. een Queensland and :-Jew South \Yales, the deficit is 5s. a head less in Kcw South \Vales than the estimated deficit in this State. The rovmuo in Kow South \Yales h~ts slightly decreased, but that is duo to the remarkable reduction in taxation.

It has equalled £4,806,000. or an increase of about 63 per cent. oYer the remissions of the last financial vear. What a wonderful hope that holds out to industry ! What a wollCicrfnl thing it is for industries to get that relief and for that extra money to be spent in the employment of further people! Tho number of unemployed has now been reduced in New South Wales to 85,000 from 115,000 the jl!'ov-ious year, and that is in a State where there is a large industrial popu· lation. I feel sure that the Budget brought forward in New South \Vales is entirolv diffe1·ent from the one produced to us. In Queensland it simply brings gloom to the people-nothing else, except ,. borrow, borrow, borrow, and leave the unemployed up in the air." The New South \Vales Budget g-i ,-es hope that every person will be back, not in temporary Government employment, hut in pcrrnancnt \YOrk in factories; not in a job on the Korth Coast railway line for

ht weeks and then at home eight weeks, and having to get political influence to get another spell of work! 1'\o; these people a J'C getting bnck into tho factories. at the 1nacl!incs and loorns, into jobs of a perm.a,w:--nt. nature. This is the effect of giving 1wople some relief from taxation and some incPntiye to go fonvard. The money that is saved bv the reduction in tax11tion has been r>xpcnded in industry. I notice. also, that in K ew South \Y ales the cost of exchange '' lS £1.857,440, or £188,570 less than last year. The Government were convinced, we are told, that the indirect benefit from this pa~·ment far outweighed this charge. In our n\\n State we have a Treasurer who is lamenting that the exchange rate is against us. whereas the Treasurer in the Southern St"ato says that the benefits from the r xchange far outweigh its disadvantages. I feel sure the people of Queensland will recognise that the New South \Vales Government arc far ahead of the Labour Goyermnent in Queensland.

What did the present Government inherit when they came into power? They got a net cash balance of £1,023,804, and had practically unlimited borrowing resource3. Everybody will admit that as soon as Scullin and Lang were got rid of the bar· rowing resources for Australian wore enormous. Until the Governments represented by these individuals were deposed, Governments could not raise "two bob." The 'l'reasurer himsplf knows that if Lang were in office in Now South Wales and Scullin controlling the administration of the Federal Government. ho could not get loan money, but would have to g·o beg-ging. He might get Treasury bills, but he could not get genuine money. sterling, or money with a gold backing. Thanks to the restoration of that confidence in Australia the Treasurer is in a position to obtain loans, and as a result he can carry out works. My concern is that the works he proposes to carry out are of an unproductive nature, and consequently a large amount of interest will have to be met by general taxation. At the time of his accession to office the Treasurer inherited a public debt reduced

Mr. Nimmo.]

394 Special Adjournment. [ASSE:\IBLY.]

bv £539.789. The annual intcre>t on the p~blic debt had been rr>duccd by £248,656. a; compared with 1929-30, and the annual sa1ary and wages bill for GoYcrnineut cmployr·es hnd been reduced £2,812.831. )u:d although the Government employees were to]d they were being badly treated by the Moo re Government, very little or no effort bas been made to giv• it back until just ruv. bcfor0 an election. The Treasurer got iLto power and realised that what the :\[oorc• Government had done had to be done. He now tells these people he is giving thrern back 2~ per cent., although he definitr!v told them from the hustings that he would restore to them their privileges. R.ight at the eleventh hour they have been informed they will be given the opportunity of appearing before the Industrial Court. The-' have been told this right on the eve of an election, and we all know the reason why.

At the time Labour reassumed office there was no Treasury bill OYf'rdraft in Queensland, although the other Govcrnmenh of Australia had £82,670.000 of 'l'reasury bills outstanding. rrhe prc,..;ent GoY0rl1I11f'llt al~o inhcritr'd the lo\ve,,t percputagf' of uneJJlployerl, the highest real wage·; and the lowc.3t cost of living in Australia. They have enjoyed the benefits of \\Onderful S<'ilsons and a we\con1e increase i11 the price of wool, yet the unemployed an' still "itli us and are still waiting for that sumhinr and happiness promised to then1 by the Treasurer. They realise that at the present time they are n1crely c~ngage.d upon temporary work pmvidcd by tbt' expenditure of loan money and that when the work is completed other temporary work vvil! have to be provided by a further expenditure of loan money.

The Government are always talking about the d0sire to release further credit for the services of the community, but I have made it widely known throughout my electorate that the Go,·ernment haYe not at heart any sympath_;· for the working people, they are merely out to suit their own particular [ll.U'llV'.t"3. During tlwir first year of office they railed ag-ainst the so·called terrible Moo>·o Government becance the l\lome Go· ,·ornnwnt failed to proYido work for the pcopl<', but during that very year the prc;;;cnt Go\-ernrnent spent loan money an1ounting to only £2,188.022. During their first twenty montho of office their loan expenditure was at the rate of £181,298 a month, but for the nPxt six months thoy spent at tho rate of £368,229 a month.

The CHAIRJ\L\N: Order! The hon. mcm. ber has exhau,ted the time allowed him under the Standing Orders.

The HP-use J"('sumed.

The CH.UR}IAN reported progrees, and asked lea Ye to sit again.

Resumption of Committee made an Order of the Day for Tuesday next.

SPECIAL ADJOUR.NME~T.

The PR.El\IIER (I-Ion. W. Jfackay): I move-

" That the House at adjourn until Tuesday, next."

Question put and passed.

Forgan Smith,

its rising do 2nd October

The House adjourned at 4.58 p.m.

[Mr. Nimmo.

Questions.

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