DICTATORIAL

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 2, 4 January 1939, Page 10

DICTATORIAL

A RADIO BAN

STATION CUT OFF

MR. LYONS AGAIN HARASSED

(From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, December 23. Country Party Ministers in the Federal Cabinet commit blunder after blunder, cause storm after storm. No sooner does the sensation about Mr. Thorby's "crank-traitor" outburst against Mr. Curtin show signs of fading out than another Country Party Minister, Mr. Cameron, flings a political bomb by gagging commercial radio station 2KY without explanation either to the station or the public. Thus does Mr. Lyons's "strong-arm" colleagues heap trouble after trouble on that worried legislator's head. He is paying dearly for the co-operation of the Country Party. The "Sydney Morning Herald" puts it: "Mr. Lyons, at least, is entitled to a measure of sympathy in this latest contretemps. His Administration was earlier embarrassed by Mr. Paterson's blundering of the Freer case. Mr. Thorby's errors and indiscretions did it further injury, and now a third Country Party Minister's maladroit handling of a matter touching freedom of speech has aroused' a fresh storm. Never was a Prime , Minister more sorely tried by the predilection of his rural colleagues ■ for the strong-arm manner in democratic politics." Station 2KY is owned and operated by the Trades and Labour Council of New South Wales, which is on the opposite side of the political fence to Mr. Cameron. Last Wednesday, while in the middle of a race broadcasting session, the telephone lines connecting studio and transmitting station suddenly went dead. 2KY was off the air, by order of Mr. Cameron, who, as Post-master-General, possesses the . power, under the Wireless Telegraphy Act, to exercise a wide and strong censorship. Mr. Cameron, beyond accepting full responsibility, gave no explanation for the revocation of the station's licence. About a month ago, the secretary of the committee which controls 2KY was warned by Mr. Cameron that the station's new commentator had attacked individuals. The committee informed the management of the station that suclr attacks must cease. But without further communication or warning from Mr. Cameron the station was shut down —"charged and found guilty without a trial," as an official phrased it. POLITICAL TALKS. Without Mr. Cameron saying it, there is no doubt that action was taken because of the political talks. The commentator declares that all his talks were aimed at matters of Government policy, and not at individuals, unless the individuals were linked directly with national policies. Two subjects in the last week had been strongly dealt with by the commentator —the industrial dispute at Port Kembla caused by waterside workers refusing to load pig-iron consigned to Japan and the outburst by Mr. Thorby against Mr. Curtin. There was scarcely another topic of conversation late on Wednesday afternoon than the 2KY gagging, and there were many bitter remarks about the dictatorial nature of Mr. Cameron's action. Motor-cars with amplifiers travelled slowly along the city streets, putting 2KY's case before a staring public and demanding freedom of speech. Mr.' Cameron, having imposed the ban while he was in Melbourne, sped back by express to his home city of Adelaide, and there newspaper representatives sought to obtain from him an explanation of the action he had taken- He adopted a high-handed attitude. "I'm not disclosing anything," he said. "They know thundering well why the are off the air. In closing down the station I acted in accordance with the regulations vesting in me certain powers governing the operation of radio stations." He added that he did not have in mind the closing-down of any other broadcasting station at present. "One is enough for one^ Christmas;" he remarked. Later, when asked whether it was right to infer that he had taken the action on his own initiative, without consulting the Prime Minister, he said: "The inference can stand." A PREVIOUS "ESCAPADE." There were quick reactions to the ban. The newspapers editorially uttered protests. The other commercial stations offered 2KY time from their own stations to carry on a skeleton programme. Mr. Lyons telephoned Mr. Cameron. The secretary of the 2KY committee telephoned Mr. Cameron, and later travelled by plane to a resort near Adelaide where Mr. Cameron was holiday-making. The residt, when this was written,' was an expectation that 2KY would be on the air again before Christmas Day., Mr. Cameron may be recalled as a Government spokesman who, while actingl as a Minister, told a deputation of women who sought the Government's help in an "equal pay" i campaign that women were not worth as much as men and that their place was in the home. He got into hot water over that; the present bath is expected to scald him.