Federal Senate and Wider Powers Bill

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 66, 22 March 1944, Page 4

Federal Senate and Wider Powers Bill

(Special Australian Correspondent.) Received Tuesday, 6.30 p.m. SYDNEY, March 21. The Australian Senate’s vital third reading vote on the Wider Powers Bill will be taken this week. The Bill has already passed the House of Representatives and the Government now needs an absolute Senate majority to pass the Bill (authorising the referendum to give increased powers to the Commonwealth). With voting strength in the Senate at 18 for Labour and 18 for the Opposition the Government is depending on the vote of Senator Crawford (U.A.P., Queensland) for its absolute majority. Senator Crawford has frequently been absent from the House, giving the Government a simple majority of 18 to 17 in an evenly divided Senate membership of 36. However, because the Powers Bill provides for an alteration of the Constitution to allow the 14 powers now held by the States to be transferred to the Commonwealth, it cannot be passed unless it has the approval of an absolute majority of the full membership of the House —19 or more. To ensure that a full membership will be present for the vital vote the Government has announced a call of the Senate for 3 p.m. on Thursday aud any member failing to attend may be disciplined by the Senate. This discipline could take the form of either expulsion or fine. Senator Crawford has said that although he favours the referendum, he may not attend to vote a he wishes to be present at an important sugar conference in Queensland. His failure to attend would delay the passage of the Bill, though not indefinitely. It can be re-submitted to the Senate within three months, by which time the new Labour Senators elected at the last general election would have taken their seats so giving the Government a comfortable majority. Some political commentators express the belief that the Government would gain an important technical advantage if the Bill were defeated by Opposition Senators who have already lost their seats and who will be replaced on July 1 by Labour Senators. When the referendum campaign is under way Labour would then be able to accuse the defeated Opposition Senators, who will be campaigning against it, of obstructionist tactics. Emphasising the need for the wider powers sought by the Commonwealth, the Sydney Morning Herald says editorially that no legislation should be less provocative of party heats. The paper adds that too much can be made of the argument that the nation should not be distracted by a wartime referendum. and urges the Senate Opposition to reflect that at most it can only delav the enactment of the Powers Bill until Labour’s Senate majority becomes operative in July.