POLITICS & WAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 May 1943, Page 3

POLITICS & WAR

APPROACH TO ELECTIONS IN AUSTRALIA POSITION RATHER DELICATELY BALANCED. PARTIES AND LEADERSHIP. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, May 10. Ranging shots in Australia’s forthcoming Federal election battle are now being fired. Both the leaders of the Government and the Opposition have begun active campaigning. Though the elections are normally due in November, surprise elections are possible in July. Labour, which is at present holding office by virtue of two Independent votes, expects to increase its strength at the ballot. Much, however, will depend on developments in the intervening period. The Government’s greatest electoral asset at the moment is, perhaps, best assessed as the “public’s belief in the sincerity and strength of Mr Curtin’s war purpose as Prime Minister.”

Of the many whips now being employed by the Opposition to flail Labour in office, those most effective appear to be allegations of first, a vaccilating attitude toward industrial disputes, and, secondly, efforts to introduce Socialism under the guise of war necessity. Recent divisions among Opposition party members have not assisted the election chances of the joint out-of-office group. And many quarters feel, too, that success in the coming elections will require more dynamic leadership than may be afforded by Mr Fadden. Nevertheless, the position is delicately balanced, with no present clear-cut indication of the direction in which the voting may swing. In the 1940 Federal elections, Labour polled 1.911,000 votes, against 1,977,000 for the joint Opposition. Mr Curtin won the Fremantle seat by only 641 votes, but his high personal prestige is expected to give him a substantial majority at the next polling. While Mr Curtin is personally desirous that Parliament shall see out its full term of office, obstructionist tactics by the Senate Opposition majority rqay precipitate a crisis during the forthcoming June Parliamentary session, provoking the elections in July. NEED OF NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. Many Australians believe strongly that the scheduled Federal elections are a mistake, and that a National Government should be formed. “Elections with their weakening cleavage are only made necessary by refusal to form a National Government,” writes Sir Keith Murdoch, the Melbourne newspaper executive. He adds: “The hot breath of Japan scorches our very cheeks. The red embrace is held off by the sacrifice of our dearest and finest sons. But we are compelled to deal with the internal trouble of an election and accept its bitterness and disorder.”

Two reasons are advanced by Sir Keith for failure to form a National Government. These, he says, are: “First, the Labour Party is under the sway of professional trade union leaders who insist that an internal class fight must be pursued at any cost; secondly, the Labour caucus is revelling in the joys of office, pay and power.” There appears to be no likelihood, however, that the elections will be abandoned in favour of a National Government. One substantial straw in the wind is tentative “vote-catching” legislation in the shape of a Bill now being drafted for the June session to introduce national unemployment and sickness benefits. And, too, Mr Curtin, responding to genuine public unrest about the chances of Socialism by stealth, has declared: “We have not socialised Australia and we do not intend to do it just because we are at war.” Political correspondents comment that the statement offers no positive insurance against Socialisation