'ON THE ROAD TO MOSCOW'

It is now just over 30 years since the distinguished British constitutional authority, Professor G.W. Keeton (later to be made a judge) wrote his great classic, "The Passing of Parliament", in which one chapter is chillingly entitled "On the Road to Moscow." Professor Keeton pointed out that the modern party dictatorship resulted in the emasculation of genuine parliamentary democracy, with the private Member reduced to the role of a rubber stamp for an all-powerful Cabinet.
The individual's "right" to vote meant little more than the "right" to vote in the Soviet Union. The situation has deteriorated since Keeton wrote his warning.

One of Australia's most distinguished State Governors, Sir Marcus Oliphant, described Australian's political situation as an ''elected dictatorship.'' The position of the Labor Party concerning Caucus domination of Members of Parliament is well known. It was restated by Mr. Bob Hawke, Labor Minister for Industrial Relations, in his appearance on Michael Parkinson's television programme last Saturday, May 16th. Mr. Hawke insisted that a member of a parliamentary Labor Party had the "right" to argue a point of view inside Caucus, but if this proved to be a minority view, the Labor Member of Parliament was then obliged to support a view he opposed, merely refraining from speaking in parliament on the issue.

Mr. Hawke said that if a Labor Member felt sufficiently strongly about an issue, you could always resign. Mr. Hawke did not point out that in practice no Labor Member resigns, realising that such a step would mean political death.

Mr. Hawke claimed that the parliamentary system could not operate without the disciplined party system, thus endorsing Professor Keeton's claim that no longer were public questions decided by a free, deliberate parliamentary assembly. No doubt this is Mr. Hawke's concept of "Democratic Socialism".

C.H. Douglas said that once one party starts to move towards Socialism, the tendency under the modern party system is for other parties to follow. The Tasmanian Federal Liberal Member, Mr. Max Burr, is finding out how true this statement is. We hold no brief for Mr. Burr, except that he should have the right to criticise his own party leadership freely without being threatened by his leader, or his representatives.

Following the Peacock resignation, Mr. Burr told "The Australian" that he regarded Mr. Malcolm Fraser as an "electoral liability". Although Mr. Burr said that he saw no alternative to Mr. Fraser at present, his candid assessment of the Prime Minister resulted in a warning from Liberal Party Chief Whip, Mr. Bourchier, that Mr. Burr might lose the party's endorsement for the next elections. Most political observers saw the threat as one emanating from the Prime Minister. The attempt to silence Mr. Burr resulted in six of Mr. Burr's parliamentary colleagues, one of these Mr. Andrew Peacock, writing a joint letter warning that
"Such action by the chief Government Whip would be seen to be taken on behalf of you and your executive government. It bears all the hallmarks of an attempt to interfere with the operation of the party organisation and the autonomy of electorate committees to make their own judgment on endorsement...May we draw your attention to the provisions of the federal platform of our party. Members of Parliament...are responsible to their electors either inside or outside the Parliament."

We suggest that electors concerned with making the system of representative parliamentary government work, should carefully mark for future reference what these Liberal Members have said. We observe, however, that we find it interesting that Mr. Peacock, for example, endorses the principle that Members should be responsible to their electors and not be directed by organisations outside parliament. We recall Mr. Peacock as Minister for Foreign Affairs claiming, for example, that the Federal Government had to close down the Rhodesian Information Centre because of a decision by the United Nations. A number of other issues could be cited showing how the Government of which Mr. Peacock was a senior Minister, has bowed to UN decisions and "world opinion."

The only hope for Australia surviving as a free, civilised nation, is for sufficient electors to take Mr. Peacock and his colleagues at their word, and insist that parliament be restored to an institution in which Members of Parliament freely debate and vote upon legislation as INDIVIDUALS.

BRIEF COMMENTS

The double standards of the Fraser Government have once again been demonstrated by the insistence that the activities of the "Razor Gang" and less funds for the States are moves towards "small government" and the "new federalism". If Prime Minister Fraser and his colleagues were genuine, they would immediately close down every Commonwealth Department duplicating or interfering with activities, which legitimately come within the province of the States. Victorian State Housing Minister, Mr. Kennett, makes the excellent suggestion that the Federal Government abolishes the Ministry of Housing and Construction and sack the Minister, Queensland National Party MP Mr. Tom McVeigh. Addressing a housing Seminar at Latrobe University last week, Mr. Kennett charged that the Fraser Government is adopting an "inhumane" policy towards low income families requiring houses, by allocating as much money in foreign aid for "destitute" nations as it does for destitute Australians. Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen of Queensland has consistently claimed that charity begins at home, and that much of foreign aid grants should be made available to needy Australians.

Every civilised person, including Christians of all denominations, must feel revolted and depressed by the attempted killing of His Holiness, Pope John Paul. A brave Christian leader who has consistently condemned violence for political objectives, including violence in Ireland, has become a victim of what he has preached against. Hopefully this cowardly attack on a widely respected Christian leader will have a sobering effect on those misguided people who have been conditioned to believe that the killing and maiming of innocent people is justified in order to draw attention to a "cause". The Soviets are now supplying the IRA with sophisticated military equipment, a recent report claiming that Soviet rocket launchers are being used, because they are interested in forcing the people of Ulster to accept government from Dublin. The growing use of terrorist attacks on the innocent is a manifestation of a disintegrating Civilisation. The wars of this century have seen the use of indiscriminate mass destruction of the innocent by all sides, a development aptly described by one honest British writer as "Advance to Barbarism".

The only, repeat ONLY, advantage we can see in pro-Zionist Malcolm Fraser' s policy of having Australian troops involved in supervising the Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab territory, is that the Australians will be able to learn something of how the Zionists have treated the Arabs.

THE TAX CUTS SWIFTLY

"The Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, yesterday said the Federal Government was closer to giving tax cuts - but did not say when they would come. - The Sun, (Melbourne) May 18th.
What Malcolm Fraser has done in his "confrontation" with the States at the recent Premiers' Conference has been to force the States into the position where the States will have to increase their own revenues through various increases in State charges and levies, and/or restrict various State services. Some State Premiers would hotly question Mr. Fraser's statement that - "To put it simply, the Commonwealth collects the taxes, and the States spend them." All Australians belong to one of the six States, or the two territories, and they all pay taxes to the Commonwealth, but for example, as has been pointed out earlier, much tax revenue is soaked up in expensive Federal Government duplication (or even interference) in purely State functions, such as Health, Education, Housing. There are others. Added to this there is the abolition of partial tax indexation, which in effect means that the Commonwealth will now rake in those extra millions: the tax cuts could be given now. The old Pea and Thimble trick is working well. Mr. John Howard (Treasurer) may give John Smith a dollar or two back; the States will rip this off, plus probably a bit more; and the Federal tax "take" grows bigger still. They've got it made; until maybe the next election.

From Hansard

Representatives (May 7th,'81) Mr. Peter Nixon, Minister for Primary Industry, on the Plant Variety Rights Bill (1981)
..."The proposed Australian scheme will, on the advice of the Australian Agricultural Council, be restricted to horticultural, ornamental, and other selected pasture and fodder species. The major field crops and annual pasture species will not be considered for registration under the scheme..."
"One of the most common complaints is that a plant variety rights scheme may lead to takeovers of Australian seed firms by multinational chemical companies. There is no denying that takeover bids can occur in any business activity, including the seed industry. There is nothing unusual about that in a free enterprise system. I am confident, however, that if any takeovers should occur in the Australian seed industry, they will not be as a direct result of plant variety rights legislation. Safeguards are provided for in this Bill against monopoly control that may not be in the public interest. These include powers for the registration authority to have control over licences and to ensure reasonable supplies of varieties at reasonable prices...."