PM Transcripts

I 1
FOQR PRESS: P. M. No. 108/ 1966
MR. CALWELL'S REPUDIATION OF A. L. P. POLICY
Comment by the Prime Minister, Mr. Harold Holt.
Once again the wide division in Labor ranks has been demonstrated
by Mr. Caiwell' s speedy repudiation of policy points extensively circulated
in New South Wales, allegedly under the authority of the State Secretary of
the ALP in that State. It is reported that more than 500, UuO copies of a
pamphlet containing twenty-five points of Labor policy are being distributed
as th-e first shot of Labor's campaign in New South Wales.
After a detailed report of many of the main policy points had appeared
in the evening press, Mr. Calwell issued a prepared statement last night
explaining that the policy items had been taken from a document issued by
the New South Wales Branch of the Party and comprised extracts from the
Federal Platform of the Party.. He denied that these items had been agreed
on for inclusion in the Policy Speech. He asserted that the Policy Speech
had not yet been written.
These developments highlight the confusion which exists in the ALP
on policy matters. They add to the uncertainty in the public mind as to the
source of Labor Party policy. Does it proceed from the Federal Executive,
the so-cal led " faceless 36", or from the Parliamentary Party itself? The
incident provides another instance of Mr. Calwell repudiating much of the
official Platform of the Party on the eve of a general election. It will be
recalled that he went so far in one election Policy Speech as to give an
emphatic pledge that major, and highly controversial, areas of the Platform
would not be given effect during the life of the ensuing Parliament. No one
imagines that Mr. Oalwell, a dedicated socialist has abandoned these
policies. All but the most gullible would realise that, once firmly entrenched,
he and his colleagues would at some point of time give effect to policies
for which they have been striving throughout a political lifetime.
While Mr. Caiwell says the Policy Speech has not yet been written, the
Secretary of the ALP in the senior State of the Commonwealth, is apparently
permitted to flood New South Wales with policy undertakings derived from the
official Platform, but, on Mr. Calwell's statement, lacking any sponsorship
from the Federal Parliamentary P-arty.
Mr. Calwell says " categorically", to use his own term, " that there will
be no promise to introduce a thirty-five hour working week, with a subsequent
reduction to a thirty-hour week in the lifetime of the next Parliament", although
this is a significant objective set out in the Platform. He says he " will not
mention tax cuts or tax increases"~ Is he trying to imply that there will be no
changes in tax rates by a Labor Government over the three year term of a newlyelected
Parliament? Apparently with no change in revenue, a glittering
cluster of new benefits is to be provided. He says he " will not talk about the
establishment of a non-profit national insurance office to compete with private
enterprise". Does this mean he has no intention of adopting any such
policy, or the other socialist objectives of the Party, over the life of the
next Parliament? Honesty and good faith demand that the Labor Party comes to
clear decisions as to what it is the Australian people are being invited
to endorse. What has so far emerged is a species of fraud on the public.
CANBERRA October, 1966.