rIBtAUU: 7 IP. M. OUNDAY
QUEENSLAND BROADCAST NO, 16
THE SENATE
SUNDAY 6 JULY 1975
WHEN SENATOR BERT MILLINER DIED LAST
WEEK QUEENSLAND LOST ONE OF ITS ABLEST AND BEST LOV ED
PARLIAMENTARIANS. BERT MILLINER WAS A FAMILY FRIEND
OF MINE, SO IT'IS NATURAL THAT I SHOULD FEEL STRONGLY.
ABOUT HIM. BUT LET ME JUST SAY THIS: HE SERVED HIS
UNION, HIS PARTY AND THE AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENT FOR
MORE THAN A QUARTER OF A CENTURY WITH GREAT
DISTINCTION AND THE UTMOST INTEGRITY. MY COLLEAGUES
ADIWILL M1i33 HIM KEENLY.
WAS SORRY TO SEE, WITHIN A FEW HOURS.
OF HIS DEATH, A WELTER OF SPECULATION IN THE MEDIA ABOUT
WHETHER THE lQUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT WOULD APPOINT
ANOTHER LABOR SE-NATOR TO REPLACE HIM. IDON'IT WANT
TO SOUND SANCTIMONIOUS ABOUT THESE THINGS, BECAUSE WE
ALWAYS HAVE TO FACE THE REALITIES OF POLITICS; BUT THE
POINT IS THAT AT NO STAGE SHOULD THERE HAVE BEEN THE
SLIGHTEST DOUBT ABOUT THE PROPER AND HONOURABLE COURSE
FOR THE QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT IN THESE CIRCUMSTANCES.
YET WHAT HAPPENS? THE QUEENSLAND PREMIER STALLED.
HE REFUSED TO ACKNOWLEDGE HIS CLEAR OBLIGATION TO REPLACE
SENATOR MILLINER WITH ANOTHER SENATOR FROM THE SAME PARTY.
HE WENT ON ABOUT THE NEED TO CONSIDER THE MATTER, TO KEEP
THE PRIME-MINISTER. GUESSING AS IF THE INTERESTS OF
QUEENSLAND VOTERS WERE THE LAST THING THAT MATTERED.
2.
YOU'LL REMEMBER THAT WHEN SENATOR LIONEL
MURPHY RESIGNED FROM THE SENATE EARLIER THIS YEAR,
THE NEW SOUTH WALES GOVERNMENT FLEW IN THE FACE OF THE
LONG-ESTABLISHED AND HITHERTO UNBROKEN CONVENTION
THAT CASUAL VACANCIES IN THE SENATE SHOULD BE FILLED
BY A PERSON OF THE SAME PARTY AS THE SENATOR WHOSE
PLACE WAS BEING TAKEN. MR LEWIS SHOULD HAVE HAD NO
HESITATION IN DOING THE RIGHT AND PROPER THING
IN STICKING BY THE RULES OF THE GAME. INSTEAD HE
DECIDED TO PLAY IT SMART. HE BROKE THE RULES
AND APPOINTED A NON-LABOR MAN. IT DIDN'T MATTER TO HIM
THAT HIS OWN PARTY, INCLUDING MR SNEDDEN WHO WAS
TIHEN ITS LEADER AND EVEN THE SENATE ITSELF URGED
HIM TO STICK 3Y THE RULES AND DO THE PROPER THING.
HE BROKE ONE : F ThE FUNDAMENTAL CONVENTIONS OF OUR
DEMOCRATIC E~ 1, AND WHENEVER THAT HAPPENS THERE
IS ALWAYS A 7EMPTATION TO BREAK THE RULES AGAIN, THE
ROT SETS IN. ONCE A RULE IS BROKEN, OR A CONVENTION
DEFIED FOR THE SAKE OF SHORT TERM POLITICAL ADVANTAGE,
THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS WEAKENED. So IT'S NOT SURPRISING
THAT MR BJELKE-PETERSEN HAS BEEN TEMPTED, AND Nd DOUBT
ENCOURAGED, TO " DO A LEWIS". I CAN ONLY SAY THAT WHILE
MR BJELKE-PETERSEN ANDI HAVE OUR DISAGREEMENTS
OCCASIONALLY, I HAVE A CERTAIN RESPECT FOR
I AM HOPEFUL THAT IN SENATOR MILLINER'S CASE HE WILL DO
THE RIGHT AND PROPER THING AND APPOINT A LABOR PARTY
SUCCESSOR. QUITE FRANKLY, IT WILL BE SCANDALOUS IF
HE DOES OTHERWISE. s ./ 3
3,
NO DOUBT THERE ARE ELEMENTS IN THE
OPPOSITION WHO FEEL THAT, BY TAKING ADVANTAGE OF
A SENATOR'S DEATH, THEY CAN BOOST THEIR OWN
NUMBERS IN THE SENATE AND BE ABLE MORE EASILY TO
BLOCK THE GOVERNMENT'S LEGISLATION, WHAT WE HAVE
TO REMEMBER IS THE SHEER INIQUITY OF THESE TACTICS,
IT CANNOT BE STRESSED TOO OFTEN THAT THE OPPOSITION
HAS NO RIGHT WHATEVER TO BLOCK GOVERNMENT MEASURES
FOR WHICH THE PEOPLE HAVE EXPRESSED THEIR SUPPORT
THROUGH THE BALLOT BOX. A LITTLE WHILE AGO MR
FRASER WAS MAKING MUCH OF HIS NEW-FOUND SENSE
OF RESPONSIBILITY IN DECLARING THAT THE OPPOSITION..
iOULD NOT FRUSTRATE THE ELECTED GOVERNMENT'S
PROGRAM. IN FACT, THE OLD CAMPAIGN OF OBSTRUCTION
HAS CONT-INUE AS BEFORE. I CAN GIVE YOU A WHOLE
LIST OF BILLS WHICH HAVE BEEN REJECTED OR DELAYED
OR UNACCE. PTALY AMENDED IN THE SENATE OUR
REDISTRIBUTION PROPOSALS, OUR BILL TO MODERNISE
AND SIMPLIFY THE ELECTORAL LAWS, OUR BILLS TO
ABOLISH APPEALS TO THE PRIVY COUNCIL, TO ESTABLISH
A SUPERIOR COURT OF AUSTRALIA, TO DEAL WITH SHADY
PRACTICES IN THE SECURITIES INDUSTRY AND W
THE STOCK MARKETS, TO ESTABLISH A GOVERNMENT
PURCHASING COMMISSION, TO PROVIDE SIMULTANEOUS
ELECTIONS FOR THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES. .9 / 4
EVEN MORE SERIOUS THAN THESE ABUSES
IS THE BELIEF, FOSTERED BY THE OPPOSITION AND ITS
FRIENDS, THAT THE OPPOSITION CAN FORCE AN ELECTION
WHENEVER IT SUITS THEM. I ASK AUSTRALIANS TO
KEEP IN MIND THE ENORMITY, THE MONSTROUS INJUSTICE
OF THIS PROPOSITION. UNFORTUNATELY THIS IS ONE MORE
CASE OF A RULE ONCE BROKEN BEING EASIER TO BREAK
AGAIN. WE ALL KNOW THAT THE OPPOSITION LAST YEAR
FORCED AN ELECTION AHEAD OF TIME BY REFUSING SUPPLY
IN THE SENATE. THE SENATE WAS ABLE TO TURN OUT
A GOVERNMENT DULY ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE ONLY
16 MONTHS BEFORE' THE OPPOSITION PAID HEAVILY FOR
THAT, BUT THERE IS LITTLE SIGN THAT THEY HAVE
LEARNT THEIR LESSON OR ACKNOWLEDGED, NOT JUST THE
FOLLY, 3UT SHEER IMMORALITY OF THEIR ACTION.
GOVERNMENTS ':-EVITABLY HAVE THEIR UPS AND DOWNS,
AND Ji
GOVERNMENT S GOING THROUGH A VERY STICKY PATCH AT
THE MOMENT. BUT WE HAVE TO KEEP IN MIND THE
FUNDAMENTAL ? RINCIPLE OF ALL WESTMINSTER-STYLE
DEMOCRACIES: GOVERNMENTS ARE MADE AND UNMADE, NOT
IN THE UPPER SOUSE, NOT IN THE SENATE, BUT IN THE LOWER
HOUSE, THE PEOPLE'S HOUSE, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
GOVERNMENTS WOULD BE QUITE UNWORKABLE IF THEY COULD
BE TOSSED OUT BY AN UPPER HOUSE HALF WAY, OR EVEN A
THIRD OR A QUARTER OF THE WAY THROUGH THEIR TERMS
MERELY BECAUSE IT SUITED THE OPPOSITION TO EXPLOIT
A TEMPORARY ADVANTAGEa
I WAS APPALLED THE OTHER DAY, FOR EXAMPLE.
WHEN THE VIESTERN AUSTRALIAN PREMIER, SIR CHARLES
COURT, SAID THAT THE DECISION ON WHETHER TO HAVE AN
ELECTION WAS ENTIRELY ONE FOR MR FRASER. THE DECISION
HAS NEVER BEEN ONE FOR MR FRASER, IT IS NOT A DECISION
FOR THE SENATE; STILL LESS IS IT A DECISION FOR THE
LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION. BUT IF PEOPLE KEEP
SAYING THAT MIR FRASER IS THE ONE TO DECIDE,
EVENTUALLY A FEW PEOPLE WILL BELIEVE IT. IT'S THE
OLD TECHNIQUE OF-THE BIG LIE THE LIE REPEATED
OFTEN ENOUGH TILL IT GAINS RESPECTABILITY.
THE WHOLE IDEA IS INTOLERABLE, A TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE
AND DEMOCRACY. IHE PEOPLE ELECTED THE GOVERNMENT
A NORMAL 7-. EE--YEAR TERM. THEY ELECTED US TO
-ARRY OUT A WE ARE DOING JUST THAT AND
DUE COURSE, E-N THE TIME COMES, WE WILL SUBMIT
*: LURSELVES TO 7T-E PEOPLE' S JUDGMENT. IT WOULD BE
" 3SURD IF AN El-ECT-D GOVERNMENT IN THE HOUSE OF
-R. RESENTATiVEWSE RE TO DEPEND ON THE CHANCE
EXPLOITATION CF THE HEALTH OF INDIVIDUAL SENATORS OR
OBSCURE TECHNICALITIES IN THE SENATE VOTING SYSTEM.
AMID ALL THE CLAPOUR AND HYSTERIA OF THE MOMENT,
ALL THE RED HERRINGS AND UNSUBSTANTIATED CHARGES
OF THE OPPOSITION AND THE SENSATIONALISM OF THE PRESS,
REMEMBER THAT IT IS THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WHICH
ALONE DETERMINES WHO SHALL BE THE GOVERNMENT OF THIS
COUNTRY,