PRESS RELEASE
NOT TO BE RELEASED BEFORE 3AM
WEDNESDAY 25TH MARCH
COMMONW'EALTH EDUCATION CONFERENCE
OXFORD, ENGLAND 15TH-29TH JULY,
( STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER)
The United Kingdom Government released the following
statement this morning
" All the Governments of ti-, e Common-wealth have now
accepted an invitation from the United Kingdom Government
to attend a Commonwealth Education Conference in Oxford.
from the 15th to 29th July. The principal Colonial
territories will also send representatives. Delegations
will be composed of officials and representatives of
educational interests including the universities.
Lord Halifax Chancellor of the University of Oxford
will be President of the Conference and Sir Philip Morris
Vice-Chancellor of Bristol Univei-sity will be Chairman.
The United Kingdom Government have invited delegates
to spend the week before the Conference visiting educational
establishments in the United Kingdom. They will be guests
of the United Kingdom Government for the whole period of
three weeks.
This Conference stems from a decision of the Commonwealth
Ministers at the Commonwealth Tr., tde and Economic
Conference held at Montreal in September 1958 that a meeting
should be convened by the United K0ingdom during 1959 to
formulate a new programme of Commonwealth Scholarships and
Fellowships and to review the existing arrangements for cooperation
between Commonwealth countries on all aspects of
education.
Prime Minister's Comment:
Mr. Menzies, in commenting on this announcement, confirmed
that Australia has accepted the invitation of the United Kingdom
Government to send a delegation to the Education Conference in Oxford
next July. He added that the composition of the delegation is now
being discussed with State Premiers and various interested
authorities.
rI STRICT EMBARGO. Not for publication, broadcasting or cabling
Defore f~ rn AW~ eme. nntse. aSs, T2a. hy, M . r h2,59h9 Mrch,, 159, NO. 9 / 195 9
CABINET DISCUSSION ON PARLIAMENTARY SALARIES REPORT
STATEMENT BY THlE PRIME MINISTER
Ministers have today considered and discussed the
report on salaries and allowances of Members of the Commonwealth
Parliament made by Sir Frank Richardson, Mr. G. E. Fitzgerald
and Mr. N. L. Cowper.
After an elaborate discussion, we have decided to adopt
the recommendations of the report without amendment, and will
introduce legislation accordingly.
As we are anxious that the Report should be care fully
considered as a whole, since it provides a great deal of important
material I do not propose to make any long comment upon it.
I say this because I hope that everybody interested will obtain
a full copy of the Report and study it. But four particular
matters deserve mention:
1, There is sometimes a complaint that Members of Parliament
" fix their own pay". The fact is that they are bound to
do so under the Constitution which provides Parliamentary
Allowances on a certain scale " until the Parliament
otherwise provides". As the Committee says: " It was,
therefore, clearly contemplated that the remuneration
of Members could be altered from time to time, and it
was laid down that any alteration should be made by
Parliament itself".,
My own Government has introduced, for the third
time now, the practice of referring the problem for
independent advice by an outside committee, making its
report after investigation from Parliamentary and non-
Parliamentary sources.
2. We have stated our policy that a review of these matters
should be made early in the life of each new Parliament
and that, subject only to quite abnormal circumstances, the
conditions then determined should apply unchanged
throughout the life of the Parliament. This, we believe,
is a sensible provision.
3. The 1951 Committee covered the whole field, including
the salaries and allowances of Ministers. The 1955
Committee was specifically asked not to deal with the
salaries and allowances of Ministers, or of Parliamentary
office-bearers, or of retiring allowances. The position
is, therefore, that these matters have remained untouched
and unconsidered for over 7 years.
4e. In view of constant misrepresentation, I should again
point out that the so-called " allowances" paid to
Ministers and private Members do not form in the ordinary
acceptation of the term, part of their salary. They
represent amounts which, if paid out by way of political
expenses, are then deductable. Nobody dreams of adding
to the salary of some business executive the amount of
expenses which he incurs in the business of his company.
Yet it has not been uncommon to find some commentators
adding to the salary of a Minister or Member an allowance
for political expenses which represents no nett gain to
himself. This is a matter which I urge people to keep
in mind when considering this important document.
t
.1 0 0
2.
The RePort sets out in close detail the nature of
the expenditure of a non-private kind which a Member of
Parliament is bound under modern circumstances to incur. I
would, therefore, urge that the closest attention should be given
to the reasoning of the Report. I am sure that, if it is
carefully considered, the general public feeling would be that
what has been recommended pays proper attention to the labours
and responsibilities of Members of Parliament and their wives,
and will help to give effect to the Committee's view that, while
the emoluments of Members of Parliament should not be
extravagant they should be of such a kind as not to deter able
men from entering the Parliamentary service of the nation.
CANBERRA, A. C. T.
24th March, 1959.