New Guinea Legco
pp. 21-22 · Read in the full issue
More Natives In Next New Guinea Legco
The Australian Government hopes to be able to reconstitute wpua-New Guinea Legislative Council this year to give it \iter native membership for most of its new three-year term. final meeting of the 1957-60 Council will begin in Port Moresby 123 and the Council is expected to be dissolved a few days later.
HON of three European Ibers (to represent Papua, 'New Guinea Mainland and ■ Guinea Islands) will be 27, with nominations nn July 4. ser, there is a possibility r ,y also be a greater number aean elected members in the for the present plans are new Council to be prorogued the meeting will be dis- H without the Council be zel ved) not long after it first meeting at the end Ear. The changes will fol :or a new Legislative Coun [been going on for at least us, but no statement is ex □ be made until after the known of the challenge ade in the High Court by ,w Guinea residents on the >of the Legislative Council, 4ther matters.
Earing is expected to begin > late in May, but it might ,il months before the result ji. An application to have :et for the hearing will be Ithe Chief Justice, Sir Owen during the month. The earing may take only about ys :eported in April that the ;ould be reconstituted this Towing its publication, the in Territories Minister, Mr. :made a statement in which ::red criticism (made by the in Press, including PIM) Australian part of New was lagging behind NNG y. He mentioned the pos :of recomposition in his It. local Govt. Best" ,sluck said the Government the best foundation for the advancement of the New natives was in Local Gov- Already almost 250,000 were accustomed to going oils to elect their own rep ves, and the Territory now native councillors, belong • councils.
Dvernment “had been aware time” that the hundreds ;s who had gained experi- ILocal Government councils Dvide candidates for higher iservice.
He said proposals for changes in the Legislative Council had been “under consideration for some time”. But because of a court chal lenge to the validity of the Council he could not make precise state ments or seek final decisions about the future of the Council. [The Council comprises 28 mem bers, and the Administrator, who is president. Sixteen are Gov ernment officials, three are native nominated members, six are Euro peans nominated by the Govern ment, and three are elected Euro peans. The Council was inaugurated in November, 1951, and there has
been no change in its composition since then. There b g? u "u elected Europeans in the Council since last September when the three men resigned in protest at the lack of adequate representation and over the tax issue. These men had been elected following the resignations, for the reason, three others in April, 1959.] In Port Moresby, last month, one of the former elected members (for Papua), Mr. E. A. James, who had been in the Council from its in auguration until last year, com mented that Mr. Hasluck s state ment about changes being under consideration” was not worthy of hl He said New Guinea people had been attempting to do something about Legco reform ever since a select committee was elected to re port on it in 1953.
That report had been presented in January, 1954, but not a thing had happened till May, 1957, when Mr. Hasluck announced there would be no changes”.
Mr. Craig Kirke, a Port Moresby barrister, who is President of the Taxpayers’ Association of Papua, said Mr. Hasluck’s explanation was nonsense. The court challenge to the validity of the Council had been brought about by Mr. Hasluck’s dis regard for the wishes of Terri tory people.
The real reason why no greater representation has been allowed since Legco was instituted “was that greater criticism of the Minister and his policies would be forthcoming from a greater number of elected members”. (See “Time for Changes in P-NG” p. 26)