Parliamentary

System In

Decay

By coincidence, three books

just published in Australia give

the background and the pattern of the political structure which bedevils Australia and New Zealand. fPHEY suggest also the hopelessness of our parliamentary systems in coping with the international develop ments which now threaten our standards of life, if not our very existence in the South Pacific.

The three books are:

• Living With Asia, By Dr.

J. F. Cairns, MP, published by Lans downe Press. 39/6.

Dr. Cairns is so far around to the Left that he has been accused of Communist associations. He flatly re fuses to see the menace of the grow ing Communist thrust in current events in South-East Asia, and employs his unquestioned talent in arguing his case against America and the use of armed strength, and in favour of establishing “peaceful, friendly re lations with the emerging nations to our north”.

Under our decadent Parliamentary system, this misguided but exceed ingly able man may be prominent in Australian public life in the future.

• Power In The Liberal

PARTY, by Katherine West, pub lished by F. W. Cheshire. 52/-.

Enormous research and some clever, forthright writing have gone into the compilation of the wearisome history of the various movements which now appear to have coalesced in Aus tr.alia’s seven Parliaments as the Liberal and Country Parties, It is a valuable record which shows, with tra g* c clearness, how and why the system > th f tast 30 or 40 years, has produced only one real statesman of international status (Menzies, of course). 9 EDDIE WARD, Firebrand of East s y dne Y, by Elwyn Spratt, pub lished by Rigby Ltd. 45/-.

A very well-written and readable account of the life and political career of one of the most fanatical Socialist fighters ever seen in the chief Aus tralian Parliament. It is of particular interest to older New Guinea planters and traders, because of Eddie’s activ ities as Territories Minister during World War 11, his allegations about “the Brisbane Line”, his attempt to turn the Papua-New Guinea Admin istration into a completely Socialist establishment after World War 11, and his dramatic involvement in the New Guinea Timber case.

Up to 50 years ago, the “democratic system” (one adult, one vote) usually put into Parliament the Community’s best available men, and they usually grouped themselves as liberals and conservatives.

Their chief aim then was not salaries and perquisites, but service to their country. That system pro duced statesmen.

The system fell into increasing decay when there appeared the pro fessional politicians, who based the political Labour Party on the newly formed trade unions, and compelled all unionists to subscribe to party funds.

To combat this, the non-Labour political parties were obliged to go to the trading and finance institutions for their fighting funds—a system just as vicious as that of the Labour Party, and just as completely a negation of the principles laid down in the original “Mother of Parliaments”.

From then on, popular respect for the system declined, and fewer and fewer of the country’s most able men entered the Parliaments.

Today, our legislatures are filled mostly by professional politicians, con cerned mostly with their perquisites and privileges, many of them semi literate and very few capable of con structive thought. The proof of it can be seen in Hansard—and much of the reason for it can be found in the

three books reviewed here.

Rwr.