Реферат: Stanley Bruce's great industrial relation blunder
Page said the government expected to raise £600,000 from
the tax. He pointed out that attendances at amusements had risen from 78 millions
in 1922 to 126 millions in 1928. What he overlooked was that they mostly had votes.
To make matters worse, the government announced an extra duty of a penny per foot
on all foreign cinema films imported into Australia. The film interests immediately
got busy. They abandoned political neutrality. They decided to go after Bruce and
Page. The campaign was organised by the Motion Picture Distributors' Association.
Its president was Sir Victor Wilson. He had been minister for markets and migration
in the Bruce-Page government from 1923-26. He had been close to Bruce. Now he was
the general in charge of the forces uniting to defeat him.
Petitions against the Amusement Tax were signed in every theatre
in the Commonwealth. Members were bombarded with telegrams. Employees were told
theatres would have to close. Builders were informed there would be no new theatres
built. Shareholders in film companies were told that they` would lose their dividends
because the industry could not stand the strain. The member for Angas, Mr Parsons,
read to the House a telegram he had received:
Your persistent silence suggests that you deliberately ignore
vested interests whose life and livelihood is at stake. Unless intimation received
your return immediately, our representative leaves by plane to demand you take action.
Jepson, Secretary, United Amusement Interests.
The movie strategists realised that they could not defeat the Amusements Tax in
the House. But the Maritime Industries Bill to abolish the Federal Arbitration
Court provided them with their best chance. If they could defeat Bruce on that,
then they believed they were in the clear.
All the weekend there were feverish discussions. Every member
was lobbied. The Labor Party realised that it was getting unexpected allies. It
didn't hesitate to give the necessary pledges not to go ahead with the Amusements
Tax. The idea of having all the resources of the movie people to call upon appealed
greatly to Theodore.
In order to upset the government it was necessary to get three
more votes, in addition to those who had voted against the government on the second
reading.
Hughes was carrying the keg of dynamite. He had the time fuse
all ready. Nothing gave him more satisfaction than this chance to get even with
his two greatest enemies. He knew that Mann, and P.G. Stewart would do anything
to assist him. They hated as much as he hated.
George Maxwell K.C. had already indicated that he was against
the Prime Minister on grounds of principle, because it was a volte face on party
policy. W.J. McWilliams, the Nationalist member for Franklin, had also indicated
that he was against the bill being rushed through, and saw in it some kind of
threat to Tasmania.
That made up two votes. Another was necessary. Where was it coming
from? That was the big question canvassed over the weekend. There were all kinds
of wild rumors. Bruce said that if there was any delay in implementing the proposal,
he would go to the country.
Hughes threw down the challenge as soon as the House resumed
consideration of the Bill in committee on the Tuesday. He moved an amendment that
it should not be proclaimed until it had been submitted to the people either at
a referendum or a general election.
Again he thrashed Bruce with violating his own platform. He said
Bruce had concealed his intention from the people. He had promised that they would
soon round Cape Desolation and proceed into the Bay of Plenty. Instead he had put
the helm hard over and reversed course saying: "Unless you stand behind me
in this, you will walk the plank. Unless you tear up your election pledges, I will
excommunicate you."
Hughes accepted the election offer. "It will be the end of
the government and honorable members who support it," predicted Hughes
"The verdict will make it impossible for any political thimble-rigger further
to cloud the issue ... Let us go before the people and fight this battle once and
for all." Bruce took up the challenge. He denied that he had invited his followers
to "walk the plank". Many of them had voted against government measures.
But Hughes and Mann had impugned the honesty and decency of the government on
the John Brown issue. That was why they had been expelled. That was why they had
"walked the plank".
Bruce rejected the idea of another referendum. It was not constitutionally
possible. He said that if Hughes' amendment were carried the government would go
to the people. He was confident that he would again win. Bruce's announcement caused
a tumultuous scene. There were cheers and counter cheers from both sides. Members
were rocked by the shock.
J.H. Scullin, who had returned from a sick bed for the climax,
said the government was somersaulting on its own policy. It was trying to load
the court against the workers. He said the Prime Minister reminded him of a regimental
sergeant-major marching his recruits around a drill hall. "The Prime Minister
says, `Quick march!' They march. The Prime Minister says, `Halt, right about face,
quick march.' They march back. They are the political awkward squad."
The idea that a politician was not bound by the platform on
which he was elected was outrageous. The government had betrayed its trust to
the people.
The member for New England, Mr. V.C. Thompson, who had openly
attacked the government's proposal in his paper, The Tamworth Northern Daily
Leader backed out. He was not in favor of a dissolution. He said that the issues
would be twisted and distorted. They would have to wrestle with the prejudice of
tens of thousands whose minds were being poisoned by pernicious American propaganda.
He differed with his leader. He was still in favor of federal arbitration. But a
referendum would be defeated.
"Can the opposition in this House speak for Mr. Lang?"
asked Thompson. Scullin retorted, "Can the government speak for the big business
and oil interests?" Thompson said that what Lang decided would go with the
Labor Party in New South Wales. So he would vote against the Hughes amendment.
Then came the most dramatic moment of all. A new figure came into
the spotlight. He alone held the destiny of the government in his hands. It was
the immaculate figure of Walter Marks, Sydney solicitor and member for the conservative
blue-ribbon seat of Wentworth. He had served in the Royal Naval Forces in the First
World War and was Parliamentary Under Secretary for External Affairs from 1921
to 1923. Then Bruce dumped him.
Representing the elite of Vaucluse and Rose Bay, he had expected
to be invited to join the Cabinet on the death of Pratten. Instead Bruce selected
one of his most vocal critics –H.S. Gullett. To make matters worse, he gave him
the portfolio that Marks wanted most, trade and customs. It was Gullett who took
over film censorship. That was Marks' particular hobby. For two years Marks had
presided over a Royal Commission, which had inquired into the film industry. He
had travelled abroad. In Hollywood he had been feted by the stars. He met Gloria
Swanson, Clara Bow and Joan Crawford. There was even a suggestion that he might
be invited to leave his footprints in concrete. On his return he spoke for hours
about his thrilling experiences. He was full of plans. But Bruce put his report
into a pigeon-hole. Marks was very upset about the withdrawal of the John Brown
prosecution. He knew the Baron. Some of his clients had money invested in his mines.
The Baron had even bought him a bottle of beer at Randwick. But still Marks thought
the law should have taken its course.
When Marks rose, the House was tense and expectant. Marks fully
appreciated that the cameras and lights were on him. Veteran gallery men said
that the hushed silence was almost shattering. The fate of the government was in
the balance and Marks knew it. The Herald next day said: "The house
was literally breathless with excitement. As Mr Marks unfolded his reasons it would
have been possible to hear a pin drop. Mr Bruce alone, of all his colleagues, remained
unperturbed. He was magnificent."
Mr Marks said that he had promised his electors to vote for
the second reading. That was his only pledge. He recalled that he had appeared in
the first arbitration case before Mr Justice O'Connor on behalf of the employees,
with Hughes. He proposed to vote for the amendment. He would not be a party to
repealing 15 Acts by a single vote. Even the graziers were opposed to abolition
of the court.
It was the first time that he had ever recorded a vote against
the government. He objected to Mr Bruce taking everything into his own hands. He
had failed to consult his party. The Prime Minister had also failed to consult
them on the John Brown case. But his chief grievance was that Bruce had not consulted
him personally on the Amusements Tax. After all, he was the great authority on
that subject.
"If any man knew the position of the industry, I did, and
I should have been very pleased to give the government the benefit of all the information
I had gained, but I was not consulted concerning the proposed increase in the tax
on amusements," declared Marks.
So Walter Marks, faced with the choice between Mr Bruce as Prime
Minister and his loyalty to the movie interests, decided in favor of Hollywood.
"I told the Prime Minister he would have to go one way, and
I would go another," he said. He would not follow him in the proposal to impose
the Amusements Tax, so he proposed to register his protest by voting for the Hughes'
amendment. "The present position cannot continue. Let the people give their
verdict. There is one plank of the Nationalist Party in which I have always believed
–that is liberty of thought, speech and action."
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