8th Parliament · 2nd Session
Mr. Speaker (Hon. Sir Elliot Johnson) took the chair at 2.30 p.m., and read prayers.
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:.- I desire to give notice that to-morrowI shall move -
That the Government he severely censured for referring its sugar transactions to the Public Accounts Committee before disposing of the amendments moved by the honorable members for . Swan and Bourke, thereby delaying decision on the question of immediately reducing the retail price of sugar.
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– I desire to give notice that to-morrow I shall move -
That, in view, of the failure of the Government to supply information regarding its dealings in sugar and the separate balance-sheets, as promised for 9th August, to enable this House to promptly determine the proper reduction in the price of sugar, the Government no longer possesses the confidence of this House.
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– It seems that both the Labour party and the Country party axe anxious to’ destroy the sugar agreement. I desire to ask the Prime Minister whether he has seen in to-day’s issue of the Melbourne Age a statement by Mr. J. W. Aspinall, secretary of the Metropolitan and District Fruit-growers Association, to the effect that-
– I rise to order. Haying had on many occasions the advantage of a ruling by you, Mr. Speaker, that a question to a Minister may not be founded on a newspaper statement, I submit that the question which the honorable member for Capricornia seeksto address ‘to the Prime Minister is out of order.
– I did not understand the honorable member to say that he was basing his question on a newspaper statement, but on a statement made by a person whose name he mentioned. A question founded on a statement by a newspaper may be asked if the questioner takes responsibility for its accuracy.
– I take full responsibility for the truth of the report that Mr. Aspinall made a statement to the effect that when the farmer got £19 per ton out of the £56 per ton charged for sugar there remained j£37 to account for. “ First of all,” Mr. Aspinall said, “ the miller gets his cut, then the refiner, then the wholesale distributer, then the retail grocer, and last, but not least, the Federal Government.” Adopting the language used by Mr. Aspinall, I desire to ask the Prime Minister what “ out “ does the Federal Government get out of the sugar business?
– All these notices of motions and questions gravitate around this one matter. The Government does not get anything out of the sugar business except abuse and vilification. Of that it gets more than its fair share; of money it gets nothing.
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asked thB Prime Minister, upon notice -
– No official advice has been received regarding the appointment of the Committee in question.
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asked the Minister for Trade .and Customs, upon notice -
– The answers are:-
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asked the Prime Minister, upon notice -
– No definite proposals have been made to the Government, although its attention has been drawn to the scheme in question. No action will be taken in regard to any such expenditure without the approval of the Parliament.
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asked the Prime Minister, upon notice -
– The answers to the honorable member’s questions are as follow : -
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PENSIONERS in Dunwich Asylum.
asked the Treasurer, upon notice -
Do old-age pension citizens resident in Dunwich Asylum, Brisbane, receive the same treatment as pensioners in regard to money payments as those who are patients in hospitals; if not, what are the reasons?
– The answer to the honorable member’s questions are as follow:
Every pensioner resident in Dunwich or other Benevolent Asylum receives a pension of 2s. per week for his own personal use. In addition, the Commonwealth pays the institution 10s. fid. per week for his maintenance. When a pensioner becomes an inmate of a hospital, his pennon must be suspended in accordance with section 45 of the Invalid and Old-age Pensions Act. If the pensioner is discharged within twenty-eight days, he is paid the full pension for that period.” If he is an inmate for more than twenty-eight days, he is paid twenty-eight days’ pension on discharge. No payment is made for the maintenance of tlie pensioner during the twenty-eight days in respect of which he receives pension, but thereafter, until he is discharged, the Commonwealth pays 10s. fid. per week towards his maintenance in the hospital. The reason for the difference is that pensioners in benevolent asylums are usually permanent inmates, while those in hospitals stay there for only short periods. It is thought proper that on discharge the latter should receive full pension in respect of twentyeight days spent in the institution, so that they may have extra comforts during convalescence.
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asked the Minister for Defence, upon notice -
What was the total expenditure on Defence, including buildings, from 1910 to the end of tho last financial year?
– The information desired by the honorable member is being obtained, and will bo made available as early as possible.
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asked the Treasurer, upon notice -
What amounts in expenses have been debited to the Commonwealth of Australia for the following delegations. respectively: - Prime
Minister to Imperial Conference, 1821; Delegation to League of Nations Assembly, 1921; Delegation to the International Labour Congress at Geneva, 10211
– The expenditure in respect of the Imperial Conference cannot be definitely stated. The Prime Minister went to England to attend this Conference and to deal with other matters. The total expenditure on this visit amounts to £9,168. The amounts in respect of the delegation to the League of Nations Assembly, 1921, and the delegation to the International Labour Congress, Geneva, 1921, are £1,390 and £1,175 respectively.
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asked the Minister for Trade and Customs, upon notice -
– The answers to the honorable member’s questions are as follow : -
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– On the 3rd instant the honorable member for Cowper (Dr. Earle Page) asked me the following questions : -
I promised that the information would be obtained, and now furnish the following replies: -
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Refund of Over-payments.
– Yesterday the honor able member for Wilmot asked whether it was the custom of the Taxation Department, when taxpayers inadvertently overstated their income, to allow such persons to pay the full . amount. I see in reports in the newspapers this morning a suggestion that since I became Treasurer an alteration has in some way been made in regard to such cases of overpayment. I wish to correct that impression, and to state to the House that the officers of the Taxation Department have always worked under definite instructions from the Commissioner that their duty is to rectify all errors in taxpayers’ returns, whether for or against the revenue.
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– Idesire to make a personal ‘explanation. Yesterday I recorded a vote in favour of the adjournment of the debate on the sugar question moved by one of the Ministers, and my consistency in so doing has been called in question by one of our daily newspapers this morning. On the previous day of sitting I voted for an amendment, moved by the . honorable member for Hunter (Mr. Charlton), that the price of sugar be reduced to 4½d. per lb., andI did so as a protest against the failure of the Government to supply us with such figures as would enable us to say whether or not such reduction may be made.In regard to my vote yesterday for the adjournment of the debate, I desire to say that I gave it on the- assurance of the Minister for Trade and Customs (Mr. Rodgers) that the figures for which I have been asking would be supplied to-day. It was on that distinct assurance that I supported the motion for the adjournment; otherwise I should have voted against it.
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.- I move- ‘
That the House do now adjourn.
In view of the notice of motion given by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Chariton), I follow the usual practice in movingthe adjournment of the House.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
House adjourned at 2.44 p.m.
Cite as: Australia, House of Representatives, Debates, 10 August 1922, viewed 22 October 2017, <http://historichansard.net/hofreps/1922/19220810_reps_8_99/>.