Items 1919/77

Start Date
01 January 1919
End Date
31 December 1919
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GROSS PROFITEERING.  

SACRED PLEDGES DISHONORED.  

1. WE SHALL PROTECT THE CONSUMER AGAINST EXPLOITATION.  

(Hughes’s Pledge, March 27, 1917, Bendigo Policy Speech.)  

THAT PROMISE REMAINS UNREDEEMED.  

2. GOVERNOR-GENERAL’S CONFERENCE, APRIL, 1918.  

Mr. Hughes asked Labor what was hindering recruiting. Labor replied with  

number of proposals to create better feeling of public unity. The following is taken  

from the Official Report of the Conference, pages 156, 157, and 158:  

LABOR PROPOSAL, No. 5.  

“ That immediate and effective steps be taken to protect soldiers’ dependents and  

the public generally against profiteering.”  

TO WHICH THE GOVERNMENT REPLY IS:  

“Agreed.  

The Government has given, and will continue to give, every attention to this  

matter, the vital importance of which is fully recognised. The Government will  

welcome any practical suggestion from Conference to this end.”  

Mr. HUGHES: “I want to say that am quite sure that profiteering exists, but it is  

not so easy to deal with as may be supposed by the man in the street.”  

Mr. HUGHES: “We are forming Board of Trade, which will consist of three  

Ministers and two first-class business men, who will give their attention to these matters.”  

Mr. HUGHES: “I think may be permitted to say, on behalf of the Chambers of  

Commerce and the Employers’ Federation, that they have no sympathy with such men,  

nor will they support them.”  

THE TRIBUNAL PROMISED WAS NEVER CREATED.  

THE GOVERNMENT PLEDGE REMAINS UNFULFILLED.  

3. THE NATIONALIST GOVERNMENT HAS HUSHED UP GROSS PROFITEERING.  

Being continuously flagellated by Labor for dishonoring its promises, Mr. Hughes  

set the Interstate Commission to work investigating profiteering. Gross profiteering has  

been reported to the Government. The Commission’s reports dealt with Meat, Bread,  

Groceries, Fruit and Vegetables, Rent, and other commodities.  

THE TWELVE REPORTS OF THE INTERSTATE COMMISSION HAVE  

BEEN IGNORED.  

4. AFTER ALL THESE BROKEN PROMISES  

Mr. Hughes and the Nationalists now promise  

ROYAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO PROFITEERING.  

5. According to Sir Joseph Cook  

(Sydney “Telegraph,” November 5, 1919):  

“ THE COMMISSION WILL ENABLE REPUTABLE BUSINESS FIRMS TO  

PROVE THEY ARE NOT PROFITEERS.”  

6. The Government has full power to deal with profiteering.  

BUT ON MAY 3, 1919, IT PUBLICLY ANNOUNCED ITS REFUSAL TO  

CONTROL PRICES.  

7. Last August the Government submitted an “Urgent” Bill to Parliament to “protect the  

Customs against fraud.” Mr. Charlton, M.H.R. (Labor), moved clause to provide for  

the publication of import prices as check upon profiteering.  

THE GOVERNMENT DROPPED THE BILL RATHER THAN EXPOSE THE  

PROFITEERS.  

8. The Federal Government has full power to deal with profiteering, but on May 3, 1919,  

publicly announced that they would not control prices.  

THE PROFITEERS FIND NATIONALIST CAMPAIGN FUNDS.  

THE NATIONALISTS CANNOT DEAL WITH PROFITEERING.  

THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY—VOTE LABOR.  

J.H.C./5/11/19. CAREY, Gen. Sec., A.L.P., 321 Pitt-street, Sydney.  

Read Labor’s Case in the “LABOR NEWS.” All Newsagents  

The Worker Print, St. Andrew’s Place, Sydney.  

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