Hide Article Text (OCR)
SENSATIONAL ATTACK ON UNION OFFICIALS. INQUIRY PROMISED INTO ALLEGATIONS. The speech of Mr. J. H. Mul lens, M.L.A., which was delivered in the State Parliament House on Tuesday last, has raised a storm of criticism, so much so that Dr. Evatt, Commonwealth Attorney- General, has given an undertaking that an inquiry will be made into the sensational allegations made. Mr. Mullens is an orator of no mean ability, and in response to numerous requests, we have pub lished his speech in full. It is taken from “Hansard,” and we are printing it without agreeing or disagreeing with the comments of the member for Footscray. We have done so that electors in the Sunshine area will be fully cog nisant of the actual statements made. Mr. MULLAGNS (FP ) referred that we of things (0 come rund to Ob a octuves in Auebralian diatinet threat % anae EL institutions, I have been threatened by the bashers, the thugs, and ther renters Who seem to form the inevit able concomtante of the Communist party of Australia. In the clre atances I must clas, action with some well-reaped, and speak mind before the Houee finn journs for the elections. Surely In theee enlightened daye of 1043, It bn net infra dig., or beyond the pale, or out of all reason and proportion that Io ae on representative of the working cltates, should endeavoiur to speak my mind here without be ing threatened from outside [arlia ment by this coterie, thin elusive group, Which would dominate our counsela, both Federal and Btute, Starting from that fundamental proposition, and returning to the Theate that the three limit in connec tion with this Bil should be ex tended—so that what [ intend to say shall be entirely relevant—I propose to submit certain facts. Of my conservative friends is the Min isterial cormer—than we Who set such a high valuation on things and they are—or my Eriends on the Ministerial benches look to the Pedepal sphere and we there « potential threat to their agrarian possessions and to all the thimae they stand for, and have any hesitation about viewing this matter in the correct light. I ask them how would they view thin used transfer of powers if there were at the helm of affairs in Aus tralia to the Red racketeers and bosses headed by Ernie Thorn ton, of the Ironworkers’ union; Dan Thomson, of the Builders’ Labourers Federation; and Cecil Sharpley, assistant secretary of the munition workers union. I know very well that I am taking my political tie in my hands, but there comes a title In the affairy of Inen When It behaves someone with a spinal column to tell the press of his country the truth, In our In ordinate «elt, im our Miwhte of fancy, we imagine that we are the duly accredited representatives of the people, no we were in the past, and «)) We are now, with w#ome limitations; but a change in coming over the scene and a situation to rapidly approaching when that representation which we term demo cratic will go by the board, and there will be superimposed on the body politic in this country a force which ia extraneous to our demo cratic sockety, which ia subtle and ilusive, and becase of that in all the more threatening. I refer to the 'Hoss Crokers’ —the uncrowned kings of the country—who, if they could, would dominate and ulti mately ruln the party to which I belong. Mr. FULTON.—Did not a crowd belonging to your party once at the “Red Flag’ in Parliamen House? Mr. MULLENK.—At one time the Red Flag was the conception of a theory preached in geographical locations such as the It was a subject for academic de bate. The Labour party subscribed to the constitutional development of the policy of public and State con trol of the means of production, dis tribution and exchange, and through the centuries men have lived and fought for idea under the con stitutional negia and authority of the parliamentary rs . The honorable member for Collingwood can look back to the distant past when he proceeded along those ones; but for the benefit of the honorable member for Gippland North, let me say that this theory which I am debating ia not o« Political theory, nor thst somethin that might be submitted as part o f political programme. “Say not that flattering wnction to your soul. It is a dynamic gospel of revolution ary action. It is the quintessence of action, because it means movement. It is allent, tenacious, and pene trating, and its potential threat to Austrasia is nearly as perious as the Japanese menace, t us look at some of the men hind thin threat. There in Ernie rnton, general secretary, of the Ironworkers and Munition Workers' Union of Australia—the unions re cently amalgomented — with 100,000 Membera alongard in revenue of C4600 per nonih. He alte part but the day may come when he in olbern like tm will try to beat ride Australia like a oominum, Thornton e WOOL ren Halance-sheet Thornton because, with that audacity which in the out come of privilege gained from the lack of criticism by men like my or other elected representa tive people, he refuses to win balance sheet of the union, and tells tte members that he will rule the roost, Brnde Thornton Woe actively identified with the ald ty Huvsia committee of New South Walesa, and, no doubt, in that snilent and select circle he flat obtained his knowledge of Onanes and the fan tastic Jugaling of pyures—a tech nique that enabled him to pull the wool over the eyes of the foulk unsp irited with him The aid to Russie committer collected $2,200 in New South Wales, and of that amount, only flu went to Russia. Where did the money diverted from the fund go? Hurely the intensive propa ganda, the radio publicity, and the “band wWwamgon” methods of these s Hilbusters of the Communist party provide the answer, Mr. FULTON.—The Sydney “Bulle tin’ stated where the money went, Mr MULLENS.—I am not taking the “Bulletin” as my authority, I am taking the Queensland Worker.” Who were the people who subscribed this large sum? They were thou sands of decent uniontain, like those unboniste living in Footscray who belong to Ernie Thornton's organ ization—decent, hard-working citi zens, wrapped up in their homes and children; good citizens of Australia, having a take in the country. Are they to be led willy nilly by a crowd of Mullaha such an Ernie Thornton and those of his ilk? [It is time somebody made a protest. The man in the street is not yoru, wid Tom endeavouring to make hin protest vocal this afternoon. What of the other members of the trium virate? One do the celebrated Don Thomson, secretary of the Builders’ Labourers Federation, Mr. BARRY. Nobody known him, Mr. EVERARD.—You fellows fer eiving him and hfe mates a gavid “nd.” this afternoon, Mr. MULLENS.—I want to show honorable members what type of new these are For the honeft of any “Dowrting Thomas who they think I am exaggerating. To ask hon arabbe members to bear in mind that role Thornton, Don Thompson and Cec Bhorpley are all windered years of age; all three are eligible for military service and all three taive skulked behind reserved occu unt baisa, Mr.NEMEAN.—Funk-hale fusi liars! Mr. MULLENS.—Just imagine Den Thumeon in a reserved occupation! When this man received his military cnll-up he waddled around the Trades Hell bn society and sorrow, with the teare running down his cheeks Uke pears of rare price, fenluring that any Government should ave the temerity to put such a demand on him, fon Them von, whe le eo aajony to beat th rape with Bie tomers aot to angry tearea when he received notice to join up with the Army, An Honorable Member.—There are many more ike him, Mr. MULGLENS.—If there are more lke him among the preblings—the ordinary workers and good citizens —they will find it exceedingly dimi cult to get the Federal Authorities or anyone else to want them exemption by making the wires to Canberra red hot. Surely honorable members on the Miniaterial side of the House appreciate the alonnd ance of my remark. Young men are able to use on political noncela thon to exert such influence that automatically they are taken away from their dual responsibilities as citizens of thin country, which they should be proud to own and which how nurtured them for cone 1 wish to emphasise that the young men to whom Trefer are not of the Labour party, such that the politics organisation concerned how not ob bour organization. Perhaps hon orable members Will have noticed the extraordinary anomaly and CORLTdIection In Lermanrieing from the fact that in theme dayne or Sid are to be found the leaders of (nda tell Orea Aniketion ® who, Loup oh con thine almost automatically belonging to the Labour party, are now outslle IL. They are all power ful and Influential that they seem to be able to pull things at will, and to some effort, name to the arch revolu t on posthe: oof ¥ lolenom t. that noterivmn propa= epastat for the deadly strike—Cecil reply, Whone logan at one time woe cheerfully forgotten in the suate of expediency and political etion—wae Fer oo Soviet uue tralia.” Cecil Sharpley in to-day he gaaindint Kecretary of the muni tion workers’ union, to which I have Already referred, and the members of thie Houte, together with many others, will have to pay for placy whit me rial bonis politica and of hya leria, has been brought about by perky i CANO, no cone hit ter admiration for the aucceaa of ‘Hain nation than I have; but in Australia are pooim to pe for thy complacency that allows a Sharpley, Thornton, of a Thomason to dominate the economic life of this romanantie. Just imagine Mr. Cecil Sharpley purporting to represent om body oof good Australian warkere! The following etter was written by Sharpley beta he reached his pre sent high and affluent position—n ot a pre-eminence in the ahr. in common type where now try into the scene, he woes ceHimber, endeavouring to foren hin way upon the Labour tie. The letinr War addressed to the vecretary of the Clerks’ Union— “TP o desire to join your union, and should be very grateful if you will let me have the necessary particus lara, to come checking clerk and advertising copy writer. Hence working for @ Communist are a revolutionary rug— I am now temporarily receiv= ing under the award rate. I am, therein noble to run any risk in endangering my economic posiction, Tam anxious to get into the union Imitediiteds; that day before To get the award rate, in order to take an ether part the Austrian Labour party fraceh wed the Young Labour Vineup, 2. 2 . —(Shonend) Ceeil A, Bharpeley Pode for desire to bore honorable ere, but foam bry iti to tem deey * ene realige the alenifeanern of this, Thies Dltthe Lenin, thin selt comferned set, men wowden the jibe Con Agate bin “Bone Croker” At one time in the Bistory of Austell, the Latour movement Wandered for the achievements of men Uke the late John Barnes, and other Aus trestian Workers Union stalwarte— real atraliand Whe had their ronty In wil, rnd whe reeked ion thie browd herigon oof our great A tralian landscape. They were wh tramped from shearer, hr tre shearers hut, who knew what eco nomic progress wos, and struggled for soon before these “Johnny - Wao = Ente beer theny latter-day Binks, ever appeared on the scene. To my horror and disgust, Any to Hay that they fhlwarted men of the type of thew who laid the founda tions in othe early history of this country, Including the period of the Eureka stockade—are being dia Pogrenied and pushed valde by notorious Upstarts, As Isie perevieusly, my eure. Khan of Whweiter Liner paused vows shaw be yr bed be bee Cobian wealth ooaw oom la thie future—my nation of Whether iL te Wien or politie to be well wut in el Of CLUMaine COUT tL eo have been vitally decided To tocked at the men in the yendih parliament mod ol history of that Purhia 1 Voderation, amd, ma a Austrihin. 2 mon a sud ot my Gun . What ix coming the horigun, La challenge any member of thin House to way that he his uny heel of pride when he sees what Wohop pending bin hie country beens, IC them in a temporary vessolation of brigandage, of hold-up or land over methods, that is only tempor ary, conditioned entirely by the ternational sshua them. Those troubles will come onlinef) the hongrible member for Goulburn Val ley Wiehe to seek the ganenis oof bie labour troubles. He the good worker he know has given pines to a different type under a certain set of eircumm@lances, let him search for the real cause if the honorable Member for St. Kilda, on no indue trignal, Moda ao Vege, Intangible in uence in industrial concerns, some thing upon which he cannot place igen, something that in hard lype, let him not blame good Unionivta. Let it not be made the subject for an attack on unioniam ber we, because that Ie fundament ally sound and as oatural as that Hight follows day, but let him look around for that unorthodox body known as the shop committer,” and he will not have to go far before hends the hand of “big boas Flanagen,” or Thornton, or some any elue of a similar character. What an extraordinary develop ment there has been in Australian politics! Theo wragier anal the shearer, in their antagonisme of the past, could meet each other like men and good Australians. Yet now we are faced with situations—it does not matter from what angle it In regarded—from which such inter course, negotiations, reliminaries, and mutual understanding are de finitely absent. Why is that? We built our political philosophy and concept upon something that is es sentially Australian British. We have constructed it on a democratic sub-stratum that we would not change for any green horizon in other parts of the world; but there are people in Australia today whose Philosophies are fundamentally for viun, and as such must remain hoa rle and inimical to everything we are at heart. Mr. DILLON.—Are you serious? Mr. MULLENS.—This in the most serious mant of my life, I say that a dvay, even in the face of an election. To me, the consequences of my utterances matter nothing. It ie this that in this legislative hall, which is endowed by the memories and traditions of the past, someone pointed out that in Melbourne in the enlightened year of grace, there has been set up a college for revolutionaries—a slags for commis sare—run by the 1 Communist party of Vieesre. bith flattery, mints to by-pass me, all the con ciliatory and explanat addenduma to what I have said will not ubro- Bete the suppemental fact one lots, that withln a charm or two of this building there as be pet up a class for revolition ere here my son athe sons members may = mal of, other neo vell a o have honoranis mem caing —or alse who has, amy knowledge of the social structure of of Australis, or the « ate of pe dalogy, must know that this pene traney” amd so going on, and that on Aus have beenm om captured n't tadestnal here, there in every attempt I made to capture the Youth, of this rou i this talk to the Minister for the my Mr. MULALENS.—0 om giving it to the public and the press, ee WHEHI—I want it to be ! Mr. _MULLENE =! In wy ome le more? Mire WEEETS—I have had be fore thie influence for the Jeet two te three years in covery organisation of have addressed, Mr. MULLENS—two, then, from he University down—from the tellectial circles, the cogne, the dilettiunti, the pale pinks, proforsura—to the atooues, even down to the nudist chute, any trod that they are all permeated with the womeiTyY conceptiona, Liv mat honorable members sow to now make a prophecy for the Wt not the honorable member for Nuna wading. At eventuaally this HURL, melee, Kiehly artistocratic and petite body known can the Women for Canberra Movement’ will ala by pape ae. Mrs. WHDEH.—Ne, the reverse Willie Lheemae, Mr. MULLENS.—I am enumerating cCorlilh thoughts that pies through my cerebellum —my thinking ap paratus—and which have non hear ing oon the time= Timi propeedada of the honorable member for Eanendon —thiatie, as to whether thee bieenre should be ranted before the mom wenl it ar Alot wttons, Ms Mn my rete eto thie hina Goer com. TWihsenia, Foodie net repord Won om matter for foretiownenes. When I had my children round me ont the domestic hearth—and he tiankly to me in the buttress, the whet collular unit of the atte MR DELLAN —DLet ye teme it a for us as Mr. LENS =! Wore heme orable smithers all delighted, ma i did, in teling them of the tiatorte mythy—some of them pleasing, some fartint and ill elevating and ethican! The most important festi val in the ven was Christoing. We can it go ae to our childhood and recall the inordinite delight we mx ented at the arrival of cristmas ning nod at seeing the Chelate man prevents arrayed. That meant much to us. And we can never for get our birthdaye, but the child who woes into the college for pevolution will voun forget tie birthday. He will be teueht that there ia ome Christos myth: the fairy tale will be tnbow: he will be broweht wp a ee ee watonnhd recruit for the regimented numb vkulln who will follow people Tile Thorut Thomaon and 8 po heey ee DE wren ee tie rest med ee of the A ote prbbbish mnaeth te Chia nant OE Peele Ciebiomtabies Bor ral EL hevnie press proprivhorn ta hob nib in see Ned. ration eiretes, and tooo wmming—ulwaae bawing bin tito Chet Lhede ew enamide powi- Jhon ta detured to the t Ot quarter ad at million a oy — They do not find «pending oo ttle time In theorising in Che eletemen, ever diavndeing ton feader the Way pam BIN thet oot Che etre, OE ecuris, pole ple prefesver, over hie ep af bet, id mere th Viehiterd te meet a rolleter amd wi nry. Ef there ba inulnags eon tion, Armueh Che iether, epeecially When there da something on the SORE wide, in othe company oof om very fly reedhonde wheeham wrethhes and bibs, » having inoomind the lanes oof people to deal with «thine, Powant to wiv, in con elunion, that dn Australia teed there art communisti, am I have outlined the channarteriedea of some of them. In Awatrotia there are also ‘Wlow-travelions,”and we of the Lehoir party kawwhem—to my in feng diawust jin niansen Boenidea uh rankete od thie feta ire there are sto who can he easily made un any oerisie for the purposen sf dewlening follow the Thornton in Auatenlin to-day there are ala inn centa who are being led to the alaughter, but I sincerety hope there merely Pees any Innocenta bin thle Chamber. Valuing as L do the sole privilege of manhood that now re mining ta ome, valuing an 0 do the human personality and the concep tion of free will, valuing oe Toette set that Tam net an automaton to be regimented and driven all over the place: valuing ae I do this free dom that Australia has given nme and my children: valuing ie do the fort that Australia ie ot part of the British Empire, to which it right fully belongs: and valuing abeye ctl that there te mom), ot theme in im ye all, peer thime that is beyond the material, 1 hope that from this day forth we in thin Chamber shall know the full implication of whit in com ing, 1 trust that we whol) beware of the danger: that we shall strip the veil om by peering from there humbage and ahow om for what they are; and, finally, that we shall stand four square for the soil, the traditions, and the environment from which we enme duced a balance sheet. A balance sheet was produced every 12 months by the the Iron Workers’ Federation as a result of an audit by a reputable firm of chartered accountants in Sydney. The firm had also acted as auditory for the Australian Labor party.
Newspaper Details
Sunshine Advocate
Sunshine, Victoria, AU
Fri, Feb 19, 1943
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Alexander E.
AU 08 Jun 2026
Other Publications Near Sunshine, Victoria
Sunshine Advocate
