| <headline> <p> <Labor Wants a Fair Contest.> 
| <Press and Platform Must be Free.> </p></headline> 
| <p> Now that the Cook-Irvine domination of the 
| Federal Cabinet is clearly established we can 
| look forward to a series of regulations 
| absolutely destructive of the civic liberties 
| of the people. Already rumors are in 
| circulation respecting a restoration of the 
| political censorship instituted by Hughes in 
| the last campaign and vetoed by Parliament at 
| the earliest opportunity given it.  The 
| notorious use of the War Precautions Act 
| indulged in by Hughes when last fighting for 
| his own way is certainly justification for our 
| belief that in the struggle about to open, 
| serious impediments will be put in the way of 
| the Labor Press throughout Australia. </p> 
| <p> This campaign is fraught with tremendous 
| and deep significance to the future of the 
| white race. It involves all that is left of 
| working-class economic and political 
| organisation now on the earth. There are 
| proposals that have already been discussed by 
| the Cabinet and the Legislature which 
| Australia does not know anything about.  If 
| the election is to elicit the deliberate 
| decision of the men and women of the 
| Commonwealth it is an essential condition to 
| the verdict that the Government shall allow 
| the Press to fully inform the public 
| respecting all the matters in which our fate 
| is involved.  The policy of suppressing vital 
| aspects of the problem of Australia's present 
| and future difficulties is a wanton injury to 
| the community and a denial of the unfettered 
| liberty of the people to be their own 
| rulers. </p> 
| <p> The men now governing Australia are not 
| wiser or more loyal than thousands of citizens 
| they presume to speak for.  They are in office 
| to-day in open defiance of the popular verdict 
| as expressed at the ballot-box and confirmed 
| by a plebiscite of the whole body politic.  
| For them to impose shackles on the Press and 
| limit the subjects for public judgment is a 
| gross act of usurpation entirely 
| unwarranted. </p> 
| <p> And we know that however much Hughes may 
| have desired to play the role of dictator in 
| the Cabinet of Labor he was to a great extent 
| held in check by the influence of his 
| colleagues.  But in the end they had to leave 
| him because his acts were too outrageous for 
| any democrat to stand. Now in the company of 
| avowed enemies of Labor and democracy, his 
| disposition to play the tyrant will be 
| encouraged rather than retarded.  The man who 
| ordered that nothing should be published 
| respecting the proceedings of conferences of 
| Labor bodies he attended other than the report 
| prepared by himself is not the man to stop at 
| half measures.  Backed by Cook and Irvine and 
| egged on by Watt, it is clear that before the 
| election is over Australia will again 
| experience the weight of the iron heel. </p> 
| <p> Only the other day something took place in 
| the Senate the people know nothing about.  In 
| reply to a question by Senator Mullan the 
| Minister of Defence (Senator Pearce) stated 
| that the censor had been authorised or 
| instructed to suppress or defer publication of 
| the invitation from the Imperial Government to 
| Australia to send a representative to the 
| Imperial War Conference and that it was not 
| intended to make the reason for the action 
| public. </p> 
| <p> With a military censorship no sane person 
| can take exception.  It is stupid for the 
| Cabinet to hold that the Labor papers in 
| Australia are capable of publishing news 
| calculated to give information to the enemy.  
| In the first place our news in respect to 
| military affairs comes from the Defence 
| Department itself.  It is generally old when 
| we get it.  And very often the dogs in the 
| street bark information days previously to the 
| Department releasing it for general 
| circulation in the Press. But we do not seek 
| earlier publication of military news; all that 
| is desired is that we may deal with political 
| issues now confronting the nation and 
| demanding early solution. </p> 
| <p> If Australia is not to be governed by the 
| people, then of course there is reason for the 
| employment of a civil censorship similar to 
| that of Russia.  But we are either a democracy 
| or we are not.  And if what the people say is 
| to rule, then the information upon which the 
| people give their verdict must be full and 
| complete. </p> 
| <p> Although the referendum of October 28 last 
| is months old it is not yet possible for the 
| people to learn all the circumstances 
| connected with its conduct.  We publish 
| reports of speeches from time to time, but 
| they are very unsatisfactory and in no way 
| present the whole position.  If similar 
| repression is to be exercised in connection 
| with the election about to be fought, then it 
| will be impossible to ensure a verdict based 
| on a clear comprehension of all that is at 
| stake. There are peace terms, relations with 
| various neutral and allied powers, trade 
| facilities between various countries, the 
| question of annexation in the Pacific,
| <mdash>-</mdash> all the implications attachable  
| to the evolution of new world-powers since the  
| war commenced <mdash>-</mdash> and the undoubted 
| economic changes taking place and to take 
| place in the Commonwealth.  The voice of the 
| people should be heard regarding these 
| questions. </p> 
| <p> Peace is not a subject for conservative 
| politicians to negotiate on their own without 
| reference to the people as a whole.  We have 
| heard a lot about what our terms shall be but 
| the fact remains that neither the Australian 
| Parliament or the electors have ever yet had a 
| formal discussion of the question let alone 
| come to a decision.  We have read what some 
| newspapers say, but they are not the voice of 
| Australia.  And if <mdash>-</mdash> as should be 
| the case <mdash>-</mdash> the next Parliament is 
| to consider peace terms the people ought to 
| have placed before them at the election the 
| attitude candidates take upon the 
| question. </p> 
| <p> Then there is the issue of indentured 
| labor.  By what authority is it held no 
| discussion must take place upon this question.  
| Is it not now notorious that the Labor problem 
| is the great difficulty of every country?  How 
| shall the war debt be paid except by 
| enormously increased production? And Australia 
| has vast areas waiting for exploitation.  What 
| kind of labor is to be applied to them.  We 
| want to know!  We want to know prior to the 
| election so the country may decide the 
| question and not the political agents of the 
| profiteers. </p> 
| <p> Thus it must be apparent that the people 
| owe it to themselves to insist on absolutely 
| freeing the Press and platform from any 
| political interference.  Let candidates win 
| votes by the validity of their principles and 
| the soundness of their policy.  Shouting down 
| a speaker will not win the war. Shutting one's 
| eyes and living in a world of fiction created 
| by journalistic tales on the one hand and 
| suppressed facts on the other will not win it 
| either.  Let the Cabinet take its repressive 
| hand from off our pens and remove the gag 
| between our lips.  Then Australia will learn 
| where it stands and make ready with its 
| determination. </p> 
| <trailer><p> <March 23, 1917> 
| <The Westralian Worker> <Friday, March 23, 1917>
| </p></trailer>