Legislative Assembly Hansard 1947
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Queensland Parliamentary Debates [Hansard] Legislative Assembly FRIDAY, 17 OCTOBER 1947 Electronic reproduction of original hardcopy Questions. [17 OCTOBER.] 1\lletropolitan District, &c., Bill. 829 FRIDAY, 17 OCTOBER, 1947. '' 4. What assurance can he give that legislation for the establishment of a joint coal board will be introduced before Parlia M~. SPEAKER (Hon. S. J. Brassington, ment adjourns for the Christmas recess~'' FoTbtude Valley), took the chair at 11 a.m. Hon. E. M. HANLO~ (Ithaca) replied- ' '1. The question of extending the Coal QUESTIONS. Inc1ustrv Act to Stat·es other than New South Wales was raised at the Premiers' APPEALS AGAINST PUNISHMENT, RAILWAY Conference in August last. Following a DEPARTMENT., subsequent consultation which I had with .:t!r. AIKENS (Mundingburra) asked the the Prime Minister, it was arranged that MinisteT for 'l'ransport- the Chairman of the Joint Coal Board should visit Queensland to discuss the possibility ' 'With TegaTd to my question of 15 of agreement being reached for the extension Oct~ber an~ answer the.reto Tespecting of the Coal Industry Act to this State. The pumshment Imposed on railway employees Chairman and other members of the .Joint m the N 01·thern Division during the period Coal Board visit·ed Brisbane on the 3rd 1 J?ly, 1946, to 30 June, 1947, what classifi October and confened with myself, the cation was held by each of the five salaried Secretary for Mines, and officers of his employees l'fl'Pivina over £400 per annum Department. Since then, the Queensland who were punishedin that period and what Government's proposals for the formation punishment was imposed in each 'ease~'' of such a Board have been submitted to the Hon. J. E. DUGGAN (Toowoomba) Pri~ne Minister for consideration. replied- "::. ~egotiations for the establishment of '' 'rhe infOTmation desired by the hon. a .Joint Coal Board in Queensland are still member is as under:- · proceeding. Right from the outset the Queensland Government has made it a condi ''Station-master, fine £5; yard fore tion that any Joint Coal Board set- up in this man, f!_ne £2 ;_ permanent way inspector, State should be so constituted as to give fine, £;:,; statiOn-master, fine £5 and loss Queensland majority representation. With of pay for 13 days under suspension; this view t-he Miners' Federation have pern_mnent way inspectoT, dismissed the service.'' agreed. '' 3. The negotiations are not affected. '' 4. EYerv effort will be made to intro Ex-ARMY BUILDINGS FOR STATE SCHOOLS. duce the necessary legislation before the Mr. J1IARRIOTT (Bulimba) asked the close of the present Session.'' SecTetary for Public Instruction- PAPERS. '' At- how many schools in the State has the accommodation shortage been alleviated The following paper was laid on the table by the utilisation of ex- army buildings~ " and ordered to be p•rinted :- Report of the Public Service Commissioner Hon. H. A. BRUCE (The Tableland) for the year 1946-1947. replied- The following paper was laid on the '' Sufficient ex-aTmy buildings to alleviate table:- the accommodation shortage at twenty Regulations unde<r the Fish Supply Manage thTee _centres have been acquired to date. ment Acts, 1935 to 1946 (9 October). At thuteen of these centres, the buildings have already been re-eTected whilst those METROPOLITAN DISTRICT COUNCIL f?r the remaining ten centred a~·e awaiting OF THE :AUSTRALIAN LABOR other transport or re-erection.'' PARTY BILL. INITIATIO.:<r. J DINT COAL BOARD ; DEVELOPMENT OE' BLAIR ATHOL CoALFIELD. Hon. E. JI. HANLON (Ithaca-Premier): I move- Mr. PATERSON (Bowen) asked the '' That leave be given to introduce a Bill Premier- to transfer to and vest in trustees upon " 1. Since 1 June last, what negotiations trust for the Australian Labor Party have taken place between the Common (State of Queensland) certain moneys in "IYealth a~d State Governments regarding the Savings Bank Department of the Com the establishment of a joint coal board~ monwealth Bank of Australia at Brisbane .'' 2. What conditions, if any, have been to which the said party is entitled; and laid down by each Government in these that so much of the Standing Orde•ts relat negotiations, and what is the present state ing to Private Bills be suspended so as to of the negotiations~ enable the said Bill to be introduced and "3. To what extent would (a) the passed tluough all its stages as if it weTe establishment of a joint coal board and a Public Bill. " (b) the Commonwealth Government's power Motion agreed to. to control exports affect the negotiations between the State Government and private FIRST READINCJ. interests regarding the Blair Athol Bill presented and, on motion of Mr. coalfield~ Hanlou, read a first time. 830 Supply. [ASSEMBLY.] Supply. SUPPLY. material and by the same token the same COMMITTEE-FINANCIAL STATEMENT applies exactly to our primary industries. At RESUMPTION OF D'EBATE, a later stage I will endeavour to outline to a greater degree the attitude we should take ~The Cl~airman of Committees, Mr. Manu, and the plans we should lay for the continual Bnsbane, m the chair.) expansion of our primary industries. The Debate resumed from 16 October (see paae season is good and I should say that prices 828) on Mr. Larcombe 's motion- " were never better for the primary commodi "That th~re be granted to His Majesty, ties we have for sale. We should take time for the s~rvice of the year 1947-48, a sum bv the forelock and endeavour t·o achieve that not ex~edmg £500 to defray the salary of measure of stability which is desirable and the Aide-de-Camp to His Excellency the desired by the great bulk of our primary Governor.'' producers to ensure tha't we avoid the slumps that occurred after the previous war as a Hon. _H. H. COLLINS (Cook-Secretary result of the fact that price levels rose to for A;gncultur~ and S~ock) (11.8 a.m.): In extremely high levels. speakmg on tlus n•ry Important Vote, at the The work the Government haYe done in outset I want to compliment the Treasurer connection with the Blair Athol coalfield up on the presentation of the Budget, which to date is, I think, an outstanding achieve shows a small surplus, the ninth successive ment. It is still in the hands of the negotiators, surplus. that has been shown in Queensland but the prospecto are particularly pleasing. by vanous Treasurers during the last nine Tremendous development can take place not ;years. I doubt whether there has ever been only in the Blair Athol field but in many m the histor:J; of this or any other State such other coalfields of the State. To mention onlv a long contmuous succession of small sur two, Collinsville and Callide are probably just pluses, which shows that there has been a as rich as Blair A thol, if not richer. very c~reful estimate of the revenue and expenditure, and after the estimate has been The GoYernment, I repeat, are proceeding made and after the loans have been aorranaed on right and sound lines for the future welfare ~here has be~n particularly careful scrutiny and prosperity of the State. For instance, take the expansion in mining generally. Prices m the spen~mg of that money 60 that it "ould be I~ either overspent nor under spent. for silver-lead and copper are good. Com !he result IS r:flected in the general prosper panies are exploring and the Secretary for Ity of all sectiOns of the communitv in this Mines is doing the right thing by giving them State at the present time. I have he'ard some security while they explore the underground hon. members argue, that as there has been wealth that undoubtedly lies in various parts a ":ar and the State did not have any oppor of the State. I have heard complaints by some t~mrty .to overspend, there is no particula•r persons that we should not give the big mining vutue I~ this rc:·,lt but the fact is that it companies any security at all, on the ground wa~ aclneved not unly during the war but that we should thus deprive the small pros before the war and sine;; the war so that pector of his legitimate reward. That is all ;you haYe ~he three. pictures before you-that right up to a point, but today prospecting is m peace-time, durmg the war and since the carried out on a big scale. Sums running into war the Treasurer has kept the· same careful hundreds of thousands of pounds may have to con_trol of the finances of the State, and the be expended in investigations before big ore pohcy of the Government has been such that bodies are proved and the work of winning the state of prosperity in Queensland has the metal begun. That can be done success ne> er reached a higher peak than at the fully only if sufficient capital is provided and present time. the most up-to-date methods are used to extract the metal from the ore. If t·he most ~omc peop_le will argue that it is because pnces are lngh that everything is buoyant scientific methods are not applied, such a venture will not be a success. Those are soine but let us measure our prosperity by the sam~ standard as the 1938-39 prices and we find of the reasons IYhy it is necessary to let companies that have capable men with long ~hat we are still £22,000,000 up on annual m come measured against the pre-war year's experience of mining make the preliminary figures.