Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Saturday 22 January 1944, page 11


¡NEW, PARTY AND

MR MENZIES

No Decisions at

Sydney Talks

The Federal Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Menzies, con-ferred in Sydney yesterday' afternoon with the provisional executive of the recently formed Democratic Party. '

Later it was stated there had been a general discussion on organisation , but that it had been quite informal and no decisions had been reached.

The State Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Mair, who is a member of the provisional executive of the Demo-cratic Party, did not attend the meeting,

It was stated after the meeting that Mr. Menzies was invited by the exe-cutive to attend when it was learned that he was to visit Sydney. He did not come to Sydney especially for the

meeting.

A spokesman for the executive, when asked whether Mr. Menzies or any of the New South Wales Federal members had joined the Democratic Party, said they had not done so, nor had they been invited to do so. The question of inviting them to join had "not been discussed as yet." So far the party had been concerned only with State organisation. .

DRAFT POLICY

The executive, at its. meeting yester-day, had before it for the first time copies.of the draft creed policy and constitution of the Democratic Party, which are being circulated among the newly-formed branches of the party and will be submitted for discussion and adoption or alteration to the first convention of the party, to be held on February 9 and 10.

The draft policy provides among other things for the maintenance of private enterprise and ownership, fulltime employment, the judicious use of national credit to finance largescale progressive and reproductive works of a national character, equal pay for equal work, the encourage-ment of profit-sharing or co-partner-ship between employers and employees, Government control of public utilities, pay-as-you-earn taxation, post-war credits, complete reorganisation of the taxation system, the transfer of addi-tional powers from the State to the Commonwealth, and a reduction in the number of members of the Legis-lative Assembly and Legislative Coun

cil.

The policy provides for the estab-lishment of a National Housing Fund "to provide for the housing of the people as a continuous arid permanent function." The object of the fund would be to finance the purchase of suitable homes (if necessary without deposit) for wage-earners, with easy repayment terms and low rates of in-terest. The policy also provides for assistance to the co-operatîve building society movement and the zoning of transport to provide cheap fares to encourage home building outside con-

gested areas.

The draft constitution provides for the endorsement of candidates for the Senate and the House of Representa-tives, as well as for the Legislative

Assembly.