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LABOR'S MIXED VOISi
OA POLL ISSUE
Cabinet . Review
Herald Special Representative :
CANBERRA, Tuesday. — Federal cabinet
will make a final review of Labor's election
policy when ministers hold their final pre-
campaign meeting tomorrow week.
Thp rinHonr criaonVi . . '
will be delivered by the
Prime Minister (Mr
Chifley) on November
14.
Meanwhile Labor Is speaking
with two voices on big questions ;
which are bound to dominate
campaigning..
The Attorney-General (Dr.
Evatt) declared last week that
nationalisation of the banks
had been removed from the
campaign by the Privy Coun
cil's Judgment.
The Minister for Immigra
tion (Mr Calwell) supported Dr.
Evatt when he told a meeting
of New South Wales Labor
leaders yesterday that bank
nationalisation was a dead
issue.
Mr Chifley, on the other
hand, asserts that the Govern
ment Intends to maintain a '
policy of "virile competition" by
the Commonwealth Bank with
the trading banks. He says
Labor will "fight bitterly" to
sustain the widest powers to im
pose the restrictions of the
1945 banking legislation on the
operation of private banks.
No Undertaking
Mr Chifley so far has given
no undertaking that there will
be no future attempts to nat
ionalise banks If an alternative
means can be found.
Mr Calwell told Labor leaders
yesterday that the petrol crisis
was a dead Issue.
But the Minister for Fuel
(Senator Ashley) said last night
that he intended to make petrol
a vital Issue in the campaign.
Labor is clearly relying
heavily on the ' personality of
Mr Chifley to hold Its place
' on the Treasury benches.
The "Chifley tradition" will be
played up against the back
ground of political issues as
one of the Government's trump
cards in the contest.
Job Appeal
The Labor Party will no doubt
also make much of the cur
rent conditions, particularly the
high general level of prosperity
and the low unemployment
rate, in its appeal for votes.
The big rise in prices — and
the bigger one in prospect as a
result of Mr Chifley's decision
to devalue the Australian cur
rency — will be soft pedalled.
Also high in the lost of
Labor's election call will be the
expansion of social services.
The Government is expected
to .capitalise the still-inopera
tive pharmaceutical benefits
and medical benefits scheme by
blaming the medical profession
for the fact that these projects
remain dead letters.
It is sure to make one of its
chief election promises an
undertaking to bring' them into
operation. v
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