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BITTER LANG ATTACK
ON CALWELL
“Opened Way Into Aust. For
Fifth Columnist Army”
CANBERRA', Wednesday.—Mr, J. T. Lang
(Ind. Lab., N.S.W.) to-day accused the Minister
for frmriigfdtion (Mr. A. Calwell) of opening the
Way for the~entrance into Australia for an Army
of fifth columnists.' ■
•Hq -sal^ po Investigating, officers
had been assigned abroad to check' i
tfte credentials of ex-enemy aliens
before they came to Australia, and}
that landing permits had .been
Issued oh a . wholesale bads.
Mr. Lang was sneaking duylng the !
second reading debate on a bill In
troduced by Mr. Cal well to provide
for^the Register of Allens in every
The Bill ajso compels aliens to
notify a change of address, and
prevents them changing their names
without Ministerial approval.
'•Now wc find that the intentions
of, some of those aliens are suspect,’!
said Mr. Li^ng. , ■
“A1 Black Guard Lieutenant who
had been in,,charge of one of Hit
ler’s internment camps In Austria,
actually arrived on the Johan de
Wilt with one of Mr. Calwell’s per
mits In his hand,” said Mr. Lang.
"There are suggestions that others
slipped through undetected. There
are others with Communist affili
ations who are under suspicion
already as agents of foreign power.
CALWELL BUNGLED
Mr. Lang said If Mr. Calwell had
done his job, those classes of per
sons would never have got into the
possession of landing permits to
come to Australia.
“Tjn bungled the administration
of his Department and allowed
people outside his department to
run his migration plans,” said Mr.
"The way was left open for the
enhance into Australia for an
Army of fifth columnists.
"The one person responsible is
Mr. Calwell.
"He cannot put the blame on un
named officers of his Department
because he announced publicly that
passports were his own special pre
rogative. He took personal respon
sibility for every permit .and every
migrant.”
Mr. Lang said Mr. Calwell refused
permission for Australian social
workers to go abroad.
Australians wishing to go abroad
were subject to a gruelling examin
ation. At the same time, he was
granting permits for aliens to come
to Australia on a wholesale basis.
'CHAIN LETTERS
"He ran his Department on
chain-letter principle,” . said Mr.
Lang. “As soon as one refugee
entered Australia, he would proceed
immediately to bring out all. his
associates, whatever their back
grounds, and whatever, their pipy*,
poses might be. ' v>
"Dr. Evatt had said the respon
sibility for setting the new arrivals
was one entirely for the Immigra
tion Department.
"If inquiries are to be made
abroad into the credentials of in
tending migrants, Australian lega
tions are In the best positions to
make them.
"Mr. Calwell does not know
what kind of people he has al
lowed to enter this country,”
added Mr. Lang.
originated ih the mind of a hide
bound reactionary- '
'/GLIB AND AMUSING”
Mr. Calwell said In future.aliens
would not have to register at
police stations, but at post offices.
Mr. Lang talked about a racket
In aliens that allegedly existed
six years ago. If at that time the
present Government was In power
there was no reference on any
files that would support the charge
against any minister In engaging
In the racket.
This charge came glibly and
amusingly from the tongue of a
man who induced an alien named
Judke Swindells to come to Aus
tralia for the purpose of introduc
ing the fruit machine racket, and
In the racket he was associated
with the then Premier of N-SAV.,
Mr. Lang.
Mr. Lang, interjecting: And the
present Governor-General
WROTE JAP. PROPAGANDA
Mr. Calw«ll said in the war
years he knew of a certain pub
licity officer on Mr. Lang's stall
who also was employed by the
Japanese writing propaganda. *ic
later was interned and his name
was J. H. Sieeman.
Mr. L3ngt, Japan was our ally
Mr. Calwell: You know when it
was better than anyone else.
He was probably in the employ
of the Japanese at the time ho
was writing the last chapter on
the life of J. T. Lana.
Mr. Spender: Not the last chap
ter. surely 1
Mr. Calwell said there could be
no more dubious character, alien
or Britt*]!, than J. H. Slcemim,
^nd Mr. Lan«r had laid himself
open to suspicion because of his
c.usj ussvciauon wuh Meeman.
■ OUT ON OWN”
Tile second reading of the bill
was agreed to without division. Mr.
Lana* alone dissenting.
Mr. Calwell: You are like a shag
on a rock—out on your own.
Mr. Calwell said the bill would
be administered with the aid of
the Postmaster-General’s Depart
The Government was not start
ing off with the assumption that
every alien who landed in Aus
tralia was a prospective llftli
columnist or saboteur.
It would take the usual precau
tions and probably would find that
the vast majority would do as
they were required.
Mr. Lang said he strongly ob
jected to clause 7, which provided
every alien in the Commonwealth
at the time the Act came into
force, or who entered the Com
monwealth later than that date
had to be registered.
“In effect it means that ev^ry
friendly alien will have to carry
an internal passport,” he said.
Mr. Menzies: It does not mean
that when it is read in conjunc
tion with clause 8.
Both clauses were adopted.
Mr. Calwell said an alien would
be permitted ov}y to change his
name to the phonetic equivalent
in English.
NO ENEMY ALIENS
Replying to Mr. P. C. Spender
(Lib. N.S.W-) Mr- Calwell stated
no enemy aliens would be per
mitted to remain in Australia, ex
cept in the case of wives and minor
children of Australian citizens
and Australian-born women married
to enemy aliens who desire to re
turn to Australia.
The question of change in this
immigration policy had been held in
abeyance until after the ratifica
tion of the peace treaty.
11 The .general question of admissi
bility of ex-enemy aliens was at
present the subject of a report by
the recently-appointed Immigration
Advisory Council.
Mr. Calwell said up to the present
only 100 enemy aliens had been ad
mitted to Australia, and there were
an additional 22 at present en
route on a ship.
“FASCIST ENTIRELY”
Mr. Lang said he was surprised
to see the Leader of the Opposi
tion (Mr. R. G. Menzies) in agree
ment with Mr. Calwell on the bill.
Mr. Lang declared the bill was
entirely a Fascist measure, it
provided for an internal passport
system which was the first step to
police the State.’
The bill meant the creation oi
a new secret police force under
the control of the Minister for
Immigration. The bill would re
qquire allies of Australia, such as
tmericans, to register.
Mr. spender: A section of the
bill provides for the exclusion of
Americans from the register,
Mr. Lang: It is not fair.
Mr. Spender: lb is.
My. Lang: Well, get up and
make a speech.
Mr. Lang said the N.S.W. State
police uncovered the refugee
racket six years ago and dis
covered certain prominent A.L.F.
officials were involved.
Mr. Calwell: They aid not.
Mr. Lang: If you have a prob
lem pass it over to the N.S.W.
police and vou probably will pet
a very great surprise as a result.
Mr. Lang said the bill was re
actionary and could only have
Aliens’ Wives
CANBERRA. Wednesday.—Aus
tralian citizenship Bill will be
brought down in Federal Parlia
ment probably next session to pro
vide for the preservation of nation
ality rights for women on the same
baste os that for men.'
The Minister for Immigration
(Mr. A- Colwell) told Mr- M
Blackburn (Ind. Lab) in the House
of Representatives to-day.
Mr Blackburn asked whether he
would give consideration to the
status of Australian-born women
married to friendly aliens in order
that they might preserve their
Australian and British rights, par
ticularly when travelling in coun
tries other than that of their
Mr. Calwell said the law ensured
that ns long as an Australian
wuman or British national remained
in Australia, sho would continue to
remain a British national. The law.
however, did not apply outside the
three miles limit of the mainland.
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