walked out leaving the job to Latham. He had been recreant to his trust. He had betrayed the people. He had insulted their intelligence. He had affronted their sense of decency. "He is the creature of a day. What he does today, another can undo tomorrow. "The Bill was an attempt to save his face so that he would not be eternally confronted with the ghost of the hideous blunder he had made when he had withdrawn the prosecution of John Brown. p> Frank Anstey quickly tangled with his old adversary, Dr Page. He said that the treasurer had lifted the debate to the lofty eminence of the sewer. "Far better it is to be ignorant than to be cultured, educated, talented and to sell one's talents for the first mess of pottage that offers, "said Anstey, attacking Hughes 'former colleagues in the ministry who had betrayed him for Bruce. p> P.G. Stewart was another to declare himself against his former leader. He said while the mines were still closed, the women were starving, John Brown still could be seen at Randwick with his field glasses slung over his shoulder. p> Hughes: "John Brown's body lies a-moulderin 'is the grave but his soul goes marching on. "
Stewart said members of the government had referred to trade unions as "basher gangs", "a seething mass of maggots", "running sores ", and" fangless snakes. "He would leave them with such nauseous expressions. He would oppose the Bill. p> Bruce, in reply, showed how deeply he had been nettled by Hughes. He referred to his "sinister suggestions, poisonous and offensive charges". At one stage in Bruce's reply, Hughes interjected "Hear, hear." The Speaker called him to order. Hughes naively wanted to know how he had offended. He was told that it was the tone in which he had uttered it that was offensive. Billy repeated "Hear, hear." Bruce admitted it was contrary to his party's platform with Hughes interjecting. "L'etat, c'est moi." Bruce again repeated that the depression was not temporary and was due to a fundamental defect. p> The second reading passed by 34 to 30 with WM Hughes, E.A. Mann, G.A. Maxwell and P.G. Stewart voting with the opposition. p> But the fight was not yet over. When the Parliament adjourned on Saturday afternoon, it still had no idea of ​​the events ahead. p> At the weekend members returned to their homes believing that the crisis was just about over. But Bruce was still very worried. He fully realised that the fight was entering the critical round. p> Although arbitration was the issue before Parliament, outside there was raging a new political tornado. In the Parliament it was kept severely in the background. But in every city and in every bush town the people were experiencing the full impact of the best organised political pressure campaign in the history of the Commonwealth. p> The movie interests had declared war on the Bruce government. The talkie age had just arrived. Like their own product the movie people had switched from the old silents to full-blast talkies on the political front. But the bad men were not the villains of the Hollywood sets. They were in Canberra. p> Stanley Melbourne Bruce and Dr. Earle Page were being depicted as trying to foreclose on the mortgage of the old movie homestead. They were trying to rob the poor widows and orphans of the movie moguls. They were the vampires sucking the blood out of the innocent film distributors 'bodies. It all arose out of a very small mention in Dr Page's Budget speech. After explaining that there was a heavy Commonwealth deficit, he announced that the Government had decided to increase taxes. Income tax was to be increased by £ 10 millions. In addition it was proposed to levy an Amusements Tax. p> Page proposed a tax of 5 per cent., or 1/- in the pound, on the total receipts for admissions to all entertainments. "This tax will be a levy upon a national luxury, which, it is considered should make a special contribution in the present circumstances. "In those days it was still possible to obtain admission to a film theatre for a shilling. To suggest that those indulging themselves to that extent were plunging into wanton extravagance was hardly good politics. p> Page said the government expected to raise £ 600,000 from the tax. He pointed out that attendances at amusements had risen from 78 millions in 1922 to 126 millions in 1928. What he overlooked was that they mostly had votes. To make matters worse, the government announced an extra duty of a penny per foot on all foreign cinema films imported into Australia. The film interests immediately got busy. They abandoned political neutrality. They decided to go after Bruce and Page. The campaign was organised by the Motion Picture Distributors 'Association. Its president was Sir Victor Wilson. He had been minister for markets and migration in the Bruce-Page government from 1923-26. He had been close to Bruce. Now he was the...
