Page:Speech by Sir John Forrest - Western Australia - 1900.pdf/10

 force of Federated Australia against them, we are not able to assist them in the way we would have otherwise been able to." (Applause.) Now, I would like to tell everyone this: that under Federation this colony cannot be divided unless two things happen: First, that the Parliament of Western Australia approve of it, and second, that the people of this colony, on a referendum, pass a majority vote in favour of the division. There is no greater security that anyone can ask for—that before any part of Western Australia can be divided, if we enter the Federation, the Parliament of Western Australia shall approve of the division and, more than that, the people of Western Australia, at a referendum shall approve of it also. There is no such security as that if we remain out of Federation. We are absolutely dependent upon the Imperial Government, which can divide this colony to-morrow by an Act of its own Legislature. If anyone in this room, or any farmer about this place, even away down as far as Bunbury—(laughter)—has any fear of separation in the future—I do not say it is very probable, but it is possible—let him vote for Federation, and then Western Australia can never be separated unless with the voice of the people on a referendum, and with the approval of the Legislature of the colony.

It is thought by many people that Federation means unification, or that there will be one Government in Australia to do everything, which will have all the power, and that our local government or home rule will be taken away from the colony. That idea is altogether erroneous, as it is not so, except to a limited extent, and as a general rule when it is adopted, it is to the advantage of the colony. It is very injurious that we have so many laws on the same subjects in Australia; and recognising that, it is provided that a certain number of subjects shall be relegated to the Federal Parliament, and that all the rest shall remain to the local Parliament. The subjects that will be handed over to the Federal Parliament are those that the Commonwealth will be in a far better position to deal with—as the laws of the Commonwealth will have force all over Australia than the Parliaments of the individual colonies legislating in different ways.

I will name a few of the subjects to be handed over to the Federal Parliament. It is provided that trade and commerce shall be legislated on by the Federal Parliament, but not exclusively so, because the local Parliament will still be able to legislate, provided, however, that if the laws of the State and of the Commonwealth clash, the laws of the Commonwealth shall prevail. It has been said, that it is not advisable for the State to be able to legislate on a subject on which the Commonwealth can legislate, but in my opinion it is very advisable because it is not possible for the Federal Parliament to legislate on every subject on which it has the power to legislate for many years to come. Therefore, our laws now existing and new ones that may be passed will remain in force until superseded by the Federal Parliament. (Hear, hear.) Then there are naval and military defence, which will be relegated to the Commonwealth. There are also the questions of quarantine, of census and statistics, currency and legal tender, banking, insurance, weight and measures, copyright and invention, naturalisation, marriage, old age pensions, civil and criminal process, immigration, external affairs, conciliation and arbitration in industrial disputes, and many other matters. The Commonwealth Parliament however, will not have exclusive Powers; the colony can also legislate with the proviso that the colony's laws will be superseded in the event of the laws of the Federation clashing with them.

And I would like to point out to those who say the colony is giving up everything, that it will still have complete control over all it material wealth, over all its land, and all its gold mines, and all its other mineral resources. And our gold mines have produced no less than 20 millions sterling worth of gold, whilst last year they produced six millions sterling worth, and