Eetieir of Reviewi, Z/li/OS, 



INTERVIEWS ON TOPICS OF THE MONTH. 



AUSTRALASIAN INTERVIEWS. 



IDEALS OF THE LIBERAL-PROTECTIONIST PARTY 



HON. ALFRED DEAKIN. 



THE 



[Mr. Reid and Mr. Watson were also written to for a statement of the ideals of their respective parties, but no reply 

 has been received from either. An article elsewhere on "The New Individualism," written by a supporter of Mr. 

 Reid, may be taken as expressing his views. — Ed.] 



In reply to the question : " What are the ideals of 

 the Liberal-Protectionist Party?" the Prime Minister 

 (the Hon. Alfred Deakin, M.P.) made the following 

 interesting statement : — 



" The Liberal-Protectionist ideal is to foster and 

 secure by all possible political means the moral and 

 material well-being of the people of Australia. To 

 this end the whole policy and principles of the party 

 are directed. We are Liberals because we trust the 

 people, and aim at their advancement as a 

 community, excluding none, and e.xpressly avoid- 

 ing every sectional bias. Averse to militarism 

 and to aggression, we are keenly alive to the neces- 

 sity of preparations both by land and sea for main- 

 taining our homes and heritage intact against all 

 alien invasions threatening our free institutions, 

 social equities, or family life. We are Protection- 

 ists belie\'ing that only this policy can promote 

 national life, and because the industrial and social 

 development of Australia as a whole depends large- 

 ly upon legislation of that character. While the 

 Commonwealth is liable to be reduced to the general 

 level of its lowest competitors abroad, and lies ex- 

 posed to invasion from other countries which jea- 

 lously safeguard their home interests, all efforts to 

 impro\e the conditions of life within our borders 

 must be futile. Precautions must be taken by the 

 Government akin to those which every wise house- 

 holder and prudent business man takes for the 

 benefit of his family. Such safeguards are indis- 

 pensable both in peace and in war tw promote that 

 self-dependence and preserve that power of expan- 

 sion which are essential if Australia is to become 

 a bulwark of the Empire in the Southern Seas. 



Being Liberals we are not afraid to employ the 

 powers of Parliament for the public weal. On the 

 contrary, every movement that is really progressive 

 in character, making for national stability or poli- 

 tical advance, always finds a ready support at our 

 hands. It is this very readiness to march with the 

 tiines and provide new standards for new occasions 

 that has made our party continuously successful in 

 its Legislative work. Again for that very reason it 

 is exposed to the perpetual antagonism of the sel- 

 fish vested interests that seek to impede the free 

 growth of our energies and institutions. These in- 



terests and their parasites, though impotent to re- 

 sist the forces of progress, contrive by one device 

 or another to cripple our measures, hamper their 

 administration, and misrepresent their fruits. Never- 

 theless with but a few trifling exceptions every Act 

 of the Commonwealth Parliament from its inception 

 up to date is due to the work of our party. Nor 

 could it very well be otherwise, since, neither bound 

 down by tradition nor by doctrinaire dogmas, we 

 have created, and are continuallv creating our own 

 "precedents ''' setting aside outworn shibboleths and 

 enlarging previous practice in accordance with ex- 

 perience, in pursuit of our ideals. 



Revering the broad principles of Liberalism 

 which make for open-minded progress, we move on- 

 ward examining every legislative proposition on its 

 own merits. We trust to the good sense of the 

 community to promote "private enterprise" with- 

 out abandoning the use of judicious " State regula- 

 tion " where\-er unrestricted license appears to 

 threaten the liberty of the citizen or the healthy 

 condition of public affairs. We do not lack a pro- 

 per element of caution but it is the caution of the 

 suspended judgment and of a deliberate choice. 

 Our party, absolutely unfettered by class prejudice, 

 has for guide the law of evolution, and for goal the 

 public welfare. 



Generally it may be said that we lean in all things 

 to the humanitaiian, to " humanism " and hope. 

 We are far from the Tory- mind which shudders in 

 a palsy of fear at every fresh proposal that de- 

 parts from use and wont, or disturbs its comfort, 

 begets enquiry or demands new thought. The party 

 stands equally aloof from the rash and self-confident 

 communistic theorists, who, ignoring all that man- 

 kind has gained in the past, are prepared to put in 

 peril all well-proved methods in order to apply 

 hasty and ill-considered doctrines, or to prescribe 

 crude experiments on the plea that any change must 

 be an advantage. We know that society is not to 

 be remodelled off-hand by Statute, nor its complex 

 mechanism tampered with by the inexperienced and 

 unpractical, possessing no adequate acquaintance 

 with the history of its manifold and gradual adjust- 

 ments to human needs. 



The Liberal-Protectionists are at least as high in 



