A Source Book of Australian History

by Unknown

That in order to establish and secure an enduring foundation for the structure of a federal government, the principles embodied in the following resolutions be agreed to:—

1. That the powers and privileges and territorial rights of the several existing colonies shall remain intact, except in respect to such surrenders as may be agreed upon as necessary, and incidental to the power and authority of the National Federal Government.

2. That the trade and intercourse between the federated colonies whether by means of land carriage or coastal navigation shall be absolutely free.

3. That the power and authority to impose customs duties shall be exclusively lodged in the Federal Government and Parliament, subject to such disposal of the revenues thence derived as shall be agreed upon.

4. That the military and naval defence of Australia shall be intrusted to Federal forces under one command.

I submit these resolutions as a groundwork on which a debate may be raised on the whole question with which we have to deal. They certainly give a fair expression of the outline of the constitution which we want, as it exists in my own mind, and to that extent I at once acknowledge the paternity of the motion I make. I venture to appeal to every colony, and to every delegate representing every colony, to meet the work on which we are about to begin, in a broad federal spirit. We cannot hope for any just conclusion—we cannot hope reasonably for any amount of valid success—unless we lose sight to a large extent of the local interests which we represent at the same time that we represent the great cause.

There can be no federation if we should happen, any of us, to insist upon conditions which stand in the way of federation; there can be no complete union of these governments, of these communities, of these separate colonies, unless we can so far clear the way as to approach the great question of creating a federal power as if the boundaries now existing had no existence whatever. I cannot too fervently impress upon my co-representatives from all parts of Australia the necessity of keeping in view the one object of the better government of Australia, the whole Australian people.

By my second condition I seek to define what seems to me an absolutely necessary condition of anything like perfect federation, that is, that Australia, as Australia, shall be free—free on the borders, free everywhere, in its trade and intercourse between its own people; and that there shall be no impediment of any kind—that there shall be no barrier of any kind between one section of the Australian people and another; but, that the trade and general communication of these people shall flow on from one end of the continent to the other, with no one to stay its progress or to call it to account; in other words, if this is carried, it must necessarily take with it the shifting of the power of legislation on all fiscal questions from the local or provincial parliaments, to the great National Parliament sought to be created. Now our country is fashioned by nature in a remarkable manner—in a manner which distinguishes it from all other countries in the world for unification for family life—if I may use that term in a national sense. We are separated from the rest of the world by many leagues of sea—from all the old countries of the world and from the greatest of the new countries; but we are separated from all countries by a wide expanse of sea, which leaves us with an immense territory, a fruitful territory, a territory capable of sustaining its countless millions—leaves us compact within ourselves; so that if a perfectly free people can arise anywhere, it surely may arise in this favoured land of Australia.

Whatever our views may be on other points, I think we shall all be agreed upon this; that for the defence of Australia to be economical, to be efficient, to be equal to any emergency that may arise at any time, it must be of a federal character, and must be under one command. I do not mean that the naval and land forces shall be under one commander-in-chief, but that they should be under one kindred command—that the naval officer in command equally with the military officer shall be a federal officer, and amenable to the national government of Australia.

As to the wisdom of the great step we have now taken, for so many eminent men from different parts of Australia meeting in this Chamber as delegates from their colonies is in itself a great step—as to the wisdom of that step we have the warning of every country in the world which has used government by a confederation.