[Editor: This article, regarding a speech in the Australian Senate by Gregor McGregor, regarding the Immigration Restriction Bill, was published in The Herald (Adelaide, SA), 21 December 1901. When it became law, the Immigration Restriction Act formed the foundation of the White Australia Policy.]
Prohibited immigrants.
The educational test.
In speaking on the re-insertion of the Government educational test, contained in sub-section A, clause 4, of the Immigration Restriction Bill, Senator McGregor said:—
Honorable senators will recollect that at almost the commencement of the session, I said in a jocular way, that the Labor Party were for sale when the proper auctioneer came along. The auctioneer did come, and an offer was really made. I am not saying that any individual member of the Opposition came to the Labor Party and said— “If you do so and so, we shall do so and so,” but no one could fail to understand that we were offered support. Now the Labor Party has been “sold,” and the next time an auctioneer comes along and makes an offer, he will also have to make a deposit, to prove the bona fides of his offer, and of the arrangements proposed to be made.
Last night I honestly moved an amendment— “That sub-section A of clause 4, containing the education test should be struck out for the purpose of inserting other words, i.e., ‘A prohibited immigrant shall be any aboriginal native of Asia, Africa, or the islands thereof’”—and I was supported; in fact, there was a majority of six against the proposal of the Government and in favor of deleting a certain paragraph that is to say, “a prohibited immigrant shall be any person who when required by an officer to do so, fails to write out at dictation 50 words in any European language.”
That was done, and we, as a Party, thought that everything was going on well. But that paragraph was to be knocked out for the purpose of inserting my amendment as given above, and when we attempted to put that amendment in we failed to do it by two votes.
All the Labor Party were here, and I throw the responsibility of the present position upon Senators Pulsford and Ferguson, who have declared that they are against this Bill. They have also been against the Kanaka Bill, and they and other senators have gone in the same way.
I have every confidence in the position taken up by the leader of the Opposition, Senator Symon, and I believe also that Senators Smith and Charleston have been sincere in the position they have taken up; but I tell honorable senators that, if the Labor Party are going to ally themselves with anybody, it must be with some party that has some respect for their leader, and the members of which will follow their leader, and not lead us into a misunderstanding.
I do not consider it is safe for me as a member of the Labor Party to put myself in that position again. Once sold is quite sufficient for me. Seeing that some honorable senators in opposition have declared that they are opposed to this Bill, because it is too stringent and is altogether prohibitive, I certainly have a right to be satisfied, and consequently during the rest of the consideration of this Bill I am going to do all I can to support the Government in carrying out the provision which honorable senators in opposition have declared is too stringent, and which they have two or three times made an effort to make less effective to prevent aliens and all other objectionable immigrants coming into the Commonwealth. That they think it is too stringent is warrant enough for me to support this amendment, knowing that according to them it will carry out the provision I desire to see inserted.
After this position had been taken up by the Labor Party, both the Immigration Restriction Bill and the Kanaka Bill were carried through all their remaining stages without further delay. The amendments made by the Senate were of such a character that they were accepted by the House of Representatives.
The Kanaka Bill has now received the Governor-General’s assent, and is now the law of the Commonwealth. The Labor Party have every reason to be jubilant; and as those who endeavored to entice the Party into a difficult position for the sole purpose of embarrassing the Government and delaying these very much desired measures in the hope of their ultimate defeat are giving expression to bitter disappointment and chagrin, it should be evidence enough to Labor supporters that the Federal Labor Party is still on the right track and doing good and effective work.
Writing on this attempt to cunningly defeat the Labor Party, the Melbourne correspondent of the Brisbane Worker says:—
“This is how the thing came about: When the vote was taken for the excision of the education test with a view of inserting a clause providing for direct exclusion the Labor Party won by 15 votes to 9. But when the blank was created and the motion made to insert McGregor’s amendment, Senator Walker came along with a further amendment, which was carried as against McGregor’s, and was in its turn rejected when its insertion was moved.
Here was a lovely tangle — the education test was removed; the direct exclusion amendment of McGregor was rejected, and Walker’s further amendment met the same fate. The very result the conspirators had plotted for was brought about; the Bill was emasculated and the anti-White Australians triumphant.
But the Labor Party, as I have indicated, had foreseen the situation, and had provided for it. They immediately declared that, having been betrayed by their so-called friends, they intended to support the education test. It was a sight to see how the biters chafed when they were bit. They stormed and raged and cursed and wheedled; they taunted the Labor Party with betraying their principles; called them political prostitutes and a lot of other nice things, but all to no avail. The Party, as Stewart put it, had entered the spider’s parlor once, had escaped, and wasn’t going to re-enter that lethal chamber no matter what blandishments were used. Senators Symon and Gould were specially bitter, and their chagrin at the defeat of their little plot was painful to behold.
Anyhow the White Australia flag is now waving nobly in the breeze, topmast high, to the confusion of its enemies and the joy of its friends.”
Source:
The Herald (Adelaide, SA), 21 December 1901, p. 9
Editor’s notes:
Senator Gregor McGregor’s remarks were made in the Australian Senate on 6 December 1901.
See: Commonwealth of Australia, “Parliamentary Debates: Senate: Official Hansard”, 1901 no. 49, 6 December 1901, p. 8378 [PDF p. 27], columns 1-2 [McGregor’s remarks reported in The Herald do not exactly match those reported in Hansard, especially in the second paragraph of the quote; however, it appears that the reporter has inserted into the text some explanatory additions, rather than change the meaning of what McGregor was saying]
The quotation from The Worker was sourced from: “The federal fray”, The Worker (Brisbane, Qld.), 14 December 1901, p. 3
The quotations from Senator McGregor and The Worker have been placed in blockquotes, so as to distinguish them from the general text of the article.
alien = a foreigner (someone who was not born in the country, i.e. a person from a foreign land); someone who is not a citizen of a country; (in a racial context) a non-white foreigner (can also refer to someone born in the country, but who is of foreign ethnic origin); someone who belongs to a different race or ethnicity; in an early Australian context, someone of non-British or non-white origin
Bill = a proposed law, or a proposed amendment to an existing law
See: “Bill (law)”, Wikipedia
bona fides = evidence or information used to authenticate one’s qualifications or genuineness; from “bona fide” (Latin), meaning “in good faith”
Commonwealth = the Commonwealth of Australia; the Australian nation, federated on 1 January 1901
i.e. = an abbreviation of the Latin term “id est”, meaning “it is” (the meaning of “i.e.” is commonly rendered in English as “that is”; it is also rendered as “that is to say”, “in other words”, and “namely”, depending on the context); “i.e.” is used to introduce a word or sentence as an explanation of what was said or written (for example, “Let’s meet for the first meal of the day, i.e. breakfast”, “All products are 50% off, i.e. they’re all half-price”, “He lives in Bananaland, i.e. Queensland”)
Immigration Restriction Bill = the proposed form of the Immigration Restriction Act (the Bill became an Act when it received the Royal Assent on 23 December 1901); a key intention of the legislation was to stop non-white immigration into Australia
See: “Immigration Restriction Act 1901”, Wikipedia
Kanaka Bill = the proposed form of the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 (the Bill became an Act when it received the Royal Assent on 17 November 1901); the legislation was designed to deport the bulk of the Kanakas (Pacific Islanders) from Australia to their islands in the Pacific Ocean
See: “Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901”, Wikipedia
McGregor = Gregor McGregor (1848-1914), a labourer and Labor Party politician; he was born in Kilmun (Argyllshire, Scotland) in 1848, came to Australia in 1877, and died in Unley (South Australia) in 1914
See: 1) G. Grainger, “Gregor McGregor (1848–1914)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “Gregor McGregor”, Wikipedia
Opposition = (in the context of parliamentary politics) political opposition; an opposition party; the officially recognised main political party which is in opposition to the ruling political party (used in the phrase “Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition”, or “His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition”, depending on the gender of the ruling monarch)
[Editor: Changed “the Labor won” to “the Labor Party won”. Added a comma before and after “having been betrayed by their so-called friends”. Added a closing double quotation mark after “the joy of its friends.”]
[Editor: The original text has been separated into paragraphs.]
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