JAMES HENRY SCULLIN
22 OCT 1929 – 6 JAN 1932

· political party : labor

· Birth/place : 18 September1876/Trawalia, Victoria

· Died: 28 January 1953 at Melbourne, Victoria

· Wife : Sarah McNamara

· Education: State school at Trawalia and Mount Rowan; night school; Ballarat

· Occupation: Grocer, trade unionist, editor

· Religion : catholic

· Date & age became PM : 22 October 1929/53 years

· Date left office 7 reason : 6 January 1932/lost election


      James Henry Scullin was commonly known as Jim. He was the fifth of the nine children of John Scullin and Ann Logan, both immigrants from Derry, Ireland. His father, John Scullin had been a miner and later a plate-layer on the railways. He attended small state schools, first at Trawalla and later at Mount Rowan near Ballarat. He left school at about 14 to work in a grocery store but continued his education through night classes and wide reading in the Ballarat public library. He learnt debating skills as a member of the Catholic Young Men's Society and the Australian Natives' Association. He won prizes for debating at Ballarat's South Street competitions, at which he also judged for 30 years. He worked at various manual jobs, including wood chopping, mining and farming. In his mid-twenties he began to run a grocer's shop in Ballarat, a job which he kept for the next ten years.

      In 1903, Scullin joined the Political Labor Council, a forerunner of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). As part-time political organiser for the Australian Workers' Union from 1906 he helped found PLC branches across western Victoria. He stood unsuccessfully against the Prime Minister, Alfred Deakin, as the Labor candidate for the seat of Ballaarat at the federal election in December 1906.

      The fall of the Scullin ALP government occurred on 25 November 1931.

      Scullin's government was brought down in the House of Representatives on 25 November 1931. The immediate issue was the Lang Labor group's allegation that Theodore had distributed unemployment relief corruptly. When Scullin refused its demand for an inquiry, it joined the Opposition, now led by Lyons, in passing a 'no confidence' motion against the government. Parliament was dissolved and a general election was called for 19 December 1931.

LEGISLATION

      In its legislative program the Scullin government was severely impeded by an overwhelming opposition majority in the Senate. A great many of the Bills passed were in support of measures more favoured by the opposition than by the government, particularly those bills which were aimed at dealing with the economic crisis. Major legislation included: The Gold Bounty Acts 1930 and 1931 were part of measures to help solve balance of payment problems.

      The Financial Emergency Acts (No. 1 and No. 2) 1931 reduced social welfare benefits and Commonwealth salaries in line with the ‘Premiers Plan’ agreement.

      The Scullin government’s legislation program was more noteworthy for bills which failed to pass, including: The Central Reserve Bank Bill 1930, introduced by E G Theodore, was initially supported by former Treasurer E C G Page and by many private bankers, but was blocked in the Senate for ‘political’ reasons. Constitutional referendum bills defeated in 1930 aimed to provide for direct power to the Commonwealth to legislate on all industrial matters, on all trade and commerce issues and to allow Parliament to amend the constitution by an absolute majority in both Houses.