A.W.U General secretary Dougherty Gives Main Reason: Speaking at the annual conference of New South Wales A.L.P in Sydney last week, A.W.U General Secretary Tom Dougherty said that it was the aim of the Communist Party to flood this country with people they could use and this was the main reason for the Communists’ opposition to the White Australia Policy.

Moving that the conference re-affirm its support for the White Australia Policy, Mr Dougherty said that attacks were being made on the policy by members of the political party opposed to the Labor Party.

The Communists, he said were acting in conformity with instructions from the Communist International and with the decision of the 1927 Pan-Pacific Conference which sought the abolition of racial barriers. Had these decisions been carried out, he said, conference would not have been sitting, because we would have been under the domination of the worst type of Asiatic – The Japanese.

“There were people always prepared to give Australia away, just as some stupid people in Britain had wanted to give away the Northern Territory.” said Mr Dougherty; Referring to the statements made by the national secretary of the Iron-workers Union, Mr E Thornton: He said that Mr Thornton was not speaking on behalf of the Australian workers.

“The fight for White Australia begun with the pioneers. Then nearest Mr Thornton ever got to becoming a national leader was when he lost his deposit against Mr Scullin on two occasions.” said Mr Dougherty.

He added that Australians knew their own requirements and would not accept dictation from people who were imported for the purpose of disrupting this great country.

— The Australian Worker, June 1945