The speaker of the House of Representatives did not hold back when criticising members of parliament on this day in 1953. He was of the opinion members should either be made to travel at their own expense, or stay in Canberra and "do their jobs".
He was not impressed by the tendency of members to use taxpayer money to leave the capital, "because nobody wanted to stay in the blessed place a minute more than they had to".
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The speaker, Archie Cameron, said free air travel for members was "the greatest curse ever to have befallen the Commonwealth Parliament".
Mr Cameron urged measures be taken to ensure there was more parliamentary control over expenditure.
He said no debate was ever made when messages were received from the Governor-General recommending an appropriation of money, and the lack of discussion would always result in expenditure being authorised without any details about the actual use of the money.
"It is incumbent upon the representatives of the taxpayers to see that no government is trusted on expenditure," Mr Cameron said.
An investigation, Mr Cameron believed, would expose the amount of cases where expenditure was approved without proper authority, and spent without reasonable justification.
Control of expenses by parliament was "just a lie unless parliament really controlled it".
