Thomas Playford II's compromise, as South Australian federation delegate, solves senate money bill problem

Thomas Playford and the Australian parliament's upper house: the senate. With 12 senators representing each state and two from each territory, the senate theoretically gave the smaller states an equal final say in federal legislation.
Images courtesy state Library of South Australia and the Australian Senate.

Thomas Playford II (South Australia’s premier 1887-89 and 1890-92) came up with famous compromise of 1891 that fixed a problem threatening to bring down the whole move towards Australian federation.

The problem was over the Senate’s powers in dealing with spending proposed by the House of Representatives. The compromise was that the Senate's power to introduce or amend money bills was restricted, although it could “request” the House of Representatives to change money bills. In view of these restrictions on senate power, the House of Representatives was prohibited from “tacking other matters onto appropriations bills or laws imposing taxation” or from including more than one subject of taxation in a law.

Kingston’s comprise was steered through by other South Australian delegates to the federation conventions: Charles Kingston and Patrick Glynn. Playford had always supported federation so long as the rights of the smaller colonies were respected. With John Cockburn, he represented South Australia at the Australasian federation conference in Melbourne in 1890, where he startled most delegates with a stinging attack on Henry Parkes, imputing dishonest and insincere motives to federation.

Playford was also a South Australian delegate at the National Australasian Convention in Sydney in 1891, and sat on the constitutional committee. During debate on the name “commonwealth”, he informed critics that Shakespeare had constantly alluded to England as a commonwealth.

As a moderate protectionist, endorsed by the conservative Australasian National League, Playford was elected in 1901 to the new Senate, coming second in the South Australia poll. In the first Alfred Deakin ministry, he was vice-president of the executive council and government leader in the senate 1903-04. In the second Deakin ministry, he was defence minister (1905-07) and started wearing a peaked cap. Accepting the need to “establish the nucleus” of an Australian navy, Playford was essentially concerned to meet invasion, secure ocean-going commerce and provide for coastal and harbour defence.

At the 1906 election, against strong advice, he stood as an independent Deakinite rather than an anti-socialist allied with George Reid and was overwhelmingly rejected. Despite gout, he nominated as the Australasian National League's third candidate for the Senate election on 1910, but was unsuccessful. He also wrote to Deakin, imploring his old leader to work to fuse all anti-Labor and anti-socialist parliamentary groups.

A giant at eighteen and a half stone (117 kg) and 6 feet 2 inches (188 cm) tall, Playford’s bohemian dress was usually undersized pantaloons and an ancient coat. His disregard for all forms of parliament and straight-going qualities earned him the soubriquet “Honest Tom”.