Royal Commission on Child Endowment or Family Allowances

Appointed on 28 September 1927 by the Bruce government, following a Commonwealth–state conference on child endowment, to inquire into and report on a scheme of child endowment or family allowances for the Commonwealth as a whole. Its members included Stephen Mills, a former Comptroller-General of Customs; Mildred Muscio, a Sydney women's movement leader; and John Curtin, then editor of the Westralian Worker, as the Labor movement's representative. It opened in Brisbane in late 1927 and took evidence in Perth, Adelaide and the eastern states during 1928.

1. 30 January 1928The commission heard evidence in Perth; hearings were also held in Adelaide in February 1928 and in the eastern states.

Its report was received by the Prime Minister from the Governor-General on 28 February 1929. The majority report recommended against a Commonwealth scheme on constitutional and economic grounds; Curtin and Muscio submitted a minority report calling for the immediate introduction of a federal child endowment scheme. No federal scheme was adopted until the Child Endowment Act 1941. The Parliamentary Handbook gives 18 March 1929 as the date the final report was presented.

• Inquiry into child endowment and family allowance schemes
• Cost and financing of a national scheme
• Relationship of endowment to the basic wage

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Some dates or links for this organisation are not fully confirmed. Corrections are welcome.