Editing Frank Forde (section)

==Scullin government (1929–1932)==
[[File:Frank Forde and James Scullin.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Forde and James Scullin]]
The Labor Party won the [[1929 Australian federal election|1929 election]], with [[James Scullin]] becoming prime minister. Forde was elected to the [[Scullin Ministry]] as an [[assistant minister]], and was also appointed to the Committee of Public Accounts. His superior minister was [[James Fenton (Australian politician)|James Fenton]], the [[Minister for Trade and Customs (Australia)|Minister for Trade and Customs]]. Fenton was absent from the country or otherwise occupied for most of 1930, including as Acting Prime Minister for five months while Scullin attended the [[1930 Imperial Conference]] in London. Forde oversaw the [[Department of Trade and Customs (Australia)|Department of Trade and Customs]] in Fenton's absence, and also deputised for [[Parker Moloney]], the [[Department of Markets (1930–32)|Minister for Markets]] and [[Department of Transport (1930–32)|Transport]].<ref name=adb/>

Forde remained loyal to the Scullin government during the [[Australian Labor Party split of 1931|ALP split of 1931]], supporting the [[Premiers' Plan]]. When Fenton and [[Joseph Lyons]] resigned from cabinet in February 1931, Forde was elected to one of the vacancies and appointed Minister for Trade and Customs.<ref name=naa-before>{{cite news|url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/forde/before-office.aspx|title=Australia's PMs > Francis Forde > Before office|publisher=National Archives of Australia|access-date=11 December 2018|archive-date=3 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403215818/http://www.primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/forde/before-office.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> At the [[1931 Australian federal election|1931 election]], the ALP suffered a landslide and returned only 14 MPs, the lowest total in its history. However, in Forde's state of Queensland the party actually increased its representation, winning an additional two House seats and all three seats in the Senate.<ref name=adb/>

===Tariff policy===
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeMDtHmPD_Q Newsreel footage of Forde as Minister for Trade and Customs] promoting [[Efftee Studios]] in 1931.}}
Forde was the "principal architect" of the Scullin government's policy of high [[tariff]]s, which aimed to reduce the effect of the [[Great Depression in Australia|Great Depression]] on secondary industries.<ref name=adb/> He introduced what ''[[The Canberra Times]]'' called a "tariff extravaganza", and was known as a staunch protectionist.<ref name=naa-before/> However, the government's measures had little effect on the economy.{{sfn|Brown|2000|p=242}} Forde was a supporter of the emerging Australian motion picture industry. Despite his reputation as a protectionist, he agreed to reduce the tariff on imported sound equipment from 60 percent to just 10 percent, after vigorous lobbying from [[F. W. Thring]].<ref name=fitzpatrick>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XQvWBQAAQBAJ|first=Peter|last=Fitzpatrick|title=The Two Frank Thrings|year=2012|publisher=Monash University Publishing|page=131|isbn=9781921867248}}</ref> In June 1931, he was invited to officially open [[Efftee Studios]], Thring's production studio in Melbourne.{{sfn|Fitzpatrick|2012|p=551}} He was "shamelessly cultivated as a good friend of Efftee, with an open invitation to look in on shooting and mingle with the stars".{{sfn|Fitzpatrick|2012|p=132}} One of Thring's investors was Tom Holt, the father of another future Australian prime minister [[Harold Holt]].<ref name=fitzpatrick/>

===Censorship===
As acting customs minister in 1930, Forde played a key role in the banning of [[Norman Lindsay]]'s novel ''[[Redheap]]'', the first occasion on which the federal government had banned the importation of a book by an Australian author.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Robert|last=Darby|title=The Banning of Redheap: Sober Facts about an Inflammatory Fiction|journal=Labour History|year=2013|url=http://jstor.org/stable/10.5263/labourhistory.105.0171|volume=105 |page=185|doi=10.5263/labourhistory.105.0171|publisher=Liverpool University Press|jstor=10.5263/labourhistory.105.0171 }}</ref> Unusually, Forde sought advice on the matter not only from his departmental head [[Ernest Thomas Hall|Ernest Hall]], but also from solicitor-general [[Robert Garran]] and private barrister J. V. Gould.{{sfn|Darby|2013|p=176}} As a "pious Catholic", he was persuaded by Garran and Gould's advice that ''Redheap'' was "indecent and obscene [and] blasphemous as well".{{sfn|Darby|2013|p=178}} His decision to ban ''Redheap'' was controversial and came under attack from libertarian and anti-censorship elements within his party, particularly from Lindsay's home state of Victoria.{{sfn|Darby|2013|p=182}} However, at the 1930 [[Australian Labor Party National Conference|ALP Federal Conference]], attempts to censure Forde failed, and a watered down resolution was passed supporting freedom of expression but allowing for censorship of "licentious and pornographic literature".{{sfn|Darby|2013|p=184}} Forde later authorised the banning of [[Frederic Manning]]'s ''[[The Middle Parts of Fortune]]'', overriding departmental advice, and refused an appeal from [[Jean Devanny]] to unban her novel ''The Butcher Shop''.{{sfn|Darby|2013|p=185}}