Political views

Describing himself as an 'anti-socialist', Foster was a critic of socialism and a staunch defender of private enterprise.^[6][7] He viewed Adam Smith as the greatest economist the world had ever seen.^[8]

He was also an advocate of housing reform, and as chairman of various committees had frequently reported to the government in that capacity.^[3]

Transport policy

Foster strongly opposed Michael Bruxner's Transport Act of 1930, which regulated private bus services in order to protect the failing government-owned tramways and railways.^[7] The bill intended to prevent busses in Sydney from competing with trams by barring them from running alongside public tramways. According to the government, competition from busses in Sydney would "spoil a great public asset" by taking revenue away from the trams.^[9]

Foster's opinion was that it would be more sensible to leave transport to private enterprise,^[10] and that the government's proposal to eliminate competition from private busses was "socialistic".^[11] He said the policy was unfair to bus drivers and conductors in the city, whose "only crime was that they were giving service to the public and earning an honest living".^[12]

He called attention to the growing congestion on the government-owned tramways and noted that Sydney's public transportation system was failing to cope despite costing millions of pounds.^[9] At the time, annual losses from the New South Wales railways amounted to approximately £2,000,000.^[10] The railway lines were isolated, expensive, inadequate, and were described by the Cowra Guardian as "the outcome of a centralised government attempting more than is possible".^[13] Foster remarked that it took 25 years of agitation to get the government rail transport agency to put down the half-mile of line from Bondi to North Bondi, and that his constituents in Woollahara had been asking in vain for 25 years for a line connecting them with the central station. He said that private sector bus operators, meanwhile, had stepped up to provide Woollahara the route they wanted, and that they were successful in doing so because busses were less expensive to operate.

Foster pointed to Underground Electric Railways Company of London managing director Lord Ashfield as "the greatest authority in the world on metropolitan transport" and often quoted from Ashfield's reports in parliamentary debates, which he said show that "the bus is nearly five times more effective on capital expenditure than trams, and about six and a half times more than the underground."^[14] In Foster's view, busses were capable of coping with the whole of the Sydney's transport if not for the state's intervention.^[15]

Foster travelled abroad and studied the transport systems in many different countries. He said that taxis had completely revolutionised transport in Paris, and that successful transit services in London were being provided to the city by private enterprise.^[16] He noticed that tramways outside Manchester were being torn up and replaced with asphalt roads.^[14] Foster viewed the public tramway system as obsolete, preferring busses and clearly defined railways.^[17]

He was the only member to cross the bench to oppose the bill.^[7]

Independence from political party

Foster was as a member of the Nationalist party and its United Australia Party successor, both of which are forces of the centre-right Coalition alliance (known today as the "Liberal–National Coalition"). However, although he was a loyal supporter of the Coalition's Stevens-Bruxner government, he frequently displayed an independence of spirit and often engaged in vigorous debate with members of his own political party.^[18][3] He was acclaimed for his vehement criticism of his party's approach to transport policy, and for crossing the bench to vote against the government on the matter.^[7]

In response to another member of the Legislative Assembly suggesting that he should leave his party, Foster stated "I cannot leave the party, because I have no where else to go. I am in the party in order to try to purify it. I object to the steady drift towards socialism which is being manifested by the party to which I belong."^[11]

After his death, politician Eric Spooner said that Foster exercised an independence in Parliament which commanded the respect of every member of the Legislative Assembly.^[3]

Building industry advocacy

After leaving his position as president of the Master Builders' Association in 1918, Foster remained an active supporter of the association until his death. The Master Builders' Association passed a resolution to encourage its members to support his 1925 election to Parliament.^[19]

Using his position as a member of the Legislative Assembly, he assisted the association by arranging meetings with ministers and senior parliamentary members, and by making speeches in Parliament in support of the building industry. Foster was assisted by Thomas Henley and the Master Builders' Association to prepare a response to the Industrial Arbitration Bill of 1925.

Amid the growth in popularity of flats in the 1920s, some Sydney councils proposed bans or restrictions on their development, arguing that the new multi-story buildings were obstructing views from existing neighbouring homes. Foster objected to a total prohibition, instead suggesting that the Institute of Architects and Master Builders' Association should each nominate a technical representative to advise councils, in an honorary capacity, on flat design.^[20]