Editing Hal Colebatch (section)

==Agent-general==
On his way to England, Colebatch passed through [[Queensland]]. Mitchell had asked Colebatch to find him an advisor on tropical agriculture. After talking to Queensland Premier [[Ted Theodore]], Colebatch found [[Frank Wise]] in [[Townsville]] and recommended him to the Western Australian Government. Wise accepted the offer, and moved to Western Australia. He would later be elected to the Western Australian Parliament as a Labor member and become premier in 1945.{{sfn|Colebatch|2004|p=88}} In [[Calcutta]], he developed a [[carbuncle]] which he had an operation for. His doctor told him he was days away from death before the operation. Two days after it, he was diagnosed with diabetes.{{sfn|Colebatch|2004|p=91}} He had to stay in Calcutta for several weeks while he recovered.{{sfn|Colebatch|2004|p=92}}

Soon after he arrived in London, the [[1924 Western Australian state election]] occurred, in which Labor, led by [[Philip Collier]], defeated the [[Coalition (Australia)|Coalition]], led by James Mitchell. Colebatch spend the rest of his term as agent-general under a Labor Western Australian Government. Among the things the role entailed was representing the State Government in negotiations with the British Government, the Australian Government and sometimes other foreign governments, deal with European investors and companies operating in Western Australia, arrange loans, work as a purchasing agent for government departments, recruit for specialist positions, communicate with the premier about the goings on in London, promote migration to Western Australia, represent the state at ceremonies, assist Western Australians in London, and generally do things to raise the profile of the state.{{sfn|Colebatch|2004|p=97}}

He became chairman of the committee responsible for the Australian section of the [[British Empire Exhibition]] in 1924 after the previous committee fell apart.{{sfn|Colebatch|2004|p=98}} Despite this, Colebatch had reservations about the exhibition, thinking it should have involved more than just the [[British Empire]]. He supported Australian High Commissioner [[Joseph Cook]] when he opposed the country subsidizing the following year's event. Colebatch became a member of the [[Savage Club]] when one of the committee members nominated him.{{sfn|Colebatch|2004|p=99}} He found difficulty in raising loans for Western Australia, firstly, because the London money market was depressed,{{sfn|Colebatch|2004|p=98}} and secondly, because much loan money was being sent to Germany instead due to the high interest rates there.{{sfn|Colebatch|2004|p=100}} When the Group Settlement Scheme seemed to be failing, Colebatch persuaded Collier to travel to London to negotiate a new migration deal. Collier dislike travelling, but he went to London anyway and a new deal was signed.{{sfn|Colebatch|2004|p=104}}

Colebatch's term as agent-general was planned to end in November 1926, just a few months before the [[1927 Western Australian state election|1927 state election]]. He pointed out to Collier that he would have been expected by Coalition politicians to campaign against Labor in the election. He thought it would be distasteful to campaign against the government when they had worked together well over the previous three years. Collier agreed, and so Colebatch's term as agent-general was extended by a year.{{sfn|Colebatch|2004|p=104}} In the [[1927 New Year Honours]], he was made a [[Knight Bachelor]] upon the recommendation of the Labor government.{{sfn|Colebatch|2004|p=105}}

While Colebatch was living in London, his son Gordon was living in Italy to study singing, theatre and languages.{{sfn|Colebatch|2004|p=106}} In 1927, Colebatch and his wife travelled around Italy for several months, visiting Rome and Venice among other places.{{sfn|Colebatch|2004|p=116}} Gordon was friends with high ranking officials in the British Embassy in Rome, through which he secured a private meeting between Colebatch and [[Benito Mussolini]] at [[Chigi Palace]].{{sfn|Colebatch|2004|pp=112–113}} His tour around Italy led Colebatch to form his anti-fascist political beliefs.{{sfn|Colebatch|2004|p=106}}