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PRIME MINISTER
R September 1996 TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER
THE HON JOHN HOWARD, MP
ADDRESS AT THE WESTERN AUSTRALIA STATE CONFERENCE
RADISSON OBSERVATION CITY HOTEL, WA
Thank you very miuchi Rit~ hard, David Honey the President of thcr Western Australian
Division of the Liberal Puity, my FRJeral and Statc Parliamentary colleagues, ladies and
acntlemen. I can't describe to you tho sensc of plca~ urc and satis-flactiun it is-~ w at long last address a
meeting of the Wostern Aajstmlian division ol' thc Liberal Patty as~ Primi: Minisier of
Australa. It iq an historic moment to have again, aller 13 years of dnft and 13 years in th;.
wilderness, to have on the platform here in Pejth both the Liberal Premirr and the iberal
Prime Minister. And I want at the beginning of my address to express my immcnse
graTitude to Liberal-, in We-ormn Australia, not only for the remarkablo achievemont of thc
lu51. federal clection which saw, even on top of the great result achieved in 1993, saw
lii inurc Labor sa lo.-r by thiat party. it wasa brie at achievement, and of course it
built oni cuiur great achievements. It Is true, Richard, wthIis State contributes
disproporiiawly atnd generously to tbe export income nf the entire nation. Tt is also
true that until the last rudcraI tcle. rion ihil State contributed lis-pmrottitely to the
fedcral succcss of the Libefal Pity and it took the othur States until the last election,
particularly t States ofNcw Southi Waiks znd Queensland tQ catch up with thr. % ilnke
rato or Western Australia. And I am vcry consisgous ol'thai and I am very gratcful for the
work of thc Western Au.' itralian Divi. 5ion and Ilic pi ofc-iuzial ismn and the capacity to
campaign effectively a( the grass roots that has always bcn a liallitnark of rte Liheral
Party in Western Australja 21 both a Stato and a l~ cdcral lkvcl.
It wju; a great Rchicvcment, the last election. And the dolighlt in -sccing even mos-c Labot
scats lost and to have Don Randall and Jticky John.-Ion as, additional Liberal mcmbcrs in
the House ol Reprc'scnitives, we are truly dolighted to have the both of you with us. It is
imporl~ ta as we jstifishly refIlect with prido and lzatisraction and gonuine emotion in the
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aftermath of that Sz'at victory oin the second of March. it, Is Imporwtat hat we undorstwid
why we won. Bec~ iow. in a proper understanding of why we won is die founidation of
winning again. if we misqunderstand why we won l45t 1, l111, WC 11ay 1101 Win Again. And
the political history of Australia Is littered with tht; butirN ( if party leaders anid Primc
Ministers who didn't really understand why it, was, they won in the first place. We won
on the second of March throutir u comnbination of eircumstanccs and factors, Of course
we won in significanicma.' urc, because of tho accumulated frustration and hostility of the
Austrulian pcople tuwards thc for-mr govermment and in particular the former Prime
Minister. Wc should be realistic and pragmatic enough to understand that. It was a
goyci ninenft that had grown out of touch with the mainstream of the Australian
onimunity. It was a government which danced to the tunc arid the siren call of noisy
nhinoriticti und not the great mainstream of Australians. It wag a governimerntiIhNi had
grown arrogant, it was lead by ai group of people who itly harl hpanme pn~~ ssed with
the idea thar the Labor Pary was bumn to rule. It tisetoA hia -uid of us. however wrongly,
that we had born-to-rule wientality, yet if you lookc acros the House of Representatives
chamber at question timew and iii Parliaimenrtary debates. thc mob who really do have the
born to rule. mentality are Ithe new opposition memnbers In the House of Reprs~ Uiatvoe,
They still can't Work nut why it is that they lost and they can't work out why it i thiat they
Were rrjPCTCA. So it is in large measure the case ladies and guntleniiit that we won thec
Ilisr election because of the unhappincss of the Australian ulcturati; with the prcviu-
( iovernment.
But It Is also the case that for tlir. first rime in 13 years we got the right distillaton of
politics arid pulicy. Being succcssful in an election campAign is a comnbination of
pullitiwl % kill and commitownt to forward-looking vnlues. If you only have the valuer~
uwad ie cconomics right and you got thu politics wrong you mr not going to win it. And
if you only have thc politics right and you've got no economic coinmitment and you've
got no valuci thcn you don't roully ejescrve to win. And for the fir% t tme, I believe in 13
years~ at a Federal level we got that combination right and the other thing that we got right
is that we diTplaycd particularly in the 12 months leading tip to 1hhe election both within
the Liberal Party and between the Liberal Party and I he National Vartywe displayed
remarkable unity and we demonstrated the Adflg. that has been demonstrated again and
again in Australian politicthaii when the iberal and National Parties work Together they
win together and we did it very successfully. And the unity within our own rdnkb aud
between the Parliamentary palrty and the organisation playi: 4 a very signmificant rule in that
viciory. And I wunt express on behalf of the Federal Paarlamntaiy par ty dih immnlse
gratitude for the unselish loyalty and devotin of Ilic rank wit) File of tie Liberal Party
organisation particularly in the leatd up fu the ; lesuiioii. So it is important when we look
back on why we won itr) t innber that of courst the detestation of our oppone~ nts was an
clement. We got dic fight. distillation of politics and values, we had great political unity.
But I think we also tutjd something else, another chord in the Austruliwi community
and that wab u deoite to once again , lee the Governent of this country composed of men
anad wsati who saw themnselves as thc modz. 4t, even on occasions, humble servants of
dihc Australian pcoplc rathcr than u group of men and women who in tome way thought
through divine ordination thoy had Q right to COrnPTre the Government of thir. country.
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And that sonso that the Government was distant from the people and that sense that Ih.
Govornment no lonper ropresented or undentood or listcncd to or tholight about the
people of Australia was one of the most powerful reasons why the fnirmer ( iovernrent
was rejected. And if we remember that,, then our prospect-r of reeciion are very good.
But if on the other hand we forget it and thmiigh the paissage of fimei we bcnome arrogant
and presumptuous in office then the same fate awaits us. The Austrnlian electoratu now
is less tribalised politicAlly than it has evcr been since the enid of World War 11. 1Misy or
the old aroiatic allegiances are gone. It is no longer invariably the t a. wC that I vote
I . AMT because Dad did or I vote Liberal becauso Dad did. 1ii di ITerent grcrations ha've
differemnt titudes. Political allegiances amungst people undcr the age oi-30 amein a state
of convtant flux and mobility. Now that pioscnLts an enornmous ehallenge and it also
presents grint oppoitwiftics aind if we understand the nature of the ohanged cleotoratelwe
undesuid oil or those things then we have grcat prospects for the future.
The; theme of this Conference ladics and Sentlemen is about the fbture and that is what
out attention ihould bo dircted towards. We we elected by the Australian people of
counie to rcspcct the past and respect the rich history of the Australian nation but we
Wcrc also elected to provide to the Australian people goals and aspirations for Ithe future.
I remember Sir Charles Court once saying to me, he rmay have forgotten -about cight or
nine years ago, when I was the previous ( Opposilion Leader, he qald; Jot/ n what you've
always got to do is tell the Australian people what you're goas are about their fiure,
And that was a very sound piece of political advice. Australians are aspirational people
they c.~ in he inspired. they are Suspicious of humbugpand properly svbui they " nw bc
encouraged to fift their aspirations for the futurv. And it is onily tiatural as we move
toward the next millennium and as we mov; iowtudt-, tde celebration of the centenary of
the foundation of the Coinmonwcalili of Aubtilia that the Austra~ lian people should look
toward the next cuntuiy tuid Aiould look toward the futuro. Thicy want a Government t
undetistnuds that tho world of the year 2000 will be very different from the world of 40 or
years ago, Thoy don't want us to forgect out past. They want us to nurtarc it and
rv~ pect it but they want us to implement policies that do build ror the future, And that is
the tosk wo set Oursclvcs when we assurmd offico after the second of March. And
budget recently brought down by Poter Costello, I want to taethe opprtunityaofpayinp
a personal tribute to the remarkable job that Peter, as Treasurer and Deputy Leader of the
Liberal Party. did in preparng, bringing down, presenting and propotmding a very
succegsful. Federal ) iudget. That was the first of the building hlnrktq for the future
because what the Budget did was what the Atiqlralian people wanted in to do. They
wanted us at the irst availahie opporwnity to tackle the fiscal. legacy that we had
inherited from the former Government, They wanted us to attend to the payment of fth
hankcard liabilities that we had inhcriied from our predectssors. The: y diiju' waunt Wt~ o
leave it to year two or year three. And 1 don't think wny or uw suppoylers would havec
thanked us for saying well its a bit difivhult to do ic ruist year we'll get around to do it
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in year two or year three because they would know instinctively that if you weren't game
to tackle it in the first year immediately in office you were never going to do it in the
second or third year. So we did set about doing that und thc Budget has been very well
received in the Australian community, The positive nature of the reception or the Budget
has of course aggravated our political opponents. ) I has been seein by and large by the
Australian comrmunity as a strong but fair Budget. The Australian people will always
accept difficult decisions on two conditions. First and foremost the decisions have got to
bc fair and in thq national interest and secondly they've got to be properly explained and
understood. And if you do that, if you look every interest group in the eye and say well
you won't l ike what I have done but when you look at what has been done in other areas
and you look at the dimension of our problem you will undcrstand why it was nccisary
to do it. And I believe that in every area we can do exactly that. We can look an interest
group in the eye and say we know you don't like it but you will understand that in all of
the circumstances that it was necessary. And the other grcat achievement of the Budget
is that we have been able to keep faith with the core commitmecnts that we took to the
Australian people at the last election.
I amt very proud indee that the family tux~ initiative will be delivered in full on thle
promised date. I am very proud that the health insurane rcbate, the tax rebate will be
dclivcred in full on the promised date, I am very proud that the tax incentives in capital
gains. tax for small business will be delivered nn the prmtsed date.
And if ttic Australlian Senate is wise. which 1 hope in the end it will
be. we'll be able to deliver In full, once we have sold ont third of TcIsula, dt liwgsL3 tee'
capital Investment In the env~ ronmiental fuLUMOful Auitndi. Aiid if you're looking about
building for the future of Australia, ir you ate lifting your sights to the nort. millonnium
and you cart about thc wiaunul ruivironiuent of this country, something Australians of an
ag~ cs;% aubb all genefations and aoross ail patty divisions now rcaully do caro about, and
will in your heart want to % ee that Si billion go into that groat National Heritage Trust of
Australia, that will tackle tho ongoing, the really important environmental challenges of
Australia, the saX.-Az$ the pollution of our river systems, the degradation of our R-oil.
They arc things that do have to be taick led if we are to build for the future and if we camw
about the environmental inheritane or our children and our grandchildren.
I'm~ very proud of the first Coalition Budget since 1982. I'm' valry prond that it did
properly distil our economic, our social and our rinlitiCal e. pnsihilities. Fm proud to
call it a strong, fair budget, I'm proud to call it a huciget for the mainstream of die
Australian communiiy. Rut that wsa-. hut the first of the building blocks as we look
inwarttq the future. There are many ollher Tbings. hti and gcrulcmnen. We campaigned
before the election on a number of central platforms. One of thern, or icuurm, wms our
very strong commitment to the centrality of the ruanhly unit ill AuuMieflWI society. Welvc
already begun to refLc our priorities in that tuetu uvug i t budgct announccmnrts. V/ c
also hold vory d= u tho r. of butull lbuviiimss within not only the Australian economy but
815u within dio broade4 " omuntilty. so many of u3 int the Libcral rarty owc our
philosophic idcntification with our Party to its & rcat comynitniont to private enterprise and
smfall b7usirICss. SO f the Australian druam that you and I understand is the ide4 that you
might art your working lifc with nothing, take a lot of risks. build up a business, work
your inside out in the proem und pass on something better and something more
substantial to your childran1 that has always been very muceh part of the Australian
dream as I've understood it and iWa a dream that's favoured ii lut in recent years and it's
stomething that's got to be given more lire and more vigor. And thats Mne at* ihe vaainnP
why I have for ten years, and so many of my colleaigu'es her. Ioday and all around
Australia have campaignted so strongly for lnehir-frial relations reforrm. industrial relations
reform le-at at the heart of m better economic climate for small business in Australia.
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Unless~, at a national level we can liberate the Industrial relations System Of this CoUffitY
we will not be able to have the free and vigorous and positive and productive climate that
small businesses need in Australia. Unless our indumsrial rlationas reformus az~ passed by
the Australian Parliament, we Will HIot be~ able to gct rid of Laui ic Biereton's stupidJob
destroyinlg, ucitair disnisal law. That iimdw ial rtlations reformn bill, the workiplacc
iclatioos bill, is without any arguments, the most imporlunt pioce of legislation to bc
pi-csrnted by the new Coalitioun Covernment. It contains within it ive es'.' cntial
commitments. the unfair dismissAl Commitment, the commitment to getting
of compulsory unionism, the commitment to get rid of the restriction. l5 on dio formation of
enterprise unions, the commitment to bring back the very effective secondary boycott
prohibitions in the Trade Practices Act that have protected Fo mnany businesses around
Australia from the predatory behaviour of trade unions, mid finaally of course the very
important comnmitment to allow Australian workers to havc a real choice between
whether they remain under an award or whetlier they go Into a workplacc aigecrnct.
And we'll know within the ncx few weeks as to whether we ait gvt that Iejgislatiop
through the Parliament, We continue to ; cgutiutc in Moud faith with the minor parties in
order to, T hope acieive their 5uppoit. It is an iportant pice of legislatien, and if it is
passed mctial unimpair it will crcac at a natignal level a now and better climate for
workplace rclation3. It is not an anti-workcr bill, it is not an nnti-union bill, it is a pro
freedom, pro-small business bill and that is why we are so very st4rongly committed to it.
But We AISOr'" ~ the election, ladies and gentlemen, on thc issue of
unemnployment. I don't mind acknowledging. ARAI Australia".~ eoncemed, about the less
fortunate in our community or to acknowledge that unemploymecnt, particularly amongst
the young, ctill remains the greatest unresolved social problem that we havis. Tiliae are
many reasons for high unemployment, some of then ore. the consc'rjwences of the
degenerative. processes, particularly in family lie, in The social structure of this country of
the progre. rl over Ihe lasqt 20) or 30J years. A lot of the explanation lies In the rigidity of
our lahour ma~ rkets; and our industrial relations system. It Is no accldcnt that countries
like New Zealand and the United States that have freer labour markets have lower levels
of unemployment. I know it's uncomfortable for our political opponents to be iimindcd
of thaw, but It happen,% to he a centrul reality. It is albo ut rut;( tlnit over the last 10 years the
Australian euotionly lass hotL () Cem ablu to Rfow at a SUfficiently fa,-' t rdile to allow jobs to
jcuerus and uiteiploymcnt to come down without that strong r5rowth spilling over to ai
current account deficit or balance of payments crisis. And year after ycar we've had the
problem that whcnevcr we gct a bit of economic growth goingwe suck in too mnuy
imnports, there's a balanco of paymonts problem, inlterest rates go up and the whole show
gets olosed down. Now what we've got to do is to remove the speed limits on growth in
thin country and you can only do that if you free up the supply side of tie economy. If
you get rid of the rigidities, you get rid of the stupidity which created the situsition a
couple of years ago where beef produccrs in Australia could sell their product off the hoof
at ,; omething like 60 per cent less than beef producer in the Onihl trate. that after it
had gone through the procer. Ring and the. distrihnfinn and The Transportation chain, it
ended np eMng 40) rents a kilIn dearer for tihe Australian peoplc than for the United States
wholesalers. And that was because of all of the rigiditics of our industrial relations
system. You don't find bloody minded unionism much worse in this country than you'd
find It. I n the meat processing Industry, and It's a very good exarnple, a luic growni
example. a painful example, of just how titust; rigiuitics add. to ici cost of ploduCtiOn ill
daib WUtiwry. So gvltig rid of ilao spccd limits on girowth in Australia is very much about
oconomic rcform. And then you hear govcmmrcnt~ i both at the state and the fedcral level
talking about economic reform and you hear them talking about industrial relations,
waterfront, transport, clectricity, gas and all qarts of other reforms. They are not talking
dull, dreary accountinS concepts, they are talking about the real life and flesh and blood
of the competitiveness of Australian industry.
So building for the future is about getting the budget back in tho black. R's about
addressing ! he problems of small business. t . e. sa lso very much about addresing the need
for accelerated micro-economic reform in this contry. It's about devetonpine, ar a
Fax from national level, the energetic, outward looking, innovative, entreprenewring culture which
is so redolent in most of Western Australia. And I don't want to finish this pleasure of
addressing the Western Australian audience without acknowledging th eir particular
contribution pf Wcstcni, Australia ; o the economic stengths and the economic vitality of
Australia. You are rightly proud of the contribution that your State makes to the export
income of the nation. You rightly remind any federal government of the impact of
particular laws and particular attitudes on the economy of Western Australia.
I am, as Prime Minister, very conscious of the imnportance of thc rcsourcc sector as well
of course of other sectors of the Western Australian economy. We have that very much
in mind when decision-. were taken in relation to such things as the diesel fuel rebate in
the budget. We also had that very imuch in mind in our desire to effect reforms to the
Native Title Act to make that active accordance with mny pre-election commitment more
welcome because it. is undoubtedly the case vith that Act in its preqent forin doe& need
change and reform in order to make it more workable, more workaible for miners, mome
workable for the indigenous people of Australia, more workablc for pastoralists, and
more workable for governments at both a State and federal level-
Unity between Federal and State governments of the same political persuasion is very
important. We have the happy circumstance at. present that we have feeral government
and governments in five of the six States of Australia and the two territories of Australia
of the same political stokc. it is a long time sine wc had that happy conjunction. I want
to say how important it. isto me as federal leader, to have the understanding and the
cooperation of my State colleagues. I have immense admniration for the job that Richard
Court has done as Premnier of Western Australia. Hc has been a grcat contributor to the
national political debate while at the same time as any State Premier must and should do,
he's been a staunch and outspoken advocate of the particular concerns and the particular
interests of the State of Western Australia. And whenever hie may choose to face thc
people of Western Australia, I am very confident * of what thc outcome will be, and he will
go into that battle and he will go into that political contest with a wholehearted support
and admiration and respect of the Federal Parliamentary Liberal Party and of myself
personally. I suppose it's something like this, the temptation to say something, even a
little bit, about your political opponents is almiost impossible to resist. Although, you
know, some people say John, you shouldn't say anything about them. And I wasn't
intending to say anything about my political opponents today, 1 was in an extremely
charitable mood as I flew across the Nullabor, but thcn I happened to have been reading
the paper as I came across a little item in the Sydney Morning Herald, the side column of
that, normally amusing, not always but often political insightful column of Alan Ramsey.
in which he talked about CGareth Evans' mental political state. lie recalled an interview
that Gareth made with Derryn Hinch a few wccks ago and lic was talking about what it
was like to be in opposition. I mean, he could have asked me, I would have told him.
And Garethi complained. he said they don't take much notice of you and he said it's called
relevance deprivation syndrome. He went on to say nobody takes any notice of you even
though you're busting your tail off day in, day out to get a niessage out. It's that
combination of impotence and irrelevance that really is pretty, pretty mind boggling
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Fax from: particularly wnen you-vo oml ms y. 1722 Pg-
Dear, dear me. Dear mue.
That ladies and geinlenieia, I) a SCIiNe, 5tiid it tall. You recilil at tht: beginning of my
1peech I % aid one of the reasons why we. won was that thle Austialiaas pwple: Ulhouht that
the previoui crowd really had got hopelessly out of touch, really were taking thm for
granted, and really aqsurnwd thait tall thcy had to do was turn up on polling day and get
reelected. Once politicians start thinkinS like that and behaving like that then they realy
deserve to be thrown out of office and I think the fact that somebody fools like, publicly
talking about just how dreadful it irG... if you've been a cabinet mninistcr for 13 year, which
he was, and you held a portfolio of Foreign Affairs and a few other senior portfolios and
you've only been in opposition for seven monthF. and you feel that you've got to burst
into public and whinge about It. you really have got a problem with your ego. And I think
it say-, a lot ahfll the~ Arrngnnce of the former government, but it's a lesson to us, it's a
lemson to remain in tnuch with the Aisrtrliafl pEople.
The last tling I want to say to you today, ladies and gentlemenl Is a very personal thing
and that is that to be the Prime Minisce of AuStralia Is without doubt the greatest
pri'vilegrc thut could evcr wne the way of any man or woman in this country. I want to
bay to you that all that I have aclikvvd in public life I uwc. to thc great party to which all
of us belong. I became a memiber of Parliament because or the Liberal Pairty. I became a
minister in the Fraser government bcerisc of the Liberal Party, T bcame leadoi or the
Liberal Party and I'm Prime Minister because I kcad the Liberal Party and tho Libtral-
National Patry Coalition. Like so many people in this room Ilvc devoted ail of my adult
lita4-! S a lot more to the service of the Liberal Party.
I've been through the good times and the bad times and the good tines again. So I've
never lost sight Of affirmative influences on my political thinking in my early years in
the Liberal Party in Sydney. But the people who were my heroes then are the people
from whom I took advice and received encouragement and, on occasions, inspiration.
The Liberal Party has never been a zealously ideological party. But it's reached its
greatest heights and its greatest moments when it's been a party of both ideas and
ideals. People say to me is the party an ideological one I say ' no, this is a party of
ideas and it's certainly a party of ideals. If you look at the last 50 years the great
ideas have come from our side of politics. The great in himigration tolerance, the
white Australian policy, the reception of so many Indo-Chinese refuigees in the 1970s,
that came from our side of politics. Many of the great social welfare reforms, the care
for the genuinely needy came from our side of politics. The great principle of quality
of opportunity and choice in the education of children, irrespective of whether it was
a government school or an independent school. That was pioneered by our side of
politics having been resisted for almost two decades by blindly ideological Labor
Party that couldn't see the essential principle of freedom that's involved in that. The
great ideas in the economic debates of the late 70s and through the 1980s they were
changed from our side of politics. It was the Coalition that proposed financial
deregulatrion. It was the Coalition that first propounded an industrial relations reform.
It was the Coalition that first propounded privatisation in the public interest.
Remember when Bob Hawke and Paul Keating said ' that if you sold the
Commonwealth bank Ben Chifley would turn in his grave'.-They said it was akin to
burning down the gum tree to do so. Getting the of time because we had led the
intellectual debate they succumbed and they came into line and they rather..
complied because they need the money and now they pretend that their opposition to
a sale one third of Telstra is based on some great principle of commitment to
public ownership in this country. After what they have done, after the hypocrisy they
have displayed on issues like the Commonwealth Bank and Australian Airlines and
Qantas, they have no right even to be in the debate of our privatisation in this country
any longer.
Fax from We are most importantly of all, we are a party of ideals. We believe absolutely in the
importance in the individual worth and decency of every man and woman in this
country. We believe that self flulfilment and self esteem is important, that that is
always more important in the imposition of the collective corporatist wheel on
individual freedom and individual liberty. We believe very, very passionately in the
role and the importance of the family unit within our society. Of course, not all
families are happy but that doesn't in any sense destroy the fact that a stable,
functioning, united family is the greatest source of personal happiness and material
security that has yet been devised by mankind. And collectively those functioning
united families also happen to comprise the most efficient welfare delivery system that
mankind has ever devised. So ladies and gentlemen, this is an occasion to reflect with
personal and collective humility on the great responsibility that has been given to us
by the people of Australia. It is an occasion for me to thank the Liberals of Western
Australia for the tremendous loyalty, stoicism and commitment and support that so
many of you displayed over such a long period of time. It is an opportunity for me to
express my gratitude to the Liberal Party and it's an occasion for me to commait myself
and my colleagues to the service of the people of Australia. An occasion to say that
on all occasions the great goal of my Government will be to do good things for the
people of Australia. Thank you. Farxom 08/ 09/ 96 17: 22 Pg: 8