E&OE....................................................................................................
Well to the Mayor, Tony Zappia, of the City of Salisbury, to my Federal
Parliamentary colleague, Trish Draper, other distinguished guests,
ladies and gentlemen.
I finally have found out, Trish, where that photograph of you and
I with the Crows scarf has ended up. And she promised me that it would
end up in the bar of this particular bowling club and I've found
that this morning she is very much a person of her word.
Can I start by saying that I am very pleased indeed to be here at
the City of Salisbury. I'm particularly happy to be in Trish's
electorate. And I do take the opportunity of telling all of you as
citizens of this area just what a tremendous hardworking Federal Member
you have in Trish Draper.
Local political representation these days is less about your party
allegiance, although that's important, and it is increasingly
about the quality of personal representation that you bring. And a
local member who is in touch with her constituency, a local member
who understands that this electorate has a very significant number
of retired people, it has a lot of people who are concerned about
community services, it has people who are concerned about the stability
and quality of family life - somebody who understands those things
and communicates those concerns to her parliamentary colleagues is
a very effective representative of the district.
In our system of government, of course, we have a division of responsibilities
between the Local Government, the State Government and the Federal
Government. Sometimes you get some lines blurred on the edges where
there is concurrent responsibility and there are some things that
are unquestionably our responsibility at a national level. And one
of the things that we undeniably have total responsibility for is
the overall state of the Australian economy.
I was very happy yesterday to open the runway extension to Adelaide's
airport. And those runway extensions are going to give a very vital
new trading link and commercial link between the city of Adelaide
and the people of South Australia and those very important export
markets in South East Asia. And it's another illustration of
our commitment as a Government to building infrastructure within the
Australian community. Australia is a very big country. And no matter
who is in power, federally or State, and no matter what your politics
are you must recognise we need to spend money on public infrastructure.
We committed ourselves and we were the first Federal Government in
the history of Australia to commit ourselves to support the construction
of the Darwin to Alice Springs Railway. Now that particular project
is very important to South Australia. It's very important to
the Northern Territory. But let me tell you, as a Sydney boy, it's
something that people that all over Australia regard as a very important
element of nation building. And nation building includes a commitment
to valuable public infrastructure. And the Adelaide airport extension
and the Darwin to Alice Springs Railway are examples of the commitment
of the Government to that public infrastructure.
The Government's other commitments in the area of making the
economy run well obviously include following the right policies to
protect Australia from the impact of the Asian economic down-turn.
Now you all know about that, you've all read about it and it
is the most significant economic downturn that those countries have
experienced in something like 30 or 40 years. The Japanese economy,
so important to Australia because Japan is Australia's largest
overseas market, our best customer. Japan buys more from Australia
than any other country by far and the country that buys the next largest
quantity of goods and services from Australia is Korea. And those
two countries together, Japan and Korea, make up over 30% of the total
export market of Australia. So what happens in that part of the world
does affect us. We can't say well we don't want to know
you, we don't want to have anything to do with you because that's
unrealistic. And we have to understand that it does have an impact
on us. And what we have tried to do over the last two-and-a-quarter
years is to make sure that the Australian economy is strong enough
and resilient enough so that the impact from Asia is less than it
would otherwise be. We can't stop it having any impact, that's
quite unrealistic, but what we've done over the last two-and-a-quarter
years is to reduce, very markedly, the impact. And things would have
been a lot worse from Asia over the last year if we hadn't taken
some of the measures we've taken. I know some of those measures
have been criticised but when you put them all together they have
in fact given Australia a strength and protection that we wouldn't
otherwise have had.
There is a lot of discussion at the moment about our plans to change
Australia's taxation system. Many of you have spoken to me about
it this morning. And the details of that policy are going to be out
very soon and we are very close to completing those details. We do
need a better system for Australia's sake. Not for the sake of
the Liberal Party or the sake of the Government or the sake of John
Howard or Peter Costello. We want a new and better system in this
country because it will be good for Australia. It will be a fairer
system and it was one of those things that will help make us even
stronger against the impact of the Asian economic downturn.
I mean, what your Government should be doing at the moment is looking
around and seeing what it can do to make Australia better and stronger.
And we don't have a system at the moment that is all that fair
and we do need a system that brings more fairness but it's a
system that will fully protect retired people. I want to say to the
retired people of Australia, you have nothing to fear, indeed you
have much to gain from a fairer and different taxation system. And
I ask all of you to wait and have a look at the detail and you won't
have too long to wait and you will see that what I say is true. We
must be willing to change things that are good for Australia. Part
of the art of good Government and the mark of a good sensitive Government
is to hang on to those things from our past which are valuable and
enduring and important. We have a lot of traditional values as Australians
that I don't want to see changed. We are an egalitarian society,
we believe in the old Australian adage of mateship. We believe in
looking after each other and sharing adversity and helping each other
and whenever there's a great calamity or tragedy in Australia
the best of the Australian spirit comes out. We saw it last year in
that appalling tragedy in Thredbo in the Snowy Mountains. We see it
in bushfires, we see it in other national calamities.
So they're qualities about Australia that I wouldn't want
to see changed, in a hundred years I wouldn't want to see any
change in those sorts of things.
They are other things about Australia that I don't want to see
changed. I don't for example want to see this flag draped on
the wall behind me changed. I support that flag very, very strongly.
That flag is a wonderful expression of our history and that's
why one of the first things that I did as Prime Minister was to ask
the Parliament to pass a law saying that the Australian flag could
never be changed without that issue being put to a vote of all of
the Australian people. And my suspicion is that because of that law
it will never get changed because I don't believe the majority
of the Australian people will ever vote to change it.
So they are some of the things about Australia that I don't want
to see changed at all. Nor do I want to see the cooperative spirit
that exists between our local communities and their local and state
governments change. I don't think we should change our Federal
system of government. We divide responsibility between the national
government, the state government and the local government.
There is much about Australia that is all right as it is and I'm
not somebody who believes in change for change's sake. But part
of my responsibility as Prime Minister is to argue for change in those
things that I believe are good for Australia. You look at each issue
and you say is the present situation continuing to be good for Australia?
And if it is you hang on to it, you preserve it, and you argue against
change. If on the other hand it's something that you believe
ought to be changed for the good of Australia, you then go out and
argue for and you advocate change.
That's why I support changing our tax system. Not because I've
got any personal hang-up about it or some ideological commitment.
But I just happen to believe that it would be good for Australia if
we had a taxation system that encouraged us to export. It would be
good for Australia if we had a taxation system that was harder for
cheats to prosper from. It would be good if we had a taxation system
that paid greater recognition to the cost of bring up children. It
would be good if we had a taxation system that recognised the severe
cost disabilities of many of our rural industries. And can I say to
all of you that there is no state in Australia that would benefit
more because of its heavy reliance on the manufacturing industries
of this country. There is no State that would benefit more from the
sort of taxation reform that we have in mind than the State of South
Australia. Because the present taxation system, the present wholesale
tax system is massively discriminatory against manufacturing industry.
It penalises manufacturers and it particularly penalises manufacturing
exporters.
And I believe my friends that when all of the details of this are
unveiled and as I say we're getting near to completing the task
but it is a big task, it's an important task. I believe that
the great majority of Australians will see it as the next necessary
step towards making this country more competitive of giving this country
more fairness and of giving this country a greater capacity to compete
in a difficult world environment.
It is because of what's happening in Asia that it is necessary
for us to press ahead with essential changes and reforms. That is
not a reason for us to go slow rather it is a reason for us to press
ahead.
Ladies and gentlemen thank you very much for coming this morning.
I'm often asked as I do interviews around Australia and I talk
to journalists and commentators, I'm often asked what is the
best part of the job. The best part of the job is the opportunity
to meet different groups of Australians in settings like this. To
come into a local community, to talk to people where they might regularly
come and meet their friends, have a cup of tea or a drink or play
bowls or whatever the activity may be, indoors or outdoors. And no
community is the same, that's the remarkable thing about it,
every community has it distinctive characteristics. I know a little
of the history of this area, I know a little of the different contributions
made by different immigrant communities after World War II to the
character of the City of Salisbury. It's different from other
parts of Adelaide and they're different again from parts of Melbourne
and Sydney and Brisbane. And it's a constant fascination and
a constant privilege to have the that opportunity of visiting so many
local communities.
And it is a reminder to me that the only way we as Australians can
achieve the goals that all of us share for our country and that is
a better and fairer society and a secure society as we go into the
next century is that we have to work together. The Government can't
do it all on it's own. It's not very good at doing certain
things, the Government, but it's good at doing other things.
Local organisations can't do it all on their own but they do
a magnificent job and individuals can't always do it on their
own either and it's only through a shared endeavour of individuals
and local communities and government working together that we can
share and achieve our goals.
Thank you for having me. Trish thank you for the tremendous job that
you're doing as the Federal Member for this electorate. I think
it's absolutely superb, she's a great representative of
this people of this electorate, she's a very valued colleague
and friend and I ask you to, whenever the time may be appropriate,
to look favourably upon her in the most practical of all ways.
Thank you very much.
[ENDS]