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Thank you very much Richard. To Mrs Joy Howley, the president of the
Victorian Division, to my parliamentary colleagues both State and
Federal, and to the many supporters and members of the Liberal Party
here in Victoria. We gather together tonight at a very important moment
in the political life of Australia. It is now a little over two-and-a-quarter
years since the Coalition Government was returned to office in March
of 1996. Quite obviously the Coalition over the past month or two
has had some difficult times, but I've never been one to mince
words or to pretend or to play games and I speak, as Richard said,
from the background of some understanding of the Australian political
scene. And there are some challenges around at the moment that haven't
been around before and there are some substances in the political
firmament that haven't been around before. And there are some
responses that are needed on this occasion that haven't been
needed before. And the first and most and most important thing that
I want to say to all of you tonight is that it is time for not only
the parliamentary party, but also time for all members of the party
organisation, to come out fighting and fighting very hard to explain
to the Australian people two things - two very simple things.
The first of those is the monumental achievements of the Government
since it was elected to office in March of 1996 and also throwing
forward to the future the very very simple fact that the Coalition
alone of the political entities on the Australian political horizon
actually has a plan, actually has a design, actually has a set of
values and a set of goals for the future of Australia.
Now, I know the opinion polls are bad at the moment. They've
been bad before and they've come good, and we all know that great
adage to which we will forever be indebted to my predecessor, Malcolm
Fraser, when he said that there was only one poll that counted. Obviously
One Nation has had impact on the political scene, but as I told the
Liberal Party in Western Australia at the weekend there is no simple
one line put down of One Nation. The way the Liberal Party beats One
Nation is the way it beats the Labor Party and that is to offer the
people of Australia something better. And what we need to do, all
of us, is to remind the Australian people of what we have achieved,
to remind them that when we came to office the Federal Government
debt was $95 billion and it was accumulating at the rate of $10.5
billion a year, and in just two-and-a-quarter years we've wound
that back such that this year we will have a surplus of $2.7 billion.
We should remind the Australian people that interest rates now are
lower than they have been for 30 years, that the average homeowner
is $300 a month better off. That's the equivalent of a pay rise
of a $100 a week for the average wage and salary earner. We should
remind people as I did at the awards presentation ceremony of the
Master Plumbers this afternoon here in Melbourne, that in March of
1996 there were 143,000 young Australians in apprenticeships and traineeships,
and by the end of the year that figure will have climbed to 200,000
and great credit is due to David Kemp for the tremendous work that
he's done on that front. We should remind the Australian people
that we've created 293,000 jobs in two-and-a-quarter years. We
should remind the Australian people that we have the lowest inflation
rate in the OECD area, and that our growth rate this year, despite
the challenge of the Asian-Pacific region is going to outstrip that
of most of the countries of the industrialised world. We should remind
the Australian people of our achievements in reforming industrial
relations. We should tell the people again and again of what we have
done in the are of work-for-the-dole, and we should also remind them
that if Mr Beazley were to become Prime Minister, he would abolish
the work-for-the-dole scheme, just as he would reverse the crackdown
on welfare, which is saving average Australians, hard working honest
taxpayers $46 million a week. We should remind the Australian people
that it was the Coalition Government that ended the exploitation of
the immigration programme which occurred under the former Government
and introduced a two year waiting period for new migrants, that altered
the balance of the migration programme with a greater emphasis on
skilled migration whilst maintaining the long-standing commitment
of the Liberal Party towards a completely colour blind and completely
non-discriminatory immigration policy.
There is much that we should remind our fellow country men and women
about over the weeks and months ahead but we should also, and we will
have plenty of opportunity, when the Coalition's taxation plans
are unveiled, we'll have plenty of opportunity to tell the Australian
people not only what we have achieved over the last two-and-a-quarter
years but what we will achieve over the next three years if the Australian
public re-elects us.
And I think we also ought to remind the Australian public that it
is very easy to identify what Mr Beazley stands for in one sense and
in one sense alone. He stands for winning, but it is very difficult
to find what else he stands for. He's a person who's against
everything. He's a person who has repudiated whatever transient
embrace of economic common sense that might in the past have been
the want of former Labor Governments. He wants to take us back to
the 1950s with his industrial relations policy. He says the present
taxation system is perfect and is really in need only of tinkering
at the edges. He will abolish the reforms that we have implemented
in so many areas. He was the man who assured the employees of the
Commonwealth Bank that a Labor Government would never privatise that
bank, yet once re-elected he went ahead and did so, as indeed his
colleagues had assured the Australian public regarding QANTAS and
Australian Airlines.
We will have a great opportunity in the weeks immediately ahead of
us, when our plans to reform the Australian taxation system are unveiled.
We will have a great opportunity to demonstrate that the Coalition
and the Coalition alone are in favour of a taxation system that will
take this country into the 21st Century. Now I know there
are some people and I'm sure there are some people in this audience
who say for Heaven's sake what on earth is he talking about
taxation reform for. Why doesn't he just keep quiet, mutter a
few words about having a meeting, put down a few principles, get back
into office and then introduce taxation reform?' Can I say to
you my friends that is impossible. I can't look the Australian
people in the eye before the next election when asked the question
"Will you make major changes to Australia's taxation system?"
I can't look them in the eye and say no when I know in my heart
that is what Australia needs, and if I am to talk in generalities
about taxation reform and say "Yes we are going to reform the
system, and we are going to get everybody to meet together and will
try and achieve a consensus" That would invite the mother of
all political fear campaigns from Mr Beazley and the Labor Party.
They would go from one end of Australia to the other saying that Howard
is going to introduce a GST of 25% and he's not going to compensate
the low income earners and he's not going to give any personal
income tax cuts. He's going to look after the rich and ignore
the poor and the low and middle income earners. And I would be powerless
to refute that because we wouldn't have a detailed plan, and
if anybody imagines for a moment that that is an intelligent political
recipe for handling this, then they don't understand the dynamics
of modern politics in Australia. We don't control the Senate.
We'll try very hard at the next election to win more Senate seats
but we could at least face as difficult a time after the next election
as we now face in getting legislation through the Parliament. Therefore
if we want to change the Australian taxation system, if we believe,
as I do and my colleagues do that it is in Australia's interests
and it is for the good of Australia that we have a new and different
taxation system, then we have no political or moral alternative then
to lay out our plans before the election and go from one end of the
country explaining the benefits for Australia of changing our taxation
system.
There are some who argue that you should do nothing about it because
of what is happening in Asia. Can I say to you my friends that it
is because of what is happening in Asia that it is all the more necessary
to do something about it. We face, because of the Asian economic downturn,
a far more difficult economic environment than we thought would be
the case when were elected in 1996, and if we hadn't done what
we have done since 1996, the Australian economy would now be more
fragile, more vulnerable and weaker and the outlook gloomier than
what in reality it is. We strengthened our budget position, we got
our interest rates down, we improved the investment climate, we increasingly
looked attractive to the rest of the world in this part of the region
while other economies were falling over and the next logical step
is to change our taxation system. Because if we do that, we will make
Australia even more competitive. We will take a load off our exporters.
We will give people more incentive to work and to save. We will make
Australia more attractive as an international investment centre. So
the argument that you put it off because of Asia is completely wrong.
You bring it on because of Asia. I mean, the fact that Asia is a challenge
to us is an additional argument why we should embrace taxation change
and reform.
I can assure you that the tax plan, when it's brought out, will
not involve dumping a goods and services tax on top of the existing
taxation system. We're talking about a total taxation reform.
I laid down five principles in August of last year when I announced
that we would commence the reform and rehabilitation of the Australian
taxation system. And those five principles will be honoured when the
policy is brought down. And they included a commitment to protect
low-income earners in the Australian community and I want to give
those people, tonight, an assurance that they will not be left worse
off as a result of our reforms. They will be protected. It has always
been the mission of a Liberal government to look after the low-income
earners in the Australian community. And the reductions that we have
achieved in inflation and interest rates, in proportionate terms,
have delivered more benefits to low-income earners in Australia than
they have to any other section of the Australian community.
Ladies and gentlemen, I see the weeks ahead of us as very important
weeks for the Coalition. We have an opportunity to do two things.
All of us have an opportunity, in a renewed and aggressive fashion,
to remind the Australian community of what has been achieved over
the last two-and-a-quarter years. And when you remember that, despite
our 44-seat majority in the House of Representatives, that we still
don't control the Senate, that we still have, because of that
one hand tied behind our back, what has been achieved is, indeed,
I think, quite monumental.
We've had, in relation to all of our major pieces of legislation,
we've had to try several times before we've got it through.
Nobody thought we would get the Native Title Amendment Bill
through. In the end, we did, and although it wasn't to the last
letter everything that we wanted, it was overwhelmingly what we wanted.
And at long last, after five years of chaos and doubt and obfuscation
and delay, we are now going to have a native title regime in this
country that gives stability to farmers and miners, gives a hope that
some native title claims can be established in relation to the indigenous
people of this country and, I think, takes off the Australian political
agenda an issue that could, indeed, have been divisive in the eyes
of many in the Australian community.
Richard mentioned the Telstra sale. We remain committed to the full
privatisation of Telstra. We're going to do it in stages. And
you might ask, 'why would you privatise it?' There's one or two
very powerful arguments. But the most powerful of all is that at the
30th of June this year the Federal Government owed the
rest of the world about $82 billion courtesy of eight or nine budget
deficits run up by Mr Beazley and Mr Keating. The sale of the remainder
of Telstra alone will realise at least $40 billion. That's half
of the total. And what do you do with the interest savings when you
pay-off half of $82 billion? You spend those interest savings on roads,
on schools, on health and on housing. And you also have a bit left
over to spend some things in improving the telecommunications system
of rural and regional Australia. People ask me, why would you
want to privatise the rest of Telstra?' That's the most
powerful reason why you would want to do it. And we're going
to do it in stages.
We know that there is concern in country Australia, in the bush
and I don't mind using the politically incorrect term. I think
most Australians still describe it very much as the bush. In the bush
there is worry that the telecommunications aren't good and you
do need to invest more in it. You won't get the dollars to invest
in improving those telecommunications unless you are willing to privatise
the rest of Telstra. But we're going to do it in stages. We're
going to sell up to 49 per cent and then we're going to pause
and we're going to have an inquiry, an independent inquiry, against
the benchmarks that we will put in legislation as to whether the community
service obligations are being met by Telstra. And when we get the
go-ahead from that, that they are, then we're going to proceed
to the next stage. And in the long run, that policy will relieve a
debt burden on the Australian community and it will enable future
governments to do good things with the money that would otherwise
have been spent servicing a debt run up by Mr Keating and Mr Beazley.
Now, if that's not a good proposition, if that's not a good
deal for the Australian people then I really don't know what
is.
So, ladies and gentlemen, we have great political opportunities in
the weeks and months ahead of us. We have achieved a lot over the
last two-and-a-quarter years. We have much more to achieve and we
have much more to realise in terms of our political goals and our
political hopes.
I want to take the opportunity tonight of thanking the members of
the Liberal Party here in Victoria for the tremendous professionalism
that you have all displayed, both in the years that I was in opposition
and in the last two and a bit years in Government. The Victorian organisation
has been very supportive of the Government and I thank the President
and I thank the State Director and I thank all members of the organisation
for the loyalty and support that you have displayed towards me and
towards the Government. I want to acknowledge the professionalism
of the Liberal Party here in Victoria. It is no mean feat to have
achieved what this Division has achieved over the last eight or nine
years, both at a State and a federal level.
I also pay tribute to the quality of the federal representation that
you have sent to Canberra from here in Victoria. It numbers, of course,
my Deputy, Peter Costello, who's done an outstanding job as Treasurer
since the election in March of 1996 and I pay unstinted tribute to
the work and the commitment and the tenacity of Peter in that role.
I also acknowledge the contribution of Richard Alston who is not only
the Deputy Leader in the Senate but also a member of the leadership
team. I can't think of a person who could have handled the difficult
issues thrown up by the communications portfolio and, of course, his
grasp and understanding of the arts in Australia in terms of bringing
it to the mainstream of the Australian community and his capacity,
above both of those things, to handle Jabiluka protesters, has me
in absolute awe.
To Peter Reith and to Michael Wooldridge; to all of the other
to Rod Kemp, to David Kemp, who I've already mentioned because
of the work that he's done; to Judith Troeth, the Parliamentary
Secretary, I might say the first Liberal Parliamentary Secretary -
no offence to my National Party colleagues, of course first
Liberal Parliamentary Secretary for rural affairs; to all of them
I want to say a very warm thanks. And to all of my other colleagues
in Victoria, to Karen, to Kay and to everybody else, can I express
my gratitude and I particularly acknowledge the presence of Julian
here tonight as the National Party member of the Senate team for the
next election.
We have a great challenge ahead of us. I am filled both with energy
and optimism and, above all, commitment for that challenge. I know
that we have been through some difficult times. I know that the appearance
of the One Nation Party on the horizon was a surprising event to many.
But like all other challenges that we have faced in our political
history, we will be able to beat it off. We will beat it off by offering
the Australian people something better. We will beat it off by being
honest to the Australian people about our economic future. We will
give the lie to the proposition that Australia's economic salvation
lies in putting up the tariff walls and sealing this country off from
the rest of the world. I can't think of anything more calculated
to weaken and enfeeble the Australian economy than to go back to the
days of old protection. We will also beat off any attempt by any section
of the Australian community to embrace racial bigotry or discrimination
as part and parcel of our society.
The Liberal Party, let me remind you, was the party, under the prime
ministership of Harold Holt, that abolished the White Australia'
policy. The Liberal Party has a proud record of tolerance. The Liberal
Party's policies will always be colour blind. The Liberal Party
always opposes discrimination and bigotry. Any type-casting of people
on the basis of their racial or ethnic background is alien to everything
we believe in and is something that will never be countenanced by
any Liberal government at any time in the party's history. And
I want to say, on behalf of all sections of the Liberal Party, how
utterly committed we remain to the maintenance of those great principles
of tolerance, of non-discrimination and of the treatment of people
based on their merit and the contribution they make to the Australian
community.
We were elected in March of 1996 for a lot of reasons. You were reminded
of one of those reasons when you turned on your television set last
night and you saw the ALP arts launch. But I think the most important
reason that we were elected in March of 1996 is that the people of
Australia wanted a government that would govern for all Australians,
that would be first and foremost responsive to the mainstream of the
Australian community, would not be a government that would swing on
the hinge of every narrow interest group in the Australian community
but rather would be a government that would attach itself to the interests
of the mainstream of the Australian community. And that is why, of
all the things that we have done, those of which I am most proud are
those that have been directed towards the interests and the concerns
of the mainstream of the Australian community. And as it has been
with those reforms, so it will be when the taxation policy is released.
It'll be a taxation policy that will be good for Australia because
it will lift our living standards, our investment, reduce our business
costs, give taxpayers greater incentives to work and to save and to
give to the economic infrastructure of this country a very, very significant
boost and a very significant improvement. And we will be able to say
to the Australian people, whenever we go to the next election, whenever
that may be, we will be able to say to the Australian people that
the Coalition and the Coalition alone has a plan, has a vision, has
a set of values and a set of ideas for the 21st Century.
And I can't think of anything more valuable to give to the young
who will inherit the 21st Century than an Australian society's
strengthened and invigorated by change and reform.
So, my friends, thank you very much for the support that you've
given over the years. I look around this room, I see people who've
given long years of service and loyalty and commitment to our common
cause. I've spent most, indeed, all of my adult life virtually
working in different ways in the Liberal Party and I always retain
a deep sense of connection and empathy with those who work and support
the party year in and year out. I thank you for that. I thank my colleagues
from Victoria. I'm proud of the Senate team that you've
chosen. I wish it well and I look forward to a resounding success
whenever the election is held. Thank you.
[ends]