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Thank you very much Andrea, other distinguished guests, ladies
and gentlemen and can I invite you all to put your hands together
for the band for the tremendous rendition of our national anthem.
May I say how delighted I am to be here at the RSL Club, to thank
all of you for coming along this morning. I just want to say a very
small number of things about what the Government believes in, why
I am here. I want to commend to you the tremendously energetic job
that Andrea West is doing as your local member and then I would
like the opportunity to meet you over a cup of tea to hear what
you have got to say to me and to respond to your questions.
The Government that I have the privilege of leading was elected
about two-and-a- quarter years ago. We have taken a large number
of decisions over that time. I am very happy to say that over the
last week we have been able to resolve an issue that produced differences
of opinion within the Australian community and that's the issue
of Native Title. And the reason why it took a long time for us to
resolve it earlier was that the Government was standing up for one
very simple principle, and that is that all sections of the Australian
community should be treated equally.
The reason why we couldn't get it through the Senate originally
was that the Senate wanted to treat one section of the community
more favourably than others. And we held out against that and in
the end Senator Harradine and I were able to reach an agreement.
And I think all Australians are relieved that that agreement has
been reached and the issue has been put behind us. We want to treat
everybody fairly but we want to treat everybody equally. I have
never believed that there should be special privileges for one section
of the Australian community that are denied to other sections of
the Australian community.
And I am delighted, as Prime Minister, that that issue is now behind
us and we can move the focus of national attention in Australia
onto issues that I believe are of ongoing concern to Australians
in their everyday life. Issues related to interest rates, making
our taxation system fairer, and we will be having a great deal to
say about that not too long from now. And can I say that when the
taxation plan comes out it will address what I find the growing
concern of Australians to be, and that is that our existing system
is no longer fair : that people in the middle feel they are being
squeezed, they feel that they are contributing more than their fair
share, and they believe that the system ought to be changed. And
we are going to change it to make it fairer. And I know that there
are some people saying to us, "don't touch that it's
too hard". Well, I wasn't elected to my present position
to leave things alone because they were too hard. I was elected
to my present position because the majority of the Australian people
two-and-a-quarter years ago decided they wanted it and they put
me there to do things for the good of Australia.
And the reason that I am standing up for a reformed taxation system
is that I really, genuinely believe in all my being that this country
needs a better, fairer taxation system. The easy option would be
to say it's too hard, it's too unpopular, the opposition
will campaign against it, the media will criticise it, some people
might get upset by it. But that is not what you are elected to do
in public life, you are elected to argue for and advocate those
things that are good for Australia.
There are things about Australia at the present time that I don't
want to change because those things are good and valuable and they
are things that I have always held very dear as an Australian. And
I am a great believer in public life that you have got to chose
between the things that should be preserved and never changed and
the things that ought to be changed because they are no longer operating
effectively and fairly.
And one of the things that we ought to hang on to, of course, is
this beautiful flag that is behind me. Now, I know there are some
people that have criticised me. They have criticised me for years
for sticking up for the flag. They have said I am old-fashioned,
they have said I am ought of touch. Well, I stick up for the flag
because I believe it is something that binds all of us together,
it is a reminder of our history, but it is also a reminder of how
special and unique we are as Australians, because of the presence
of the Southern Cross and the Federation Star. And I will always
stand up for things from our past that are worth preserving. But
there are some things from our past that are no longer keeping us
together and are no longer serving Australia well. And they're
the sort of things that you should seek to change.
In other words, you hang onto those things that should be kept
and preserved with all your passion and all your might, but you
also at the same time you argue to change and improve the things
that need to be made better. And one of the things that does need
to be made better in Australia is we do need a fairer taxation system.
And I can promise you that when it comes out it will be fairer than
the present one. It will protect people on fixed incomes. It will
protect people on the pension and it will be particularly beneficial
for Australian families. And that will be coming out before too
long. And I think the Australian community will give the Government
marks for having a go and having the guts to try and reform an unfair,
malfunctioning system. And that's the one that we have at the
present time. And the Coalition is very committed to that.
The other thing that I wanted to say to you this morning, is that
a gathering like this is a wonderful reminder of one of the special
characteristics that Australians have and that is that they have
a great sense of community and a great sense of volunteer effort.
I have just been to the leisure centre and it's one of those
organisations that I don't think I can think of a duplicate
anywhere in Australia. It's entirely run by volunteers and
it has been operating for about twenty years or more. It receives
no direct assistance from any government or semi-government organisation.
And it's a remarkable demonstration of that great volunteer
community spirit within the Australian community. Voluntarism rather
than dying in Australia is getting stronger every year. And one
of the things that inspires me more as an Australian than anything
else, is the way in which we all come together to work for the community
good when that is needed. And certainly when there are the challenges
of disasters and catastrophes Australians work together like in
no other circumstances. And it's a remarkable element of the
Australian character.
And this morning, I know, is gathered representatives of all sections
of the community here in the electorate of Bowman, and particularly
in this district. And I am delighted that Andrea has been able to
bring you together because it is an opportunity for me to hear what
you have got to say, to receive some advice. I always receive advice,
I try and listen to the good advice and the other advice I also
listen to that as well. But part of interacting in politics is for
those who are privileged enough to hold elected office to move around
and to meet Australians. And I am often asked what is the best part
of being Prime Minister. And my answer is unhesitantly always, that
the best part of being Prime Minister is the opportunity it gives
you to meet different sections of the Australian community in different
parts of our country. And no one group is the same. No one RSL club
in Australia is the same as another. And no one leagues club in
Australia is the same as another. No one Senior Citizens' centre
is the same. No one section of the Australian community is the same
as another. And although we are a very united, cohesive people,
we have our own regional characteristics. I am always conscious
of that as I move around, and therefore it is always a stimulation
and a pleasure to have the opportunity of meeting different sections
of the Australian community, and that's what I want to do this
morning.
The last thing that I want to say to you, ladies and gentlemen,
is that all of us as Australians are effected by the overall strength
of the Australian economy. I haven't come here to give a long
economics lecture, but I have come to say one thing about the Australian
economy, and that is that it is facing a lot of challenge at the
moment because of what is happening in Asian-Pacific region. The
"melt down" as they call it in Asia , is the worst economic
set of circumstances to face those countries since the end of World
War II. And until about a year ago everybody was talking very optimistically
about economic growth in countries like Malaysia and Singapore and
Korea and Hong Kong and Japan. But in the last year so much of that
has changed and it does represent a challenge to Australia.
And I am very pleased that over the last two-and-a-quarter years
we have been able to get the Australian budget back into balance.
If we hadn't done that we would be effected a lot worse by
what is happening in Asia. I am very pleased that we have been able
to get interest rates down and get inflation down and to reduce
a lot of the debt that the Australian Government had two to three
years ago because in doing that we have made ourselves stronger
and we have given ourselves better protection against the downturn
in Asia. We now sell more than fifty percent of our goods and services
to the Asian-Pacific region and it is inevitable, therefore, that
if you have a downturn there that will effect us. And therefore
it is all the more important that we should take action to protect
ourselves against that downturn. And I know that some people wonder
why it is that we gave some help to Indonesia and Korea and a to
Thailand when their economies got into trouble. We lent them some
money, we didn't give it to them. And we expect to get it back.
But we did it because those countries are important to us. They
buy goods and services from us. And if they don't buy goods
and services from us well we won't be as prosperous. I think
it is very important that that be understood. It is very important
that we realise that if you help a country that trades with you,
that country is stronger and better able to buy your goods and services.
We now live in a world, whether we like it or not, that is interconnected.
No country has the option of saying, we're going to put up
a barrier, go away, we don't want to have anything to do with
the rest of the world. We can't operate like that. We want
to sell goods overseas, if we want to sell goods overseas then we
have got to be willing to buy some of the goods and services that
other countries offer. It's difficult on occasions, and I know
that sometimes it's easier to say, well if imports are coming
in, let's shut them out. But in the end that won't work.
Because if we shut somebody else's goods out, they're
going to shut ours out. And that's going to hurt us a lot more
than it hurts them. And that is one of the issues that Australia
has to face . And we've taken a lot of protective action over
the last two-and-quarter years to give the Australian economy an
inner strength that if it didn't have, it would have more adversely
effected by what has occurred.
And the very last thing I do want to say again, is that I am delighted
to be on a stage with Andrea who has been your member since March
of 1996, and Andrea I can assure you, is a very hard working member
for the electorate of Bowman in the
Federal Parliament. She's a very persistent pursuer of Ministers.
She is a very constant advocate of the interests of this part of
Brisbane in the Party Room. And she is a person that pursues very,
very vigorously on behalf of the community of Bowman and the community
that she represents within the Brisbane area in the Federal Parliament,
she pursues those interests very, very vigorously. And I very, very
warmly commend her to you and I congratulate her on the vigorous
job that she has done in representing your interests in the Federal
Parliament.
Ladies and gentlemen, as always it is a great pleasure to be in
Queensland, to be in Brisbane. Thank you for coming along this morning,
and I would be very happy to meet all of you over a cup of tea.
Thank you very much.
[ENDS]