E&OE.....................................................................................................................................
Thank you very much, David, to Bob Carroll, the President of the Queensland
Division of the Liberal Party, my Cabinet colleague, John Moore, I
acknowledge the presence of another former federal colleague of mine,
Stan Collard, who was a great friend of mine and the Coalition's
during the difficult times of 1987, my other Parliamentary colleagues,
ladies and gentlemen.
It is always for me a great pleased to be in Queensland, to be in
Brisbane, and I want to thank the Queensland Division for at very
short notice, organising tonight's gathering. It's an opportunity
to first of all congratulate David Watson on his assumption of the
Leadership of the Liberal Party here in Queensland at a State level.
David and I have been long time friends and colleagues. I know he
brings to his new position an enormous amount of experience and a
great understanding of the political challenges that lie ahead. And
I am not a person to mince words or to beat about the bush on important
political issues and I realise that I speak to you in the aftermath
of an election result here at a State level, that, to say the least
has been extremely disappointing. And it is important that we understand
the lessons of that defeat. It's important we not be overburdened
by it and very importantly from the federal point of view it's
important we understand the challenge that lies ahead of us.
The last federal election we had an unparalleled success for the Liberal
Party. It was a most extraordinary result which delivered to the Liberal
Party a record number of seats here in the State of Queensland. There
are a combination of reasons for that. One of the reasons often, I
think unstated, was the quality of the candidates the Liberal Party
offered on that particular occasion. I am naturally as Leader and
as Prime Minister, and as the federal custodian of the fortunes of
our Party, I am naturally concerned to ensure that the right circumstances
exist, that we can retain all of the seats that we won here in Queensland
at the next federal election.
And in order to achieve that goal it's important that we understand
that ultimately the next election will be a contest between ourselves
and the Australian Labor Party. There can only be two people who will
end up as Prime Minister after the next election, myself or Mr Beazley.
There is no other possible outcome of that election. And it's
very important that we keep in mind what the alternative is.
Of course we feel disappointed and some people feel understandably
concerned about the swings against the Liberal Party in Brisbane and
also the gains that were made by the One Nation Party in the provincial
and rural areas of Queensland. In responding to that it is very important
we don't misread the signs. We should neither be intimidated
by the outcome, nor should we be complacent about it. We should understand
that the bulk of the people who voted for the One Nation Party came
straight part from our own conservative base. And we must therefore
understand why that happened, and we must therefore set in place some
sensible strategies in order to maintain the confidence and the support
of those people when the federal election takes place.
And there is no point in muttering about these things in hushed tones
behind closed doors. We are an open society. And we are a society
that thrives on debate and advocacy. And the first thing that I want
to say to you tonight is that I have absolutely no intention of shrivelling
away into a policy nothing' as a result of what happened
here in Queensland. The worst thing that we could do is to lose our
sense of policy commitment, To lose our zeal for those things that
we believe are important for Australia. I have no end of people come
to me since the Queensland election and say "John, you better
forget about tax reform. Forget about it. Forget about privatising
Telstra. Forget about doing anything the least bit bold or visionary
for the future of Australia. What you have got to do is sort of do
nothing. And go up into a corner, don't defend anybody. And all
of those supporters will come flooding back". Well can I say
to you that is a prescription to lose even more support.
And I have to say to you that I have no intention of abandoning my
very strong support for reforming the Australian taxation system.
And the reason that I won't abandon that is that I believe it
is good for Australia. I have now been in politics for 24 years, and
I have believed in taxation reform for most of that 24 year period.
And I believe in it because I think is good for the country. Not because
I am on some kind of ideological binge. Not because it is going to
satisfy my ego. Not because it is going to deliver some kind of special
taxation treatment to me. It is because that as we go into the 21st
Century, we need to have a taxation system that helps rather than
hinders our exporters. We need to have a taxation system that is fairer
than the present one. We need to have taxation system that gives personal
tax relief to low and middle income earners. We need to have a taxation
system that sweeps away the complicated indirect taxation system that
we have at the present time. And we need to have a taxation system
that addresses the complications of Commonwealth / State financial
relations which have been something that has bedevilled the politics
of Australia for decades.
So, ladies and gentlemen, can I say that one thing I won't be
doing and one thing that I don't believe the Liberal Party should
do, is to take policy fright or to engage in a full scale policy retreat
as a result of what happened here at the Queensland election.
And the same thing applies to my approach to the sale of the remaining
two-thirds of Telstra to the men and women of Australia. You may remember
that I made that announcement on behalf of the Government at the Liberal
Party National Convention here in Brisbane back in March. And once
again I am in favour of that not because of any ideological belief
but because I think it is good for Australia. And let me tell you
why it's good for Australia. One of the reasons why it's
good for Australia is that it will enable us to deliver to the young
generations of the 21st Century, an essentially debt free Australian
nation. When we became the Government of Australia, the Federal Government
owed about $95 to $100 million billion dollars. And that was about
twenty percent of the total annual wealth generation of Australia.
Without the sale of Telstra, we'd be able to reduce that to about
ten percent of the annual wealth generated by Australians by the year
2000. But with the sale of Telstra we can reduce it to a bare one-and-a-half
percent of our totally generated annual wealth by the year 2001. And
that means that we can say to our children and grandchildren who will
inherent the twenty first century that one of the legacies of those
who were in control of Australia in the last years of the twentieth
century, one of the legacies that we leave to those generations is
an essentially debt free society. Now I think that is a goal worth
striving for. I think that is a goal worth achieving. And particularly
when you are offering to the men and women of Australia the opportunity
to buy shares in this great Australian company. And it can be done
in a way which protects through legislation the community service
benefits of the existing Telstra arrangement. And indeed out of the
proceeds of the sale of Telstra, we are able to (inaudible) for communications
infrastructure in the rural and regional areas of Australia that we
would not otherwise be able to do.
Now I have deliberately dealt with those two issues because I don't
believe at a time like this amongst the Liberal Family there is any
room for prevarication or any room for doubt as to where the Federal
Government stands on these issues.
And if we hold our resolve and our commitment and our nerve on these
great policy issues, we will win rather than lose support. The path
to another defeat is to lose your policy nerve. The one way to alienate
more supporters is to communicate to them the message that you are
no longer committed to the things that you believe are important for
Australia's future. There are variety of reasons why twenty-three
percent of the Queensland electorate voted for the One Nation Party.
Much of it is bound up with the fact that Australia, like all other
western societies, is going through a period of great period of economic
and social adjustment.
Globalisation of the world economy is on us whether we like it or
not. We don't have the option of saying to the rest of the world,
"Stop, Australia want's to get off". We are a great
trading nation. And if we sell to the rest of the world, then we must
buy from the rest of the world. The notion that we can live in a world
were they buy our goods and services, but we don't buy any of
their's is a fool's paradise and it can't be achieved.
And in those circumstances, we have to take notice of what the rest
of the world says. We have to be an attractive place in which to invest.
And we have to be a country and a Government that understands that
globalisation will impose change and difficult adjustment.
And it's very easy if you're a new kid on the block, politically
speaking, it's very easy if you are without office, if you are
without power, without responsibility, to come along and say "I
have got the simple solution. You stop all imports. You keep everybody
out. You put up a wall and you try and seal Australia off from the
rest of the world." Sounds all right for about ten minutes. But
after you sit and think about it you realise what folly it is. And
I think it's very important that we understand that playing on
the instability and the insecurity of people at a time of economic
change is easily done the first time, it's a lot harder the second
time. Because once you've won a bit of support you have, therefore,
a responsibility to deliver some solutions.
And can I say to all of the parties on the political scene in Australia,
whether they belong to the Australian Labor Party, or to One Nation
or they're independent or they're green or they're
anything, can I say to them, there are no simple solutions. The only
policy prescriptions that are going to work for Australia, are ones
that address real problems with real responses and real solutions.
There is no such thing as a world economy in which Australia can say
no' to the rest of the world but accept the rest of the
world to say yes' to Australia. That kind of Nirvana, that
kind of paradise, economically speaking, doesn't exist.
Now the first thing that we ought to understand is that one of the
reasons why that Party did well was that it exploited the natural
vulnerability of people at a time of great economic and social change.
The second thing that I think we ought to understand is that there
is a discontent with some of the practices of what I might say are
mainstream politics in Australia. People don't like opposition
for opposition's sake. People are a little tired with confrontational
politics. Every so often if you agree with your opponent it's
probably not a bad idea to say so. So that when you disagree with
your opponent you get listened to a lot more intently. Perhaps my
opponent might have adopted that attitude when we achieved a settlement
of the Native Title dispute. Because he is not going to change the
legislation if he happened to win the next election. And I think there
is a message coming from the Australian people that they don't
like automatic confrontation. They want us to disagree when we really
passionately disagree, but when we don't disagree they want us
to move onto the next issue. I think that is another reason that sort
of produced that situation.
And I think it is also right to say that there were elements in the
campaign run by that Party that attracted bigotry and intolerance
in the Australian community. And I want to say to all you here tonight
that one of the proudest boasts of the Liberal Party of Australia
is that it is the most representative, inclusive of all of the great
political movements in our nation. The Liberal Party is the Party
that ended the White Australia Policy. The Liberal Party is the Party
that welcomed millions of migrants to Australian shores after World
War II, I acknowledge of course, also the contribution of Arthur Calwell
as Minister for Immigration in the post-war Labor Government.
And I want to say that whatever debate might now rage about the level
of immigration in Australia, there can be no argument that immigration
has made an invaluable an incalculable, an enormous contribution to
the development of the modern, thriving, self respecting country that
we have. And I honestly can't imagine Australia of 1998 without
the contribution of people from Europe, from the Middle East, from
Asia, from the rest of the world. And I want to say to you very, very
unambiguously that tolerance and acceptance of people irrespective
of their racial or ethnic background is a cornerstone of the Australian
nation of a fair go.
And it was suggested the other day that we should in future say to
the rest of the world we don't want anybody who comes into this
country who can't speak English before they come here. Now, I
can accept that you should have an immigration policy that gives a
weighting and loading in favour of those who have a knowledge of the
English language. But the idea that you should have a policy that
said if you can't speak English you are not allowed is foolish,
and it is self-denying and it is self-defeating. We would never had
had probably that great heart surgeon who died tragically a few years
ago, Victor Chang, or Sir Arvi Parbo who was born in Estonia and went
on to become Chairman of the Big Australian', one of the
great success stories of post-war migration. And I did a quick calculation
the other day. I'd be seven shy in my own Federal Parliamentary
Liberal Party if we had applied that doctrine, because no less than
seven of my colleagues who sit with me in the Federal Parliamentary
Party came to this country without the knowledge of a word of English.
So when you apply that sort of approach retrospectively, you realise
how idiotic it is.
Now, by all means, let us have a debate about migration but let it
be debated with the world knowing the starting point for the Liberal
Party. And the starting point for the Liberal Party is a commitment
to tolerance, a commitment to absolute opposition to any kind of racism,
a belief that we must have a non-discriminatory immigration policy
and the recognition of the contribution of millions of people from
different parts of the world to the unique character of Australian
society in 1998.
Now, of course we must all remember that the bond that unites all
of us above and beyond any other loyalty or commitment is our commitment
to the Australian nation. And nobody has a more deeply embedded, if
you like, old-fashioned belief in the intrinsic value of being an
Australian than I do, and I am immensely proud on all occasions to
speak in front of this magnificent flag, which represents in my view
the best expression of our national unity.
And I think modern society is very very much in the art of good Government
in modern society, is very much about hanging on to those things from
our past that continue to serve us well, but being willing to throw
out those things that no longer serve us well. And that's why
I believe in keeping our present flag. It's why I believe that
the institutions of Parliamentary democracy and the rule of law and
the sense of the Australian fair go' ethos, and our pioneer
spirit and our commitment to volunteerism, that all of those things
are precious assets that we should hold onto, not only as Liberals,
but as Australians.
But equally, we should recognise where we've got dead wood that's
got to be thrown out. And one of the biggest pieces of dead wood we
have at the moment, if I can return to a subject on which I am greatly
warmed, and that is the inadequacy of our taxation system.
I mean, it is the last piece of economic dead wood that Australia
has, and I think it is very very important that we retain the verve,
the commitment, the zeal. Now, I know some people will say it is risky.
Of course it is. Changing anything is risky. And if you want a quiet
ride, if you want nothing to happen, if you want us to retreat into
a policy vacuum, then don't talk to me. I'm not interested,
and you won't be interested in my either. But if you want me
to continue to say what I believe is good for Australia, what I believe
to be the contribution that the Liberal Party at a federal level can
make to Australia's future, then I think we have to remain very
very strongly committed to those goals that we have identified. And
I ask you just to think for a moment where we would be now in the
light of the Asian economic downturn if we had not taken the measures
that we took to get our budget in order two-and-a-half years ago.
I mean, Mr Beazley only left us with an annual deficit of $10.5 billion
dollars. He only left us with accumulated debt of $95 to $100 billion.
He only left us with interest rates that are 3% - 4% higher than they
are now. In fact, we now have the lowest interest rates for thirty
years in Australia. And in two-and-a-quarter years we have turned
that $10.5 billion of deficit into a surplus of $2.7 billion. And
we have done it without any help from Mr Beazley. At every turn he
has obstructed us. Not only did he leave us with the problem but he's
tried to sabotage us fixing the problem. I mean, that is the ultimate
double whammy against the national interest. But despite that opposition,
despite that hostility, we have turned that problem around. And another
thing that he left us with was the appalling Native Title mess. The
great sort of portrait artist, my predecessor as Prime Minister, the
man who painted the big picture. A huge picture of confusion in relation
to Native Title. We said before the last election that we would fix
that problem, and it has turned out to be even more difficult than
I imagined at the time, but finally, as a result of the negotiations
that I conducted with Senator Harradine, we have brought about a result
which is honourable and fair to all sections of the Australian community.
And the reason why I held out for the changes we ultimately won, was
that what the Senate gave to us a few months ago did not respect a
principle that I regard as very important, and that principle is that
all sections of the Australian community should be treated equally.
I'd support the principle of Native Title. The principle of Native
Title laid down the Mabo case, and having read that case from cover
to cover is a principle that I have no argument with but what I did
not support was the Native Title Act passed by the Labor Government
which gave to one section of the Australian community legal rights
and procedures that were not available to other sections of the Australian
community in a similar position. And that is what I opposed and that
is what I fought to change and that is what I am happy to say to you
tonight has been changed as a result of the amending legislation that
went through the Senate two nights ago.
And now I believe that we can now get on with delivering some outcomes.
We can now sweep away the phoney claims. We can respect the genuine
claims. We can have an upsurge of mining investment. We can have a
removal of the doubt over farming areas of Australia, and I predict
now, no matter what has been said by the new Premier of Queensland,
I predict that we'll end up with a uniform national system, because
that's the sensible thing that we ought to have and I'm
sure that's a goal that any sensible Premier no matter what State
he or she leads and any sensible Prime Minister would work towards.
And I'm very pleased that we've resolved that very difficult
issue. It was certainly the most challenging socio-legal and constitutional
issue that I have grappled with in the 24 years that I have been in
Australian politics. And I acknowledge very readily the contribution
that Senator Brian Harradine made to the resolution of that dispute.
He's a man with whom I do not share on all occasions a coincidence
of views on economic issues. Although there are many social issues
on which our views are closer. But on economic issues we don't
always agree, but he is a person of his word, he is a man of integrity
and he is somebody who's heart is always where Australia's
best interests lie and that's a good enough qualification. He's
a man, in the famous words of Margaret Thatcher, with whom one can
have a sensible discussion or do business in a political sense.
But that's long enough for me to speak to you tonight. You've
been very patient. I know my friends that it is difficult when you've
had a bit of a set back at the polls, but the Liberal Party is a Party
of great resilience and we have the opportunity immediately ahead
of us, whenever the federal election is, and don't take any hint
from my having said immediately ahead of us' - I could
redefine immediately ahead' to mean a couple of years or
a few months or six months or a few weeks. I don't know when
the next election will be, but I do know this, that it will be won,
and it will be won convincingly by the Liberal Party and by the Coalition.
And that path to that victory is policy strength and policy boldness.
The path to that victory is not policy timidity. We won last time
because there was an overwhelming mood for change in the Australian
community and there was a passionate desire to remove my predecessor
from the office of Prime Minister. And they also... a viable stable
alternative. To win again and to win again impressively we must give
to the Australian people a new reason, a new incentive, a new cause,
a new set of principles for the future. And you don't find that
in retreating from policy commitments. You don't find that in
going to water on the things that are important. You find that and
you will gain the respect and the support of the Australian people
if you are prepared to stand your ground and argue your case and say
why it is good for Australia that certain things should be done, and
I've found in the 24 years that I've been in politics that
whenever you are prepared to do that, no matter how difficult it may
seem, in the end the Australian public will support you and will respect
you.
The Australian public will always support reform if you satisfy two
criteria. The first criteria is that you must persuade them that it
is for the good of Australia that you do it. And the second criterion
is that you must satisfy them that it is fair for all Australians.
And when our taxation policy comes out I believe it will triumphantly
satisfy both of those criteria. It will be demonstrated to be good
for Australia and it will be demonstrated to be fair to all Australians.
So my friends, thank you for your loyalty, thank you for your resilience,
thank you for your capacity to bounce back. I thank the Queensland
organisation and all of my colleagues for being here tonight. I wish
you well, I'll be seeing you a lot of you in the weeks and months
ahead and I look forward to another famous victory whenever the next
federal election is held.
Thank you.
[ENDS]