E&OE....................................................................................................
Thank you very much Michael Osborne; to Jeff Kennett, the Premier
of Victoria; to Kate Carnell; to George Souris, the Leader of the
National Party in New South Wales; Tony Staley, the Federal President
of the Liberal Party, and my numerous State and Federal parliamentary
colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.
Today we really enter the crucial and decisive period of this State
election campaign. Today represents the countdown to the vote that
will be taken on the 27th of March. And in the nature of
modern politics it is what happens over the next two weeks that is
going to determine the outcome of this election.
And let me say as a long time friend and admirer, as the Leader of
the Federal Parliamentary Liberal Party, I have every confidence and
every belief that Kerry Chikarovski can not only win this election
but go on to be a very fine Premier of New South Wales. She has the
style, she has the personality, she has the understanding of life
and the experience of life that are the ingredients of a very fine
leader of the State of New South Wales. But she's also pitted
against a man and a government which has demonstrated in two very
key areas the utter hypocrisy of the Labor Government that New South
Wales now has.
For two-and-a-half years we were told by Mr Carr and Mr Egan that
it was crucial to the future of this State that we should privatise
the power industry of this State, yet now it is the subject of ridicule
and derision. But can anybody imagine that if by chance Labor were
returned they wouldn't immediately repudiate what they had said
on this subject during the election campaign, just as Mr Keating and
Mr Beazley broke their commitments not to privatise the Commonwealth
Bank. But even more glaring in the hypocrisy stakes is Mr Carr's
embracing of the goal of lower unemployment and of economic growth.
I have now been Prime Minister of Australia for just over three years
and I can report to you that every attempt made by the Coalition Government
to repair the Australian economy and thereby repair the economy of
New South Wales has been opposed by Bob Carr and opposed by Kim Beazley.
Both of them opposed the budget cuts to get the budget back into surplus.
Both of them have opposed taxation reform. Both of them opposed industrial
relations reform. Both of them opposed privatisation. Both of them
opposed the microeconomic reform that has made the Australian economy
and through it the New South Wales economy more competitive. Yet now
on the eve of this election Bob Carr seeks to bask in the sunlight
of the economic strength delivered through policies that he's
opposed for the last three years. And that is a measure of the hypocrisy
and, therefore, one of the things that have got to be put into judgement
and have got to be put into balance.
Now, I've known most of you in this great auditorium of a great
club for a very long time. We've been through many election campaigns
together. We've won a lot. We've lost a few. We share a
common political faith and we share a common political cause. And
over the next two weeks I want all of you to understand that in modern
elections it is the last days, the last weeks, that really count.
This election can be won and won very convincingly if we focus on
the main issues. If all of us work hard over the next two weeks, if
all of us realise that in Kerry we have a marvellous, thoughtful,
sensitive person to lead this State into the next millennium. We have
a strong Coalition. We have a good team. We have a great set of policies.
We are against a government and a party that has elevated political
hypocrisy to an art form.
I pledge, on behalf of my Federal Parliamentary colleagues, our total
support, our total commitment to the election of Kerry as Premier
of New South Wales and George Souris as Deputy Premier of New South
Wales. Right here in the St George area of Sydney, which has always
been at the knife-edge of politics both State and Federal, an important
contest is taking place.
But, ladies and gentlemen, will you now join me in welcoming Kerry
Chikarovski, the Leader of the Liberal Party, the person we want as
the next Premier of New South Wales. Will you welcome, Kerry Chikarovski.
[Ends]