E&OE....................
Well, thank you very much, David; to Alistair Stewart; to my other
Parliamentary colleagues, Stewart MacArthur, Patrick Secker, Judy
Troeth, Dennis Napthine and Roger Hallam and all the other distinguished
guests, ladies and gentlemen.
This is the first Sheepvention I've ever opened in my life and I intend
to enjoy myself today. It's the first occasion I've been to the electorate
of Wannon, to the city of Hamilton, since being Prime Minister. But
I'm not unfamiliar with this part of the world. I've been here on
numerous occasions in other capacities. But I'm particularly delighted
to be here today to not only open this, the Sheepvention, but as Prime
Minister to honour the contribution that the wool industry has made
to the wealth and prosperity of Australia from the foundation of the
nation, to say, indeed, hear! hear!
To say one or two things about the sort of general state of the Australian
economy, generally speaking, the Australian economy's in damn good
shape. The Australian economy's as strong as it's been for the last
25 or 30 years. We have low interest rates, low inflation. We've got
rid of that wretched budget deficit we inherited three years ago.
And we are seen around the world as a very strong economy. But having
said that, I recognise that your own industry faces very big challenges.
I know that the demand for wool around the world is nowhere near as
great as it was. And I know that your industry faces the need, like
so many other industries, to grapple with that situation, to maintain
its competitiveness. And I know that the industry at the present time
is responding, and I hope it does in a very conscientious way, to
the recommendations of the Wool Taskforce. And I know that the industry
has had to grapple with a lot of changes that have been imposed upon
it by world markets and by climatic conditions and by the general
state of the world economy. And in talking about the overall strength
of our economy I do remain very sensitive to the particular problems
of rural Australia and the particular challenges that face the wool
industry of our country.
I want to take this opportunity - because it is a very significant
gathering of rural Australia in a very special part of Australia which
has contributed so much not only to the prosperity of the wool industry
but to the prosperity of rural Australia - I want to take the opportunity
of saying to this audience and through you to all the other rural
people of Australia and to the Australian bush that just as we looked
after the interests of the bush in relation to the GST and preserving
the benefits of cheaper fuel that were promised when we brought the
package down in September of 1998, I want to assure you in the decisions
that the Government take in relation to reforming the business taxation
system of our country we are not going to do anything that is going
to damage the interests of the Australian bush. We're not going to
do anything in relation to those reforms that will lessen the competitive
position that you have and lessen the competitive position of Australian
farmers and Australian primary producers. Because one of the distinguishing
characteristics of Australian farmers and one of the things that has
made so many of us so absolutely hopping mad about the American decision
on lamb exports from Australia is that we have an industry in this
country, we have a farm sector in this country, that does not operate
with the protection and the support and the subsidies and the handouts
that are given by the Americans, the Japanese and the Europeans to
their farmers.
What Australian farmers win around the world they win by dint of their
own competitiveness and their own expertise. And I am very, as Prime
Minister, I'm very sensitive towards that. I'm very understanding
of that. And, of course, it goes without saying, the Government remains
determined to do all it can through the relief of the cost of the
levy paid by lamb producers and other industry assistance, it remains
determined to do all it can to ensure that the unfair, unreasonable
anti free trade decision taken by the American administration in relation
to lamb exports does not rob the lamb exporters of Australia of any
of the market they have won over the last year or two and mitigates
as much as we possibly can the impact of that decision on growth of
further markets in the United States in the interests of Australian
lamb producers.
I don't think any audience in Australia would have a better appreciation
than this audience of the importance of winning markets overseas.
Some Australians talk rather foolishly of how it is important that
we erect protective barriers around this country as if in some way
we could close our eyes to the rest of the world. No country can do
that. It's in the interests of Australian primary producers as much,
if not more, than any other section of the Australian community to
see world markets expand and world markets opened up. And it is for
that reason in the interests of our country that we pursue that sort
of approach. But in order to provide our local producers with a proper
base we need good economic conditions in this country. And that is
why I'm very pleased to say that over the last two or three years
we have been able to get interest rates down. I can remember for 10
or 15 years before that when I went around the bush and I said to
people, 'what is the thing that hurts you most?' And invariably the
answer would come back, firstly, high interest rates and, secondly,
high fuel prices. Now, we've been able, over the last few years, to
bring interest rates down. They're not as low as we'd like them to
be but they're a lot lower now than what they were 10 or 15 years
ago. And through the taxation package we're going to reduce quite
dramatically the cost of diesel and the cost of fuel generally throughout
Australia. And that, along with the abolition of the wholesale sales
taxes and many other indirect taxes, that will provide an enormous
boost to the export industry of this country because it will reduce
your cost structure. And if your cost structure comes down, your competitive
position gets better.
But, ladies and gentlemen, that is a long enough speech at a Sheepvention
or, indeed, any gathering. Can I say to you as somebody who was raised
in a suburb of Sydney, as somebody who has spent most of his life
living in the cities of Australia, that I've always had a tremendous
affection for the people of the Australian bush. I do appreciate that
you have been the backbone of our country. I do acknowledge the contribution
of the wool industry to the wealth and the stability and the prosperity
of Australia. I acknowledge the ongoing contributing of the export
income that is earned for this country by Australia's primary producers.
I know what difficult times you've been through. I know how hard it
is for so many of you now. And I know how rotten it is when you work
your heart out and you're locked out of a world market by the selfish
trading policy of larger countries and larger groupings of countries
like the United States and the European Union. I am a passionate advocate
of our security alliance with the United States. I admire a great
deal about that country but I despise on occasions the hypocritical
trading policy that that country adopts which punish Australian farmers
and punish Australian primary producers. And I want you to know the
depth of our feeling on that and I want you to understand that we
recognise the continuing difficulty you have. We are providing you
with a stronger and better and more benign general economic climate
than this country has had for many years. And I can assure you that
in future decisions we take on the Australian taxation system we will
not harm the interests of the Australian bush. We will not harm the
interests of the Australian wool industry. And, of course, I have
great pleasure in declaring this Sheepvention open for business. Thank
you very much.
[ends]