Transcript 11366 | PM Transcripts

TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER ADDRESS AT TASMANIAN DIVISION OF THE LIBERAL PARTY STATE COUNCIL GRAND CHANCELLOR HOTEL, TASMANIA

Subjects: Liberal Party traditions; Liberal achievements; Tony Rundle; Hydro

policy, Tasmania's debt; Forest industry; Tough on Drugs policy; Gun control;

E&OE....................

Thank you very much, Shane; to Jim Bowler; to Sue Napier, your Grace; Senator

Jocelyn Newman, the senior Federal representative from Tasmania and my valued

Cabinet colleague, my other Parliamentary colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.

Can I say how happy I am again as Prime Minister to address this State Council,

this annual gathering, of the Tasmanian Division of the Liberal Party. I

wish also to extend my great gratitude to Jim for the tremendous work that

he's done over the past years as President of the Division. I came through

the Party organisation. I know that the pay is low and the material rewards

are limited but I also know that the immense satisfaction of fighting for

something that you believe in and contributing to a cause that you feel

will better the welfare of the people of Australia is about the most satisfying

and rewarding thing that you can do. But it hasn't been easy here in Tasmania.

And I thank you most warmly, Jim. You'll be remembered and the work that

you've done will be seen quite properly as an immense contribution to the

Liberal Party cause in Tasmania.

Can I also join Shane in remarking on the contribution of Tony Rundle. Shane

was right, he and Tony got away with blue murder on occasions through their

quiet, whimsical, effective way. I mean, they sort of sat and said nothing

and they, you know, when one or other of their colleagues was sort of railing

against the centralists in Canberra, they would say, oh, you know, they

shouldn't talk to you like that, John, that's shocking but how about such

and such. They did it very well. They did it very skilfully. But Tony did

something else at the last election here in Tasmania. And I know it's not,

in a sense, of much comfort and satisfaction in the political world to say,

well, you were right but the people didn't understand that. But in the long

run that does mean something. Because in the long run being in office is

not about having a white car and having the privilege of being the Premier

or the Prime Minister and sort of getting welcomed and people saying nice

things about you. In the long run being in government is about trying to

do good things for the country or trying to do good things for your State.

And what Tony Rundle did at the last election was to say what had to be

said. And what he said in the last election campaign was true then and it's

even more true a year on. Because every country, every State, every municipality

is, in the end, master of its own destiny and that implies both privileges

as well as responsibilities. And Tony was prepared to discharge the ultimate

responsibility of somebody holding a position of authority and that was

to tell people what was needed to secure their future even though part of

the message was not immediately accepted and not immensely palatable. And

in the long run when the history of this period of Tasmanian politics is

written people will say that Rundle was right in what he said about the

State's debt and the he had the courage to state it. I wish you well. I

wish both you and Carolyn every happiness in the future. I count you as

a friend and colleague of the highest order and I think you've done a great

thing by the Tasmanian people and by the Liberal Party here in your State.

A gathering like this, friends, is an occasion to reflect as well as project

forward. This is the last Tasmanian State Council of this century, this

millennium. And it's an occasion, therefore, to reflect on the heritage

of the Liberal Party. It will be 50 years in December since Robert Gordon

Menzies and Arthur Fadden led the Coalition to power in 1949. And over that

50 years there's a lot about the Liberal heritage of which we should be

immensely proud. We should understand the character of our party. We, in

the term that I've coined somewhat, we are a broad church. Unlike centre

right parties in other parts of the world the Liberal Party of Australia

is the custodian of both the classical Liberal tradition in our society

as well as the conservative tradition. We are neither a conservative party

exclusively nor are we a small 'l' Liberal Party exclusively. We are a mix

of the two. There are things about Australia's history and our past that

I believe continue to serve us well and should be preserved. There are things

about our past and there are things about what we do now that need to be

changed and reformed to provide us a stronger and better future. And the

art of good statecraft is to choose from the past, from the heritage, from

the history, those things that are of continuing and enduring value but

also to recognise that change and reform in other areas is necessary to

secure stability and to secure progress. And the Liberal Party has always

been about trying to balance those things. The Liberal Party has always

been about the liberty of the individual.

One of the proudest things that I was able to say at the Wentworth Hotel

on the 2nd of March 1996 when I formally accepted the immense

privilege that had been conferred upon me and my party at the election,

at the ballot box that day was that the Liberal Party of Australia was owned

by no one section of the Australian community.

We are sympathetic to business. But we are not beholden to business. We

understand the importance of profit and capitalism but we recognise the

potential for abuse and excesses that can occur. We recognise that the Government

has a limited role but nonetheless a strategic role within our community.

We are not for the government withdrawing from all areas of activity, but

we are for the government focussing on those areas that properly belong

to government and that does not normally include commercial activity.

We're a Party that does not believe in privilege or class. We are a Party

that honours and respects tradition but also prides itself in sharing the

great egalitarian tradition of the Australian people. We are increasingly

a party that represents people who might in another time and another era

have regarded themselves as traditional supporters of the Labor Party. I

was immensely satisfied and pleased that in 1996 one of the great features

of the Coalition's victory on that occasion, was that many of the great

industrial centers of our country, and the great mining centres of our country,

historically associated with the Australian Labor Party were in fact returned

federal members representing the Coalition.

The city of Broken Hill is represented in the federal parliament by a member

of the National Party. The city of Mt Isa is represented in the federal

parliament by a coalition member. The cities of Whyalla and Port Pirie in

South Australia are represented in the national parliament by a Liberal

member. And so the list can go on. And I think it is very important that

as we move into the next millennium, for all of us to understand that we're

living in a different political world. It's a less ideological political

world.

The Australian community, particularly those under 30 are not as beholden

to ideology as were their parents. They don't see themselves being involved

in an angry struggle about ideology the way in which their parents may have

in the 1960s. They are however people who look for positive outcomes. They

are interested in a political party that delivers results. That can do things

to make their lives more secure. And I think as we move into the next millennium

we will see politics shaped less by rigid ideology but nonetheless shaped

very strongly by basic values and there is a difference.

Ideology to me has always been something rather rigid imposed from above.

Whereas values are things that come from the community and in a sense are

ageless. The instincts of candour and honesty and civil behavior and respect

for the rights of the individual and the acceptance that in any decent society

along with rights and privileges go responsibilities and obligations. They

are values which are quite ageless in my view and embeddable. They will

be expressed in different ways in different times and political parties

have a responsibility to respond to those different circumstances.

So it is important on an occasion like this that we think about what our

party has achieved. Not only have we been in office for 34 of the last 50

years, but many of the great breakthroughs that have occurred, the great

breakthroughs in terms of tolerance and human values and a quality of opportunity

have occurred under Federal Liberal governments. It was after a federal

Liberal government that really opened up opportunities for the entire Australian

population for a university education. And the reforms carried out in that

area by the Menzies government in the 1950s remained one of the great contributions

to the expansion of education to the Australian people.

It was under a coalition government that the white Australia policy was

ended under the Prime Ministership of Harold Holt. It was under the leadership

of the Fraser government that was accepted into our country over 150,000

Indochinese refugees. In fact we took more Indochinese refugees in the 1970s

on a per capita basis than any country on earth and that was Australia being

an open hearted, decent spirited country offering a haven to people whose

lives have been devastated by a long and costly war. It was under a Coalition

government that we ended one of the great sectarian divides in this country

when we provided assistance to independent schools and recognised a cornerstone

of education policy in this country. And that is that every Australian parent

has the right to choose the form of education that his or her child should

receive. And that principle was re-endorsed only two or three months ago

when we announced long-term plans to provide even more choice to Australian

parents in relation to the education of their children.

A Coalition government has been responsible for many of the great [tape

break] and coming up to date we now have a Coalition government presiding

over and having made a great contribution towards achieving the strongest

economic conditions that this country has had for more than 30 years. And

there are many statistics that I could regale you with this morning about

the strength of our economy. The one that in a persona sense is the most

heart-warming of all is that in the three-and-a-quarter that we have been

in government since March of 1996 we have seen a 5.8 percentage point decline

in the number of young Australians looking for work. And that is the best

figure of all because in the end a good economy exists to provide good living

standards and rising job opportunities.

Our unemployment rate is still too high. It's seven percent nationally.

It's much higher in Tasmania. It's lower in other parts of Australia. It's

uneven, it's lumpy. And we still have a long way to go but it's better than

it's been for the last 10 years. And we've created almost 500,000 jobs in

the last three and a bit years. And if we can continue our current rate

of economic growth and, better still, if we can persuade the Senate to pass

our laws entrenching youth wages and dealing with the unfair burden on small

business of the unfair dismissal laws then we can hope to drive that unemployment

rate even lower. And it will be one of the goals of the Government to keep

doing that. Because the economic strength we have now must be translated

increasingly in the years ahead towards providing more job opportunities

for our young people. And those job opportunities will essentially be found

in private business and the private sector. The strength of the business

community and the business sector is still the foundation of job generation

in this country. And that is why the security that the Federal Government,

the Howard Government and the Rundle Government brought to the timber industry

in this State was so important because it's a major employer in Tasmania.

And that is why, as I said to you last night, I'm distributed at the import

of the amendments that are being proposed in Canberra by our Federal opponents.

Although, I make it plain to you, there's no way those amendments will be

accepted by the Government. But the very fact that they're being proposed

show an indifference towards the long-term economic security of this State.

At long last I think there in Tasmania we've got a balance between the maintenance

of a strong industry but also a proper concern for the environmental values

of the State. And I want that balance preserved, I want it protected and

I want it secured. And I can assure you on behalf of the Federal Government

that we'll make absolutely certain that nothing is done to undermine, disturb

or qualify the agreement that I signed with Tony Rundle covering regional

forest arrangements in Tasmania and the investment that has been made by

the industry will be fully honoured and fully protected and the jobs that

have been created and secured as a consequence of that investment will also

be fully honoured and fully protected.

As we survey both the past and the present political scene at this State

Council gathering we also throw forward naturally to the next millennium.

What Australia has been able to do over the last three years has been to

win a new respect, a new admiration around the world. We have important

goals both nationally and internationally. We seek to build our reputation

as a 'can do' country, as a country that can convert our inventive capacity

to commercial benefit and commercial return. A country that has the capacity

to become not only a regional financial centre but a world financial centre.

Because the generic assets we have at the moment, a stable government, a

stable economy, clear laws of corporate behaviour, an incorruptible judiciary,

well regulated and supervised banks, Australians having a great capacity

to speak the languages of the region with considerable skill and dexterity,

all of those things make Australia an increasingly attractive place in which

to invest and to establish regional service and financial activities. And

we have great opportunities as we go into the next century to achieve those

goals.

And in relation to Tasmania I want to assure you again that the Government

I lead will continue to have a particular concern for the special requirements

and the special circumstances of Tasmania. We have, after all, a very good

record. We gave Tasmania such fundamental programmes as the freight equalisation

scheme. We've always understood the disabilities of an island State regarding

transport costs. I don't think anybody can contest the fact that Tasmania

has been fairly treated out of the Natural Heritage Trust and all the other

programmes that have come from the sale of the various tranches of Telstra.

And we'll continue to ensure that Tasmania gets her fair share and gets

a fair deal. But as I said last night and I repeat this morning, that there

remains a long-term cloud over the economic future of Tasmania and that

is the debt of this State which is four times the State average. And until

the bullet is bitten and something is done about that debt here in Tasmania

your economic growth will continue to be constrained. And that is why I

remain compassionately of the view that something must be done about the

privatisation of the Hydro. I know that's unpopular in some circles in Tasmania.

I know I will be condemned for saying it. But just as Tony Rundle spoke

the truth a year ago, I speak the truth this morning when I reassert its

necessity. Every other State in Australia and nationally is tackling the

debt problem.

The South Australian Government struggled to get its electricity authority's

privatisation legislation the Parliament and succeeded. The Victorian Government

has massively reduced the debt of that State and lifted the hopes and the

living standards of Victorians by the action that it's taken. If we can

secure the sale of the rest of Telstra by the year 2002 we will free Australia

of net Commonwealth Government debt and that will lay the foundation of

good circumstances for interest rates in the early years of the next century

and also provide us the flexibility in time for further reductions in taxation.

Because if you can rid yourself of the burden of debt the money you otherwise

use to pay off the debt can be used for either the provision of new services

or reductions in taxation. And that is why eliminating debt is so tremendously

important. And just as we had to take action at a national level to achieve

that outcome and just as the Victorians did it and the South Australians

have done it and others have done it so it is necessary also for Tasmania

to do it. I don't say that in any hectoring or insensitive or hard-hearted

sense. It is a statement of reality. And each must make a contribution to

solving their own difficulty and their own problem. And I think it remains

extremely important that that be done.

The last thing that I want to say to you ladies and gentlemen of a policy

character is to remind you, as we should always as Liberal's remind ourselves

that we don't exist just to get the economy right. We don't exist just to

achieve business and material wellbeing for our community, important though

that is, because it provides jobs which is a basis of family security. But

we also exist to achieve great social goals and we've achieved many of those

over the last three and a quarter years. No audience in Australia would

know better than you do of the traumatic impact of the Port Arthur tragedy

which occurred in April of 1996. But we were able to achieve then through

national gun control legislation is one of the great social achievements

of the last ten or twenty years.

I know it was unpopular in some areas, but its long term contribution to

the security of people is immense and we only have to see the almost daily

demonstration of the terrifying impact of unlimited access to weapons in

the United States to realise what an important measure that was borne out

of the most awful and traumatic tragedy.

So it is equally that we remain very committed to the ongoing fight against

the drug menace. We may argue in our community about the margin, about this

or that approach to fighting the drug problem, but most of us agree as to

95 percent of what needs to be done. We need to educate young people against

starting on drugs. We need to remind them of the link between so-called

soft drugs and hard drugs. That the one leads to the other. And this absurd

notion that marawana can be consumed without any long-term harm is not only

clinically implausible and ridiculous, but has been constantly disproved

by individual experience.

We need to provide more resources for law enforcement. We need to make it

very clear that there is no mercy, sympathy or compassion in our community

for people who traffic out of the human misery of others, which is what

drug dealers do.

And finally, of course, we must be compassionate and caring and understanding

for those people who want to break the drug habit. And I've talked to a

lot of people who are trying to break the drug habit. I've talked to the

parents who've lost their children through drug overdoses. And there is

no more I guess arresting, sobering experience for a person in public life

to do than to sit down at length to people who've gone through that tragedy

and it's important that we do that, it's important that we understand it.

It's very important that we also have in this country a support mechanism

so that if somebody wants to give up the habit then they get help immediately

and they don't have to wait a month or two before they get that assistance.

And at a federal level we have responded. We've put an extra $500 million

into our Tough On Drugs Strategy. And I wish to public debate focussed on

all the positive things that the government's of Australia are trying to

do together - labor and Liberal alike - rather than focus on the fact that

we may disagree about whether you have a safe injecting room which I don't

support or whether you have heroine trials which I don't support either.

I think it would be a good idea if we focussed on the things that we are

achieving together because there's a lot of collective determination on

the part of all the governments of Australia to try and do something about

this dreadful scurge in our community. And it's also important that we keep

a sense of perspective about Is to remind you as we should always as Liberal's

remind ourselves that we don't exist just to get the economy right. We don't

exist just to achieve business and material wellbeing for our community,

important though that is, because it provides jobs which is a basis of family

security. But we also exist to achieve great social goals and we've achieved

many of those over the last three and a quarter years. No audience in Australia

would know better than you do of the traumatic impact of the Port Arthur

tragedy which occurred in April of 1996. But we were able to achieve then

through national gun control legislation is one of the great social achievements