E&OE...................
SUBJECTS: Australia's economy, rural Australia, health services in rural
Australia, education, tourism, taxation reform, Centenary of Federation.
Well thank you very much Kay. To my colleague, Senator Bill Heffernan, to
his worship the Mayor, all the other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
This, may I say in a way for a travelling Prime Minister around Australia,
is about as good as it gets in so far as you can meet under one roof in
one location all of the different groups that make up a vibrant local community.
And I do want to thank you, Kay, and I want to thank the Mayor and all the
others that are organising this gathering to give me an opportunity just
for a couple of minutes to say a few things to you.
I am here today for two reasons. Firstly and most importantly I was invited
by your local member, Kay Hull, who has only been in the national Parliament
for a little under a year but in that time has demonstrated a great energy
and a great commitment to the diverse problems of her electorate. And I
want to compliment her on that and I want to commend her to you for the
first class job that she is doing as your representative in Federal Parliament.
But I am also here because I have made it a point in the time that I have
been Prime Minister to systematically visit the less populated areas of
Australia, to ensure on a methodical basis that I don't spend all of my
time in Canberra or in Sydney or in Melbourne. And not only to visit the
less populated State capitals and the larger country towns like Bendigo
and Ballarat and Toowoomba and Kalgoorlie and Mt Isa and Ipswich but also
on a regular basis to come to smaller communities.
And there's a reason for that and it's bound up in a way in the paradox
we have in Australia at the moment. Nationally, if you look at the Australian
nation and you look at the Australian economy it's doing very well. We are
probably stronger economically as a nation than we have been for more than
30 years. Our inflation is low, our interest rates are low, we have a strong
budget surplus, we are embarking upon very important reforms. And that's
the big picture, that's the national picture. But I know that in different
parts of Australia that is not the universal experience. I know that in
many parts of the bush people are doing it very tough. I know how hard it
is in the wool industry. I know how year after year many parts of rural
Australia have been badly crippled by drought. And to have a drought imposed
upon years when interest rates were very high and commodity prices were
very low is to inflict a great deal of pain and difficulty on a lot of local
communities.
And I therefore am taking the opportunity on visits like today to tell people
that I do understand that although it 's going well nationally it's not
always going well locally and it is very tough going locally. I understand
that and the members of my Government understand that. And we are trying
in different ways to deal with particular concerns that people have. It's
obviously of assistance for a rural community if interest rates are lower
than what they used to be but it's also a disappointment to a rural community
if it can't get adequate health services. And can I say to you, Mr Mayor,
that I am very aware of the priority of health. And that's one of the reasons
why John Anderson, the Deputy Prime Minister, and Michael Wooldridge, the
Health Minister, recently undertook a tour of different rural areas to talk
directly to people about the problems with the retention of medical practitioners.
And how a number of measures that we have introduced in that area have begun
slowly but it will gather pace, begun slowly to turn the tide on that.
I am very aware of the need for areas like Hay to diversify. I am glad to
hear that some of the changes that were made in relation to the rice industry
have been of benefit to this town and to this town's surrounding district.
And I am also conscious that the contribution that we are making to the
establishment of the Australian Shearers' Hall of Fame will help to develop
the tourist potential of this district.
I experienced first hand when I went to the Claughton Hostel this morning
the day-to-day challenges of rural families who don't have high incomes
to merely get their children physically to schools that are meant to be
provided "free" under our education system. And it was a reminder
to me as somebody who was educated within the New South Wales public school
system in a suburb of Sydney and then went to a high school in the suburbs
of Sydney just how difficult some of the challenges are. And I think you
know that we provided some emergency assistance last year but I want to
say to you that keeping that hostel going is very important for the basic
amenity of this area. And I am very impressed with the importance of that
occurring.
Visits like today are an opportunity for me to meet you, to listen to you,
to understand better or even more the challenges of rural life. But, of
course, also to understand the particular quality that the bush brings to
the national fabric of our country. We are going to celebrate 100 years
of federation in two years time. And when I think of the Australian story
and the Australian achievement of the last 100 years and indeed the years
that went before federation it is quite impossible to conceive of what our
country would have been like. Indeed it would have been almost unrecognisable
without the bush and without the contribution that country people have made.
I understand that you have the only high school in New South Wales, perhaps
in Australia, which is a war memorial public high school. And that is a
consequence of the fact that in World War I this town on a per capita basis
produced more volunteers or almost more volunteers than any other town in
Australia. And it's typical going back all those years of the, sort of,
national and community spirit that existed. And it's an opportunity for
me to be in touch with that.
We are trying to make life easier for people in all parts of Australia.
We are particularly conscious of how the corruption of world markets and
low commodity prices have made life difficult for many country people. We
believe that the lower diesel and fuel prices of taxation reform will be
of benefit to rural Australia. And when taxation reform comes in in July
of next year we think the cost reductions involved in that will provide
benefits. We are confident that the lower interest rates that you have seen
over the last three years and which we naturally hope will continue but
you can never give any guarantees about because they're influence by general
economic circumstances we believe that they have provided a tremendous amount
of help.
I am also very proud of the fact that the Government in its last budget
provided a very effective choice in relation to the education of children
in both government and independent schools within our community.
But the most important message that I do want to leave with you today is
not a tabulation so much of individual initiatives but rather to tell you
that I lead a Government that first and foremost appreciates immensely the
contribution of country people to our society, that cannot conceive of what
our country would be like without the bush. That our understanding for those
of us who grew up in the cities, and that is most Australians, that they
have always seen the bush as being a very special and precious part of the
Australian story. And what we understand to be the Australia that we love.
We do understand that things have been difficult. We also know that the
spirit of people in towns like Hay is tremendously strong and I have been
reminded of that in the couple of hours that I have been here today. To
meet the children of your schools, to meet your local representatives, to
meet the people employed in different pursuits and tasks in the town is
a reminder to me of that tremendous spirit.
And I hope that by being here today in a small way I can say to you on behalf
of not only the Government but the rest of your fellow Australians that
you are very much an important part of our community. We understand that
although things are going well nationally, and that's a source of great
pride to all Australians, we also appreciate that in different parts of
the community things are not so easy and things are very difficult. And
I want to thank all of you for the contribution that in your different ways
you make to the strength of the Australian community.
We are going to focus a great deal over the next year or two on the history
of Australia over the last 100 years in particular. And that's been a century
of tremendous achievement. And there is no society in the world that has
a greater right to look back in pride on 100 years of massive achievement.
This, of course, is one of the less than 10 countries that have been continuously
democratic for the whole of the 20th century. We pioneered many
things in this country. We gave rights to people in Australia before they
were given in other parts of Australia. We had to seed into our community
people from all around the world and they have become part of our society
and we are building, I think, a sense of hope and optimism for the future
as a nation that is tremendously important. But in the process of doing
that we have to understand that some in our midst are not finding it as
easy as others.
But, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming. I can't express
to you adequately how important I regard occasions such as this. This is
a long way from Question Time in Parliament. It's a long way from a press
conference with the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery. It's a long way
from what you might say the more detached and the more rarefied air of Federal
Government. And that's what makes it authentic and makes it important to
me and important to my colleagues, Bill and Kay, that we have the opportunity
of relating in this fashion to a local community.
I know that there are some difficult stories in Hay. I know how hard some
of the industries have been. I also know from my discussions this morning
that there is a tremendous amount of hope and optimism about the future.
And you have been able to transmit that to me today and most particularly
I am delighted to have met the girls and boys from your various local schools
and had the opportunity to talk to the older ones to inquire about what
their hopes are when they leave school and what their prospects are. Some
more optimistic than others but all of them basically very enthusiastic.
I want to thank the teachers. I always thank teachers. I was taught to do
that early in my married life because I married one. And I thank the teachers
most warmly for the contribution that they are making in both the government
and the independent schools to the education of so many young Australians.
But most importantly can I thank the people of Hay for having me as your
guest. Thank you for extending traditional Australian bush hospitality to
a visitor. It's a great experience for me and I enjoy immensely being amongst
you. Thank you.
[ends]