E&OE..................
Thank you very much to my parliamentary colleague and the Member for Ballarat Michael Ronaldson, the Mayor of the City of Ballarat Mr Barnes, to Mr John Fairfax the Managing Director of Rural Press, to Rob Hunt of Bendigo Bank, to John Finch the driving force behind this marvelous occasion, ladies and gentlemen.
This is one of those occasions, and I say this very sincerely, that helps make public life and particularly the role of being Prime Minister of Australia really satisfying and really enjoyable because what tonight is very much about is demonstrating to Australia and indeed to the world that the fighting Australian spirit in regional Australia is very much alive and is very effective.
And I do want to congratulate all of those associated with the past few days and associated with tonight for the tremendous role model that you represent to some of the great regional areas of Australia in what you have been able to do.
So often we read and hear of the bad news stories about regional Australia and tonight therefore is a double pleasure for me because it is in every sense of the word a good news story. The way in which Ballarat and the regions surrounding Ballarat has coped with some of the challenges confronting all of regional Australia over the last few years have been quite remarkable.
It was only seven years ago in 1993 that Ballarat and its environs had an unemployment rate of 20%.It is now down to 5.7% which is below the Australia wide average. Now that's happened, I mean let me say in the true spirit of collegiate loyalty, Michael Ronaldson's had a lot to do with that of course. But can I also say that he hasn't been alone, that all of you have worked very hard and the business men and women of Ballarat have diversified. I mean the wonderful stories that I have heard over the dinner table and Michael's told me many others of the refusal of local businesses to accept that it can't happen in a regional city, the determination of many people to start new businesses, the way in which regional Australia and Ballarat in particular has taken very eagerly to the benefits and the unlimited opportunities of information technology, I mean that's been a very important element of the revival of many businesses and the commencement and the success of others. And of course you've heard the wonderful story from Brown Brothers.
I mean tonight is about the export excellence of Australian industry and it's a reminder of course that if you have exports, and we want plenty of those, you've also got to have imports. And I don't want to give you a simplistic economics lecture but occasionally there are some people who think you can have exports and not have any imports. The only problem with that theory is that if you think it other countries will think it too and then you don't end up having any exports. And the whole idea of an open economy succeeding well in the world is that it has to be willing to extend to others what we want for ourselves.
And in the long run the economic future of this country depends very heavily indeed on our capacity to export. And that is why a night like tonight which is a celebration of the capacity of regional Australia to export that is why a night like tonight is so tremendously important. Amongst other things it gives me an opportunity for a few moments to praise the export effort of the people in Ballarat, to tell you that you are equal to the best in the world, to tell you that your export performance has played a major part in the evident economic strength of Australia as we have moved into the twenty first century. Because the contribution of something like 20% of our gross domestic product that comes from exports has been really quite remarkable.
Mr Brown told us the story of the success of the wine industry, it's a truly remarkable exemplar of what Australia has been able to do. But of course it's duplicated in so many other industries. And those people who say that our future lies in going back to a protective past, to shutting out those who would wish to export into Australian markets misunderstand the character of the globalised world economy in which we live.
In the economy of the twenty first century you really only have two options- you either keep going forward or you go backwards. We don't have the option as a country of marking time, of saying well we've got a nice little niche, we've got a nice little share, it's pretty warm and comfortable and we'll just sit where we are now and everything will be marvelous. It doesn't work that way. What all of you in business know is that you really have to keep thrusting forward and keep trying to win new markets. And the same thing applies to a country. And that's the reason why the Government has been so committed to a programme of economic reform over the last four and a half years.
I didn't embark upon tax reform for my health, I certainly didn't. I didn't embark upon it to win some popularity contest, and I didn't. But I embarked upon it as we had embarked upon industrial relations reform, embarked upon budget reform, embarked upon so many other areas of reform because it is the only way that Australia can keep going forward in the globalised world economy. And the countries that are doing very well around the world now are the countries that are willing, by and large, to have very open economies and are willing by and large to embrace necessary economic reform.
And what is so very encouraging to me and I know it will be to many other people around Australia who care about this country's economic future is that the Australian people in relation to tax reform in particular, but in relation to economic reform in general, have demonstrated a capacity and a willingness to embrace change for the long term future of the country.
And I believe that Australians will always accept a strong argument put in favour of change and reform if you can satisfy two pre-conditions. One of those conditions is that you must persuade them that it is good for Australia because in the end there is a deep streak of altruism and national decency within all Australians. They care very much about the international reputation of this country, they care very much about its collective future and prosperity and even though they may quite properly be preoccupied with their own interests and their own lives and those of their families and their businesses and their communities they always have a special place in their personal concern about the long term future of this country. And I think Australians accepted that we needed to change that very arthritic old-fashioned taxation system.
And the other thing that you have to do is to persuade them that the change and reform as well as being good for the country is fundamentally fair for all of its citizens because the other great strength that Australians have is an instinct for fairness. That old Australian expression 'a fair go' is not just a clich, it's not just a catch cry, it is something that Australians feel very strongly. And if you can persuade people that what you want to do is good for the country, and it represents a fair go for the citizens of the country then they will go along with it.
And that is why I think in the end we appear to have won the support of the Australian community for taxation reform, difficult and hazardous though it was and I acknowledge there have been difficulties for some and some may lay ahead of us. But basically, all of the predictions of doom and disaster and the end of the world on the 1st of July did not materialise. Armageddon was not experienced at the beginning of this financial year. And I think Australians see the value of embracing a change in reform that while it involves some transitional difficulties has been, I believe a very important change for the better and something that will be for the long term benefit, not just to the Australian economy generally, but of course it will be of enormous benefit to Australian exporters. One of the great advantages of a value added taxation system, which is what we have now embraced, is that it is not applied to exports and it puts us in a far stronger competitive position with so many other countries around the world. And that of course is what reform is all about. Its about putting us in a very competitive economic position.
So ladies and gentlemen I am really delighted to have had the opportunity tonight of responding to Michael Ronaldson's invitation. I know that various parts of regional Australia have traveled through difficult times over the last few years, and many of our fellow country men and women in smaller country towns around Australia, in many of the rural areas of Australia are still going through significant difficulty.
You can't generalise about non-metropolitan Australia. It's really quite a mistake to do so, it really, in a sense is divided into two or three areas. The very small rural communities that have relied on the traditional rural exports are doing it very tough. Because, through no fault of their own, their prices are low and they've experienced a long term decline in their real returns. And, it is tough.
Some of the largest cities in regional areas of Australia continue to do extremely well. Others have had to go through a process of adjustment and Ballarat is one of those. You have changed the base of your industry in a quite effective fashion and it's been one of the reasons why Ballarat has done so very well. Some of the industries recognised tonight as the award winners, if you'd have said fifteen years ago that they were going to be industries that were doing well in export from Ballarat, people would have thought you had no understanding of the district. I think that's a great tribute to the resilience of the community.
There are other non metropolitan areas of Australia, particularly some of the coastal regions which are doing extremely well based on the tourist industry and recreation and all of those things that surround those two industries.
So it's unwise to generalise too much about non-metropolitan Australia. But it's very wise to understand that although generically, the country is doing very well economically, not all of our citizens are enjoying that prosperity to the same extent. And it's beholden on the government, and all of my colleagues and I are very conscious of this, and it's also beholden on the rest of the community to understand that. Because one of the things about the Australian fair go, is to make certain that the benefits of economic strength and economic prosperity are to be shared fairly and equally as far as that is possible within the Australian community.
But my friends tonight is a night for people to legitimately feel good about themselves and to feel good about their community. Tonight is an occasion to celebrate excellence and success. It's a night to recognise the capacity of a local community to pull together. And the thing that strikes me about tonight above everything else is the tremendous sense of community pride that people have. That you've been able to show yourselves and to show your community and to show Australia and in many cases other parts of the world just how successful this regional part of Australia can be.
And can I pay tribute to the sponsors, both the principal sponsors and the others, the bank and Rural Press, two great organisations, both of which are making a very significant contribution in their different ways to regional Australia. One providing a new way of marshalling the savings and the capital effort of people in rural Australia, another providing an absolutely indispensable, high quality communications network for the people of non metropolitan Australia.
So ladies and gentlemen I thank you very much for being kind enough to invite me here tonight. I congratulate in advance those who will win all the principle categories, but, very importantly, I collectively congratulate and thank you for the contribution that the exporters of Ballarat are making to the prosperity of the Australian nation. The way in which they are showcasing the excellence and the skill of individual Australians around the world. It certainly is a source of immense pride to me as Prime Minister and I know it is extremely valuable to all of your fellow Australians.
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