Subjects: Darwin and the Northern Territory; Centenary of Federation; Adelaide to Darwin railway; Western Australia and Queensland
E&OE..................
Well thank you very much Dennis for those very kind remarks. Shane Stone, the federal President of the Liberal Party, my other parliamentary colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. It';s a great delight to be back in Darwin. I think in the time that I';ve been Prime Minister this is either the fifth or sixth visit that I';ve paid to the Northern Territory. It is a special part of Australia and to come here as part of the celebration of the 59th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin, which is a centerpiece event of the year commemorating the Centenary of Federation, is quite an experience for Janette and for me.
I said at the luncheon today that I thought the arrangement for the celebration, the commemorative service this morning, reflected enormous credit on the Chief Minister and his government, and on those people responsible for the organisation of the centenary observance here in the Northern Territory. It was a wonderful moving event and the people of Darwin and the people of the Northern Territory have every reason to be not only reflective but also very proud of the very important role that has been played by this city and this territory in the history of our country.
I';m delighted to see so many people supporting a CLP function. It brings home to me the vitality and the energy and the vigour of this particular and unique branch of our broad Liberal Party organisation. Territory politics are different. They have a special character and long may that be the case. Australia is a big country and you do need to have a decentralised approach to decision making not only in government but also in the management and organisation of political parties.
One of the things that Australia has done very well is to find the right balance in a geographically large country of allowing the emergence of a very strong national sentiment and a very strong national spirit when it';s needed, but equally allowing the emergence and the development of decentralised forms of government that allow for local options, local choice and local decision making where that is necessary. And when I delivered the Australia Day Address in Canberra only a few weeks ago and I reflected for a moment on what some of the particular achievements of the Australian federation had been it';s fair to say that I came to the conclusion that Australia has been better than most countries in achieving that balance.
They either make the mistake in other countries of giving all the decision making power to the centre and ignoring the outlying areas of the nation, or allow too much fragmentation and too much decentralisation. I mean we had if I may say so with no disrespect to our great American friends, we had an example of that with the recent presidential election. I must say as the Prime Minister of a federation I find it astonishing that a country would have a national electoral process which is not in the hands of a national electoral commission but was in fact in the hands of local and county electoral commissions.
So Australia has been very good at striking the balance and what you have achieved here in the Territory, and it remains the policy of the government I lead if it is the view and the desire of the people of the Northern Territory that the Northern Territory should achieve full statehood. That remains our policy. But that is a matter for the people. All of these things in the end are in the hands of the Australian people and it';s for the people of the Territory to make a decision on that matter. But I want to tell you that we won';t stand in your way and we won';t be reluctant to put in place the necessary support and necessary government decisions that are needed.
Since I';ve been here over the last couple of days a few people have said something about a railway. It emerges everywhere I go. I went to the concert last night. Got the biggest cheer. Come along here and there';s a song. They';ve written a song about it. They don';t write a song about me. Now it is true, it is true that as the Chief Minister was kind enough to say, that unlike any previous federal government we made a solid financial commitment first negotiated between John Olsen, Shane Stone and myself. And we subsequently added a bit more to that. And we decided to go the extra distance. I might say in the face of criticism from some people who look at government decisions entirely in the narrow confines of pure economics, but we decided to go the extra distance because we actually think there';s a nation building component in this railway. And that has been our view for a very long time.
Now recently, as Dennis alluded to, there have been one or two qualifications that have emerged. Without going into the technical jargon and you know, jaw breaking merchant bank language that is normally employed when you come to these sorts of deals, let me say very clearly to you that in relation to any potential shortfall, subject to the federal government receiving a formal commitment and understanding from the consortium that providing the extra resources will guarantee the commencement of the project, we in the federal government are prepared to join the Northern Territory government and the South Australian government in delivering that extra commitment so that the project can commence.
I think we';d better get that poet from the commemoration this morning. So thank you very much. But it is a very important project and at a time when much of the current focus of political debate is about an alleged divide between one part of Australia and another part of Australia, and the other part of Australia being the more remote parts of the Commonwealth, it is very important that national governments ensure that they are prepared to go the extra mile in providing financial support for valuable infrastructure. Some will criticise the federal government';s support. Some will look at it entirely in bean counting terms. That is a mistake. I am as strong a believer in budget surpluses and rigorous economic policies as anybody who';s occupied the position of Prime Minister, and I will make bold to say an even stronger believer in those things than quite a number of my predecessors. But there does come an occasion, an occasion where you cannot simply apply straight economic considerations. And I believe that this has been one of them and I do hope, and I have every reason of course to believe that the Northern Territory government will join the commitment I';ve made and it would be my hope that the South Australian government would do the same.
When the railway goes ahead it will mean a lot to the Territory. It will also mean a lot to the people of cities such as Whyalla in South Australia, and indeed it will mean much to the economies of both South Australia and the Northern Territory.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a gathering of the friends and supporters of the CLP and therefore of the broad Liberal/National Party side if I can put it in Commonwealth wide terms of our side of politics. Since the Queensland election on Saturday, and also before that following the Western Australian election, there was quite a bit of debate about the reasons for those two very adverse results. There has been a vigorous debate about the impact of federal issues on those two election outcomes.
And I';m very disappointed about what happened in Western Australia. I thought the Court Government had been a good government but it lost. And it lost overwhelmingly in my opinion because of state considerations. And equally I believe that the Beattie Government in Queensland was returned because people in that state decided that the Beattie Labor Government offered stability and security and predictability whereas I';m sorry to say the Coalition alternative in Queensland did not offer that.
Now there';s no point on occasions such as this in mincing words. Supporters of a political party are entitled to know exactly what the leader of that political party thinks. And I happen to think we lost in Queensland and Western Australia because of essentially state considerations. But having said that I';m the last person in Australia to put my head in the sand and to pretend that every single thing that the federal government has done has been popular, or to pretend that there are not some areas of criticism and concern.
The art of good government and the art of good politics is simultaneously to retain a strong commitment to good policy and commonsense decision making in government, and also to listen to and to understand the people who you are responsible and accountable to when they have concerns.
I know that people have concerns about a number of things. One of the things people have concerns about is the complexity of the Business Activity Statement. I';ve talked to a lot of people tonight as I';ve gone around. I should tell you that last Friday in Sydney I convened a meeting of the Treasurer, the Minister for Small Business, representatives of eight major business organisations including a good cross section of the small business community. I had the Commissioner of Taxation there and the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation. We sat down for three hours and debated the changes that ought to be made to the Business Activity Statement. And those changes are going to be announced by the Treasurer on behalf of the government later this week. And they will meet in my view the accumulated concerns that people have communicated to the government over the past few months.
Now in a sense a process like this is inevitable. When you introduce a new taxation system there is always some challenge in the change involved and the administrative task of absorbing the requirements of the new system. And we said that we would be willing to fine tune it. We said that if there were difficulties with the technical implementation we';d react. And that is what we';re going to do and I hope that the announcements that are going to be made on behalf of the government later this week will be seen by the small business community of Australia, which is in many ways the lifeblood of the Liberal and National parties around Australia, will be seen by the small business community as meeting the concerns that they have legitimately expressed. And I hope people will see that as an example of the willingness of this government while maintaining in the full its commitment to good policy will also show the willingness of the government to respond in a flexible and commonsense way to the concerns that people have.
I also know, and people who live in the Territory would feel it very acutely because of the distances involved, I also know that people don';t like the high level of petrol prices. I don';t either. The high level of petrol prices at the current moment are overwhelmingly due to the world price of crude oil being dramatically higher than what it was only a short time ago. And I have to tell you in all honesty I can';t force the oil producing countries of the world to cut the price of crude oil, and neither could President Bush and neither could his predecessor President Clinton. Although we';ll continue to agitate with all the means available to achieve a moderation in that price.
We did look before Christmas at the possibility of deferring the excise increase last February. We decided instead to put $1.6 billion extra into local roads around Australia. We thought that was a better long term investment. And I wouldn';t want anybody to go away from this gathering tonight thinking for a moment that I wasn';t very sensitive to and very comprehending about the concern of people around Australia about the high cost of fuel.
I mention those two issues because they have featured very heavily in the media and in public comment about the position of the federal government. The next election for us will be very tough because when you are shooting for a third term, I mean you people up here are masters at it, you';ve sort of won nine or ten times. I don';t know what the secret is. I';ve no intention of transferring from Canberra to Darwin. But can I say that it will be tough for us because we will be going for a third time. And it';s very easy third time up for people to think well this is an opportunity to give them a bit of a flick, this is an opportunity to demonstrate our concern or this or that about this or that area of government policy.
And that is why it is tremendously important for us as supporters of our cause, and there are many in the room tonight, I know not all and I';m glad that it';s a mixture of both supporters and interested observers, even critics. The more the better. I think it';s tremendously important as we think about these things to focus on the choice. Now I';ve acknowledged that there are some areas of public concern about the government. And can I also assert that there are many areas where the government is entitled to point with enormous pride and satisfaction about what has been achieved. And when we go to the election towards the end of this year I';ll be doing that, I';ll be doing it in spades.
I';ll be reminding people that when I became Prime Minister there was an accumulated federal government debt of between $80 billion and $90 billion. $80 billion to $90 billion of accumulated deficits, most of which had been run up in the last six years of the Keating/Beazley Government while Mr Beazley was the Finance Minister of Australia. I';ll be reminding people that interest rates hit 17%. Bill rates for many farmers were 19% or 20% in the Hawke/Keating years. I';ll remind people that unemployment went to 11.2% when Mr Beazley was the Employment Minister in the Hawke/Keating years.
And I';ll also remind people that when we tried to do something about that they tried to stop us at every turn. Not only did they leave government with $80 billion or $90 billion of national debt. When we set about trying to reduce it they tried to stop us. I mean it';s the equivalent of setting fire to the house and then preventing the fire brigade from putting out the fire. That is exactly what they tried to do. And now they have the nerve to parade themselves as responsible economic managers and fit to return to government. Now you may not agree with everything we';ve done. The Australian public may not like us on this or that issue. But we have delivered to the Australian community an economic strength and resilience that this country';s not had for a generation, not for a generation.
Three years ago I addressed this gathering, in 1998. And we were about to experience so we thought the full impact of the Asian economic downturn. Yet we were able to stare down that downturn largely because of the economic reforms that my government had put in place. And in the five years that we have been in government we have reduced that Beazley national debt of $80 billion to $90 billion by almost $50 billion. We now have one of the lowest debt to GDP ratios of any developed country in the world. For practical purposes we no longer have a significant debt problem at a national level and that has been achieved through the careful economic management of the government. It may sound dull, it may sound even obsessive. But can I tell you in terms of the long term economic security and the future wealth generation capacity of this country, it is enormously important.
And I say without any fear of contradiction, without any doubt [inaudible] that that would be at risk at the election of a Labor government. So by all means let us acknowledge that we have made our share of mistakes, that there are areas where people want change, they want amelioration, they want a shift of emphasis. But let us never lose sight of the fact that there is a clear choice between the stability and the security that we have offered, we have delivered, and we will guarantee if we are re-elected - and a return to the 17% interest rates, the 11% unemployment, the $80 billion to $90 billion of national debt which were hallmarks of the last time that Mr Beazley was involved at the high levels of government in this country.
Now it is important because there is quite a debate going on at the moment. There are attempts being made to over-read federal implications into the results in both Western Australia and Queensland. And as somebody who has the ultimate responsibility for guiding the national fortunes of our side of politics in Australia let me say to you that that is a complete distortion of the facts. Yes there are areas where messages were being sent to the government and messages are being heard by me and by my colleagues. But Australians have a great capacity to distinguish between state and federal politics. And no group of Australians are more adept at doing that than the people of Queensland. They have a very long history of voting differently. And they have a very long history of changing very rapidly from one point of view to another if they think the circumstances warrant it. And that is what you witnessed in Queensland on Saturday. And in a partisan sense I suppose it grieves me a bit to say it but I think the Premier of Queensland ran a very effective campaign and credit in a political sense should be given where credit is due.
But politics is about choice. You';ve always got to decide whether you want one side or the other and at the end of the year people will have to decide whether they want us or they want Mr Beazley and the Labor Party and what each of us stand for. And that is the real choice and that applies whether you are primarily a Liberal voter or a Labor voter or you are primarily a voter for a minor party because if you';re a voter for a minor party you';ve got to decide where your preferences go. And if you decide to give them other than to the Coalition you';re going to elect Mr Beazley. And it';s very important that that message be understood.
But can I say to all of you who are here tonight, particularly those of you who are involved in business, that providing a strong and growing economy remains our most important goal. The Australian economy will grow a little more slowly this year than last year. But the latest advice I have is that the rate of growth will still be very strong by historical standards. If there is significant unevenness coming out of the American economy that will have some impact on us. But the stronger we are domestically the less will be the impact. Just as we were able to stare down the Asian economic downturn so it will be that we will be able to minimise, not eliminate, but minimise the impact of what comes out of the United States if we continue to keep our economic house in very good order.
Now I know that tax reform has been a challenge for many people in business. And I thank the small business community of Australia for the way in which they';ve overwhelmingly set about absorbing and accepting the changes and getting used to them. And we will be responding as I said earlier to some of your concerns about the Business Activity Statement. But there are long term benefits for Australia in taxation reform. The states and territories get a much better financial deal. They have access to a growth tax which will underwrite their capacity to increase essential public services in the years ahead. It';s good for our exports because they';re free of GST. Resources from the GST will enable us to, along with other measures, to significantly reduce the level of income tax. And from the 1st of July this year under the arrangements signed with the states and the territories, Financial Institutions Duty will disappear altogether which will be a very significant benefit to many people in the Australian community, a reform and a measure completely forgotten by most people since the introduction of the GST in the middle of last year.
Reform is never easy. But we live in a world where if you try and stand still you go backwards. And the challenge of government is to continue the reform process but to do it in a way that minimises the hurt it imposes on the more vulnerable sections of our community. And the concern felt by many in the less wealthy parts of regional Australia is really the consequence of economic change and social change on some communities that find it bewildering. I can understand that. The answer is not to turn your back on reform and change. The answer is to provide more assistance to people to cope with change and to show more understanding and to show more concern. I understand that. That';s one of the reasons why we';ve endeavoured in a variety ways in the last five years to cushion the impact of that change.
But it is a challenging task because the ideological divide that used to sharply distinguish political parties is perhaps not as deep as it was many years ago. And where politics in this country is less tribal than what it used to be it';s quite important that we recognise that it is more challenging and people';s loyalties can change more rapidly and they can be more fickle. And that is part and parcel of the world in which we live.
It';s an enormous privilege to be the Prime Minister of Australia. The greatest privilege that any man or woman can have is to be Prime Minister of this magnificent country. And to be Prime Minister in the Centenary of Federation year where you have the opportunity of involvement in so many events that have shaped the nation we now have. And as I watched that wonderful commemorative service and participated in it this morning, what was so wonderful about it is that it touched every part of the rich life of the Territory. It';s frontier aspect, it being the place where for the first time in our history we felt the brunt of an assault upon our mainland, the contribution of the indigenous people of the Territory to the defence of Australia, the contribution that perhaps in the past we haven';t as Australians recognised enough and more is now being done to fully recognise and to express our gratitude and thanks for that contribution.
The cosmopolitan character, the ethnic diversity which has always been part of the special quality of the Territory and this was so strongly evident today. Cooperation with our friends from the United States, the proximity of Asia. I mean Darwin was critical during World War II and as soon as we became significantly involved as we did recently in Timor Darwin once again became the centre of attention, the point of departure and the point of intersection. And all of that was brought home to me and I know to many others this morning. I started by saying that I think you';ve done a wonderful job. And the government and Dennis as Chief Minister in particular, and everybody else associated ought to be congratulated on a wonderful job.
Can I lastly say to all of you who over the years in different ways have supported the CLP. Thank you for that support. You like us will have a tough fight whenever your poll is held. Elections are never easy. They';re always challenging. We live in a democracy where in the end we';re all ultimately accountable. But in the end you win if you retain support and people believe you';re a better alternative than your opponent. And if you can';t win that argument than you';re not going to succeed. And that is of course how it ought to be.
I want to say to you that I';m very proud of what my government has done over the last five years. We';ve made Australia a more stable more secure, a safer country economically and in so many other ways. I want to make it even safer and more secure and even stronger in the years ahead. And I';ve got a great zeal and a great passion to achieve that, to lead my government and my Coalition to victory at the next election and to provide the Australian people and the Australian community with the sort of stability and security that we';ve had. And only a Coalition government can do that. Thank you.
[Ends]