E&OE..................
Thank you very much Peter. To your wife Kim and your two children Brooke and Michael. To my parliamentary colleagues, Gary and David, my state parliamentary colleague Mr McGill, the Mayor of Logan City, other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
This gathering, and what I';ve heard from Peter, is really a metaphor, a wonderful metaphor for entrepreneurial Australia. And it is a wonderful metaphor for the kind of Australia from a business point of view that I really believe in, and if we could have more examples like this all around our country in the years ahead, there';ll be absolutely no doubt about the economic vitality and the economic strength of our nation. Because all of the ingredients are there. You are starting with nothing, the idea conjured up in a pub. It';s a family oriented business. You';ve started in an area which has had its ups and downs over the years. I was reflecting Peter a few weeks ago at the beginning of the election campaign that way back in 1974 when I first ran as a candidate in the Sydney seat of Bennelong which then it was marginally based on the north shore of Sydney and it';s shifted its location a bit since then but we';ve sort of debated as to whether we would spend much money on placing newspaper advertisements in the Northshore Times. Because at that time you still had afternoon newspapers in Sydney, you still had the Daily Mirror and The Sun and local newspapers were a bit like this. Now the first thing we do in a campaign is to make sure you book plenty of space in the local newspaper and you';ve actually seen over the years I believe a very significant renaissance of the importance or regional and local newspapers because in the bigger cities the afternoons have gone and I certainly find though with younger people there is a greater interest in local newspapers than was the case with their comparable age cohort a generation ago.
And you';ve surfed that wave, I think you';ve been part of it, and I really do admire the story and I';ve read a little of it. I admire your tenacity. Yes, you have benefited from the lower interest rates, that has not passed my attention. You';ve also benefited from the better industrial relations laws and the last thing you want is a return to the old industrial relations laws where you can';t work out the right deals with your workers to your mutual benefit. And we also want even more flexible industrial relations laws. I agree with you. Most small-medium businessmen and women I meet around Australia, the only thing they want from the government is a reasonable playing field and a reasonable environment. They don';t want hand outs they want low interest rates, they want a sensible taxation system, the lowest company tax rate that the nation can afford, well it is now 30% rather than 36% and a number of other good industrial relations environment. And I do applaud the place that you have given to the contribution made by your staff. There';s only one good industrial relations philosophy and that is to see the effort as a team effort and to appreciate the contribution that everybody makes to the enterprise. It is tremendously important and people who work hard are entitled to a return and if the business does better they are entitled to get something out of it as well as the people who own it.
But this nation will always need people like Peter and Kim and their children. And it is so clearly is a family effort and this really is the heart and soul of small business Australia and I think the energy and enterprise and I look around at this huge new facility and I think it is tremendous when so much of the focus, the reporting of the media is on the large media conglomerates and that';s very natural and very understandable because in the world in which we live, the globalised world in which we live you do need size to be a global participant. But you also need local relevance to serve a community and that obviously is what successful local newspapers do.
I think you';ve chosen the course so wonderfully descriptive and evocative descriptions for the two mastheads The Reporter and The Times. You would be in no doubt as to what they were and I think that';s obviously been part of your marketing success. Entering the printing business is of course a huge step forward and it adds to the success you';ve had with your publications since 1989. Could I just simply say that this is one of the highlights of the last five weeks, I mean that, because everything has come together here. You';ve got a united family working together for a common purpose. You';ve got people who are prepared to take a risk for the future of their family and the future of their country. You';ve got people working together in the work place for a common goal. You';ve got an owner respecting his employees, and you';ve got employees giving loyalty and support to the people who employ them.
Can I say - and you said it didn';t get any better – for me, for my ideal of what Australia is all about in the future it doesn';t get any better than this because (applause) and all of these things have come together. So I am delighted, Janette and I are absolutely delighted to be here. I';ve always believed in the notion of an Australian nation where somebody can start with nothing and work their insides out and build something up, involve their family in it and really make a contribution to the community. And we will always need an environment that makes it possible for people like the Falvey family to achieve that. So I';m really touched to be here today and thank you very much for what you';ve done for your local community and what you';ve done for your country.
I declare this magnificent facility duly opened for printing and long may it prosper and I';m quite certain that you were serious when you said if any of your competitors have any printing troubles you';d be prepared to help out.
Thank you.
[ends]