E&OE...........
Well, thank you very much Diedre. To my ministerial colleagues Amanda Vanstone, Kay Patterson, Helen Coonan and Danna Vale, and particularly to Dame Margaret Guildfoyle, delegates, visitors, ladies and gentlemen.
Once again it is my privilege to address this Women's Forum as a very important element of the party';s Federal Council meeting. It takes place at a time when I believe that the Liberal Party, more than at any other time in its history, can speak with utter confidence without any fear of serious contradiction from objective people, as a party in Government that has delivered practical choice and real additional opportunities for the women of Australia.
It is now just over six years since the Government was first elected to office. And as I look back over the last six years, we can see significant changes in Australian society for the better in relation to attitudes towards equality of opportunity for women. We can see major policy implementation, and I';ll touch on a few of those in a moment, which have been of enduring benefit to Australian women.
Of the many principles that have hallmarked the Liberal Party of Australia, none is more important than the principle of individual choice and the opportunity for individuals to make their own lives according to their own desires, if they are given freedom and equality of opportunity. Most of us have been attracted to the Liberal Party, in part at least, if not overwhelmingly, because more than any other party on the Australian political landscape, it has been the party of personal freedom and individual choice. And as I reflect on what the Government has done in policy areas touching on women in particular in the Australian community, I can say that we have been faithful, very faithful indeed, to the principle of choice and freedom of choice for Australian women.
Last year when I addressed the National Press Club, I identified three long term policy issues that would be important for whatever Government won the then upcoming election, because they were relevant to the type of society that we were going to create. Those three issues were the ageing of the population, the balancing of work and family within the Australian community, and a number of environmental challenges, particularly that of salinity.
And I want in the few moments I';m speaking to you today, to touch very briefly on one of those issues, namely the balancing of work and family. And can I say at the outset that although I address it at a Women';s Forum, I say quite unapologetically that the responsibility of balancing work and family for Australian families is as much the responsibility of Australian men as it is the responsibility of Australian women. They are shared responsibilities, those challenges, and I certainly encourage the men of Australia increasingly to see them as a totally shared responsibility, and not just the responsibility of Australian women.
There have been many tracts written about the choices faced by both men and women after marriage and in contemplation of, or in the reality of having children. Catherine Hakim, the British writer, in a publication entitled Taking Women Seriously, late last year summarised an analysis that I think many would find realistic and compelling. She said that essentially there were three categories in which women fell in relation to the challenge of balancing work and family. That 15 percent of women, in her analysis, could be regarded as work-centred or overwhelmingly career-oriented, that another 15 percent could be regarded as home-centred or overwhelmingly home-centred, but the great majority – 70 percent – could be what she regarded as adaptive. In other words, they saw themselves as having both aspirations and hopes and dreams in the area of both career and family. And it';s the responsibility of Governments, whether it';s the Australian Government or indeed any other Government, it';s the responsibility of Governments to implement policies and to create a climate that allow people, whichever category they fall into, whichever one of those three categories, or indeed any other category they might like to describe themselves as falling into - it';s the responsibility of Governments to create the climate for both men and women, to follow whatever pursuit and put themselves in whatever category they might choose.
I';ve been criticised for many things, in all areas of course, but particularly in this area, for an identification with a dwelling and something that surrounds it – I think it';s called a picket fence - and it has a certain model car in the driveway, and there';s a certain sort of emblematic number of people forming the family, augmenting that very happy scene. I don';t particularly mind that description. I think the notion of stable, united, caring families is about as positive a notion as anybody can have for a society, whatever situation that family might find itself in economically.
But what I';ve always argued in this whole area, is that it';s not the role of Government to tell people how to organise their lives. The question of whether both parents work in a family and for how long and whether they should both be part-time or both be full-time or one full-time and one not in the paid workforce at all, or whatever combination they choose, is their business. And it';s not my business as Prime Minister to tell them what is better for them, or what is better for their children. But it is my responsibility as Prime Minister to create a climate where they are assisted and facilitated in whatever choice they make, and we';ve certainly done that. I mean, only yesterday we had some absolutely stunning employment figures which show the strength of the Australian economy, and inside those employment figures is a wonderful story of expanding opportunities for women within the Australian economy and within the Australian community. And when we look at the strength of the economy, we should remember that the economic strength we';ve enjoyed over the last six years has expanded the horizons of opportunity for Australian women as much as it has for men.
Two areas where I believe we have been particularly successful, and we ought to trumpet this success as Liberals perhaps more than we do, and that is in the area of supporting families with young children, both in relation to the value of the benefits accruing under the New Taxation System and most particularly in the area of child care provision. Now, attempts have been made over the last six years to represent this Government as being indifferent towards, even neglectful, of child care facilities because of an alleged preference for people not being in any kind of formal child care. Nothing could be further from the truth. One of the many unheralded successes of this Government has been the way in which it has expanded not only the number of child care places, but has also rapidly improved the affordability of child care within the Australian community. I wonder how many people in this audience know that since the introduction of the New Taxation System, the cost of child care has fallen by 13 percent. We';ve not just avoided adding to the cost of child care by some kind of set-off between the various elements of taxation reform, but we have in fact reduced significantly the cost of child care for Australian parents. And there are now, not only as a result of those changes, but of other changes we';ve introduced, since we were elected there are 151,300 more places – child care places, within the Australian community.
And the other area where I believe we need to say more about the achievements of this Government has been in the area of the child benefits and child payments under the new taxation system. There was a very revealing study produced by NATSEM, a national economic think tank based here in Canberra, completely neutral in a political sense, certainly not known as a body that produced analysis with the goal of being helpful to the Liberal Party or to the Government. But this analysis produced for both the Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne Age, revealed a very significant increase in the level of support for low-income families with children as a result of the arrangements under the New Taxation System. And it said of all the groups that had benefited from the changes - and at every level families with children were held to be better off - at every level they were held to be better off, and the group that benefited most, the income group that benefited most were low-income, single-income families and within that group in turn again, the group that benefited most were sole parent single income families in receipt of low incomes.
So if you look at that reality against the stereotype that our critics have endeavoured to implant in the minds of the Australian community, you see a complete contrast. You see a Government, yes, that is very strongly in favour of choice for Australian parents. You see a Government that defends the right of Australian parents to organise their work and family arrangements in the way that they think is best. But you also see a Government that is determined to give to low-income, single-income families, and most particularly sole parent families, greater support because of their greater need.
As we meet for this very important Federal Council meeting, a Federal Council meeting that will not only reflect for a moment which we are entitled as Liberals to do, to reflect upon our political achievements and what we have done for the Australian people over the last six years, but will also importantly be a Federal Council meeting that will look forward to our agenda for this our third term.
And can I finally on a very party political note, say what a tremendous contribution the women of the Federal Parliamentary Liberal Party have made at every level of the party';s and the Government';s activities over the last six years. In 1996 we came into Government with a record number of women members of Parliament, and those numbers, although not precisely the same as they were then, in terms of emphasis and in terms of rough proportionalities, those numbers have been maintained. And the contribution being made is such that increasingly we don';t think in terms of gender contribution, we simply think in terms of the contribution of outstanding individuals who are playing a major role in the reshaping of the modern Australia. And it';s in that context that I';m delighted to participate in this forum to thank you Diedre, and to thank all members of the Women';s Council and the various branches of the Liberal Party throughout Australia that have played such a major role in our political success and as a result of that, played a major role in what we are now doing for the benefit of all of the people of Australia.
Thank you.
[ends]