E&OE...........
Thank you Colin for those very generous words of introduction, Kim Keogh the State President of the Western Australian Division and my many Federal and State Parliamentary colleagues, Sir Charles Court and Richard Court, two former Premiers of Western Australia, fellow Liberals.
As always, it';s a tremendous pleasure to address this State Conference. I have addressed quite a number as Leader of the Party over the past ten or fifteen years. Each has been different. Each Conference has been conducted in its own distinctive political environment and atmosphere and as I throw my mind back a year ago our emotions and our feelings were probably very different from what they are today. We had just come off at the time of last year';s conference what I regarded as the great turning point of the political struggle in the lead up to the last election. That was the magnificent victory in the Federal by-election in Aston in the suburbs of Melbourne on Bastille Day, the 14th of July 2001. It was a victory for the revitalising forces of the Federal Parliamentary Liberal Party. It gave us both heart and hope after a long period of political adversity and political set backs. And it is well as people try and re-write political history that we remind them that the recovery politically of the Coalition government and of the Federal Parliamentary Liberal Party really began with that victory in the Aston by-election. And it moved on to deliver what historically was a great win. We achieved the largest two party preferred swing to an incumbent government since the 1966 election victory of Harold Holt.
And I want to start my remarks today by expressing my heartfelt thanks to all of you for the part you played in that win. It was not my win, it was the win of the Liberal family throughout Australia. I was the fortunate public beneficiary and the public face of it but without your help, without your service on the polling booths and fundraising and as candidates, as sitting members, it would not have been possible. And I particularly extend my thanks to Kim as the State President, to Peter Wells and I';ll be saying a little more about Peter';s service to the Liberal Party at this evening';s dinner. But to Kim and Peter in particular and to all of the members of the Liberal Party in Western Australia you all have an honoured role and place in what was a defining victory in Australian political experience.
So as I come here today to speak to this the 53rd State Conference of the Western Australian Division, I express my thanks as always to the branch members of the Liberal Party for the part that you have played in the place that we now occupy as the National Government.
I also of course reflect for a moment on our political opponents. I reflect for a moment on the fact that we have an opposition leader who is trying to persuade the Australian public to believe that it';s a revolution in political control to reduce the mandated influence of the trade union movement on State ALP Conferences from 60% down to 50%.
I predict now that he will win his reform. He will stand before the rules conference on the 5th and 6th of October in Canberra and he will win a reduction. I mean he can hardly do otherwise than win a reduction from 60% to 50% particularly as you are going to trade off as part of that reduction, you';re going to trade off a veto over the policies of a future Labor Government handed to trade union leaders in the revitalised National Labor Advisory Council. Of course they will agree to that deal. They';d be crazy if they didn';t. If I were Bill Ludwig or one of the other trade union heavies I';d grab that deal with both hands and run away laughing.
But what will strike the Australian public as strange and what should strike the Australian public as strange is that it will be declared a great victory that you have reduced from 60% to 50% trade union control over Labor Party Conferences when fewer than one in five Australians who work in the private sector now care to belong to trade unions. The new revitalised, reformed, modernised Labor Party will have a double democratic deficit. To start with, any idea that any percentage should be mandated to a vested interest is contrary to the principles of democratic party organisation.
I thought the Labor Party believed in one man one vote. I thought the defining characteristic of a man or woman';s influence on a political party was membership of that party. In the Liberal Party, there are no first and second degree tiers in membership. If you belong to the membership, to the party you';ve got the same rights as any other member. No more, no less. The Business Council of Australia doesn';t have 50% of voting rights at our State Conferences. They don';t have any percentage. We are a democratic party. We';re owned by nobody. We might share some values in common with the business community but we are not controlled by them.
But the other part of the double democratic deficit of course is that not only will you continue to have mandated influence by vested interests, but on top of that you will have as part of this modernised Labor Party 50% of the power in State ALP Conferences belonging to organisations that fewer than one in five Australians care to belong to if they';re employed in the private sector. There may have been some numerical logic a few years ago although not democratic principle in this idea of 50% when 50% of the Australian workforce belonged to trade unions but that is no longer the case and yet we will be told on the 6th of October that it has been a triumph of modernisation and democratisation to have brought about this result.
Ladies and gentlemen, I speak to you at this Conference at a time when the esteem and the regard in which Australia is held around the world has never been higher. I had the great privilege recently of representing Australia as Prime Minister on a visit not only to the United States but also to four countries in Europe with which we have very close historical, cultural, family and enduring links. And the constant experience of that visit was to be reminded that the modern Australia is not only punching above her weight as we have so often done, but the modern Australia is seen around the world as an exemplar of economic strength, as a country that is prepared to stand for what it believes in and defend its policies in the face of internal criticism and is also a nation that is playing an increasingly important role not only in our own region but the affairs of the world.
And the things that stand out in the attitude that people have towards Australia are our great economic strengths. The fact that we do have the fastest growing economy of all developed countries. That we are now getting the dividend out of fifteen years of sustained economic reform. That we not only stared down the Asian economic downturn of 1997 but we also sailed through any adverse effects from the difficulties the United States'; economy encountered after the 11th of September.
People also remember with great regard and warmth the role that we played in giving political and personal deliverance to the people of East Timor. They understood the difficult diplomatic challenge we faced. They realised that it would involve a temporary strain on our relationship with Indonesia. They now see that relationship repairing and let me give a full measure of credit to President Megawati for the role that she has played, not only in the rebuilding of our relationship with Indonesia but also in the process of reconciliation between the people of East Timor and the people of Indonesia. And her act of attending the Independence celebrations in Dili two months ago in the face of fierce domestic criticism was amply rewarded by the friendly and spontaneous welcome that she received from the people of Dili and the people of East Timor at those celebrations.
And of course the people of the world also remember the exuberant enthusiasm, the panache, the commitment, the technological sophistication and not least of course the sporting prowess that Australia displayed at the time of the Sydney Olympic Games in the year 2000.
When you put those things together, the rest of the world now sees an Australian nation of strength, of confidence, of a sense of contentment with our own identity. A nation that is simultaneously of Asia, of Europe and of North America but always above everything else profoundly and distinctively Australian. A nation that continues to play in the councils of the world a very significant role.
But this has come about not through good luck, it';s come about through the efforts of many over a long period of economic and other reform. And can I also say to you ladies and gentlemen that contrary to what you might occasionally be told by some media commentators, I did not encounter criticism of our border protection policies when I visited Europe or the United States. Rather, I experienced a sober understanding and realisation that this is a difficult issue and faced with a difficult situation the Australian government took action which it properly regarded as being in the Australian national interest. An action that while it may not be necessarily duplicated in other countries is nonetheless action that has been carefully studied as the nations of the world come to deal with this vast human problem. And come to understand that if there is to be a solution it lies in the improvement of conditions in the countries that produce many of the people who seek in one way or another to enter other countries.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are the beneficiaries of fifteen years of economic reform and particularly the economic reforms that have been carried out over the last six and a half years. We have done a lot in that six and a half year period. We have transformed our national industrial relations scene. We have modernised and made more efficient the Australian waterfront. All of you will remember over the years how Liberal governments were exhorted to do something about the disgrace of the Australian waterfront and in 1988 we did that. We took on the Maritime Union of Australia. It was difficult. We were criticised. We didn';t get enough support from certain areas that we should have got support from. But in the end we triumphed in that struggle and we have delivered a level of efficiency on the Australian waterfront that would have been undreamt of ten or fifteen years ago.
We took on taxation reform. Remember that? We';ve talked about it enough. We went through some very difficult periods with it. It wasn';t perfect in every respect but it is now well and truly bedded down. We have provided a revenue base for the States of Australia which will grow as the economy grows in the years ahead and it will underwrite the capacity of the States to provide the essential services for which they are constitutionally responsible. It has reduced the cost of our exports. It has lowered the rates of personal income tax paid by most Australians. And it has provided us with an essentially comprehensive broad based indirect tax in place of the old cumbersome wholesale sales tax.
We have paid off massive amounts of Labor debt. Amongst the many statistics I was able to quote to my European audiences none drew more visible gasps from audiences than when I told them that the Federal Government debt of Australia was 4.6% of our annual wealth generation against an OECD average of 35%, a figure in Japan of 120% and a figure in the United States of 45%. Now that is a legacy that we are bequeathing to the future generations of Australians. A debt free future. And one of the reasons why we should fight with all our might to deny federal Labor the opportunity of again resuming the treasury benches in Canberra is that all of us know that if they get their hands on the exchequer again they will squander that legacy of our children';s future.
But my friends the reform process is never finished. One of the reasons we are in a strong political position at the present time is that we have not fallen for the line that you should do a certain amount of reform and then give it a break. There is always a tendency to do that. I have people coming us to me all the time saying hey look John it';s been terrific up to date but why don';t you know you just take it easy, enjoy it. I have no intention of taking it easy. I';ve no intention of treating my responsibilities as the source of any kind of personal enjoyment. Every day of my life I regard it as a day that I must use to promote the interests of all of the Australian community. And while ever we as a national government continue to do that we';ll continue to enjoy the respect and the support of the Australian people.
There are reform challenges that lie ahead of us. Before the last election I identified three broad areas that I believed we had to tackle as a community in the years ahead. One of them was the demographic challenge of the ageing of the population. Another was something that has been receiving a lot of publicity recently and I';ll return to it in a moment and that is the great modern day challenge of balancing work and family responsibilities. And the other related to the challenges of sustainable development involving amongst other things something that is very important to the people of Western Australia and that is the depredation imposed on our land by salinity.
In recent days there has been a lot of debate about the balance we need to achieve between work and family responsibilities. I called it one of the great barbecue stoppers of modern experience. And that is true because it affects people at different stages of their life. And what I sought to do in identifying the challenges that are in this policy area, to make the point that there is no one single policy response that is going to address the issue. It is not an area where a one size fits all policy approach is desirable. There is no one policy that is going to provide a total answer to the legitimate aspirations of modern Australian families to have their choices supported.
We, at the last election, committed ourselves to the introduction of a baby bonus or a first child tax rebate to give it its full technical name. The aim of that policy was to recognise something that everybody knows, that typically when the first child is born one income is temporarily, perhaps semi permanently, lost or certainly reduced. And the baby bonus was designed to provide a financial cushion for the loss of that income and I want to make it very clear that we are very proud of that policy and we have absolutely no intention as some people have suggested of compromising or watering down that policy in order to fund some alternative policies in this area. It is a very strange notion that says to a political party eight months after it has been elected with a certain range of policies that the right thing to do is to break one of the promises on which it was re-elected. Well I want to tell you we won';t be breaking our commitments in relation to the baby bonus.
But what we will be doing is building on what we have already done in this area. The issue of paid maternity leave is something that ought to be considered. It is part of the debate but it';s not a magic cure. It';s not the one single answer as some people have argued. The reality is that different families within the Australian community want to organise their families in different ways. Some want a situation where both parents are full time earners to the maximum extent possible. That is a choice that we should respect. Other families want a situation when children come along that one parent is out of the work force full time, perhaps indefinitely, and certainly for a considerable period of time perhaps with both parents returning eventually in either a combination of full time or part time work. That is a choice we should also respect.
And we should also respect the fact that the great majority of Australian families face a constant juggling act between the responsibilities of family and the responsibilities of earning an income to support that family and of fulfilling their legitimate career aspirations be they men or women.
So what we have in modern society is not the replacement of the old view of what a normal family was and that is a single, normally male, breadwinner with the mother of the children a full time home-maker. We shouldn';t replace that with the other extreme of assuming that every family in Australia now has a situation where both parents have equal full time career aspirations. We have a whole mix and we should respect the choices of all of those family formations. We shouldn';t deride the choice made by those who wish to have a mother or father home full time to care for infant children. We should respect that choice. We should not only respect that choice but we should also support it as we have over the last six and a half years with policies which make it easier for that to be done. But equally we should respect the other choices that are made. In other words the role of the government is not to tell people how to behave in relation to their families, the role of the government is to support the choices that people make in relation to their treatment of their families. And it ought to be our role over the next period to build on what we have already done in this area. And it';s quite impressive. The baby bonus was but the latest of a number of policies which have provided more tax support, more incentive, more help and more choice for Australian families.
Can I just direct ladies and gentlemen before I finish a few remarks to the state political scene here in Western Australia. Let me say to you Colin and to all of your colleagues that you are at present going through the most difficult period that any political party can go through and that is the early months of Opposition. I';ve been there. I know what it';s like. I mean one of the advantages I have is I';ve been in just about every situation you could have been in, in Australian politics. It certainly gives you a thick hide and it gives you a great deal of experience. But believe me Opposition is dreadful. There is nothing worse in politics than Opposition. Never forget that. If you are in Opposition work as hard as possible to get out of it and if you are in government work as hard as possible to avoid returning to Opposition. I have no intention of going back into Opposition. I';ve had enough of that but I want to share my experiences and can I say to you Colin it is difficult but politics is volatile. We live in a very detribalised political state. People are not rusted on like they were. I mean a year ago people thought One Nation in this State was a huge political threat. Do they think it now? Of course they don';t. The reality is that the political scene changes very sharply. And what a political party has got to do is always be ready to take advantage of that through unity, through the development of policy alternatives and the pursuit of the weaknesses and the vulnerability of ones political opponents.
And very finally ladies and gentlemen, as you all know in the end political parties exist because they have common beliefs and common values. They exist to win government to implement the practical manifestation of those common beliefs and those common values. And it is always important at a time like this to remind ourselves of what we are all about as a political movement. To put aside the daily detail of a political party';s existence and the daily detail of its policies and to remember that it is common values in the end that bind us together more tightly than anything else.
And so it is with the values that bind nations together. And when two months ago I had the immense privilege of addressing on behalf of Australia a joint sitting of the United States Congress in Washington I tried to distil some of the values that Australia had in common with the United States. And I could do no better than to state some values that not only bind our two nations together but also I believe resonate particularly with Liberals all around Australia. And I said that those values were a belief that the individual is more important than the State. A belief that strong families are a nation';s greatest resource and that a united caring loving family is the best social welfare system that mankind has ever devised. A belief that competitive capitalism is the real key to national wealth and a belief that decency and hard work define a person';s worth, not class or race or social background or privilege.
They are values that I hold very dear. They are values that I believe the overwhelming majority of Australians hold dear. And we should never forget that that is the great connection between this great mainstream political party and the Australian people. We have been successful federally because we have identified with the aspirations of the great mainstream of the Australian people. We have not played the special interest group game. We';ve identified with the Australian national interest and we';ll continue to be successful if we continue to hold to those values and in so doing continue our connection with the aspirations of the mainstream of the people of Australia.
Thank you.
[ends]