EMAGEEMAGEDEMBARGOED POLICY SPEECH
1966
GIVEN BY THE PRIME MINISTER,
THE RT. HON. HAROLD HOLT
8th November, 1966
NOT FOR RELEASE BY ANY MEDIA UNTIL 8 P. M. TUESDAY, 8TH NOVEMBER
EMBARGOEDEMBARGOED
6" s
S. POLICY SPEECH
This Policy Speech my first as your Prime Minister
outlines the course my Government will follow if you re-elect us on
November 26. Between now and polling day, our Australian democracy
will be involved in a great debate about many aspects of policy. You will
be taking part in a national stocktaking. The policies you support with
your vote will bear directly on your well-being and the welfare of the nation.
These will be critical years for Australia, but they hold great promise for
our advancement. They should be years of steady national progress
progress, fortifying our security, and strongthening the base of our economy.
As yiou view this forward prospect, you find Australia well
poised for progress. You must feel it in your bones, as I do, that the next
decade may rank as the greatest in our history.
The Government I lead, is, as you know, a coalition between
members of the Liberal Party and of the Country Party. Wie have worked well
and happily together as a team. That unity and teamwork will continue. It
stands in contrast to the disunity and disarray of the Australian Labor Party
which presents itself as the alternative government. It is indeed the only
alternative government within your chot ce.
You will be making this choice at a time when our country is
moving swiftly into a new and historic era. You have only to look at the map
to realise this. The new Parliament will face a challenging period, calling
for what is best in the Australian character. But it can be, we believe, an
era of great opportunity, and we are growing not only in strength but in
maturity. How we are to carry forward the development of this continent
and how best we can make the nation secure, forms the very core of this
election campaign. In asking you to return my Government, we are also asking you
to confirm principles and policies we believe are right for Australia at this
point of our history. They bear on our national integrity and self -respact,
our obligations to friends and allies, our standing in the free world and the
tempo and character of our own growth and development. Al 1 that we plan
and hope for Australia must not be put at risk so far as we Australians can
order events by what occurs outside Australia; and we have much to hold
fast to and build upon inside our country. We are building for tomorrow on
strong and stable foundations. We have squeezed into seventeen years what
some countries have taken one hundred and fifty years to do; what some
countries have never achieved.
11,1e Australians regard our personal freedom, liberty, and
opportunities for enterprise as essential to our way of life. Yet these things
are under constant challenge, chiefly by those, whether at home or abroad,
who believe in an all-powerful State. Our political creed places the highest
value upon human personality' to encourage it, not to suppress, to strengthen
it, riot to weaken. The Socialist basis of the Labor Party is reactionary, its
doctrines are musty and its vision blurred by lingering bitterness from
battles of the past. In recent years, the ALP has become divided into
embittered factions. The Labor Party is not only out of time, but out of tune
with the nation's thinking. In its present disorder it plainly can't give
effective leadership or competent government. / 2
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You have only to look at the Labor Party's response to one of the
most critical challenges of our time. It refuses to ackn~ owledge, or it runs
away from, the great central fact of modern history the tremendous power
conflict between the Communist world and the free world. The foreign policy
of every country is affected incessantly by this conflict. It has been the cause
of personal tragedy, much bloodshed, much waste and much destruction. It
has brought tyranny to some countries and the fear of oppression to others.
Yet the Labor Party dismisses all this as a bogey. What a delusion!
On the one hand there is the desire of free people to win for
themselves a better way of life: On the other, the design of the Communists to
force their way of life on others.
During this campaign our political opponents will try to confuse,
or turn your minds from the central questions which the very history of our
time has raised. We are no longer a small, insular, protected country
sheltered from the storms and stresses of the world. Wie are not a large
power, but we do take pride in being a nation, and pride in what we have done
to build it and hold it. But that recognition of achievement carries with it
responsibilities. It is our belief that the Australian people are equal to those
respons ibilicies. Later I shall have more to say about what is happening in South-
East Asia and South Viet Nam, but the support we and others are giving in
South Viet Nam is not only helping the people of South Viet Nam to resist
Communist subversion and aggression. It is providing a shield behind which
a new Asia can emerge and grow stronger. The presence of ourselves and
othe~ r friendly forces there is not a commitment to war, it is a commitment to
peace and freedom. But it must be such that the Communists will learn that
free Asia, and the friends and allies of free Asia, will not lose heart, will
not be worn down, but have strength and staying power to defend the right
of every people to choose their own social and economic order. Together
we shall be helping to give the people in these countries the food, the skills,
the education and the strength to lead their nations to a better way of life.
That is the kind of involvement we look to with Asia. We all
want peace and a peaceful solution of problems and conflicts. We can even
be on friendly terms with countries that have fundamentally different ideologies
to our own, so long as they don't try to impose their ideas on us by force, by
subversion or any other means.
These are matters of great significance which I shall develop
later. But I move now from this broad introduction of the issues of the
campaign to some of the domestic proposals we have in mind for the next
three years.
DOMESTIC PROPOSALS
The economy, despite one of the most severe droughts in our
history, is in good shape. It has continued to expand. So has our trade.
Our own efforts and savings, aided by a continuing flow of capital
investment from overseas, are enabling us to maintain full employment with
a growing population. We have one of the highest standards of living in the world. We
have continuing policies, many of which require increasing annual expenditures.
But, in addition to these, we have a number of new proposals, which I will
outlIne. First I mention education. / 3
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This is important to every Australian and vital to the nation.
Our record in this field is proof of our sincerity.
Education is the responsibility of a number of authorities. Each
has its role to play.
For our part, we have assisted in meeting the needs of the
universities,' the establishment of advanced colleges of education; we have
helped technical education. WIe instituted grants for school science blocks.
To assist parents and students we have greatly enlarged the Commonwealth
scholarship scheme for university education. With the establishment of
colleges of advanced education we have provided a similar scholarship system
for them. Commonwealth scholarships are also available for the final two
years of secondary education and for technical education. We have given
special taxation allowances to parents for education expenses.
We now propose further assistance to education.
We will provide eight million dollars a year over the next three
financial years for the construction and equipment of new colleges for teacher
training throughout Australia.
This money will require no matching grants from the States. It
will be used by us to build colleges on sites selected by the States, on condition
that the State does not reduce its expenditure on teacher training, and on
condition that at least ten per cent, of the places at the new colleges are
reserved for teachers not bonded to State Education Departments.
Winners of advanced education scholarships will be able to apply
those scholarships to a teacher training course in any training college to which
they are admitted. These scholarships carry the same benefits as university scholarships
and will be available to unbonded students.
Our scheme to provide science laboratories and equipment to all
schools has been highly successful. We intend to do more.
In the next financial year and subsequently, we will double the
amount available to independent schools for these laboratories.
We believe this will ensure that in four years every science
teaching secondary school in Australia, whether Government or independent,
will have the science teaching laboratories and the equipment it needs
provided with the financial help of the Commonwealth Government.
We believe the time has come to establish a Commonwealth
Ministry of Education and Science and we will do this.
This Ministry will be responsible not only for education, but
also for certain areas of scientific activity. CSIRO will function within the
new . Ministry.
SOCIAL SERVICES I turn to social services.
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All through the life of the Government we have carried out our
policy of giving to the needy the assistance we can afford as a government and
nation with many other obligations. It has been our practice to review all
aspeczts of our health and social service policies each year when we consider
the Budget. We have liberalised the means test progressively. We now
propose further liberalisation. I shall elaborate on this in a supplementary
statement. We will enlarge our social service programme on four fronts
We will raise by one hundred and fifty-six dollars the limits both of
property and income within which pensions will be payable to the
aged, the invalid, and the widows.
We will expand the scope of the Aged Persons Homes Act, particularly
in regard to housing the needy, by making local governing bodies
eligible for our subsidy.
We will1 further assist the disabled in the community by capital
assistance on a two dollars for one dollar basis to sheltered
workshops, and by a special allowance to disabled persons employed
in those workshops.
* We will make annual grants to certain national voluntary agencies
working in the field of social welfare.
HOUSING Australians want to own their own homes. This is an ambition
we have fostered. No country can point to a higher percentage of home ownership.
More than half the homes in Australia today have been constructed
since we came to office in 1949.
In the last Parliament we introduced the Home Savings Grant
Scheme which has already benefited sixty-four thousand young couples. We
also introduced the Housing Loans Insurance Corporation.
We will now give the Minister for Housing new discretionary
powers designed to meet cases of harship under the Home Savings Grant
Scheme. The discretionary powers will date back to the start of the scheme.
Details of these are set out in a supplementary statement.
Further, we will extend the scheme to benefit widowed persons
aged less than thirty-six years who have one or more dependent children.
The limitation on the value of the home, including land, will be
raised from fourteen thousand dollars to fifteen thousand dollars.
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT WATER CONSERVATION
Since 1949, we have consistently carried out our policy of
national development. For us this is a wide and embracing term. It means
people as well as physical resources.
One aspect of national development is vivid in our minds from
the recent drought. This is the conservation of that precious commodity
water.
We believe a programme of water conservation related to
national needs should now be drawn up by us with State Governments.
We have in mind a national water resources development
programme. Its purpose would be to increase water conservation activity,
to reduce hazards of drought and expand primary production.
VWe envisage that the States will maintain at least their existing
levels of expenditure in this field, from their own financial resources. We
shall invite the States to put forward programmes of additional works they
woul. d propose for Commonwealth financing. We, in turn, will make a
contribution to enable additional works, selected on their merits, to be carried
out. One cannot, at this stage, be precise about the capital requirements
of our programme. We contemplate, however, that the contribution
to be made by the Commonwealth for selected additional works could amount
to fifty million dollars over the next five years.
WOOL_ A soundly-based research effort is essential to this important
industry's prosperity. So is an energetic, imaginative and well-directed
promrotion campaign. The Government is prepared to increase the scale of its
contributions for wool research and promotion when the present arrangements
expire next June. For the ensuing three years the Government would provide
funds on a dollar for dollar basis subject to a maximum annual contribution
of fourteen million dollars for a programme agreed upon by it and the wool
indus try.
DAIRY INDUSTRY The present five-year plan finishe-son 30th June, 1967, and my
Government would consult with industry bodies on the details of a further fiveyear
plan. We would discuss with the industry the level of the annual subsidy
allocation; the Commonwealth's underwriting of the equalisation arrangement
for butter and cheese; and plans for diversifying markets abroad.
SUG; AR We have shown our determination to maintain a strong and
prosperous sugar industry. Recently we have made loans available to canegrowers
and millers distressed by dmnught.
The nitrogenous fertiliser subsidy introduced in August will be
of particular help to this industry.
The 1966 season's production was affected by drought and
abnormally low export prices. 7./ Ie have bolstered the return by loaning the
induStry nineteen million dollars on concessional terms.
The Commonwealth/ Queens land Sugar Agreement is due to
expire on 1st August, 1967. We have assured the Queensland Government we
will consult fully with them and ascertain industry viewis on all matters
associated with the industry's position bef ore renewing it. This agreement
has provided valuable protection for the industry. ./ 6
/ 7
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We are persisting vigorously with our efforts to negotiate an
international sugar agreement. Our aim is to ensure our producers
remunerative prices for satisfactory export quantities.
EXTENSION SERVICES
My Government has a programme which assists rural industries
considerably in research and extension. Some eighty million dollars has
been made available through joint industry/ Commonwealth schemes for
research by State and Commonwealth Departments, universities and the
CSLRO. The results must be passed on to the farmer. For this improved
agricultural extension services are necessary.
We have now embarked on a five-year programme. Under this
the Commonwealth's contribution to extension services will be increased by
four million dollars above the present level of one point four million dollars.
STABILISATION SCHEMES FOR WHEAT, COTTON AND DRIED VINE FRUITS
At the appropriate time, my Government will go into discussions
with the wheat, cotton and dried vine fruits industries for the re-negotiation
of stabilisation schemes having the obj ective of sustaining in respect of each
a stable industry.
NORTHERN DEVELOPMENT
The development of the North. Commonwealth, State and
local governments, privae individuals and companies are all involved in the
whole pattern of northern development.
Apart from our own explorations, we have encouraged private
enterprise to undertake wide-ranging exploration of the resources of our
north. Mineral and oil discoveries have resulted.
Development has followed actively. New railways and ports,
and vast new processing plants, are being built.
Currently, capital projects totalling more than two thousand
million doIllars are in train. These works are giving new e mployment and
creating new communities.
Our great new resources some still being discovered must
be effectively utilised. It is desirable that there should be an Australian
participation in the ownership and control of those resources along with the
industries growing out of them. There are instances in which more capital
is needed to exploit these opportunities than existing Australian companies
cant marshal. New arrangements and facilities for the provision of capital
have to be devised. This is not an easy matter, but the Government has
been working actively and earnestly upon it, as have people and institutions
inthe world of finance. We are confident we shall find practical means of
meeting this objective.
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BEEF ROADS S i n c e 19 61, we have provided almost thirty million dollars
to the Queensland and Western Australian Governments for construction of
beef roads. This has been money well spent. It has contributed to the
development of the beef industry in Northern Australia and to our export
earnings from beef.
We know the industry is capable of further substantial expansion
and that prospects for beef exports are bright. But a still further improved
road system is essential for any major expansion. This would promote the
development of our northern areas generally.
Current ani igiements for the financing of beef roads end in
June, 1967. We will discuss with the Governments of Queensland and Western
Australia a fifty million dollars programme of beef roads extending over a
period of seven years.
This would represent an even greater contribution to this wcr k
than in the past. Vie are doing more also in the Northern Territory.
The new programme ther4 extending over five or six years, will
begin early in 1967-68.
TOURISM W e s ee a n ex pa n d ing future for the tourist industry.
Our annual grants to the Australian National Travel Association have been
increasing substantially, and, in 1966-67, were eight hundred and sixty-two
thousand dollars. Increasing activity and expenditure providing growing
exchange earnings for us require the establishment of an Australian Tourist
Commission set ' up as a statutory body.
We believe this would have the support of ANTA, the tourist
industry generally, and the State Governments all of whom have a direct
Interest in this matter.
A GENERAL COMMENT ON OUR DOMESTIC PROGRAMME
What I have outlined by no means represents the limit of our
activities in the domestic field over the next three years. But it gives you the
trendl of our thinking.
FOREIGN POLICY
This brings me back to what I described earlier as the very core
of this election. Our domestic programme depends for its fulfilment on the
security of the nation. But the principles and objectives of our foreign policy
are at issue in this election. Our Labor opponents attack our assessment of
Austrcalia's external security. Domestic affairs cannot be separated from
foreign affairs. / 8
8-
Our foreign policy is based on the beliefs we have and the plans
we have about the kind of Australia all of us want to see and about the kind
of society we want to build and preserve here. The security of those things
we think are good in Australia depends on the security of a kind of world that
also values what is precious both to the individual and the good society.
So we have joined with others in paying a price for the freedoms we hope to
retain. Unless there is security for all small nations there cannot be
security for any small nation. Unless principles of international conduct are
preserved in all international situations they are n~ ot likely to be preserved in
any. That is the essence of our foreign policy.
We have always seen Australia's security in tetms of world
seciir ity. To that end we have for long allied ourselves with Britain and the
United States. The basic principles and objectives of their policies are, for
the most part, shared by us. We have sought, above all things, to keep our
counrtry at peace; but to have some assurance that Australia will have strong
and reliable friends. That is why we played our part in the making of the SEATO and
ANZUS Treaties which carry with them responsibilities as well as benefits.
Because of those responsibilities, Australian soldiers are fighting
in South Viet Nam.
We know and share the genuine concern of responsible Australians
about what has been happening there.
But we believe our decisions have been right.
We seek a peaceful settlement of the conflict through negotiation.
But think of the consequences of abandoning our objectives and the people of
South Viet Nam. South Viet Nam would become a Communist state, and the lives
and Security of millions who have resisted Communism would be in jeopardy.
The impact of our complete withdrawal, as proposed by the
Labor Party, would be felt throughout South-East Asia.
We, too, would come under threat.
We have a vital interest in the effective presence and participation
of the United States as a major power in Asia and the Pacific. W~ e have obligations
arising from our treaty relationships, from our role as an ally, and from
the fact that our own international interests are directly involved in preserving
South-East Asia from aggression and from Communist domination.
It has been said that our policies in Viet Nam have damaged
Australia's standing in Asia.
This is absurd. Most Asian countries share our belief that
Communist aggression indeed, aggression of any kdid must be resisted.
Our close a,_-ociations with the free countries of Asia have undaib tedly
been strefig-aiened. t
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DEFENCE I turn now to defence generally.
The centre of this problem, in global perspective, is in Asia
and hence in our own part of the world.
We must meet large expenditures for forces adequate to our
obligations, thoroughly trained and equipped with the best and most modern
conventional armaments. To finance defence on the scale required and with the necessary
personnel increases in all services, our defence expenditure has otrelady
more than doubled over the past four years.
We live in an unstable region. We see it as a basic responsibility
of the Government of a free people to be prepared for any eventuality.
NATIONAL SERVICE
One of the basic issues of this election is national military
training carrying the duty to serve abroad as well as at home.
If we are to meet our obligations, we must have trained men
immediately available to do the job. Our Army is to be built from twenty-two
thousand seven hundred and fifty to forty thousand as quickly as practicable.
Voluntary enlistment did not provide suitable men to the extent
needed. We and our advisers concluded there was no realistic alternative
to national service. The call-up has been devised so as to cause the smallest possible
disturbance to studies, employment and family commitments, and so as to
ensure thorough and effective training before a national serviceman is
required to serve overseas. The policy permits young men to make a choice
between service with the Regular Forces and service with the Qltizen Forces.
Withdrawal of national servicemen from Viet Nam as intended
by the Labor Party, would render our task force ineffective and seriously
disrupt the~ Army. It would inevitably mean loss of confidence in Australia
by its allies. Machines and money alone do not mak2-a defence establishment.
Our concept of highly-trained, mobile striking forces has been made effective
by the individualism, the intelligence, and cool gallantry of the men who
wear Australia's uniform.
National servicemen serving Australia abroad today are as one
with their Regular Army comrades in efficiency, purpose and courage.
CONCLUSION I have given a broad picture of our thinking on large questions
of policy. My supplementary statements issued tonight will give more
information on these and other aspects of policy. From experience you can
have confidence that we shall be doing all this and a good deal more. You
have seen us give prompt effect in the past to our election undertakings. We
have also taken further progressive and useful action to meet changing
conditions and new developments. I now draw all this together against the
political background.
I 1 Or
The Liberal Party, In association with the Country Party, has
had the longest period of unbroken Federal rule in Australian history.
Our Government has remained vigorous and forward looking,
assisted by fresh talent from the ranks of our private members. The Deputy
Prime Minister and myself are the only two members remaining from the
Ministry formed when we were returned to office in 1949.
Today we are clearly more in tune with the aspirations and
outlook of Australians than our opponents. For the gimter period of our long
term of office, the Australian Labor Party has been ravaged by bitter faction
fights. Nowhere has this internal conflict been fiercer nor more destructive
than in the critical field of external security.
Even our American allies have been a target for the spleen of
the extremists in the Labor Party. Surely we Australians recognise who
are our true friends. The Labor Party, plagued for so long by the virus of
doctrinaire socialism, left-wing influence and class bitterness, seems to
have its will too paralysed to think clearly on great issues that affect our
safE. ty. The business of government and the conduct of our internal and
international affairs are not for men who cannot be of one mind, sometimes
for a week on end. Our national affairs are not merchandise for backroom
bargaining between leaders of factions.
Many times in recent years, the people of Australia have had
a sharp reminder that a Federal Labor Government would not be responsible
to the people, or even to its own judgment, but that it would be bound hand
and foot by the decisions of thirtysix people from the A. L. not, for the
most part, elected by the people of Australia and in no sense responsible
to them. This country deserves better than that. A party that cannot
lead. itself has no claim to lead a nation.
Your choice should be clear.
On the great questions of national security, my Government
is completely single-minded nited. Our opponents are confused and
divided. We believe our national policies look to Australia's future
and the national thinking of our opponents is Sndl bogged down in the past.
We offer the country strength, unity, and purpose as opposed
to disunity and confusion. Wie offer you a programme in domestic affairs
which advances national development, national security and social justice.
The choice for you is, we believe, clear-cut. My
colleagues and I have enough faith in the common sense and maturity of
the Australian people to be confident about your answer.
SUPPLEMENTARY STATEMENTS
THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS COULD NOT,
FOR REASONS OF TIME, BE INCLUDED IN A BROADCAST
AND TELEVISED POLICY SPEECH LIMITED TO
MINUTES. BUT THEY ARE ISSUED FOR PUBLICATION
CONJOINTLY WITH THE MAIN SPEECH.
I'-p t I " aw
MEANS TEST
Since it came to office in December, 1949, the Government's
policy in Social Services has been to assist those with the greatest need.
In circumstances where resources are limited, the Government's policy
has been to continually improve the position of existing pensioners and to
progressively liberalise the means test in order to permit increasing
numbers in the lower income groups to obtain pensions. This policy
will be continued during the life of the present Government.
Very significant improvements have been brought about. In
1949, s single person with an income ( including income from property) of
$ 377 per annum, or a married couple with a totalI income of $ 7154 per
annumn, were not entitled to an age or invalid pension. Since then these
limits have been more than doubled, so that today, pension eligibility is
retained by a single person until income, ignoring any income from
property, reaches $ 1,040 per annum in the case of -a single person, and
950 per annum for a married couple ( nassuming that the val;, ue of
property does not affect the rate of pension payable",.
We now propose to increase these limits still further by $ 156
per annum for both single persons and married couples. The new
limits of income before eligibility for pension ceases will be respectively
196 per annum for single persons, and 106 per annum for married
couples. Full age or invalid pensions will be payable where a single
persons's income does not exceed $ 520 per annum, and a married
couple's combined income $ 884. These income limits are increased if
there are children. Expressed in terms of property, what we propose is equally'
liberal. In 1949, no age or invalid pension was payable if a single person
had property valued at 500 or 000O in the case of a married couple.
Because of the progressive easings of the means test, the corresponding
figures today for property, apart from the value of a home, motor vehicle
and certain personal effects, are $ 10, 80,0 for a single person and $ 20, 320
for a married couple. Under the further improvement now proposed, a single
person may have $ 12, 360 in value of property, and a married couple $ 21, 88C,
provided there is no income other than from property, before losing
eligibility for pension.
The means test on widows' pensions will be similarly eased.
For example, at present, a widow with one child may receive a full pension
if~ her income does not exceed $ 520 per annum, and she retains eligibility
for some pens-Lon until her income reaches 404. These limits will be
raised to $ 676 and 560 per annum respectively.
As in the case of age and invalid pensioners, a widow with
children may receive an extra $ 156 per annum for each child after the first
without affecting her pension, which is increased by a further $ 78 per annum
for each such child. Thus, the amount of income which renders her ineligible
for pension rises by $ 234 per annum for each child after the first.
If a widow with a child or children has no income other than from
property, she will receive some pension until the value of her property reaches
$ 16, 040. / 2
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HOMES FOR AGED PERSONS
During the twelve years the legislation has been in operation,
the response by the churches, charitable and other voluntary agencies and
the public to the Aged Persons Homes Act has been magnificent. We have
recently widened the policy under which grants are made on a $ 2 for $ 1
basis, to permit eligible organisations to give greater attention to the
aged who are frail and infirm.
We will widen the scope of assistance by including local
governing bodies in the organisations eligible under the Act and accepting
contributions by them towards Aged Persons Homes as qualifying for
Commonwealth matching subsidy.
It is our hope that local governing bodies will sponsor aged
persons homes in the areas of their administration and that particular
attention will be given by them to the housing needs of pensioners. / 3
3
HELP FOR DISABLED
Another area in which we believe the greatest effectiveness
can be obtained only if there is a marriage of government and voluntary
effort is in relation to sheltered workshops.
Vie will forthwith begin consultation with both voluntary and
other agencies with a view to granting capital assistance on a $ 2 for $ 1
basis towards the expansion and establishment of sheltered workshops
conducted by voluntary agencies throughout the Commonwealth. We have
in mind that this aid should run not only to workshops that aim to restore
the disabled to outside employment but also to those that will provide
employment under sheltered conditions to those who have a permanent
residual disability. Vie will introduce a special allowance for employees in
sheltered workshops. The allowance will be reduced when earnings exceed
a certain limit but will be so arranged that employees will receive a net
increase in income for each increment of earnings.
The effect of these two measures should provide a strong
incentive to the development of sheltered workshops. / 4
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SOCIAL WELFARE
Government has a predominant role in the
field of social security, but there will always be large areas in which
the welfare services of our community must depend upon voluntary
effort. Accordingly, we have decided to make annual grants to the
Australian Council of Social Services and to the Australian Council for
Rehabilitation of Disabled.
The annual grant, over the next three years, to each of
the Councils will be $ 15, 000 of which $ 1C, OCC will be on the basis of
$ 1 for each $ 1 raised by the organisation.
These two grants will be additional to a grant of $ 60, 000
for each of the next two years that the Government has undertaken to
make to the National Old People's Welfare Council to assist it in
co-ordinating the work of voluntary agencies in the field of the welfare of
t ie elderly.
HOME SAVINGS GRANT SCHEME
In the 1963 Policy Speech, we undertook to provide a
Commonwealth grant of II1 for every 3Z3 saved by a person under 36 years
of age to assist young married people to buy or build their own homes.
The maximum grant payable to any young couple is
To be eligible for the grant, the savings must have been
deposited over a pedod of at least three years in a Home Savings Account
with a bank, or with a building or housing society, or used for purposes of
acquiring a home. Our Home Savings Grant Scheme has been in operation for
nearly 2J2 years. some 64, 000 couples have received the grant and grants
totalling almost $ 29 million have been paid.
Because the Scheme is a novel one and is still in its early
years of operation, cases have arisen where, due to genuine misunderstanding
or lar.* of awareness of all the requirements, some applicants have
failed to qualify for the grant.
While we wish all applications to be lodged within twelve
months of buying or building a home, we propose to give the Secretary of
the Department of Housing certain discretionary powers so that cases may
be treated sympathetically on their individual merits. These discretionary
powers will apply to eligible persons who bought or commenced to build
their homes on or after December 2, 1963.
The matters in respect of which a discretion might be given
are To extend the time limit for the lodgment of applications from three
months to twelve months and to empower the Department to accept
applications lodged within a further period if circumstances suggest
that this is justified.
To empower the Department to disregard ownership of " another
dwelling house" where it is sctisfied that it would be unreasonable
to regard the dwelling house as the matrimonial home or suitable
for this purpose.
To empower the Department to determine that any interest in land
that it considers appropriate for the purposes of the Act be
accepted as an " approved interest".
To give the Department a discretionary power to accept savings made
in a period of three years ending on a date not more than fourteen
days before or after the prescribed date in circumstances it
considers reasonable. The definition of the prescribed date will
not be altered.
To permit the Department to pay a grant to a person who has been
widowed on or after the prescribed date of the amount of the
grant that would have been paid to one or both of the couple if
the spouse had not died.
To give the Department a discretionary power to permit an applicant's
savings period to be broken for a short period should there appear
to be good or sufficient reasons.
All these proposed new discretionary -rs are designed to meet
cases of hardship that have akreqdy arisen. . Tllid cre tionar v po%% ers will,
therefore, apply from the date of commencement of the Schemre. 4/ 6
-6
PRIMARY I N D USITR Y
O ur r uralI industries have set records in expansion in
the past 17 years. Production in 1965-66 was 47 per cent, above that of
1948-1949 and some 60 per cent, above the level of the immediate pre-war
years. This has been achieved in spite of severe drought in extensive areas
of New South Wales and Queensland in 1965-1966.
A farm work force of less than half a million, smaller than
in the pre-war period, has produced this phenomenal result.
Our policy is to promote efficient and expanding primary
industries to meet the demands of a growing population and secondary
industries, and to provide a rising amount of export income.
Our constant objective is to ensure that returns for rural
commodities are maintained, and, if possible, improved, and that primary
producers are able to earn remunerative incomes.
Since our election in 1949, we have paid out approximately
$ 497 million in subsidy on the production of butter and cheese and the
export of processed milk products under the various five-year dairy
industry stabilisation plans.
The current plan ends next June. We will consult with the
industry bodies on the details of a further five-year plan to apply from
July 1, 1967. / 7
-7-
HEALTH
Our National Health Scheme, which in many
parts of the world is regarded as a model of its kind, has been
progressively improved during the past three years.
It is estimated, for example, that a further 120, 000 age,
invalid, widow and service pensioners and 17, 00Q of their dependants
became eligible for enrolment in the Pensioner Medical Service following
relaxation of the Pensioner Medical Service means test.
Also, in 1964, we introduced a new schedule of Commonwealth
medical benefits. The general effect was to increase Commonwealth
benefits by 33 and 1/ 3rd per cent.
We have reviewed the list of pharmaceutical benefits from
time to time since 1963 to ensure that full advantage is taken of modern
developments in the availability of new and improved drugs.
We will continue to improve our National Health Scheme / 8
8-
PAPUA_-AND _ NEW1 GUINEA
We propose to continue our vigorous programmes of balanced
development economic, social and political towards which we have
allotted a grant of $ 70 million this year, compared with $ 50 million three
years ago. To this end, we are prepared, on the basis of the co-operation
of the people of Papua and New Guinea and their elected representatives, to
continue to spend more over the next few years. The object will be to
shorten the time that must elapse before the Territory of Papua and New
bieacan finance its own basic need s from its own resources.
Without this, there can be no real freedom of choice when the
time comes for Papuans and New Guineans to decide what eventual political
status they want. The further expansion of primary and secondary industry and
increased export income will be vigorously pursued in harmony with the
broad policy of economic development based on the W~ orld B ank Missions
1964 Report. The newly -established Papua and New Guinea Development
Bank will play an important development role.
In political affairs the Government will not be slow to make
constitutional changes if the Papuans and New Guineans want them, nor will
the Government press changes upon the people if they do not want change.
In accordance with this approach, the membership of the House of Assembly,
which was set up in 1964 with a great majority of elected members, will be
increased in size for the next elections in 1968. Again if the people of
Papua and New Guinea indicate a desire for a limited system of ministerial
representation, appropriate arrangements will be worked out.
The new Institute of Higher Technical Education and the new
University of Papua and New Guinea have been established to help in the
training and education of Papuans and New Guineans. In political, social
and economic matters the advancement of the indigenous people of the
Territory will continue to be a basic objective.
I confirm once again that we will defend the Territory of
Papua and New Guinea as if it was part of the Australian mainland. / 9
9.
ABORIGINES
In the field of aboriginal advancement, we will continue
to co-operate with the Governments of the States.
In the Northern Territory, where the Commonwealth
is specially responsible, no Territory laws discriminate against
aborigines. In employment we will continue to support equality of
wages and conditions for aborigines. The Govern ment supported this
principle in the pastoral industry where substantial interim increases are
being made and where complete equality under the award will apply not
later than 1968. Royalties on minerals in aboriginal reserves will be paid
into a Trust Fund for the benefit of the aboriginal people.
We will continue to improve the educational opportunities
for aboriginal children.
Proposals are being put before the Northern Territory
Legislative Council to make land on aboriginal reserves available for
leasing to aborigines on the advice of a special Board of which the
majority of the members will be aborigines.
10
NORTHERN TERRITORY
WN e w ill continue policies that provide a climate of
opportunity and open up further prospects of growth for the mining,
pastoral and tourist industries in this Territory, which occupies one-sixth
of the continent and is an area of special Commonwealth responsibility.
We will go on encouraging th e development of the great mineral
potentialities of the Territory in such places as Cove, Groote Eylandt and
McArthur River. At these and other places investment could total more
than $ 40G million. The pastoral industry has been developing substantially with
the establishment of export abattoirs at Katherine and Darwin and with new
techniques for improved pastures and with the provision of more credit for
water and subsidies for imported stud stock. This development will be
stimulated still further by the continuation of the beef road programme for
the Territory. More than $ 3 million will be spent on this programme during
the current year and 900 miles of beef roads will then have been completed
in the Territory. Moreover, special loans and freight subsidies are helping
pastoralists in the Centre to recover from the most disastrous drought in the
region's history. Further expansion can be expected in the Northern Territory
tourist industry which, with improved roads and facilities, has been growing
rapidly. We will continue to give financial backing to the development
of the Territory which has a higher growth rate than almost any other part
of the Commonwealth.