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ANNUAL LIBERAL PARTY RALLY
WA. DIVISION
PERTH, WA. 7 JULY 1969
Speech by the Prime Minister, Mr John Gorton
Mr President, Parliamentary Colleagues and Delegates:
It is an honour for me to technically open this Conference
of West Australian Liberals.
As you say, Sir, I have been here, I think on five I am
told on five I think on six occasions since becoming Prime Minister.
I will certainly be back before the elections and while the elections are
on and, given your assistance, I would expect to be back as Prime
Minister after the elections are over.
After all, this is a really exciting part of a really exciting
nation. Here, Sir, I think you are taking something like ttrnce the
national average of migrants and the population here is growing at
something like twice the national average. Here we have a part of
Australia which is already contributing enormously to our total
mineral exports and which nothing can stop contributing in even
greater measure in the years to come.
You must feel it yourself, the excitement in the air in
Perth; though that is nothing compared with the excitement in the air
in Port Hedland, in Mt Tom Price, and in the other new frontiers of
this developing State. There is an enormous future which has just
begun for Western Australia, and that is not to be regarded as merely
a future for Western Australia but for Australia as a whole.
I wonder what it; is that brings you, as Liberal delegates,
to a meeting of this kind. What is it that you want to see happen in
this country? What is it that you want to see the Members you support
and the Government you put in office do? There will, of course, be
on matters of detail different answers from different individuals, but
there must be some basic overriding consensus of what you wish to
happen in Australia, of what you wish a Government to do for
Australia. Because you don't go out, I am sure, merely to elect a 2/ o
Mr Smith or Mr Jones or Mr Robinson to some particular seat. You
must, and have, a reason for seeking a particular representative of
a particular philosophy. And I want to talk a little tonight of what I
think motivates you people to see that the sort of Government you want
is in office in Australia.
I suppose first of all you want to see a continuation of a
climate which a Government can create a climate which enables Individuals
in Australia to take their risks in a developing coun~ try, to use their
initiati-t~ s, to, take their losses if thuy fail, and star-t again, and to take their
gains if they succeed without being envied by others. Because this is
the sort of climate which permits to individuals the greatest possible
area of freedom to experiment, to build new businesses, to try new
developments. In that climate, and in that climate alone, can a
country quickly and properly and to the benefit of its citizens grow
rich and prosperous and give to its citizens the chance of self
fulfilment. So it is, I think, that climate, as opposed to the idea the
socialist idea that the individual exists to serve the state that you
want to see in the Government you elect in Australia. But you want
to see other things too. You want to see other things done as a result
of that climate being created and these are the ones that I see as
important. And these are the ones I believe you see as important.
Firstly, you must wish to look to the defence and security
of Australia. We are not under any imminent threat of invasion or
attack, nor can I envisage myself in the decade ahead that we would
be under such imminent threat. But history shows that a nation which
does not look to its own defences and its own security even in times of
peace fails to do so at its peril. And the pages of history, and receltt
history, show hations which thought they were safe, and because they
didn't contribute to that safety, found out too late they we:--e noDt cafe at
all. So you would wish us, I think, to regard this as the rock on which
all other development, and indeed our existence, mustC~ pend.
To do this, we must look to our own defences, though the
defences which can be called in to being by a nation of 12 million are
not great. Yet we must look to our own defences and be able to be
seen in the world to be taking a serious and a real approach to our own
security. And we must also look beyond ourselves. We must, as you
know we have done, become involved in the region to our North. This
is the region in which we live, the region in which in the future we must
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continue to live; and we must help that region technically, economically,
by opening the avenues of trade and by doing all we can to increase the
standards of living of the peoples in that region. For in that way lies
ukimately the greatest defence. But we must also show our readiness
to participate in the defence of that region against external attack. And
this we have done, and this I believe you would wish us to do.
When I say " participate in the defence of that regioii', I mean,
precisely, participate in it. Up until the present and for a little while to
come, Britain has taken full responsibility for the defence of the region
to our North. She has accepted that responsibility as a major power.
She has looked for assistance to the people in the region themselves, to
those in Malaysia and in Singapore; and she has looked to us and she
has looked to New Zealand, and she has not looked in vain. But we
cannot take over that overriding responsibility and that must be clear to
all.
0 We can join in, and will join in concerted efforts against
external attack, but we cannot take over the full responsibility that
Britain had. And that is the difference between what was, and for a
little while is, but what in the future will not be. I believe you would
wish us to do this. I believe you would see it as sensible. I believe
you would see the stationing of our air force on the peninsula of
M~ alaya and the stationing of our troops in Singapore as visible evidence
of this interest, of this willingness to participate, and as tt. e only real
way in which such visible interest can be shown.
This is one great difference between ourselves and our
opponents, for they would reject what I have just put to you. They
would say we should not do this. Rather would they adopt a jack-inthe-
box policy of shooting some troops up and then bringing them back
.9 and then shooting them up and briaging them back on the premise of
now-you-see-' em-now-you-dork; a proposition which is as psychologically
inept as it is logistically absurd, and which in fact would mean no real
readiness to partic ipate in the defence of the region at all. This is one
great difference and this is one clear-cuLc difference.
But also in this area of defence, we must look to alliances
with major powers. Britain will come to our assistance, I am sure, but
the major assistance I think we must look for now is from the United
States. We have an understanding and an undertaking that that
assistance will come under the ANZUS Pact, but we would not wish as
a Government, and you would not wish, I believe, as an Australian
people that we should expect to get that assistance in time of peril,
without ourselves contributing to Zue. alliance which promises us that
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assistance. There is another major difference between ourselves
and our opponents. We are prepared to contribute to a joint defence.
We are prepared to participate in such installations as North-West
Cape, Pine Gap or Woomera because'they are for our joint protection.
But our opponents would not be prepared to do that. They would seek
only to take and not to contribute because there might be perhaps some
small danger in contributing. I do not believe that any alliance which
seeks only to take and not to give will be a lasting alliance or a lasting
security for this country. And in this field, which I have rated so
important, these are the great differences between what I believe and
hope you wish, and what I know our opponents would destroy.
Then, what next? What more? What other things are
uppermost in your mind. I venture to say that development of this
nation, continued and accelerated development, is one of the major
W things you wish to seethappen. Yet because at the moment there is
virtually no unemployment at all in Australia, which means that all
the labour available is e mployed in one field or another, in private
enterprise development or government development but employed
there is no unused labour on which to call for accelerated development.
So there must be a continued effort to bring in more migrants to this
country and to beat the record number of migrants which this year wil 1
see coming to these shores. This is one of the essentials of continued
and accelerated development.
The other, of course, is the provision of capital to enable
labour and capital to work together. Her-w e cannot possibly hope to
generate from within our own savings and within our own community
sufficient capital to develop this country as quickly as it must be
developed. I believe we could not possibly hope to generate from
within our own savings even half as much capital as is required for
our future development. So we : must continue, as we have done, to
look to overseas capital to flow here to enable the strength of this
country to grow and to enable the industrial and material capacity of
this nation to increase.
Yet, at the same time, we would wish as a government,
and I believe that you would wish, that the maximum opportunityfor
Australian participation in this growth and development should be
offered to the Australian people, preferably at the beginning of a
development, but certainly as that development progresses. It is
impossible, of course, and it would be ridiculous to try to say that
there must be a specific proportion of Australian ownership or some
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goe'
I think that it is cynical in the extreme,
extreme, to talk about abolishing the means test.
$ 150 million more for social services, and that is improper in the
For if there is to
what ultimately the
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.4 development can't go ahead. But if it is known abroad that an Australian
Government wishes and expects that an opportunity for Australian
participation will be offered to the Australi; n people then I believe that,
knowing what a government wants and tenZ i-es--onsible, those grvat
companies will do what they are already daiiw and that is offer more
and more~ opportunit5es for iequity pz-rt!, ipation in dc2velop--m-nt. And
this we will seek to bring about.
This is not putting curbs on the flow of capital into Australia.
This, I believe, will not frighten off any capital from Australia. For
given a politically stable country such as we are, and given the opportunity
of full profits from an investment of capital, then I believe that capital
will come here and will not be deterred by the request that an offer should
be made of some participation in that development. And it is important
that this should happen because in fifty years, developments which now
begin will, as this country grows, grow with it, and the assets and the
value and the worth of these developments will, in fifty years' time, be
immensely greater than they are now. And there should be a chance for
Australians to own and participate in some of that growth in their own
country. So I believe that you would wish to see, and we will do our best
to see this happens an increasing flow of labour, an increasing flow of
capital, an increasing chance of Australian participation in that material
development of which I have spoken to you.
What else should a community require? What else do Liberal
supporters seek from their Government? To my mind, having spoken of
material things, one of the requirements you wouid wish a requiremnnnt
essential if a nation is to be truly great is proper care of the aged, the
widowed, the children of widows, the ill and the handicapped amongst us.
That will require, an d has indeed called forth, careful analysis of our
social services system as it at present exists, in an endeavour to
isolate the areas of greatest need and give more assistance to those areas,
And, at the same time we must deal with a problem which is wih us now
and which in the future will grow, and that is the problem posed by those
who during their lives have themselves saved in one way or another, such
as contributing to superannuation, or in some other way. Some of these
people now find themselves little better off, possibly even, when one takes
into consideration their ineligibility for pensioners' fringe benefits,
possibly even worse off than those who have not contributed during their
lifetime.
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0z the abolition of the means test would cost $ 150 million more a year
then that amount would go into this one proposition without one single
cent flowing to ameliorate the lot of those who are really in need. But
having said that, it still remains true that if saving is not to be
discouraged, and it must not be, then we must see that those who do
save andhave saved get some advantage from that saving and do not find
themselves in a disadvantageous position as against those who have not.
This kind of compassion, this kind of thought-out approach as opposed
to the past practices of merely raising pensions all across the board
is something that I think you would wish to see happen in this country
and something we are determined to see happen.
On the other fronts, on th e other problems which face us,
there are many difficult choices of priority. Of course, throughout
this nation we want better hospitals, more hospitals, cheaper hospitals
and a health scheme which works better than the existing one. Not that
that scheme is as bad as is sometimes painted, for 77 per cent of
the Australian people are covered by health insurance, another 12 per
cent are covered by repatriation or old-age benefits or in similar ways,
but not enough citizens are covered sufficiently to meet the calls of
illness, particularly prolonged illness.
Then there is the need for more technical schools, since if
the nation we have in our mind is to grow as we hope it will, then it
will only grow by the proper application of modern technology. This
can only be done by properly trained technicians and technologists, the
demand for which is immense and will grow in geometric proportions
in the years ahead.
There is a demand for more education. I speak not now of
technical education but of general education. A requirement for better
communications, a call for more to be spent on roads, a multitude of
requirements and nobody can meet them all, quickly. Should anybody
come before you, as I suspect somebody night, and say " I will overcome
the problems of health; I will overcome the problems of education; I
will build a new naval base in Western Australia; I will build new
railways everywhere; I will provide powerhouses there; I will provide
you name it and I will promise it", then he would not be able to deliver
on that promise, and all men of sense must know this. We would not
adopt that attitude. We would select what we would consider the highest
priorities for the national good, provide finance sufficient to see that
all our manpower and all our materials and all our resources were put
to use, and would necessarily if we are to avoid inflation and the
raising of taxes have to do this over a period of time. But we would
wish to put before you our goals and the steps by which we hope to approach
and hope to solve them. And perhaps when you think of it, that is another
difference between ourselves and our opponents. For I think that
is a more honest approach, I think it is a genuine approach, whereas
I think those who promise all things to all men at once, must be seen
to be lacking in credibility.
Sir, in endeavouring to do what the people in this room
would want us to do, I am sure that from time to time we will make
some mistakes, forno man and no woman and no government can avoid
mistakes. If we do, they will be mistakes which have been made
honestly after examination of all the facts, and when they are realised,
they will be admitted and the course of action changed. I do not think
there will be many such mistakes. I think that I can only make this
one promise that the team we have in Canberra, strengthened as it
is by the members who come to us from West Australia, will dotheir
utmost to carry out what I feel you have in your own minds as objectives
for the future of this, our nation. And we will try to do two things which
are not finite. We will try to encourage and increase a feeling of pride
in being Australians, even if that overrides pride in being Victorians
or West Australians. So that wherever in this nation a man may live
Queensland, New South Wales or Victoria he will be proud and
pleased and happy at the development going on in other parts of the
country. And we will try to do something else if we canA. We will try
to foster amongst the Australian people a flietnf of unity of purpose.
I don't mean the acceptance of uniform ideas but I do mean the acceptance
of the concept which I am sure is true, that there is no longer room in
our nation for the idea, for example, that employees are automatically
opposed to employers and that their interests are different. Rather,
looked at properly, must they be the same for a manufacturer must
wish to see as much purchasing power as possible among the people,
most of whom are employees, and an employee must wish to see as
much efficiency as possible, because in that way the goods he and his
friends buy are cheaper. So there is no longer room for a concept of
employees on one si de and -mployers on the other, no longer room for
a concept of owners of industrial factories having interests diametrically
opposed to those who are or, the land. Rather there needs to be a feeling
that what happens, happens for all Australians, for the good of all
Australians and there is no divisive requirement because a man is an
employee or employer or works in the city or works in the country.
This is another thing, I believe, that is required of a great nation.
Given the continuation of the climate I have spoken of, given
an attempt to approach these non-definable things I have spoken of,
given the approach to defence and social services and the other calls
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upon us which I have mentioned, then I think we have, through you, a
better chance of turning this country into the one I think we all imagine
in our hearts it can be, a better chance than any other group or any other
organisations existing in Australia today, or likely to exist in Australia
in the future. We will, given your continued support, make our efforts join
with yours to realise the promise of this sunburnt country and pass this
promise on to our children and our children's children. This, I think,
is why you leave your homes to hand out" how to vote" cards, why you
work, what you want to see happen, and if it is, then we will try our
utmost to be worthy of your confidence.