The introductions are improving. That was fantastic. But Michael Caltabiano the President of the Queensland Liberal Party, my ministerial parliamentary colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.
It';s always a great pleasure to be back in Brisbane and particularly this weekend as we have a meeting of our Federal Executive and the Queensland Liberal Party has its annual convention.
And all of these things are taking place at a time when we';ve been reminded very forcefully of the different world in which we live by the second anniversary of the terrorist attack in the United States, and also through the conviction of yet another person involved in the attack which claimed 88 lives of our fellow Australians in Bali. We';re reminded of the very different world and the very different circumstances facing Australia now compared with a few years ago. And those are very important issues and they are issues where the Government has taken an unambiguous, unconditional, clear, forthright stance as distinct from the rather hesitant stance taken by our political opponents.
But today I wanted to share a few thoughts with you about the other aspect of our stewardship of the country which is so important, and that is the issue of the management of our economy. Yesterday we had an unemployment figure which frankly was better than I expected and better than most of the economists and most of the pundits had predicted. It was the best unemployment number, the best monthly unemployment number, for more than 13 years. You had to go back to March of 1990, just before the commencement of the recession we had to have, you have to go back to a time when Australia was grinding under high levels of interest, go back to a time when the Australian economy was beginning to slide into recession 13 years ago, to get a number as good as yesterday.
I mention that and I dwell on it for a moment, not because I don';t recognise that one month';s unemployment figures does not make an economic success story, but what that remarkably good figure demonstrates more than anything else is that over a sustained period of time we have been able to make progress on the economic front, not by accident, not because we';ve been the beneficiaries of world economic circumstances, but because we ourselves here in Australia have undertaken the reforms and have responded to the challenges that have been necessary to strengthen the Australian economy. Over the next few months, over the next year, not only because it will be the lead-up to a federal election, but because I believe it is always important to communicate to the Australian public the benefits of economic policy and the benefits of economic management, I and my colleagues will be taking the opportunity of reminding the Australian public, reminding the Australian people, of the benefits of and the dividends from the economic reforms and the economic management of the past few years.
I';ll be reminding the Australian people that the average borrower under a home mortgage now pays $450 a month less than he or she paid in March of 1996. I';ll be reminding the Australian public that the unemployment rate at 5.8 per cent is not only the lowest in 13 years, but it contrasts with a figure of 8.2 per cent when we assumed government in March of 1996. And in that period of time, we have created more than 1.2 million new jobs in Australia, and we';ve done that overwhelmingly because we have delivered over the last seven and a half years a more flexible and a more resilient Australian economy.
We have delivered an economy which can bounce back from temporary adversity more rapidly and more effectively than used to be the case. And when you remember that we are operating at the present time in circumstances of some adversity, Australia has just experienced and in many of the parts of the country is still in the grip, of a very severe drought, and we should remember that although there have been some welcome rains around the country, many of our fellow Australians in country areas are still experiencing conditions of drought. And when you bear in mind the weakness relatively speaking of the world economy, when you remember that the United States economy has really been bumping along at the bottom for some time now, and although there are some tentative signs of recovery, the United States economy is facing a very large budget deficit and the impact of that on world economic activity can';t be discounted.
So if you bear in mind a weak international sector from which we are not deriving a great deal of domestic economic stimulus and you also bear in mind the impact of the drought, it is all the more remarkable that our economy should be so resilient and it is all the more remarkable that we should be able to maintain such consistently good employment levels. Because in the end, good economic policy is not an end in itself. There is no virtue in having a good economic policy unless it delivers a human dividend, unless there is some social benefit or social bonus from good economic policy. And the best social bonus of all is to provide people with jobs and expanding job opportunities, and also through low inflation and low interest rates, to ensure that their real incomes are rising as their jobs remain secure.
And so it is therefore relevant when we';re talking about comparisons for me to make the point that since March of 1996 when we were elected, the real wages – that';s our wage levels after inflation – of Australians have risen by 10.2 per cent, but in comparison over the previous 13 years they rose by only 2.3 per cent. I mention that figure because it makes a very eloquent point, and the eloquent point is that the party that we replaced paraded itself as the friend of the average Australian worker, as the party that looked after the interests of the battler, as the party that could always guarantee lower unemployment and higher wages. The truth is the opposite.
But in the time that we have been in government, we have not only looked after the big picture of economic management, but we have also delivered lower interest rates, higher wages and more jobs to average Australians. Because in the end, that is our responsibility. We don';t exist to produce a glorious macro economy. We exist to look after the living standards and the interests of the citizens of our country, and that is measured by the monthly mortgage payments they have, it';s measured by the wages they earn, it';s measured by not only the wages they earn, but of course also the security of the jobs that they have. And it';s also measured by the opportunities for training and jobs of their children.
And one of the other important comparisons that I make, and it';s perhaps not given the prominence that it deserves, is that in December of 1995 – that';s just four months before we came to office – the number of Australians in apprenticeships stood at only 141,000. Today more than 390,000 Australians are undertaking apprenticeships and traineeships. And this is one factor that helps to explain that whereas youth unemployment peaked at 34.5 per cent in June and July of 1992, that level now is by comparison 22.6 per cent – still too high, but dramatically lower than those peak levels of just over 10 years ago.
And when you think of the number of people in apprenticeships and traineeships, you have to remember that something like 70 per cent of young men and women who leave school now do not go immediately on to university. So many of them go into apprenticeships and traineeships. And governments have a responsibility not only to provide opportunities for young people to go to universities, but they once again have the opportunity also if they so desire to go into apprenticeships and traineeships. And once more, this is an area traditionally claimed as one of great concern by our Labor opponents. But where over the last seven and a half years we have worked very hard to deliver benefits and opportunities for young Australians who aspire to a trade or apprenticeship future.
So ladies and gentlemen I mentioned some of those grass roots economic comparisons which are directly relevant to the living standards and opportunities of Australian families because in the long run that is what good economic management is all about, good economic management is not about the Prime Minister and the Treasurer being able to go around the world and say aren';t we doing well, that';s a bit of it, but the most important part of it is for us to be able to go around Australia and tell a story of having built a level of economic performance and delivered economic reforms that have materially and directly improved the living standards and opportunities of individual Australians and their families. And as I said at the beginning this has not happened by accident, we have been willing over the last seven and a half years to undertake a lot of economic reforms. And we';ve had to fight every inch of the way a hostile Senate, virtually every major reform that we have introduced – our Industrial Relations reforms, our taxation reforms, our budget reforms, the way in which we turned a deficit that we inherited at $10.5 billion a year into surpluses, which have enabled us to pay off so much of our national debt, and I';m able to look at those international debt comparisons and see that our debt to GDP ratio now is about five per cent, the OECD average is about 45 to 50, in Japan it';s 130 per cent and in the United States it';s something like 45 to 50 per cent. And ours by comparison is five per cent of GDP.
Now none of that has happened by accident, and in none of the things that we';ve had to pursue in order to achieve those goals have we had any assistance from our opponents in the Senate. And good though yesterday';s figure is in relation to unemployment, good though it is to be able to say that we have generated 1.2 million new jobs, that we';ve got the rate down to 5.8 per cent and the best for 13 years, it could be even better if our opponents in the Senate got out of the way and let us pass into law changes that would make it easier for small business to take on new staff because it would relieve them of the ridiculous unfair dismissal laws that fetter them at the present time.
We have been trying now for seven and a half years and we have gone to three elections with a policy to do something about liberalising the unfair dismissal laws because we know as you know that small businesses faced with the possibility of expensive litigation if they let staff go who aren';t performing are not going to put the staff on the first place, it';s not worth the candle, it';s not worth the risk and as a result we';re probably robbing ourselves of another 50 to 80,000 additional jobs a year, particularly for young people.
So we could have a permanently lower figure of unemployment in this country if Labor and the Democrats and the Greens got out of our way in the Senate and allowed us to pass those changes to the unfair dismissal laws, and allowed us to pass other laws which liberalise Australia';s industrial relations system. We do have a better industrial relations system now than we had in 1996, and it';s helped deliver higher levels of productivity, it';s helped to make Australia more competitive. But we could go even further if those who are standing in the way of further progress, and further driving down our levels of unemployment would get out of the way. And I make that point with some vigour my friends because when we were in Opposition, and I remember that period very well, it went on for far too long and it';s the worst thing you can have in politics and I never intend to go back to it because being in Opposition can be very unproductive. But it';s also an opportunity for you to match the national interest, Oppositions have responsibility, particularly at a federal level where there are two houses of Parliament, as well as governments, and one thing I';m happy to remind you of is that when we were in Opposition and our opponents in government put up a good idea, and they did and I';ve never been reluctant to acknowledge some of the good reforms that were carried out by former governments such as the floating of the dollar and the changes to the financial system and the reduction in levels of tariffs, but when they put up a good proposal we supported it, we supported it in the national interest. But by contrast virtually every single major reform – tax reform, IR reform and all the other things that I have mentioned, we have found it impossible to garner their support.
I mention those things ladies and gentlemen to put into context the economic challenge that we have. Our economy is doing well at the present time. In many ways these are golden years for the Australian economy. We';ve had a long period of economic growth; we';ve had very stable low inflation; we';ve had markedly lower interest rates; we have by courtesy of a flexible exchange rate a capacity to adjust to change international circumstances; we rode out the effects of the Asian economic downturn five or six years ago, better than many expected; we have been able to diversify our exports; we have been able to build ever stronger relationships with our major trading partners and we have been able to see a significant reduction in unemployment. And one of the things that I believe can further add to and build the strength of the Australian economy as we go through the 21st century will be if we can negotiate a free trade agreement with the United States. The negotiations on that free trade agreement will come to important moments within the next couple of months. And I attach a lot of significance to that free trade agreement because America will grow more and not less important to Australia as the years go by. The American economy, despite its current hesitancy, will grow more strongly over the next few decades. The population growth in America will be stronger than in Europe or in Japan. And the share of world GDP taken by the United States will rise rather than flat line or fall. And when you put all of these things together, it makes overwhelming sense if we can link ourselves to that enormous economy. But it will only happen in the terms and conditions on which we link ourselves are satisfactory to Australia. And that must of necessity by definition, indeed, include significant concessions by the United States in relation to agriculture.
But one of the things of which I am immensely proud as leader of this Government, and we will see an important symbolic demonstration of it next month, is the way in which we have been able to build our relationships with major countries in our region despite the evident closeness of our association with the United States, and I think particularly of China. China is now Australia';s third best trading partner, our exports to China have trebled over the last six or seven years. We signed our largest ever export deal with any country when we signed that natural gas deal which we won in the face of fierce competition last year. And we';ve done that despite the fact that our critics said that by taking Australia even closer to the United States, we were prejudicing our capacity to build relationships with nations like China. The reality, of course, is the reverse. People understand the history of our association with the United States, they understand the commonality of our philosophy on many things, they understand the values that we share in common and it matters not as they build relationships between our country and theirs. And next month, we will have in very close proximity, and I hope to be able to announce some of the details of it very soon, we will have visits not only from the President of the United States, but also in very close proximity the President of China – the leader of the most populous country in the world and a country which of course by dint of its size and its growth will over the next half century bulk even larger and more importantly in the future not only of the Asia Pacific region but also of the world.
So I can say to you today ladies and gentlemen we are living in some good economic times, but I don';t say that with any sense of complacency. All my political life, I';ve been a person who';s never believed in over exuberance, never believed in taking things for granted. We have to work hard continuously to maintain our competitive edge. And at a political level, the Liberal Party, if I can be frankly partisan and you would think it strange if I weren';t, the Liberal Party can';t afford to be complacent or over confident. There';s a mistaken assumption around the nation, particularly in political circles that somehow or other the Federal Government is, that it can';t be beaten, that we have no real contest. Now I could spend a long time talking about the weaknesses of our political opponents, but that';s not going to prove anything other than that I';m really taking my eye off the main game and that is to extol the strengths and the qualities of the Government.
But I do want to say to you as supporters of the Queensland division, as supporters of our party in a state which has delivered so well to us federally over the last three elections, that our margin is not as great as people think. We lose seven or eight seats and we';re out of Government. All federal elections bar a few in my experience of 29 years are always close, you don';t have many landslides, most of them come down to a small margin of votes in a few seats. And we as a party organisation and our supporters have not only got to keep that in mind, but we';ve got to understand the inherent capacity of the Australian electorate to harshly judge any sign of complacency, any sign of hubris, any indication that we are losing contact with our responsibilities to the men and women of our country.
But ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for the support that you are giving to our party, to our state division here in Queensland by your presence. We';ll continue to do our best to govern in a way that delivers good business conditions for the men and women in business in Australia, low interest rates, low inflation, stable economic policies, balanced budgets, a willingness to undertake further courageous economic reforms. But most importantly, discharging our responsibilities to the families of Australia to deliver to them stability in employment, rising real wages and job opportunities and training opportunities for their children.
Thank you very much.
[ends]