Well thank you very much Mr Mayor, my colleague and Liberal candidate for McMillan, Russell Broadbent, Senator Judith Troeth the Parliamentary Secretary and long-serving and very hard working Liberal Senator for Victoria, my other parliamentary colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.
It is a pleasure to be back again in this part of Victoria, in this part of Gippsland, principally but not only to urge you with all the conviction that I can muster to support Russell Broadbent later on in the year when an election comes along, but also as part of something that I have done all of the eight years that I have been Prime Minister of our country, and that is to on a constant basis visit different parts of Australia, listen to what people have to say at community gatherings, share with those community gatherings some of my thoughts and hopes and aspirations for the future of our country. And I hope through that process to get a better understanding of what the people of our country continue to think about current (inaudible) and future possibilities.
I';m often asked, and it happened again at a 62 pupil school at Welshpool this morning, I';m often asked by groups of schoolchildren – what is the best thing about being Prime Minister of Australia? And I said the best thing about being Prime Minister of Australia is the opportunity it gives you, it gives one to meet different groups of Australians in different parts of our country. And one never gets tired of doing that because there is always something new to understand. There is always a local story which tells of a community which has responded to a challenge or a community that over time has changed or conditioned its attitude to something because of changing circumstances.
Australia at the present time is a strong country, a (inaudible) country and an optimistic country. We are really enjoying as a nation the strongest economic conditions we';ve probably had since World War II. We have very low unemployment nationally, we have very low inflation, we have paid off our debts, our interest rates are low, our real incomes have risen, and there is a justifiable sense nationally of economic stability and strength. And we are seen around the world as a country that is strong and prosperous. Now I recognise that it';s not shared evenly and there are some who are missing out and I never fail to acknowledge that as I go around the country and go to different communities.
And I also recognise that this has not happened by accident. One of the things that worries me at the present time is that there is an assumption that no matter what we do, that prosperity is going to continue. Prosperity doesn';t happen by accident. It happens because you work hard. And unless you continue to work hard, unless you continue to apply the right policies at a government level, particularly at a national level, then prosperity can pretty quickly disappear. But I also recognise that prosperity and economic success on its own, it';s not an end in itself. It only is valuable if it produces a human dividend. And when I look at the fact that our unemployment rate nationally is at a 22 year low, I feel that in a way that is the human dividend, because putting people in work and giving young people in particular the opportunity of a job, is one of the most sacred obligations of a national government, and I';m very conscious of that.
I';m also very conscious that part and parcel of the prosperity that we have carries the obligation to make sure that the services that are needed for the present and for the future are provided. This is not an occasion to go into a detailed discussion of the responsibilities of the different levels of government in our federation. Suffice it to say that we accept our responsibilities in areas of aged care, of health. I recognise that the aged care sector has some propositions to put to the Federal Government. Some of those propositions have been put to me this morning and I';m aware of that, and they are issues that the Government will be addressing in the not too distant future. We';ve undertaken some major changes to our health system. We';re trying very hard to get a safety net, a new protection for Australian families, through the Senate at the present time. But the Opposition and some of the other parties are against it. We hope in the end they can be persuaded of the need to support it because it adds something to our present system. It doesn';t take something away. And when you';re adding something, I would have thought everybody should support it. I can understand people opposing something when you';re taking something away, but I can';t for the life of me understand why you oppose something that will unambiguously make the situation better.
As I came in, I met a variety of people. I met some dairy farmers, I met people in the aged care sector, I met people in small business. We have just reached an agreement with the United States administration for a free trade agreement with that country. That free trade agreement will be unambiguously good news for Australia. If the President can get it through the Congress and if the necessary legislation is ratified by our parliament, the consummation of that free trade agreement will lock Australia into the biggest economy the world has ever seen. America is the most powerful economic nation the world has ever seen and it will get stronger as the years go by, not weaker. And it seems to me to be an important part of our future for us to share some of that strength, to have greater access to those markets.
The fact that we didn';t get everything we want is not a good reason for throwing away all the good things we did get that we wanted. It only makes sense to reject a free trade agreement with the United States if the impact of it actually weakens, rather than strengthens, our economy. And there will be advantages for the dairy industry. The quota will go up significantly. There will be advantages for the beef industry. Sixty-six per cent of agriculture will enter under the agreement duty free immediately, 97 per cent of our manufactured goods. There will be a great expansion in relation to our service sector and as the years go by, that will be enormously important. We';ve secured proper protection for Australian cultural identity in film and television, and very importantly we have protected our Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. So that free trade agreement is unambiguously very good news for our country.
I listened to what the Mayor had to say and I am very understanding of the sorts of issues that are confronting this part of south Gippsland. I know that one issue that is always close to the heart of Mayors and of country and regional councils is that of roads, and I';m very pleased to say that the Government recently announced through the Deputy Prime Minister that we would be renewing for another period of four years, the highly successful Roads to Recovery programme whereby the Federal Government (inaudible) and funds the building and the repair and the construction of local roads. And that programme, which I launched first about four years ago and has involved expenditure of $1.2 billion has been very, very valuable.
One thing I want all of you to be vigilant about, and that is that as fast as the Federal Government puts additional money into local roads, don';t allow any State Government in Australia to withdraw any of their funding, because what I want is a net addition. Over the next four years, I want an extra $1.2 billion to go into local roads all around Australia (inaudible) around Australia, and I hope that that does not occur because local roads are very important. And also what is very important to a local community such as this is the strength and viability of small business.
Small business is the heart and soul of the economic life of not only regional cities and regional towns, but also the suburbs of our big metropolitan areas. And the responsibility of a government is not to tell people how to run their businesses. Governments are hopeless at running businesses. I don';t believe governments should try and run businesses. I think what governments should try and do is to create the right economic circumstances so the men and women of this country can run their business at a profit. That is why we need to have low interest rates, it';s why we need to have industrial relations laws that protect small business from union thuggery, it';s why we need to have an economic climate that encourages people to take risks and to invest for the future.
I don';t come here saying to you that everything in Australia is perfect – far from it. We';re a great democracy and we have a lot of reasons to debate a lot of issues. But I do say that economically we are going through a period of very strong growth. It hasn';t been easily achieved and it can easily be set aside and put into reverse if we take the wrong path. We are a nation that is increasingly conscious of the need for strong defences and for effective national security policies. We';re also a nation that has very great social stability and we';re very keen, all of us, to keep it that way.
But ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for having me here this morning. It';s always a pleasure to meet yet another community in regional Australia. And you';ll understand, and indeed forgive me for ending where I began, and that is by extolling Russell';s credentials. Many of you will know him very well from his previous service to this community, service that has continued while he has not been a Member of Parliament. He does bring an understanding, through his own family business activities, of small business. He does have a rich background of community service and I very, very warmly commend him to you as my standard bearer, my representative and the Liberal Party candidate in this neck of the woods come the next federal election.
But ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming. I wish all of you the very best of good fortune for the future.
Thank you.
[ends]