Well, thank you very much Bob, to Jason Wood, the Liberal Party candidate for La Trobe, ladies and gentlemen.
I am happy, I'm always happy, but I'm particularly happy this morning because a little while ago I received the news that the American Senate by a vote of 80 to 16 - that's by a vote of five to one - had followed the House of Representatives and endorsed the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement.
But I'm happy about it because this Agreement is greatly in Australia's interest, it's in America's interests as well. You only sign a Free Trade Agreement with another country if there are benefits for both sides. But to get such an overwhelming vote in the House of Representatives and in the Senate and to know that - provided we can get the necessary legislation through our Senate - this Agreement, which will open up enormous opportunities for the Australian economy in the years ahead, that that is within our grasp does make me very happy indeed because this is about Australia's future.
We as a government are very proud of what we have achieved over the last eight and a half years, but we are more interested in what we can achieve for Australia in the years ahead. And this particular Agreement has always been about Australia's economic future because whatever you may think of the United States, whatever you may think of individual policies, of individual Presidents of the United States, nothing can alter the fact that it is the most powerful and biggest economy the world has ever seen and it will get bigger as the years go by and we would be foolish in the extreme to pass up an opportunity to link ourselves with the future growth of the American economy because as the American economy grows we grow too; as we get more business opportunities in America more jobs are generated in Australia. And it's because of the benefits for Australians that I campaigned very hard and very long to achieve this Agreement.
And I want to pay tribute to Mark Vaile, the Australian Trade Minister, who carried the burden over (inaudible) two years of negotiating this Agreement. And may I say, I believe without any fear of exaggeration that this Agreement could only have been negotiated with the Americans by my Government. It would not have been negotiated by a government having a different view and a different relationship with the United States. And I can only express the hope that the Opposition in Australia will now put aside any partisan political point scoring on this issue; call it for Australia, Mr Latham, and pass the US Free Trade Agreement.
Ladies and gentlemen, I've known Bob Charles for a very long period of time and he has been a great representative for the people of La Trobe and I am very sorry that he's leaving the Parliament, but I wish him well. I congratulate him on his recent remarriage, and I had the great privilege of attending that wonderful ceremony. And I want to say that in his place my Party has chosen a wonderful hardworking representative in Jason. Jason has already earned a very fine reputation in the Victoria Police Force. He's not just been an ordinary police officer. He's one particular recognition for the work that he's carried out as a member of the Victoria Police Force. He is a person who knows this area, identifies with this area and works in this area and is committed to the people of La Trobe in every sense of the word.
Increasingly, in politics now we want people whose overriding commitment is to work for the interests and for the benefit of the people that they represent. Now whether you support the Liberal Party or support the Labor Party or some other party, I hope you will recognise the quality and personal commitment to an area. And I would hope that people will see in Jason somebody who will worthily take the baton from Bob Charles and carry on the sort of local representation that he has given to the people of La Trobe over the past 13 or more years. It hasn't been on occasions a politically easy area to represent, it's marginal territory. That's the nature of Australian politics. But he's done a great job and I know that Jason will carry on in an equally effective and an equally high quality way.
This gathering this morning, of course, as so many of these gatherings do, brings together what is the local cement and therefore the national cement of the Australian nation. It brings together in a hall, typical of halls throughout Australia, an RSL hall. Yesterday morning, I was out in the electorate of Warragul in the electorate of McMillan and I attended a similar gathering in a community church hall and I made the observation there, as I do here this morning, that there's nothing so Australian as a community hall. They often have different badges, this one's a RSL hall; the one yesterday morning was a community church hall; perhaps the one next week, if I go to a country area, will be a CWA hall; and then I'll come back to the city and I'll go to some other kind of hall. But what they represent are gathering places of the Australian people. They are places to which Australians come to interact with each other but very importantly, to join together to build a better community. And we have a great spirit of volunteerism in this country. We are a nation that can rise to the occasion when that is needed and because we are a classless society we can relate to each other far better at a time of adversity because we are not inhibited by feelings of class distinction and class difference. And we come together because we have a common commitment and we make common cause. And the greatest asset that this country has as a community is its ability to do that.
And over the last eight and a half years, I've tried in different decisions that the Government has taken to foster that sense of community and that sense of connectedness and we've tried to do it as we tackle social problems. Take an issue like drugs. I'm very proud of the fact that in the time I've been Prime Minister the Federal Government has committed over $1 billion in additional support in our Tough on Drugs campaign and it has started to yield results. When I started that campaign and I started talking about zero tolerance, I was derided, the experts, some of them, self appointed experts said - no that's ridiculous, it's old fashioned, we've somehow or other got to make an accommodation with illicit drug taking. And I said, no I will never make an accommodation with illicit drug taking.
And over the last few years, we have begun to see the benefits of that programme. Since 1999, there has been a 70 per cent reduction in the number of deaths in Australia from overdosing with heroin, a 70 per cent reduction - something that people said years ago could not be achieved. As a result of our public education campaign when we not only ran advertisements on television but we distributed literature to every household in Australia, we have seen a far greater incidence of parents talking to their children about drug problems. And the advertising council of Australia regarded that campaign as being the best public education campaign of any in the year 2000.
We have seen a very fruitful partnership between the Commonwealth and the State Governments to provide diversionary programmes for people who are coming into contact with the criminal justice system for the first time because of their resort to drugs. And what, in effect, we're saying to people, when for the first time the law picks them up, we're saying to these people you've got a choice to make - you can either get caught up in the criminal justice system, inevitably end up in jail and have your life destroyed as a result, or alternatively, you can accept that you've got a problem, you can go into a treatment, rehabilitation or diversionary programme. And that approach is also beginning to work. And, of course, on top of that, we have put massive additional resources into working co-operatively with the state police forces around Australia to fight the drug barons, put them in jail and punish them as seriously and severely as the law would allow.
The point about that ladies and gentlemen, is that we can't run programmes like our Tough on Drugs programme without the co-operation of the community. We can't do it alone. The police can't do it alone and, indeed, local communities can't do it alone. But if we work together in this co-operative fashion then we can yield great things for the benefit of our community.
The last thing I want to say to you is this ladies and gentlemen, that many years ago when he was President of the United States, Ronald Reagan asked a very apposite question when he was seeking re-election. And he said, do you really think the United States is a better and stronger country now than what is was four years ago? And he asked that question because he believed he knew what the answer was and the answer was, in his view, that it was. And I think it's fair, with due acknowledgement to the late President of the United States, to ask the question - do you believe that Australia is a stronger country, a prouder country, a more respected country and a more influential country around the world than what it was eight and a half years ago and I believe that the answer to that is overwhelmingly yes.
We are now seeing the strongest economic conditions this country's had since World War II. We are seeing the benefits of that. They're not just statistics. We've now got an unemployment rate that's below six per cent and it's been there for almost a year; we've got an inflation rate below three per cent; we've got higher real wages; we've got lower interest rates; we've got more small business opportunity; we've got double the number of apprentices we had eight and a half years ago. I mean, this is the great human dividend of good economic management. When you hear me talking about the economy, I'm not sort of looking for some silver star or gold star, what I'm looking for is a human dividend. I'm looking to a situation where we can say because of these good economic conditions, people have more opportunities. That's why we do it. We don't do it to have nice statistics, they don't mean anything to me. But what does mean a lot to me is that the youth unemployment rate now is lower than it used to be; that there are 1.3 million more people in work now than there were eight and a half years ago - they're the things that matter to me, they're the only things that matter to me so far as economic management is concerned.
And I would like, when the appropriate time comes, to have the opportunity of continuing that work on behalf of Australia. I'd like Jason to be part of my team. I'd like him to have the opportunity of continuing the great work of Bob Charles and I thank you very very warmly for being with me this morning.
Thank you.
[ends]