SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER, MR. E. G. WHITLAM, M. P.,
TO TH' ANNUAL DINNER OF THE QUEENSLAND CHAMBER OF MIANUFACTU] REPS,
LENT4OJIS PLAZA HOTEL, BRISBANE, MOLJDAY 1ST OCTOBER, 1973
During the past few weeks I have spoken on five occasions
to business leaders throughout Australia. I certainly intend no
slight to Queensland by the fact that this gathering is the last
of the series. On the contrary, you will receive the distillation
of all the accumulated wisdom of my travels. You may justly call
this my summing up, my final address to the jury.
In everything I have had to say to the business community
and especially to manufacturers I Lhave sought to omphasise one
bas: ic fact about my Government. And it is this: We are committed
to your prosperity, we need you. 1e need your success, your
growth, your co.-operation.
I have to confess that this is partly a vested interest.
And, as such, it is the more compelling. The fact is, as I
have always stressed, that if my Government is to bring fruition to
our ambitious plans for Australia's welfare and development, we can
do it only in the context of an expanding economy, a buoyant and
prosperous private sector. We were elected on a platform of
reform; we will stand or fall depending on how successfully that
mandate is discharged. We need business, we need industry, we need
men like yourselves, to help us to discharge it. You are our
in. l. insensable allies.
So that is my first unequivocal assurance to you. Whenever
you hear people say that the Government is indifferent, or even
hostile, to the business world, you will realise how shallow, how
short--sighted, how politically naive, such a judgement must be.
Of course you will have criticisms to make of the Government in
detail, just as the Government may have particular criticisms of
business or industry. That is a fact of life, and a fact of
politics, whatever Government may be in power. 1ut I ask you
to remember that our underlying commitment is to the maintenance
of strong and prosperous local industries. That commitment has been
reflected in every major policy announcement, every major economic
decision we have taken since coming to office.
To illustrate my point, I mention some of the measures we
have chosen to fight inflation. Rather, I shall mention first one
3f the methods we have not chosen. We have not chosen to fight
inflation by creating massive unemployment. Yours are the industries
that would suffer most from such measures as indeed, you have
already suffered to your great cost. I hardly need to remind you
of the losses entailed by empty or half-used factories. So we will
not attack inflation by destroying jobs. That is not simply an
ideological commitment to the wage earner, though of course such a
commitment is central to our perception of social . justice. It is
a commitment no less realistic, to your welfare as well. We will not
expose Australian industry to stop-go fluctuations in demand which can
destroy its efficiency and inventives. As part of our attack on
inflation we have created conditions in which most industries can
produce to capacity and benefit from the lower unit costs which
result.
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So let me spell out the essentials of our community of interest.
' Full employment is one, and in the past 10 months we have restored
genuine full employment. Next, we are committed to growth, to a
national economy geared to the highest level of its capacity and
real productivity. That means the manufacturer and the investor
can plan-with complete assurance on the maintenance of the highest
possible level of economic growth, and don't forget that in the
past 10 months we have lifted our national growth rate to a near
record 7%.
N~ ext, we both need a high level of real wages and real
purchasing power. Then again, we have a vested interest in your
achieving fair profits. We need the growth which the investment of
such profits brings. And finally, we believe there are enormous
opportunities for manufacturers, for prudent investors, in the
initiatives we have taken to enlarge the public sector of the
economy. When Governments take initiatives where none were taken
before as we have in the cities, in education, in transport,
in housing it is private enterpris e and privato mnufacturing
which share in the fruits of these initiatives.
There is another message I have tried to convey to the
businessmen of this country. It is one of pure optimism, or if
you like, of self-congratulation. I ask you to remember that our
economy is basically strong and healthy, and that jusinoss is
currently enjoying a buoyant prosperity. We hear a good deal
about anxiety or uncertainty; we hear little about the real
tangible strength of the Australian economy at this time. After
all, manufactuers should know this better than anyone.
Niowhere is our prosperity more apparent than in manufacturing.
Consumer spending is running at very high levels.
In the June quarter the level of activity rose in almost
every major area of manufacturing industry. Sales rose by 12%
over March 1973 and a further increase of 15% is expected
in the December half-year. In the June quarter capital expenditure
rose by 23% over March, and orders were 11% above the already high
March values. So whatever doubts you may have about the future
let there be no doubts about the present. We are thriving.
I know that for many of you the Government' s approach to
industry may seem to be one of denial, rather than generosity;
of exposure to chill winds, rather than protection. I acknowledge
the anxieties you have experienced over our tariff cuts and
revaluations, though I must say frankly that we h~ ve seen little
evidence so far of any harmful effects of these measures, either
on industry or the workforce. And I am confident that the measures
were justified by considerations of the national economic interest
that you, as businessmen, will recognise. I acknowledge also that,
for some of you, our proposals for reforming the tariff machinery
for establishing an Australian Industry Development Corporation,
for legislating in far--reaching fashion for consumer protection and
against restrictive practices, may seem part o~ f some complex and
oppresive pattern of interference or intimidation. That is what
our critics would like you to believe. They arc wrong. / 3
3
It is my purpose to assure you, to convince you, that they
are wrong. In the first place, we have undertaken that the
Government will assist any industry adversely affected by our
revaluations in tariff cuts. As to our long-term reforms, I
stress that their purpose is not to weaken industry but to
strengthen it still further to meet whatever challenges may be
posed by international events or economic conditions at home.
I am talking now of industries that are genuinely strong,
genuinely responsive, competitive, flexible and efficient.
A weak industry is not strong-whatever governments may do to
help it. In the long run, it will not survive. Nhat we aim
to do, in all our measures for encouraging and assisting industry,
is to make sure that efficient and well-run industries not
only survive but prosper.
So I give you this assurance: nothing we do, either in our
fight against inflation or in our general economic policies,
will do anything to damage the underlying strength and prosperity
of Australian industry. We are pledged to your growth and progress.
I do not see anything in our announced policies that industry
should fear. In a sense, our plans for consumer protection, for
industry assistance, for banning restrictive trading practices
far-reaching and important as they are-involve no more than logical
extensions of what are now accepted principles. If you take our
legislation on restrictive practices, for example, you will see
that what we are doing is directly prohibiting certain practices
instead of leaving them to be restrained separately after timeconsuming
inquiries. We have not so much a new objective, as a new
and more direct means of achieving it. At the very least you will
concede that our appraoch will eliminate a great deal of uncertainty.
As the influence of this legislation spreads we can expect a sharper
and more competitive spirit to emerge in the economy, with industry
quicker to respond to changes in the market and to new opportunities
in general. ' This must benefit everyone.
Similarly, with our attitude to industry assistance.
We are by no means abolishing the accepted principle that deserving
industries should be assisted to develop and flourish. Far from it.
What we are doing is extending this principle to all industries
not just manufacturing and ensuring that the whole process of
assistance is subject to the most rigorous and extensive public
scrutiny. I am sure there is no one in this room who would not agree with
me that the report on industry assistance prepared at my Government's
invitation by Sir John Crawford and on which our legislation was
based is one of the most far-sighted and historic contributions
to the welfare of Australian industry ever prepared or published.
The other basic thought I have sought to convey to the business
community is our desire for full and frank communication with you.
We seek this communication, this understanding, with industry
and business just as much as we seek it with the trade union
movement. We want to hear from you and be involved in your problems.
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Ole established at the outset of the Government a new
Department of Secondary Industry. Like you, we have always
emphasised the need for co-operation between industry and
government. My colleague, Dr. Cairns, has announced his
proposal for industry panels to bring together representatives
of industry, government, the trade unions and consumers to advise
on the development of industries. We have ncver run away from
consultation with industry, and I assure you that in future we
will never be anything but receptive to your views, sensitive to
to your needs, and sympathetic to your rightful ambitions.
It will help you, I think, if I state as clearly and
concisely as I can the wayt we should like to see industry develop
and the hopes we have for its future. They are confident hopes.
r? ha1y are based on a generous appraisal of your innate strength,
your good sense, your capacity to adapt and adjust to fresh
opportunities. We want to see industry, and the whole economy,
become more adaptable to changing technology and to changing
economic conditions both at homo and abraod. Whatever government may
be in power, there can never be, in today's unstable world, a
guarantee of absolute security for any industry, or indeed for any
sector of industry. You know how vulnerable primary industry has
proved to changes in the world climate; secondary industry on the
whole has been more fortunate. We want to ensure for all industry,
as far as possible, a greater resilienco and strength -a greater
competitive spirit and efficiency to enable it to withstand the
inevitable vicissitudes of a changing and more uncertain world.
2e want our manufacturing industries to become m~ ore oriented to
international markets not through sudden switches of policy, but
by gradual application and readjustment. In all these efforts,
industry will to assured of the guidance and support of the
Austral ian Government.
My final message tonight is addressed to you,
not as businessmen or manufacturers, but as Queenslanders. It
concerns the future of your State its relationship with the rest
of Australia and my own Government. I hope I am not breaking
confidence if I disclose, Mr. President, that when you wrote to me
recently about what I should say at this dinner, you said:
" Mayne it is time we were told once again that our industrial output
per head is the second lowest in Australia." Well, I would rather you
made the point than I, but quite frankly, it never occurred to me
to resort to such partisan and inflammatory remarns. Nevertheless,
I think there is a lesson here that is worth repeating. Whatever
the industrial output in Queensland, there is no reason why it
should not be among the highest in Australia, and I sincerely believe
the policies of my Government will help strengthen your industries
and raise your general prosperity.
For myself, I have never had anything but affection and
admiration for your State. After all, I am spcendi ng a few days'
holiday in one of your coastal cities this week. But I suppose,
like me, you have occasionally detected a slight sense of
estrangement between Mr. Bjelhe-Petersen's Government and mine.
There is, quite frankly, a coolness between us such as exists
between no other two governments in Australia. It can only be
damaging and desiructive to both of us. I seek an end to it.
I am sure it is not for any want of generosity or willingness on our
part that the normal goodwill and mutual cooperation so essential
between State and National governments so essential to a
Federation somehow has faltered in the case of Queensland.
So that you may judge our good intentions, let me tell you of
some of . the things we have done for Queensland. When I first came
to Brisbane as Prime Minister that was in March this year I said:
" My Government's commitment to the welfare and progress of
Queensland is both general and specific. It is ' ased on two
great themes. There is first our general commitment to the
cities. It is in these areas that my Government's attack on
the problems of land and housing costs, school opp ortunities,
hospitals, public transport, unemployment, sport and culture
are principally directed. We have established a Department
of Urban and Regional Development to co-ordinate our work:
of rebuilding and regenerating our cities. Queensland will
share in that process. The related task of brinrjing new
standards of social welfare to the people has been entrusted
to our new Department of Social Security. I remind you that
this Department is headed by a Queenslander, my colleague
Bill Hayden. The second part of my Government's commitment to
Queensland is a specific one. It is in our policies for
northern Development. That Department is also headed by a
Queenslander, Dr. Rex Patterson. It is our aim, in co-operation
with the Government of Queensland, to develon the vast and valuable
resources of northern Australia for the benefit of the Australian
people. It is in the north that the great sugar and cattle
industries and much of our mineral industries hiave keen established.
It is in the north that Australians face their greatest challenge
in retaining the ownership of the nation's resources and
developing new industries under Australian control.
My Government has made one other specific pledge to the
Queensland people. We have undertaken that one of our two main
initiatives in regional development will be concentrated in
Townsville. I said last year in my policy speech that the national
Government was already responsible for decisions which have determined
the growth and the burdens of Townsville more than any other
Australian city except Canberra itself."
A few figures will suffice to show the extent of my Government's
assistance to Queensland. Remember that we spend much more on one
average Queenslander tnan we do on other Australians.
Our total payments to Queensland in 173/ 74, for all purposes,
are estimated at $ 585 million. This represents about $ 300 per head
compared with average payments to all States of about S270 per head.
Our housing advances of $ 17.4 million in 1973/ 74 will be 20% up on
last year. Our payments for education will rise dramatically as a
result of the recommendations of the Karmel committee and once
again Queensland will be getting a bigger percentage increase than
Australia as a whole. For primary and secondary schools we will be
paying $ 26.3 million in 1973/ 74 an increase of 148% over the
previous year ( for all States the increase is 144% from $ 74 million
to $ 181.9 million). For tertiary education we will pay Queensland
$ 47.9 million in 1973/ 74 an increase of 140% over the previous year.
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: We are taking several important initiatives in health,
and welfare a grant of $ 250,000 in 1973/ 74 for site acauisition
and planning of hospitals in Brishane, $ 2.3 million for co. mm.-unity
health facilities, an estimated $ 1 million for school dental
services. To help plan and develop new cities we are paying
$ 4.4 million to Queensland in 1973/ 74 and we have orovided
$ 3.1 million as a first contribution to Queensland to overcome
the unsewered premises.
Vie have moved quickly to improve your urban and country transport
systems. As we see it, the area most urgently requiring attention is
public transport. In Brisbane alone between 1960--61 and 1970.-71
the number of passenger journeys on public transport fell by
On a per capita basis the decline was even more diram-atic; it was
just about halved. So in F] c-, ruary A, thues tralian Government approved
a scheme to provide two-thirds. of the cos t of i~,' pvi-ngq urban publ. ic
transport. In our first Budget an allocation of $ 3?. 00 million
was made to commence this program. Tn Brisbane this year work will
begin on the Merivale Street Bridge, electrification of the railway
betw; Ueen Ferny Grove and Darra and construction of a third railway
track on the northern corridor to Jorthgate.
Our ex-enditure in this field will increase ranidly as these
projects get fully underway and other projects are added.
We have taken other action to improve your railways.
I wrote to your Premier on 8 Feruary confirming the Australian
Government's willingness to accept responsibility for your railway
system, if the Queensland Government wished to offer it.
Your Premier re quested more information on our initiative to help
his Government decide. ' ihis information has been provided and I
await Queensland's reply.
Four of the other States have agreed to hold discussions
to see if a mutually satisfactory basis for such a transfer
of responsibility can be devised. In both South Australia and
Western Australia these discussions are well advanced. For don't
forget, there are three main benefits to Queensland if you were to
accept our initiative. Your Government would be relieved of the
heavy burden of capital debt and interest payments in respect of the
railways. We would accept full responsibility for financing the
urban railway projects I have mentioned. At present Queensland is
required to provide one-third of the cost of these projects.
And we would accept the responsibility of ensuring that the railway
system in your State was efficient and provided the services
you need. That is an account, by no means exhaustive, of the kind of help
the Australian Government is providing. I have been in constant touch
with Mr. Bjelke-Petersen on matters of mutual concern to us.
Mind you, most of our dealings are conducted : y post; it is rare
that we have dinner together. But I confess in all sincerity that
I find it puzzling, disappointing, and not a little hurtful that the
Australian Government's earnest and proven concern for Queensland
is so often resented and mistrusted by your State Government. / 7
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nueensland is a great StCate; the mocst docentralized,
the most diverse, tihe mo-t colourful, rich,-in resnurcres.
ann d mny wys. the proudest arA mo: st indIividua listic of all.
It proviedes an unmistakab-le uleand vicjour to the wh-olo nat ion.
Yet I hiave to say that in many ways you are 1.) ehinC, the rest of us.
I have. referre' to your industrial output; there is also the fact
that youif eXjpen-ditLure on edtacationi, for emilis the lowest
per capita in Australia. Furthecrmore, you arc. m~ oving rapidlly
to ? iards nroblems of urban C econcration. It is estimated th-1-at the
opulation of greater flris,.-ane tiill double be) tweec-n now ane!
or 199" 0; th~ ere is no faster urb-an growthi in any ot our cities.
It is important that Queensland acts prome tly ' Lo avoiC, thne deep)-
seated prob-lorms of urban gro.-th al! rcacdy rrarifest in large -parts
of S'ydney and '-! el. 1ourne.
Preserve y., our identitv and y'our\ pride in yourre( lves,, 1ut
niot, I entreat you, at the cost'L of y. our progrress ind '. our
identification with thle nation's s YroaC interests aind, aspi rations.
Teeare many areas in the treatmcnt of Ahoriginals, in
off-shoro rosources, in the uetterrmination of '. ounc*, arJies, in
fmineral dovolopment where our j.~ ieas 11-ave conflic Led' and where,
TI concede, there arc legjitim,. ate-L-rgumentr, on b~ ~ os
IDut I s-aqge-st it would ; I tacif-1 if a stecrile o*)-c3, s4or w., ith
flaerijt~ were ao.' uto i mredethe roqrCus:;-of-cesad
i. 2 local iealousies ainclp,-aro7* L,-: i'. 3entiment 7s \ Yr. e allowed to standl
in your Way. Queenslant* cannot: a-fford -to boecomc Lin okl* l SLate out.
A ustralia cannot thrive Without " Australia.
I offer you tonight a lasting contract of co--o-Peration for a
greater and more prosperous ) ucenslan, 14 in a gr-atrr an,, more
nrosnerous . ThjA. tralia. Tn such a contract, srou, tlie reno7. ned and
suc~ s~ u m~ ifatursof thi rtate, w. 1 lya laostirc and
c~ sscn~ alprt.
B R I S BAT 1E .110ODAY 1 OCTOIMhP. 1973