PRIME MINISTER'S SPEECH AT THE COMMEMORATION DINNER, 2y
PORT AUGUSTA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
11.4.
M4r. Wallis, Mr. Smith, Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are meeting tonight at the road and rail crossroads
of Australia and we are meeting on a very great occasionan
important place, an important landmark in our history.
It was from this place in 1912 that the East-West Railway
commencod construction and tomorrow at Tarcoola we will
see the commencement of construction of the biggest railway
project since then.
This has been a remarkable week in the history of railways
in Australia. On Wednesday we tabled in the Federal
Parliament the terms of agreement by which the Commonwealth
Railways acquired' the South Australian Railways with the
consent of South Australia. Yesterday we passed through
both Houses of the Federal Parliament the Australian National
Railways Commission Bill, and, once the Governor-General has
signed that Bill, the Commonwealth Railways will become the
Australian National Railways; the A. N. R. And yesterday, too,
we introduced in the Federal Parliament the Inter-State
Commission Bill to establish that great instrument of national
co-ordination and unityywhich the Constitution ordains.
Before I come to describe some of these things, may I pay
a tribute to the manner in whi~ h the Commonwealth Railways
has just met a great test. For the first time since 19* 12,
the creek at Zanthus flowed and broke through the railway.
Within a fortnight the breach has been restored. The
Commonwealth Railways proved well able to cope with sudden
emergencies, unprecedented emergencies and ruptures.
What I want to speak about tonight is the great constructive,
creative role which is being played by the A. N. R. and, by
railways in general in our nation. In no area of Government
respoonsibility is there a greater need for modernisation and
reform than the railways. In no area have there been greater'
Constitutional and administrative obstacles to reform. The
railways are usually historically regarded as the great
instrument for unifyihng a continent. It was Transcontinentals
that united the United States, united the Canadian provinces
and united the Soviet Union from the Baltic to the Pacific.
One would have thought that railways would be the great
instrument for uniting Australia. It has not turned out that
way, because our railways were started in the middle of last
century by the States and they are still run, with the exception
of the by the States. This occurs in the Australian
Federal system only. In West Germany the railways are run by
the Federal Government. In Canada there are two great
railway systems, one run by the Canadian Government and
the other by a nationwide, an international company. In
the United States all the railway systems are co-ordinated
by the Interstate Commerce Commission. In Australia, far
from uniting our country, the railway systems have been
organised so as to disrupt the unification of the nation.
They have been used to centralise our settlement, our
commerce, in State capitals. There is, fortunately, a
provision in the Constitution which enables the Commonwealth
with the consent of the States to build or to acquire railways.
It was because the States of South Australia and Western
Australia permitted the Commonwealth to build a railway, that
w.. e got the East-West railway. It was for that reason that
we got the old railway, which is always prone to floods from
Qodnadatta up to the Northern Territory border. It is because
of that provision that the Commonwealth, with the consent of
the State of South Australia, is now acquiring the nonmetropolitan
railways in South Australia. And this will
transform the railway scene in Australia, east and west and
north and south. It will be a very significant system and
it will be an immense re-inforcement and multiplication
of the things that can be done.
I look back to the first year or so I was in Federal
Parliament. The Chifley Government, under a Prime
Minister who was a dedicated railway man, had placed the
orders to modernise the Commonwealth Railways which had
always been the most losing railway proposition in Australia.
I came into Parliament just when the orders were being
fulfilled. The Commonwealth Railways became the first in
Australia to have every locomotive a diesel, to have every
carriage air-conditioned, to have every wagon with bolies.
Within the course of a year they became the most profitable
railway system in Australia. That illustrated to me that,
with proper equipment and proper capitalisation, railways
could be profitable.
But the railway system still ran from nowhere to nowhere
in national-commercial terms. It ran from Port Pinie'to
Kalgoorlie, which meant that every load, every passenger,
every piece of freight had to come over another system.
In 1972 one of the first Acts of my Government was to make
an offer to each of the States to accept responsibility for
the railways of that State. You see the first acceptance
of that offer, by South Australia. We will now have a
system where there will be a merger of the South Australian
Railways and the Commonwealth Railways. It will be possible
to cross the whole continent, east . or west, with the same
carriages, wagons and diesel locomotives. It will put an
end, I hope, to this absurd situation that, even after we
had the same gauge right across the continent,' the locomotives
had to be changed at Broken Hill and at Pinie and
at Kalgoorlie. It has been a farce up till now. The
Commonwealth Railways, the Australian National Railways,
the are now the key to rail transport, the basic
form of transport in this nation. They will soon join with
the Victorian Railways in operating between Adelaide and
Melbourne. We shall soon see how unified a force, how
excel-lent an investment it is to have railways of a national
character. Railways can more safely, more quickly, more
economically, transport goods long distance than any other
transport mode that man has devised.
I now come to another achievement of this week the Bill to
establish the Inter-State Commission. In my 1972 policy
speech, I said " The Inter-State Commission was intended
to end the centralisation fostered by all the State governments
through their railway systems. It-should now provide not
only for the co-ordination of our six mainland railway systems
and our major ports in the period before the Commonwealth,
like other federal governments, inevitably takes responsibility'
for railways and ports; it is also the ideal instrument for
co-ordinating our major roads and airlines and pipelines."
" A Federal Labor Government-will promptly restore the
machinery the Constitution intended and vest it with the
Commonwealth's full constitutional powers to plan and
provide modern means of communications between the States."
One of the pieces of legislation we were able to put through
last year was the agreement between the Australian and South
Australian Governments for the Australian Government to build
the standard gauge railway between Adelaide and Cryst'al Brook.
When that is finished, it will be possible to go by train from
any State capital to the next State capital and, except for4
Melbourne, from any State capital to any other State capital
without a break of gauge.
One of the great handicaps to profitable railway operation
in this country has been the lack of adequate rolling'stock.
At present railways need over 3,000 extra wagons for intersystem
travel alone. It has been estimated that the Victorian,
South Australian, New South Wales and Commonwealth Railways
lost over $ 65 million in 1972-73 because they were not able
to meet the demands-of inter-system travel. Therefore, in
this year's budget, last September, we embarked upon a
continuing rolling stock purchasing program which, over
the next two years, will provide some 1300 modern bogey
wagons for inter-system use. These wagons will be available
for lease to the States.
4.
Tomorrow we embark upon the construction of the railway
from Tarcoola to Alice Springs, the largest railway project
which Australia has undertaken since before the First World
War and one which will make an immense difference to the
people in The Centre. It will make a great difference to
the tourist industry, the cattle industry, the mining
industry. I have always found romance in the construction of railways.
Railways were a distinguishing feature of those industrial
countries which were settling vast new areas. The United
States, the old Tsarist Empire, Canada, all did it. Australia
had to wait to do it this century. A new railway has always
carried with it an aura of romance, a spirit of pioneering.
Nothing suggests more vividly the determination of a vigorous
society to develop its resources and improve its communications.
Something was missing from our national life during the long
years when the r4ilways were allowed to decline. Men and
families who have given a lifetime of service to the railways
were encouraged to lose faith in the importance and future of
a great industry. I hope and believe that we are seeing tonight
the rebirth of the railways in this continent, the beginning
of a new era of growth and development. You can be sure that
my Government will do its utmost to see the railways prosper
and resume their rightful, their historic role as the basis
of an efficient, modern and economical transport system.
A remarkable week it has been. A great disaster strikes
the Transcontinental railway; * it is overcome within a fortnight.
We set out to re-establish the Inter-State Commission ordained
in the Constitution. With the consent of South Australia, we
acquire the South Australian Railways. We create the Australian
National Railways. 1
It is appropriate to have this commemoration in Port Augusta
where it all began, where it all passes. Prosperous and
efficient railways are an efficient and essential condition
of a prosperous and efficient nation.
I give you the toast The Railways of Australia.