PRIME MINISTER'S PRESS CONFERENCE
ADELAIDE
6 JULY 1975
PRIME MINISTER: I believe you wish me to say something about the
elections here next Saturday for your House of Assembly and for
half your Legislative Council.
The sole issue in these elections is whether you.. in South Australia,
are to have the best State Administration anywhere in Australia
replaced by an Opposition which is linked with -the Liberal
negativism and obstruction in Canberra. Because -that's what it
is all about. This election was brought about because of Liberal
obstruction in the Legislative Council of South Australia, you had
Liberal Members and an LM. Member voting against the Labor mihners-of
the Council and also, of course, there were some, to their credit,
there were some Liberal Members of the Legislative Council who also
voted with the Labor members of the Council: which is a sufficiently
extraordinary thing to do. But you have got this situation, that in the
Legislative Council here you have some Liberals so cussed, so
obstructive, that they will vote against something which is clearly
in the interests of the State. You have the extraordinary situation
that most of the Liberals in the Council and an LM. Member of the
council voted against a Bill which had gone through the Federal
Parliament without opposition.
Now you all know very well that if there is any ground for opposition
to any legislation that my Government introduces in the House of
Representatives or the Senate there will be criticism of it and
obstruction of it and frustration of it. But in this Bill, the Bill
to ratify the agreement between the Australian Government and the
South Australian Government for the acquisition of the non-metropolitan
railways in South Australia, there was not only no vote against the
Bill in either the House of Represenatives or the Senate but there
was not even any criticism of it in either the House of Representatives
or the Senate. It was in fact supported by many of the Liberals.
It was supported by Senator Steele Hall, and it's unquestionably of
benefit to the State. Because not only does the State gain outright
an additional $ 10 million this year, but in addition to that it is
saved the inevitable increase in railway deficits which occur as
long as Australia' s railways are run in the separate State compartment
2-
So it was an absolute bonanza for the State. It meant that the
State got rid of something which could never fail in later years
to be an increasing burden to it.
QUESTION: Mr Prime Minister it will be alleged tonight on a televis~ fon
program that you yourself k-new as far back as December last year
when Mr Crean lost the portfolio as Treasurer, about the overseas
loans issue. Also
PRIME MINISTER: If you don't mind. There is no basis in such
allegations at all. But I'm not answering questions on those
matters. I gave a very full Press Conference yesterday in Sydney
on this: I think you were represented there. Certainly it was
shown on T. V. in Adelaide last night. So I have nothing to say on
this, the Matter will come out in the proper form now, next Wednesday
afternoon, in the House of Representatives. If anything is to be
produced of that nature then the Liberals will be perfectly free to
produce it. I invite them to do so..
QUESTION: On the State issue then, may I ask you a question?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course.
QUESTION: It has been reported that Federal taxes are crippling
the South Australian Wine Industry. Can anything be done to
assist the Wine Industry in this State?
PRIM4E MINISTER: Yes, something is being done on this matter.
Mr Dunstan was in touch with Treasurers this year, my Treasurers,
and -there has been a thorough examination made of the situation of
the wine firms in South Australia. The position is not the same
with all of them, of course, nor is the seriousness of the situation
the same in all cases. But I gave Mr Dunstan a note on this last
night you know we were together at a function last night, a
-thousand people or so there at the Juventus Ball and so he knows
and he will convey the details of what we are going to do. But the
net position is thist the people who produce wine in South Australia
will be in no worse position than other business people in Australia
as regards their taxation liabilities.
-3
QUESTION: What about unemployment in that industry?
PRIME MINISTER: Well this matter will deal with that. I mean that
there is no question that the wine industry in South Australia has
a very rosy future. There can be no question of that. This is one
of those industries where there -rural industries -where there is
not only a certain increase in domestic demand but there is also
very largely due to the new markets being sought by my Government,
which has made more trade agreements with other countries than any
previous Australia Government a s a result of that there is a very
much increased appreciation of and demand for Australian wines.
And as you would say here, that obviously means particularly
South Australian wines. anyway
QUESTION: Is it true that Mr Lynch has claimed/ that Mr Dunstan
asked you not to come to South Australia during the current.......
PRIME MINISTER: Mr Dunstan gave a very effective reply to that.
Nobody believes Mr Lynch; there was no basis in that at all. I
would certainly have been here more occasions if I hadn't had other
preoccupations. QUESTION: Do you believe your presence here during this weekend
in particular Sir,.
PRIME MINISTER: Were you there last night., did you see the
reception I got last night?
ANSWER: No.
PRIME MINISTER: Well it's a pity you didn't because we-were,
I--could say, raptur-usly received. Don Dunstan and I separately
and together.
QUESTION: You don't believe that Federal Issues will have any
part to play in this State election?
-4
PRIME MINISTER: Indeed they will. The. whole issub is, well the
whole basis of this election, is the nature of the cooperation
between the Federal Government and a State Government. Now
certainly my Government has been very generous to South Australia.
But every other State could have got the same good deal from my
Government as South Australia has got under the Dunstan Government.
The fact is that the Dunstan Government had the nous to move
quickly, to take advantage of the laws which we have been able
to get through the Federal Parliament. And as a result South
Australia was the first of the States, the only Mainland State,
to take advantage of the proposals that my Government made to
relieve the State Governments of two inevitably growing burdens on
their budgets. One is the railways; there is no State which can
look forward to anything other than an increased -deficit on its
railways every year for the foreseeablea future. You just can't
run railways in State compartments, and'we offered to acquire the
railways of each of the States. Now South. Australia wa's the first,
so far the only, Mainland State to respond. And the other thing
of course is the hospital expenses; hospital services and health
services in general are going to be an increasing burden on every
State budget. The percentage of money which has to be spent on
health services, and in particular, hospital services, is going to
increase more than any other public expenditure, Federal or State.
And the proposal we made was that we would pay half the cost of
running the State hospitals if the people who entered the Standard
Wards were not charged fees; if there was no means test, there were
no payments and South Australia was the first of the Mainland States
to accept that.
Now the upshot of all this is that South Australia is the only
State whose books are in the blacks the other five are all in the red.
South Australia is the only State which balanced its budget in the
year just closed or has any hope of balancing its budget in the year
just entered upon
QUESTION: Providing railway transfer goes thr ough.
PRIME MINISTER: of course. Well I have no doubt that it will
go through, because I can't believe tkat tle people of-. South
Australia would not return the Government which cooperated with
the Federal Parliament on this matter. My Governmen * t introduced
the South Australian Railways Bill, but if was passed by the
Parliament. Now in those circumstances I don't believe for one
minute that the people of South Australia would put in a Government
which wouldn't cooperate with Labor or Liberal federally, whereas
Dunstan, of course, he would cooperate with the Federal Government
if it was doing som~ thing for the advantage of South Australia.
And there can be no question, this is to the advantage of South
Australia. South Australia, the Dunstan Government, is the only
Government in Australia which can promise to remove any form of
taxation in this new financial year: the only one in Australia.
QUESTION: It's been suggested that it was probably a political
bribe for this election. What do you think of that?
PRIME MI1NISTER: The election wasn't due for another year. If one
was having bri-bes one would have it closer.
The promise
QUESTION: No/ I mean the promise of the $ 10 million, if the deal
goes through.
PRIME MINISTER: No. What do you mean? What $ 10 million?
QUESTION: If the, the announcement last week that $ 10 million would
be forthcoming.
PRIME MINISTER: No but it has been paid. The money has been paid
over. We kept our part of the bargain. That isfthe Federal Parliament
authorised the payment of a certain sum of money in the last financial
year. So we paid it.
QUESTION: The money from the 1975/ 76 financial
PRIME MINISTER: No the amount, but it is all in the Agreement.
6
After all, there can't be much wrong with an Agreement which all
the elements in the Senate support. You have got this extraordinary
situation here where there are Liberals and. LM people who will vote
against something which is supported by their Federal colleagues.
And I don't think that anybody can doubt that this is, a bonanza forSoutl
Australia. Because South Australia, more than any of the Mainland
States, depends on good communications. But this is not just something
we have done suddenly. In January 1973 I wrote to Don Dunstan
offering to acquire the non-metropolitan Railways. Why we said
non-metropolitan was, in South Australia alone the metropolitan
railways can generally be separated from the others and there is
the new one along to Christies Beach the first electric
railway you have had in South Australia which obviously can be run
as an urban entity of its own.
Now this offer was made in January 1973 and we have been working
on it, our officials, and our Ministers, Geoff Virgo, Charlie Jones,
ever since: and we concluded the arrangement. Any other State
could come into it but, as a matter of fact Sir Henry Bolte and
Sir Robert Askin, before we came in offered their railways to the
Federal Government. When we came in Mr Hamer said no, I won't now.
And Sir Robert Askin was discussing it with us and about two or three
months ago, Mr Lewis, you know very macho said'The discussions are
off!" But we went on here. But you know in South Australia, you
more than anybody else depend on being able to deliver your consumer
goods to the other States or Territories and this is not only done
by the acquisition of the railways which will certainly transform
their capacity to equip, you know with signals and rolling stock
and so on. But we also have undertaken the Crystal Brook-railway,
the Adelaide to Crystal Brook, which means that there will no longer
be a break of gb ge between any of the State Capitals. When that
railway is finished -We are, of course, now totalling doing it it
means that any of your goods will be able to go without break of
gua. ge to Melbourne as they already can, but also without break of
gua. ge to Perth, which they can't now; to Sydney, which they can't
now; to Brisbane which they can't now. And furthermore we are
also from Tarcoola to Alice Springs, a couple of months ago I
inaugurated it, we are building the largest railway project which
has been undertaken in Australia for over half a century. And there
-7
too it will be a standard gauge heavy duty railw; ay. And so you
will be able to'go without break of gauge and whatever the weather
from Adelaide to the Centre. Now this transforms the transport
position and immensely improves the economic position of this
State. You've got an excellent deal from my Government. And it
was always possible for the Australian Government to do these things.
Everybody knew they had to be done, but it waited for us to do it.
QUESTION: Sir in the wake of the Bass by-election -there has been
predictions there could be a marked swing against the Labor Government
in the coming elections. Does this concern you?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I don't think it-' s on: for two reasons, a
by-election is never as good for a Government as a General election;
that was a by-election and people took the opportunity to express
displeasure with the Government in the Parliament to which they were
electing a replacement member. But -this is a general election,
a general election, and I have no doubt whatever that the Dunstan
Government will be returned. well in the House of Assembly and'
it will similarly at last get a majority in the Legislative Council.
This is the first Legislative Council election where everybody will
have a vote, man and woman, 18 and over and I have no doubt that
they will rejoice in exercising the fran-chise for this historic
chamber. QUESTION: Mr Whitlam, -taken that the Federal issues will play a
part in this State election, why won't inflation, unemployment and
high interest rates effect the votes of these South Australi ans?
PRIME MINISTER: Well in most things there can be nothing said
against the Dunstan Government in any way at all. As a matter of
fact the Dunstan Government has achieved, by cooperation with the
Federal Government, much lower land prices than you will get i; n
any Mainland capital. I think it is $ 26 million that my Government
paid to the Dunstan Government in 1974/ 75 to acquire land to be
developed and subdivided and sold at cost. You know you have the
cheapest urban land in any Mainland capital and this has been
brought about because the Dunstan Government accepted the offer
-8
made by my Government. I'm not saying that this is any favoritism
to South Australia because we would have had to do the same to any
State Government which accepted the offer. Because when we
introduce legislation of this character it is of universal application
through Australia. But the Dunstan Government was the first one on
the mainland to accept the proposals and you've benefited from it.
Now this is a very clear example~ despite all the carping of th. e
Liberals and so on, this didn't have to go through the State
Parliament. It just had to be done by an agreement between the
Premier and the Prime Minister and of course, we have done that.
It went through the Federal Parliament, it couldn't be frustrated
by the State Parliament and Legislative Council and accordingly
the Premier and I were able to consummate the arrangements.
Now if you are worried about inflation, the State Governmenthere has
done more to restrain it than any State Government in Australia.
Furthermore they do have some regulationoprices here, the only State
Government that does, and they are, when this Bill goes throughin
the unusual position of being able to remove a tax, the petrol tax.
The only Government in Australia which will be able to remove a tax.
QUESTION: If South Australians want to lodge a national vote in
protest against inflation and unemployment, don't you -think they
could do so at this election?
PRIME MINISTER: They would be very foolish to take this opportunity
of getting rid of a Government which has/ all a State Government can
do in these matters. done
QUESTION: Prime Minister do you think the loans business has hurt
Labor in this State compaign and will a special sitting of Parliament
help? PRIME MINISTER: The special sitting will undoubtedly help because
the Liberals will then have to produce anything they have and justif
it. They can't just hide behind a press campaign when the alme
sits'they'll have to put up and shut up.
9-
QUESTION: Mr Fraser says he would like to see the documents before
Parliament sits. Will you make these available to him?
PRIME MINISTER: I am going to propose to him later in the day that
we should give him the documents that my colleagues and I propose
to table and that he should give me the documents that he and those
behind him propose to table.
QUESTION: Sir, the last time Parliament was called together in
such circumstances. I blieve, was in World War II during a national
crisis. Do you regard this as a major crisis?
PRIME MINISTER: No, no I have no more to say on this.
QUESTION: Mr Whitlan, just on that issue if I can.
PRIME MINISTER: No not on that issue.
QUESTION: There was a development yesterday after your news
conference in Sydney regarding the recalling of the Senate.
PRIM1E MINISTER: No, no I have got no comment to make.
QUESTION: The whole thing about South Australia seems to be on
the stability of Govern~ nent. Do you think a coalition Government
formied from the Opposition Parties would bring stability of Goverm~ ent?
PRIME MINISTER: There is no chance. I gather that what the
non-Labor elements in South Australia are putting up is an
extraordinary amalgam of Liberal, Liberal Movement and National
Country Party. This is, of course, a recipe not only for obstruction
to the Federal Government but confusion within the State. I don't
suppose that anybody would really want to wish on South Australia
the sort of collaboration between Liberal and National Country
Party that occurred a month ago in Western Australia. Sir Charleos
Court,, Liberal Premier was deserted and blackmailed by the National
Country Party Ministers, his Deputy Premier and the other Ministers.
And they left the Ministry and Mr Bjelke-Petersen had to come over
and plead with him and so on and then they got a couple of new members
S-10
to patch things up. This sort of thing made a farce of State
Government in Western Australia. Similarly in Queensland you have
a situation because of a gross malapportionment of electorates there
are more National Country Party members of the Legislative Assembly
than Liberal Members although the Liberal Party gets many more votes than
the National Country Party does at State elections there. And there
you've had this prolonged wrangle over Medibank Hospital Scheme,
Queensland's hospitals were free but they were the most crowded,
the longest waiting list, the worst equipped in Australia. And you
had the Deputy Premier, the Treasurer, the Leader of the Liberal
Party, you had the Attorney-General, a member of the Liberal Party;
you had the Minister for Health, a member of the Liberal Partya11
trying for months to get the benefits for Queensland hospitals of
the Medibank hospital proposals. And Mr Bjelke-Petersen conducted
. a vendetta within the Government Parties,. and bet een them. I was discussed
in their Party rooms, it was then put to the Cabinet, the Cabinet
couldn't make up its mind. It went back to the Party Rooms, they
couldn't make up their minds; it went to the Cabinet again and
finally Bjelke-Petersen was done.
Now is that the soft of thing you want in South Australia? In
Queensland they're at last wanting to enter Medibank. Though instead
of entering it on the ist July they won't be able to enter it for
a few weeks vet: they dragged the chain. And this
was because of a w-ang-Ie between Liberals and Country Party. Now is
that the sort of thing you want to import into South Australia South
Australian politics has been disrupted sufficiently by the wrangle
within the Liberal Party, the creation of the Liberal Movement
arising from the quite monstrous attempt by the Liberal Party to
preserve the electoral boundaries for the House of Assembly and
when they lost their numbers in the House of Assembly then wanting
to preserve a Legislative Council on monstous electoral boundaries
and with a restricted franchise to exercise a veto over initiatives
from the Government in the House of Assembly.
Now that is the only good Government that you've been able to achieve
in South Australia is under Labor which gives you a united Government
in its own right, in the House of Assembly, and as a result of these
first universal elections for the Legislative Council will be able
11
to do so there as well. And the contrast with Western Australia
a month ago and with Queensland up to a week ago shows that you would
be foolish indeed to replace a constructive united Government, one
that knows when and how to cooperate with the Federal Government, with
a coalition ratbag of conservative elements who where they have been
represented in State Parliaments have not been able to work together
between themselves and not been able to work with the Federal
Government. QUESTION: On that back tax, do you propose to drop that?
PRIME MINISTE I have given the note to Mr Dunstan and he will
be communicating this. You were not here earlier on.
QUESTION: The Federal opposition has made itcl ear that itwi* ll
drop that tax.
PRIME MINISTER: Well I have given it to Mr Dunstan and he will
know how to conixunicate with this. He has been in touch with us for
-quite some months on this; we have made the survey and I have told him
what we are proposing to do and my Treasurer gave me this note for
Mr Dunstan which I gave him last night.