EM4BARGOED AGAINST DELIVERYf76/ 6
FOR PRESS MARCH 1, 1976
TEXT OF ADDRESS BY THE PRIME MINISTER AT THE VICTORIAN CkMPAIGN
OPENINGThe
election in Victoria will decide how far a new era in
Australian life can be realised.
At the Federal level, we have a Government whose major commitments
are freedom, opportunity and concern. We have a commitment to
giving Australians the opportunity to achieve their goals in life
and a commitment to assisting the disadvantaged and asserting for
Government a new role.
But the Federal Government is only one of Australia's Gov ernments.
State Governments have a vital part to play if Australians are to
have the maximum scope to develop their abilities.
There is only one party in Vic* toria. that can offer a Government
of ideal~ ism and responsibility required to make Australia an example
to the world.
Only the Liberal Party can offer that kind of Government.
The Liberal Party of Australia places supreme value on the
individual -on the right of people to seek their own goals in
life, in their own way.
The purpose of Government is to provide the conditions in which
all people can achieve lives of dignity and self-respect.
The philosophy of the Liberal Party is the only philosophy which
can provide realistic : responsible Government and progressive,
enlightened reform.
The Liberal Party in Victoria has a record of great achievement
in securing a decent life for all people.
The Victorian Liberal Government is one of the most successful
Governments in Australia, with a record all Liberals can be
proud of--a record of twenty years sound and progressive
Government first under Sir Henry Bolte, and then under Dick Hamer. 2
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A victory for the Liberal Party in the election is crucial to
all Victorians.
There must be no repetition of the disastrous unemployment
and inflation created by the irresponsible policies of the
Australian Labor Party.
All Australians want to ensure that that does not happen again.
But we cannot be content simply with establishing prosperity
again. * We must move forward in a progressive and enlightened
direction.-a direction which will enable people to control their
own lives.
We believe that power must be shared between the Commonwealth,
and the States. Between State Government and Local Government,
and within the broader community.
Labor will always fail because it believes that all Government
' Power should be centralised in a few men, that Government should
have ever greater control over the lives of everyone in every
part of Australia.
Labor tried to destroy the States and centralise control over
Local Government.
The Labor Party tried to destroy the Senate the very instrument
the Constitution established to protect the States.
In the Labor Party's view, all wisdom resided in a few men in
Canberra. The pe ople who are suffering the results of that view are the
thousands of school leavers still trying to find jobs; the
retired people whose savings have been eaten away by inflation; the
poor and the disadvantaged whom inflation affects worst of all;
and young families who suddenly found that the price of a home
was beyond their reach.
While all this was happening, the Labor Party in Victoria said
not a word. They did not protest at what was happening to
Australia. How far with Federal Labor is M4r Holding prepared to go?
-Did he approve of the Labor Party's attempts to evade the
constitution in the Loan's Affair?
What is his attitude to the latest episode in the sordid story
of the Labor Party and Arab money?
The people of Victoria have a right to know just how far Mr Holding
is prepared to go with Mr Whitlam.
Does he agree with Mr Whitlam's stated belief, that the duty
of state Labor Parties is to make themselves unnecessary? ./ 3
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How can any self-respecting Z-tate Party Leader take this attitude
and expect the voters to believe that he will work for their
interest? The left wing of the Labor Party has been too influential for
too long and thousands of Australians are suffering as a result.
The Poverty Inquiry reported that the poor and the disadvantaged
were actually wose off as a result of the inflation caused by
Labor. The Victorian Labor Party under Mr Holding was prepared to surrender
the future of the people in Victoria to the irresponsibility of
the Labor Party in Canberra.
The people who spoke out were Dick Hamer and the Victorian
Liberal Party.
And they were not content just to proteot they did something
' about it.
Togezther with people in the Liberal Party around Australia, the
Liberal Party in Victoria worked to develop a programme for the
most fundamental reform of Australia's Federal system since
Federation. The Liberal Party's Federalism Policy will be the strongest
guarantee that irresponsible attempts to centralise all power in
the hands of a few men will never happen again.
When the Federalism Policy is implemented, the States and
Local Government will have a guaranteed source of income.
Participation by people in local and state government will be
more effective. More important, decisions especially affecting
local communities and the states will again be made where they
should be made by the Government closest to the people affected.
That is one major reason why a victory for the Liberal Party is so
important Victorians will know that the Government they elect will
whole-heartedly work to bring about cooperaticn and responsibility
in the Government of Australia.
Centralisationof power by a genuine concern that people should
be able to parti cipate-e ffectively in the decisions of Government
which affect them.
Just as the State Government needed a Party with a Liberal
philosophy in Canberra, the Federal Government needs ' a
Party with a Liberal philosophy in Victoria.
Then in partnership with the Australian people we can build a
new Australia.
It is now my pleasure to introduce the Premier of Victoria -a
man of humanity, a man of integrity a man of who Victorians and
the Liberal Party are rightly proud the man who has led one of
the most successful State Governments in Australia Dick Hamer.