AUSRL IA
77RIME MINISTER
FOR PRESS 11 April 1976
ELECTORAL TALK
If our great coixw= y is again to fulfill its potentialand
the standardz living for all Australians is to increasetheaj
the role our manufacturers will be crucial.
The health of the manufacturing sector is the key to national
growth, productivity, employment and reflects directly on
the ability of consumzers to consume.
If the manuffact~ ing sector is stagnant, without confidence
without hope the--any chance of economic growth wi. ll have
been shattere..
Manufacturer-s -large and small are the lifeblood of Australia.
They directly emtploy-one in every four people in the workforce.
They supply about 20 percent of the value of our exports
and supply most of the goods we use every day.
This Government is determined to stimulate real growth
and productivity in manufacturing.
We have already created a climate where manufacturers can plan
ahead with confidence knowing that the national Government
will make rational and consistent decisions on their behalf.
During the Whitlam years, manufactueres slowly but surely
lost the confidence of government; they lost the incentive
to expand and the opportunities to employ. They lost the courage
to spend money on plant and equipment. They opted to mark time.
/ 2
This situation had a wider effect. Consumers also suffered
because they often had to pa~ y higher prices for poorer
quality goods. Their choice of goods contracted because
manufacturers coi. 11d not afford to invest in new product
lines and new techniques.
Those days are gone.
This Government has taken a great number of positive
measures that will directly and indirectly return confidence
to manufacturers. A number of other measures are at this
moment being carefully examined.
Our first and most important task has been to get
predictibility back in government decision making
processes.. We are not in the buoiness -of keeping businessmen dangling
on a rope wondering what we will do next. We are in the
business of consultation, not confrontation.
One of our first decisions in government was to set up an
economic consultative group to monitor trends in the private
business world and to report these trends speedily to the
Government. The group includes representatives from the~
trade union movement, big business and small business.
The information provided by this important group will supplement
the wide range of statistical data we recieve from of ficial
sources and will give us early warning signals about any
emerging problems.
We have also looked closely at the role of the Industries
Assistance Commission.
Many factors must ba considered by the Commission when it
presents its reports. / 3
It must exaine the method and level of tariff and
other assistance necessary to adequately protect Australian
manufacturers against import competition.
It has a responsbility to judge whether the industry
could be more efficient and to take this into account
when applying any tariff.
It must show whether the industry is less efficient
than it could be due to fragmentation or lack of
specialisation. And fundamentally, it must rev iew the
probable economic and social consequences of altering
existing levels of assistance.
These reporting ruzles will not in any way alter the ground
rules of the Commission's operations. Rather, they will
ensure that the Commission's reports are as detached
and independent as possible.
Another of the measures the Government has taken to get
manufacturing moving f.% rward again has been the suspension
of quarterly tax instalments. Businessmen no longer
have the worrying burden of finding cash sums each three
months. They can now plan over a 12 month period
without loss of liquidity throughout the year.
The Government's 40 percent investmentL allowance is again
aimed at giving the businessman particularly those
who invest in plant and machinery real incentive to make
expansionary plans.
As I mentioned in my broadcast last week, the Government
has laid down clear and sensible guidelines for the
inflow of foreign money, and of foreign expertise. This
measure was-aimed directly at getting Australian business
back in business again.
The motor vehicle industry a key industry for any
manufacturing nation now has a strong and
purposeful set of guidelines for growth and development.
This sector can now plan ahead with confidecne.
I have often repeated our pledge to introduce the individual and ccmpany
aspects of the Matthews Report, as soon as practicable.
When implemented that report's recommendation for a
stock valuation adjastment and a depreciation
valuation adjustment will materially assist expansion
in the manufacturing sector.
Following an election pledge and following a recommendation
in the Jackson Report on manufacturing industry the
Government is urgently proceediny with a White Paper on
manufacturing. This paper will receive top priority consideration
by myself and by Cabinet.
The Government is also concerned that businessmen and manufacturers
can get on with their production without the shackle of
unnecessary regulation. Restrictive regulations are
not, foL this government, ends in themselves.
Accordingly, we are reviewing the trade practices legislation
with the view to removing the crippli g red tape and
controls that service no useful purpose and that stifle
. meaningful expansion plans. I want to make it clear here that
the consumer will not lose in letter or spirit the protection
that this law now provides.
Our policies to date and our planned moves underline
the centrai thrust of the Governmesit's appraoch to the
manufacturing industry.-and. that is to ensure the
steady, predictable and long-term creation of new
employment opportunities and to foster new products and
processes. Only then will all Australians-whether they are factory
workers, farmers, public servants or housewives have a real
chance to live their own lives the way they want.