Jj) AU r AL( A
F PRIME MINISTER
FOR PRE2SS 21 FEBRUARY 1977
ADDRElSS AT THlE MELBOURNE~ STATE COLLEGE
It is a pleasurO to have this opportunity to participate i'Llf
vour oriecntation week at Melbourne State College. No doubt
a large part of your time this weak will be sDent in orienting
yourselves to the college cnvironmntto one another,, the
coffee lounge, and the local pubs.
This is also a time in whiCh you will bts beginning to orient
yourselves more deeply towards politics. The tcrtiary education
period i~ s charactcris tically the time in uhich students become
more politically active and aware.
Exposed to new facts and idaas, students become more sensitive
to iflju5t ce and inequities and desire to change things, to
reconstruct and create something. better, This is as it should be.
There ar-e n * any things in our society that fequire reform, and
sometimes radical change. Thegreat question facing -us as
Australians is how these -reforms can be brought about. Today
there ayre two different answers to this question. Two
different approaches to the issue of -what sort of change is
necessary and how it can bc achieved.
These derivv from the Liberal and socialist streams of thought.
I~ n Australa, broadly spea) ing, these streams are represented
by the Liberal and the Labor Parties.
Both of t-hese approaches to politics and society address theimselves
-some common problems and to the problems of human needs, to
material political and social inequ, lities. These approaches
however differ as to how to best achieve a better society.
The choice of approaclh is of the most basic importance the
alternatives lead along increasingly divergent paths of
differen~ t socieItes. At the core of socialist philospphy is the
belief that the state should intervene in as many areas of social
life a~ s possible. In this view the truth is seen as being inf
the hane-' s of a few select individuals. Individuals who claim
a special insight and believe they are entitled to irpose their
\ iwon the peo-ple. They know what is best the people do not.
The -result of this belief is a major empiasis on state controlt,-
ie ; ITtempt to create a cei-Ltralised politi.' cal authority that
prog-ressively restrict individiuals choice and fcem. Ta
creates larger and larg~ er bureau racies which. strive to regulate
and control all aspects of social and political life.
Some justify this concentration of power by claiming that it is
necessary if the position of the disadvantaged is to be improved.
Once we look at the results of socialism in practice, wie see that
socialism all too often creates social and economic change which
defeats the objectives socialism claims to pursue.
Sociali sm translated into practice all too often not onily fails
to improve the position of the disadvantaged, hut undermines -it.
This I believe is the lesson that the three years of the Labor
Government can teach us.
As the Henderson Poverty report poinited, out, the inflation that
Labor brought undermined the position of the disadvantaged:
" In 1974-75" 1 the -peport says," it seems that. -inflation created
poverty through unemployment but rapid inflation bas
contributea to -P,' Overty in many other ways.. the basic
* ieaonfor this is simple inflatioyi favours -the active and
-iowerful: the position of poor people deteriorates"
Theuinemployment that inflation caused ) iarmed the weaker sections
t'hle ' coimmunity rost of all. The-re was a ihSii ivV gowth in the
bureZiu cracy, and there was aii increase in the privileges of some
vested interest groups.
Powerful unions benefittedl from the Labor years wealker wor1~ ersthe
less s)% illea, migrants, the. young had to pay by suffering
umne p1oymien t.
In the three years of LaborGovernMent Socialist Philosophy ! ihowed,
itt could not not achieve the noble ideals some of its adherents
believe in. ThNe nature of its failure have exacerbated som. e of
the m~ ajor problems of Austral-an society. The problems of
bureaucratic power, the problems of matc-riallv assistir"' g thea
disadvantaged' which increasing their independenc and. ñ ree. OM
from the states, the problem of protccting the individual. I
Thil Liberal approach indentifiCs these problems as the r-i
on , es fac-ing our society and provies the means of resrd% 1xing them-. ~' r
essurtce of che lberal apprToach is that the goal_,; of Government
ac-tion shotild be enhitirg the freedom of every-ndividual to
achieve atcording to his personal ga ñ Idabilities.
Liberalsim stands I-or xna) Fimumn rcedoin of choice fori-givi1ng the
people the opportunity to purusc their own goals in their Ownl
ways. It stands for freedom from anxiety and want fo r the
provision of effective assistance to disadvantaged grcoups in our
commnunity. Liberalism means diversit, tolerance aild respect
for the Yiews of othe-rs the freedom to be differanz il to
Conform. Liberals recogniscd that -no g9roup of men can have a monopoly
of wvisdom and that consequently power should be widely distributed
in o-ur society.
Sincec this Goverrnent has been in office, we have set about
tranislatingethese commitments into practice. In the social
wdlfare area. we have taken major steps to improve the -position of
the disadvantaged members of our society and provide them with
greater scope for choice in how to use tho assistance to best
benefit themselves. * Just providing assistance in itself . is not
enough. The form of ' assistance should be such that it
inhcroases the independence of the disadvantaged from the agencies
providing assistance.
There can be no more significant teM. of a social welfare
programme than whether it can answer affirmatively to questio
does it improve the material position of the person reciieving
the assistance? Does it improve his range of options and his
capacity to deal with a complex society.? Does it improve his
independence as a person or does it increase his dependence on
wThat: the state wishes to provide?
Our approach to social welfare is exemplified by the introduction
of I-lie farily allowance scheme. The old system of tax deductions
for children benefitted wealthy groups most of all and did not
sufficiently benefit poor people. We abolished these
tax deductions and institudd a-family allowance scheme which paid
mone,. y directly to the mother. This substantially imrproved the
pos: Ltion of over 300,000 poorer families who benefitted only
paritially or not at all, from.: the previous system. And it
did not add to bureaucratic overh cads, to bureacratic, power.
Thepractice of Liberalism can also be seen in two experimental
programmes. One concerns migrant resources centres, t; 1le other
wel: Eare housing. In the area of ethnic affdirs, we arc
participating in an experiment with two different types of migrant
resources centres to see which is the more effective.
In Melbourne the Government is contracting out the provision
of s; ervices to an ethnic welfare group the Australitm Greek
Welfare Society -which is-in close touch with the needs of migra
1I-:' 3ydncy,, a reso -urce centre is being cstablished in which office
ofComxnonwealth and State Dlepartments, ethnic voluntary groups
and ethnic communities will all participate.
Bothl centres use the resources and expertise which are available
the I-ommunity's voluntary organisations.
Because these organisations are in close touch with the community
and because they are more informal and less highly st-ructured
than is the public service, they can often deal with indiviaual
problems-with greater sensitivity,. and effectiveness -than
Government bureacracies.
' Yhis Government intends to strengthen voluntary organisations
even inorci n the future. In the area of housing for the disadvant,
work has begun on a housing vol1cher scheme which pays a housing
It is the icecipient who decides how to use thc subsidy to meet
his liousing needs not the bureaucracy. If the experiment,
proves practical, it could well rcvolutionise the area of
welfare housing. Both these schemes give power and choice to
people thiey seek to provide effective assistance to those most.
~ need and enhance the autoniony of the recipieh ts.
It is very easy to provide a service that leaves no option for
choice. OL. LT approach is to provide assistan~ ce where needed in
a way that leaves room for choice and that incrcascs the di~-nitv
and self-respect of the recipient.
Our approach is in sharp contrast with the main thrust of
Labor's approach of making people dependent on a service the
Governmnent supplies where the recipient's only choice is to
take it or leave it. The Government has also taken measures to
iriprove the: biteaucracy's capacity to deal more sensitively and
effectively with its clients. A number of changes have for example
been mad e in the administration of the Department of Social
L Security tco improve the Department's capacity to assist its
clients.
At a time when the power of Government and. private bureaucracies
is threatening to intrude upon human 3ndviduals rights, this
Cr. vernrment haus taken steps to protect individual rights.
In the last. twelve months, the Ct~ wionwealth Attorney-General has
embarked on a progranme of law reform designed to protect individtu
and human -rights which is more extensive than any since
Federation.
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has been established.
The Ombudsman' Act has passed through Parliament and the first
Om~ budsmian will be appointed soon.
Bills will be introduced this Session to: establish a Humnan
Rights Comm~ rission to promote human.. rights and ensure compliance
of our law with the UN international Covenant on Civil and Politica&
Rights; promote freedom of information; implement the report
of the Law Reform Commnission on Criminal Investigation an
important advance in civil liberties for persons detai~ led for
questioning, or arrested and charged with a Federal ciiminal
offence.
A number of' references have been made to the LaiqRcfo= f Commission
incaIding references concerned the protection of privacy, the
reform of laws on defamation, an investigation of the possibility
_ of applying Aboriginal customary law in criminal matters to
Aborigines living in the traditional mnanner.
Reforms madec by the Government in other areas reflect the a~ uie
approach. Aboriginal Land Rights Legislation for the Northern
Territory has been passed. An improved bomne savings grant scheme
for people buying theirfirst home as been introduced. Ned , al
and hospita; l insurance has been reformed so that each citiz eyi
can choose his orm level of insurance and insurer. Fraser Island
has been protected, and those adversely affectdd by that decision
have been compensated. An Industraial ' Relations Bureau will be
establisheed to protect the rights of individual unionists and
of the conuninity iI
We e increasing the p-rovision of day Care facilities
to give tht7 children of jqorking mothers adequlate cUre.
A-number of other Major rcfoTrjns have also been made which will
render governments1mre rcsponsivc to their citizens. Tax
indexat ion iS one of these. In the past Government~ s could
be assured of significant yearly increases in taxation. reveiues
because of inflation. The result was that they did ' not. have to*
justify thitir programmes to the people; Tax indexation
will prevent this occurring in the future.
From-now on if Governments wantt to begin new programmes they
will have to either discontinue old ones or raise taxes.
In either case, the people of Australia will be in a better
position to pass judgement on the actions of Governments and our
democracy will be enhanced. Ouir Federalism reforms simnilarl~ y
increase Governments' accountability to their citizems.
Under these ' reformis state and local governments have been given
acckess to a guaranteed proportion of income tax re'~ enues
and a far greater degree of autonomy in how they will be used.
Citizems will now be able to much more effcctively evaluate
Governmerit's performance than when it was claimed financial
resources did not go with constitutional responsibilit~ y.
These reforms are only the beinrrning of our programnme to increase
the power, freedom and opportunity of all Australians.
But it should be realised that along with freedom and power goes
a-considerable . esponsibility. In the case of tertiary
studentS, this responsibility is oneof considerable magnitude-
Te-rtiary students are given an opportunity because of there
academic competence to engage in an extended period of
reflection and learning. And the opportunity to gain
qual ificat ions enhancing their career prospects and future
financial rewards. These opportunities-, the financial -sifLCws of
tertiary iflstituions, are provided by teh whole of the Australian
population, not least by blue collar workers.
one of the prime obligations which flows from this is to mnake
a meaningful and constructive contribution to the process of
intellectual debate in our society'. To rationally test
alternative perspectives and. debate them. ' This indeed is one
of the traditional responsibilitics of tertiary institutions
to he the guardians of acadeic freedom.
Therole of the tertiary instittuiofl as a critic of society has
bbon supported for hundreds of years becauise people have rega-rded
them as places where a aiversity of opinions can be held.
Wht: re-people can speak freely and -openly. Mid where
cal~ m and rational debate can bc conduct. d.
6.
Unfortunately it is a fact that in recent times, academic
freedom has been threatened.
It is sometimes easier to mnale a speech on the Melbourne
waterfront, before members of the Waterside Worlers
Federation~ than it is to got a hearing on somne tertiary campuses.*
The plain fact is that members of a union with. one of
Australia's most radical traditional are more ready to listen
to Lirgument and debate, than a minority of students who) believe
that they have the right to suppress views different from their OW(
If the views of this tiny mninority of students prevails then the
academic freedom of tertia-ry institutions will have been
undermined by their own members, and -much of the sympathy which
thb wider community has for universities anid colleges winl
be forfeited.
. If Australia is to progress, if more effective reforms are
to tbe made, then we must have a constant process of free
an! d open, debate. Bringing about beneficial social chiange
requires analysis and criticism. It requires the capacity to
conceive of a better society and so th ' e hard slogging 1-4ork
ncessary to realise it. It requires a fusion of idealism and
-realism. I believe that the vast -majority of Australia's stuaexit.
will want to participate in the vas, of reformiing our society.
There is much work to be done.