uibargoed'until delivery IMR CARMVODY
4. PRIME MINISTER
FO RES26 SEPTEMBER 1977
ADDRESS AT BRISBANE LIBERAL. PARTY LU1NCHROW
it is not. often that 1. address a meeting held at a racetrack,
but then, perhapB, this occasion is appropriate in view of the..
number of people prepared to punt on the outcome of the niext
election -whenever it may be held.
Mluch of-the tenbion, however, has gpne out of the betting'.. it
has become increasingly clear in recent weeks that In the Labor
Party-we face not so much a bright new cups prospect, as the old.-
grey mare itself, and an old stager which trained poorly-over the
winter recess and is now badly off its feed.
What a disastrous few months it has been for Labor. At-the Perth.-
Conference in June, there was a carefully orchestrated attempt -to
show that Labor had been converted to responsibility. Welt,-let~-~
u~ s look at what happened.
Within a month# the ALP disclosed a plan to spend an extra $ 800
bvhiilclkieorn aonnd pduisbalgicre ew, orakss . thTehire tfwior sLt aabnodr Slahasdt owjo Tinret-apsruersesr s cocnofnesrteannctel_ y;.;.
after the Budget amply showed. Mr. Hawke advocates one. uxanium
policy as ALP President, and a quite contradictory policy as ACTU
President a policy immediately disowned by Mr. Whitlam and
Labor is divided, economically incompetent, and committed toa
dogma that is incompatible with Australia's prosperity and well
being. It was that way in government. It is that way now. Nothihd,
else could be expec te& from a political party that is dominated by
the unions a party that expels people like Jack Rgerton. for.--
accepting an Imperial honour; and yet has such double standards
that in the very same year the Wran Labor Government can award.-
Imperial honours. One of the best demonstrations of Labor Ia
* weakness isa that they are putting forward Bil 1 ayden as the -ideal.,
Treasurer. This ideal Treasurer budgeted for a deficit of $ 2.8.
billion by the time we camne to power it had reached $ 4 billion-*
and was going on $ 5 billion. Under this ideal Treasurer,
Government spending increased by 23%. Be set the money supply
rising by 201.
Tihe problem with the Labor Party is not one man -the leader of
the ALP any leader just reflects all t6e Labor Party's probLems,
its -union domination, its commitment to controlling Australians'
lives, its waste and extravagance, its incompetence. While the
woeulrecord of the Labor Government is notorious, the record o1!
a-reform and achievement of the present Government: is not widely
enough understood, and because of that lack of understanding, I.
* want to concentrate bn that record today.
-This Government wias elected because we promised a fresh start a
-~'~ complete break from the dogma of the previous Government a
Government that thought the only way to solve a problem was to
throw money at it.-Your money. We profi~ sed to reduce inflation
and restore economic growth. We have reduced inflation.
When we came to office, the inflation rate measured by the CPI
i1:~:> adjusted for hospital and medical services, was running at 16.7%.
SBy the end of June this year,, it was down to 10.2%. If we take
a broader measure of price increase in the economy, namely the GDP
S deflator, the rate of Inflation can be seen to have dropped by 7%.
We have restored growth. In 1975, Labor's last year, there was
negative growth In our economy. In the year just ended, we recorded
-an annual growth rate of 3 We promised to end Labor's tax ripoff
wttich stifled the energies and initiative of the Australian people.
Uader Labor, personal income tax receipts almo~ st doubled in . three
years. This huge tax rakeoff had to be brought to an end.
-In ou= two Budgets, we have acted decisively to reform the
* taxation system.. Las~ t year we introduced tax indexation, the
-investment allowance, the trading stock valuation -adjuistment, and
an ificreased retention allowance for private companies. All in
all, last year's tax reforms will save Individuals and businesses
over $ 1,800 million in tax In 1977/ 78. In this year's Budget, we
laecomupletely reformed the personal income tax system. These
-reforms have been possible because of the grea restraint exercised
in Government spendiLug. As from 1 February,-there will be just
three tax rates. By Increasing the minimum amount subject to tax..
a further 225,000 low income earners Including many pensioners,
students and part time workers will pay no tax. No one will pay
tax on the first $ 3,750 of their Income, and only 90% of taxpayers
will pay a standard rate tax of 32% on their income over that
amount.
All taxpayers whatever their level of Incomes will pay less
tax as a result of these reforms. in 1978-79, the first full*
year of operation, these tax reforms will save taxpayers $ 1,390
I million. Adding to that half tax indexation, which will save a
further $ 467 million, this comes te-a total of $ 1,857 million,--
I.. n our first two Budgets, the total amount of tax already saved
exceeds $ 3,000 million. These arehuge savings. LIor: uld, have
us believe that in some mystical way there,-have been no-tax cuts
at all. Last-week
W"
We promised to end Canberra's centralisation of power, centralisation
. that the Labor Party wanted. We have handed back to the States
areas of responsibility which the Labor Party had taken. The newaxsharing
arrangements have greatly increased untied grants to
State and Local Government. We promised to give'Local Government
anew deal, and this we have done.
We have acted to provide job opportunities for the unemployed,
and particularly the young unemployed. The Budget provides over
$ 100 million for employmehit training progra ae designed
particularly to alleviate youth unemployawent. These programmes
have achieved an encouraging degree of success. More than 100,000
people have benefited from them already. The special youth
traiming scheme whiich subsidises employers to take on young
people who have been out of work for some considerable length
of time has been particularly successful. And the Treasurer
announced in the Budget that the programme would be extended to
include all people under
We are prepared to increase spending on all these programmes
duringq the year, and we-will assist every eligible applicant
-who seeks support under any one of these schemes.
We promised to reform Australials : industrial relations. Under
-Labor,, the economy was dli'srupted by disastrous strikes. As we
promised we woul. d do when elected, we have legislated to bring
greater justice, common sense and consultation to industrial
relations. We have established the Industrial. Relations Bureau
and the National Labour Consultative Council.* At first the unions
refused to co-operate in these initiatives# but reversed their
stand earlier tis year. / We have
Last week in Parliament, X suggested to those Labor M~ embers who
took this line that they pay their supposedly non-existent taix
cuts into consolidated revenue as a contribution to further
lowering the deficit. Amazingly, not a single Member has yet
come forward to take up my offer.
We promised to give the business community which Labor had
ground down a chance to expand and grow. We said we would
give business the protection-it needs. We have given business
that protection, and we are creating the circumstances in which
*-business can look forward with confidence to the future. Prof its
. are moving the right way not the wrong way, as they did in the
disastrous Labor years.
In the financial year just ended, profits went up by 23.5%.
-We promised to halt the growth of big Government which under
Labor was strangling. Australia. We have reined in the growth of
' the Commonwealth bureaucracy. Last year, the Government's share
of gross domestic product fell for the first time in years. The
-number of Cormonwealth employees has been reduced by 12,000.
Under Labor ' s '-policies, they would have risen by 19,000.
4
* We have fulfilled a primary commitment when elected to require
all elections of. officers of unions registered under the
Conciliation and Arbitration Act to be conducted by secret
postal ballot. The term Of office of all such officials has
been limited to four years. Many secondary boycotts by employees
have been banned through an amendment to the Trade Practices Act;
and we have legislated to enable the Commonwealth to stand down
its own employees when strikes or work bans seriously disrupt
the proper performance of their duties. Our firm but fair
industrial policy has met with considerable success.
Our reforms, particularly the new law on secret ballots, have
had a significant impact. In the twelve months since the secret
ballots legislation was introduced, 244 applications have been
received for union elections to be conducted by the Commonwealth
Electoral Office, and at least two major unions may be required
to hold new elections for failing to comply with the legislation,
depending on the outcome of official investigations being carried
out by the Industrial Registrar.
S So far this year, we have had by far the lowest level of
industrial disputes this decade. But the position is still
far from satisfactory. Disputes created by a few extremist
elements in certain key industries, particularly the building,
Smining and maritime industries, have caused grave disruption,
and threaten to hold back national economic recovery. We will
not stand idly by and allow this to continue unabated. These
strikes and work bans are denying jobs to many unemployed.
The seaman's union ban on Utah's coal shipments has already
led to the suspension of the $ 250 million Norwich Park project,
and could lead to an enormous loss of jobs in other Queensland
coalfields. Work bans currently imposed in the construction
industry are also preventing many projects proceeding with
consequent loss of numerous jobs for construction workers.
These disputes are denying Australians the right to work, at
a time when there is a shortage of work. We * ill not allow a
minority of the union movement to damage and confront their
own workmates and the people of Australia.
The time has passed when industrial law was the one area in
which Commonwealth law was not enforced. We strongly believe
in solving industrial disputes if possible by conciliation and
S consultation; but we will not be deterred from using the powers
available to the Government if such action is required in the
national interest. And further industrial relations legislation
will be brought down in the current session of Parliament.
For the rural community we promised to take positive action to
ensure that Australian rural industries continued to play a
significant role in Australia's development. We said we would
reform the tax averaging scheme and introduce income equalisation
deposits to protect primary producers from paying unduly high
rates of tax because of sharp fluctuations in their income.
We have fulfilled both these promises.
We said we would maintain the minimum reserve price for wool.
In fact we have substantially increased it. We promised that
we would reintroduce the superphosphate bounty, ease estate duty
on assets passing between spouses, introduce a new rural / adjustment 4.
* adjustment scheme, reconstitUte the Australian Meat Board, and
implement a campaign again! 3t brucellosis and tuberculosis in
cattle. Xll of these we have done.
-The Government has also moved quickly to introduce further
measures to protect the beef industry which is undergoing a
* critical period. L; ast week we announced a series of measures
to provide beef producers with essential assistance to enabl~ e
them to last through the present, very difficult period. WIe will
contribute $ 6 million f-or a new carcase classification system.
We are entering into urgent negotiations with the Queensland
Goverramnt to ease repayments for settlers in the Brigalow Schem.
We--are--askinq tha-PJT to see if there . Is a case for a full inquiry
to be held into meat marketing and processing charges. We wJill
subsidise beef producers $ 10 a head up to $ 2,000 maximum for
the speying of heiffers and the undertaking of various disease
Control measures, and we will re-examine the terms of carry-on
loans.. household support, and Government charges in remote areas.
: We are also discussing with industry. organisations and the States
new long term measures such as the creation of a buffer fund.
We have given strong support to the Queensland sugar industry
An its dispute with Japanese refiners. No Government could
have taken f irmer action. We stand four-square with Queensland.
The Government is also taking strong action to increase access
for our agricultural products to markets in Europe, the U~ nited
States and Japan.
* We have'reaffirmed o-ur commitment to establish a National Rural
Bank, and legislation to establish it will be intxoduced this
session. Turning to social welfare, we promised to provide effective
and promnpt assistance to pensioners and those~ uwost in need.
We have acted. The Family Allowance Scheme has placed a direct
cash payment in the hands of every mother to spend as she thinks
best for her family. Unlike the previous scheme of tax concessions
for dependants, every mother and every family benefits. Social
welfare pensions and benefits and the main repatriation pensions
rise automatically twice a year to keep pace with inflation.
We have abolished the property means test, and replaced it with
a fairer and more equitable income test.. We promised to protect
-individual rights. In a period in which the power of the
Government: bureaucracy-has grown, and In which people often
feel powerless against the complexity and size of the machinery
of government, th-is. was an important promise. And we have acted.
The first Commnwealth Ombudsman has been appointed. The
Administrative Appeals Tribunal has commenced its work.
Administrative decisions which affect'any individual's rights
can be more readily reviewed in the courts, and legislation
, has been introduced to reform the law on.-criminal investigation
and to establish a Hfuman Rights Coimmisslon. j A
.1 .1 A
Lad! es and gentlemen, after almiost two intensive years of.
responsible Government, Australia has been changed for the
better.:. We have done a great deal to redress the imbalances
of the Labor years. A~ nd we intend to do a great deal more
We always recognised,. we always said, that the damage done
o~ retr h counotbeto xed eni ht. aduemlyet
to the economy ol o efxdoengt But progress-
-has been made In this area and we have also attended to other
important issues in our society, and We will be doing more to
improve industrial relations to foster business confidence,
to aid the farming' commuity, to increase assistance to those
who most require it, to protect further our basic civilI
liberties, to bring about a more efficient Government, fully
responsive to the needs of the people it is designed to serve.
This is a great challenge one in which we need your wholehearted.:'*%.
support. Let us make no mistake about it we can all be proud
of the record of the-Government and the wide range of reforms
which have been introduced. It is now up to all of us-to ensure-'--'..
that the entire electorate is nade. fully aware of the
significance of those reforms.
I am sure I can count on your full support in this task. ITh~. I