.' J
PRM MINISTER .29 OCT1OBMM 19~ 77
Z. 12 AUS1Th~ J! W LnMV1LIIA T STAT. JCDDNCt
am here todLy to. issueyou-an inivitationand a challenge.
An in~ vitation~ to join with me and-my fellow Liberal M. P. s in
the. ret~-= A Liberal -Goverirent. A chail'e~
to (= tax into the-. coming cwpaign with, such entlrasiasm and Co~ ait-
7; ci% that. we wil ot, 4us= wiu w& e will. win with a taipinq
' tr, WL-with -ntmajority the Govenment
caz~ oa ul its. tadnk o-2 repal. z?. ng the terrible d~ zaga wVhic! h
La7cr. inic&~ oL al Auutxcalia! Is; restoring the econow to
' he&: thpnogf Inflatiorl even7 fur'her down; of cutting taxes
and. ~ oi~ thep iDC% 3= t! Va to work; oZ proteting individual.
: La~ zlectop Will also emstixa that tba Govermnent contiLnes to
l a-soli& ma' o ity* in laoth 1ou. F or on December, I th, all
~ XteZ Oa -O hei 6s'. t naie and half the Senatz will
Stha I1t;~ m~ kao w that c= dccizion to hold elc ' ioas
la souriOC s imltn-oUzly Will widely. Welcorazed. It i3 a
3~ iLa Q~ fltz~ Lsezse thbtt elections Z2o both Ho-ases
7-10-~ t Vial'it to pTi~ Tractice oo
aa
if Y2, Lotth-ziIzI xe; is not in. the pu~ v. in
Lix ~~ ert cLl~ t'~ same actic-in holdi~ jg
an ac'tq cncoi tha elactiior fo
~ C~~ ih~ z Lv1~ dz~ 20-thi r ecOvcy to
o-& ZC z= C sf;' aa
~ o w~ a ~ u qure is ~ pi~ of
/ cer~ tainty : 4
I 4.
certainty and.-confidence ir. the cormunity not just for months
but for beazz ahead.
I need hardly say how undesirable any lack of certainty or confidence
would be at a time when school leavers will shortly be seeking to
enter~ the work force.-
We were determined to do -what v a3 dnAuatraliza's beat. long-term
interests, and in the'' end -to ensure t'liatcontinued confidence
* pxevailed, , it was clear a ' Decemiber election met-those interests best.
Chairman, at the ' election, all South Australians -all Australians
will, be faced. with a clear choice., one choite is .'-hat offered by
Labor-. Thisis one election in which-the Opposition's policies waill
* have been tried and tested.. They were . all . tried . in three years of
disastrous Labor rule. -In that test they all dismally failed.
Yet JXr. w?~ itlaxn is geaxring up his tired old team-once again to
trot out the: sae tired oldl policies. esyiot of.-his shadow
ministers are. experienced men... They certai~ r experecd
They are t3he 1very same men who together created record inflationit~
hit a peak of over 29%. They are the vezy-same men who together
created economic ztagnation gross 46mdatiic product actuallyi fell
in* 1975. ' That -was ani experence wea will ever. forget;.
Mtr. -Whitlam fe"*' gns concern'for the unemployed. Yet he is the maon whost.
Government p: roducea a record ri: se In uneploymvrlt up 157% in one
year. He is: the = an who refuses point blank to condemn the handful
ofA extremist unionists xqho, through unnecessary disruptive strikes,
deny thousands * of lustralian vorking', men and women -the right to work.
Those extremists alI. run. unions which are Affiliated with the Labor.
Party. Uniorz whose de: legates vote on Lab:, r. Pa~ ty policyj which is
binding on all Lcabor rarzñ antxians. They are the so-called
industral wing. orE Mt~. Witla-mls own party. . Yet as. leader, will he
take tche . lead and = t~ udiatc-th: eir tactics-and thIfe unemployment they
Qc-eate? -No, lie reiiaans silent.
3jr Aniserfor In-% u-. riia. ' Relation,", 14Ir. Willis, in an A. B. C.
icaecas4, slapports the 2,000O Victor--n -power wor. esw'o~~ u~ d
Of -;. houzandus imnocent strlas -includi. ng ma~ ny thousands ol
south~ Aust:: aliaas out of worX0 Doea Mr. Whitlam disown this
cxtrcorinzry stat:-eaient ol coimpl -city by his own front bench
coX2eale? Ble does not. Yar. Wbitl= 43 revord shows ' he knows
nothbin; alazut crezat-irg : obs. Bult 4e can all agree he ise an expert#_
a~ d end~ nq Aobz. Ino~ ic, he sacked two Treasurers. This week he
has jus3t sacked his t.* fiwa i yden. But Mir. Hayden does not
care. C, Phxsday, he told art A-. C reporter that " It did not
look as i; Eta: w~ arz cao1m z-e ic affairs which needed his
loz~ tlAy ustralia, -% hazre is a : 3et-ter choice. The -eturn
01 Liberzi Government iw-ich c~ zes zfor individu'al Auairralian! 3.
Th. 973w~ oocon ar6 -a. o-nous t , k nothing less than to save
Austrlia ron cozowac raiyi. rJThae e= onory bad beez ' gravely -oi. zwnT)&
a g ; edd h~ tir, an4 mlym had risen
~ tet'' 7~ ant adLe vc Juzit a. teeply. There
1) e afall in ral~ iational pzoduct. / Because
Becai~ of the ernority o1l oux task~, there could.. be no quick
z; 4: easy tsolution. We: did rnot'promise cooplete recovery overnighti.". 1-1
4hat we. dicl unjdetake was to reverse the run~ away growth ih
inflation anid interest rates, restore real growth, bring back.
4 oentive and. thus qet-AUttra2Ia'_ qn. the.. 1; Ove aswaln.
X wny two xr.. ntlhs, : we livz zlready achieved much o2 what we
U. cok3 t11o'Zio. .: iz -cx mst we have b roken % e bac,
i 1975 i fiai-w unn a 61E. s
X yea, i a~~ has been zun~ inq at an amiiual = ate ot
9 T izoease ia itha CPI racently a.-nou~ czd was the
lo4, zor live yqr, apaxt A" rom the qusriter Med'Ibaxk waz
introd'. 3cad. _ As lv.; Xrised, we-have ipposed the most rigorous
re~ it uor-Genn~ enii~, d reduced the'inflationary
Ld r in two * vcceasive Budgets, ; y half a billion~ dollars. We
have m ntQ-ie d. 4rz control -over. . thie raie ofE growth 02 mnoney
anti ove-r the. zate of, growth of. the . Coverrxaent bureaucracy. A3
we -rmivsied , h aive m de. substantial cuts in perzonal income
tax~ an the rate. scale. . This financial yer a
indexation -* ad latest. tax xeforms will save i-ndividual tax
~ ayes cvr $ 3 ~ ilo. Next yeAr, th& -total savings will be
ove. 2
We have. E. SO introduced eszential-: tax conceissions for business.
and thIe ~ rigand. pet~ ro'ci industries, thus restoring the
incantive fo= businezz-to knveat, and for mxining and oil
ex?, c ~ Oration-to start -up again. Labor sifled ntineral developm~ ent
~ n ~ 4 ha z~ arc~ i for. oil -to -a complete hAlt Unde2z thiz
Govrnrment, oiII. search ir, well under w~ ay. 3ust last -Month it
wias anrnor-noed that $ 300 mill. on wIll be spent in oil e -Cloxation
off JVs_ itrr A zt ! alia In response to-these policis, there baa
beezn rzai u i~ n the economic outlook ' Lox, Australia.
V~ e no-v a the t o be obt-3inedl 2rom iiarm ant,-irCo7
policies which encouage
XLaGYZ ' ye~ r~ a oz, sacos-or o: 5 the aconomy grow by in
real t~. i. Coroy .?-) oEIta t-arZe -p 2.3f, aid real houzehold
oi -1M-1a u-a b o tax cuts and the am! Y
ao& DchZemp_ 112 higher~ ta in the previou-, year.
iirrouz. ! arc tri and4 mtining -projects have been armounced
th-: Wezi 2 development, huge 0%-PanzionsL in
21c~ the apid davelopnt of coal
1~~ t-i e ~~ r~ ngsactor wiere ; Fiu cd in the3n
i~ 73s/ ~ . Siuz~ a .) ix tiles -to $ 826ilin
So 4~ iw= vrnn our trade z-Lrd
W3~ ic tri be exp cte tCo
/ in
.3n responsei., our*-atronger externual position, and the evident
success in our-fight to reduce inflation, interest rates are
now falling -an important ingredient for further economic
recovery.-
One aspect. of'., the -economy wich is far from satisfactory is
unemployment-, particularly arongat the young. This Government
is most cortcexned-: for those w~ ho cr~ nnot find jobs, We have
undertaken a wie-ranginc-_-t-_* ztegy to curb'unemployment and
czrezate new emplpyment 0-o unte. Since we came to offtice
we have. fbur~ d'jobs for 850& 000 people through ' the CoTzauorwealth
Employm~ rat _ Service.-We. iave -introducea o. expanded. manpower
and traininag. prora~ es R . Tthe Special Youth Unemployment
Training PrqameteCoimmunity. Yoith. Sup~ ort Scheme, the
Scham. for Apprentices.: Over 122,000 people have
participated* already in th~ ese schemes*' This. year we will spend
mo~ riea n $ 10 miliora.-to. c ontinue-,. and expar'& them. No eligible
person'wi.-be -' refused asitneudrthese schemes. We have
undertaken majozr: of.~ ensave -to redue unenployment amongst
abaiisi2zas. The_ -14niatetZo2r. 7 Eucation :. las-set up new
vocationaly-',> vte& educaition courses to assist young
* unampla % red-to. C Tev-lop bzasic,. ak4I. lS,., ncI Just a few days ago
onerence-i-was agreed,. at out initiative,
thaat. Youth Rplolment. Task. Foic eBtU nec
State, * to -oersuada : ezrp1oyers to.. take additional young people on
to thieir-. payroUl fomlsgix~ of next year.
one lactor which would grea" ly reduce unemployment would be a
reosible -uniom attitude tow~ ards wage deipands. For, as
we & 12 ~ oc~ yy~ epeare out of -work becaua
* through = iion demandog t: heiz award wages haye priced them out
o~ f the la: or market. W e havc consistently arg'ued bef ore the
ALrbitration Co~ u.* sslon ! or restraint in wage increases. ' Re have*
aad sore~ zuCcese but not a~ s much as we would have liked. ' Union
, leaders coxitinue to presio for excessive wage demands,, and the
most daiaag:. ng at. Lke5 -in recent months have beer. de& signed to
bri. k tte to s uie-alines, ilout thie euthorlty of the
Abiation Coimissio; n and booiit the inflationary wage apiral.
The ;:-rzcent Vtos az i-l_-~ 3rike teas Just such an exaple. Inr
Victozia milxo Pe? wie-re 2aid off, and .1 know
C laid of~ f i3-, Sout-h Australia as a
-ios w -_ Lzar that souxe thousanc-L Of
1Lit ofi: atxi__ wi~ l. l not be~
~ tkz , trike szent their employers bankrupt*
TiA t 4 y ZOM-3 re tOffiCialS OZ a 2Aew
-zck--xzteL swytu( 020otkL concillation and arbitzation
Muot ! DeV t Qil ceztzinly resisted zo long
is~_ zii-L thizs country.
aez a-; odcei o s al legialation debigned to
~ j t~ hae agrcter ay in the
( ZIfa~ zz; 0_; y t~ o cire -that the pulblic interest
. C : O -kis of~ indistrial disruption.
i& poztal ballots for union elections.
c nsuxe Thalt inuial. law is
Wider : Crnge of consequences for
ZL zdpxcvided the conditions in
til;'' : 2n ae eoIve action ca-n be taker. under
~ he o~ ii~ in i~ a~ io Act to deal withn demarcation
disputes. / We
have iL-c~ oduced legislation izato he-Pa rliau-ent which will
ensure -thaz unions sukpit ana amoial, report to their rembers.
it m. ight have been expected that thals legislation which protects
the rights of individual workers would-have been supported by
the Iabor Party -the self-styled guardians of the working man.
iBut they nave coxidemed -every piece. of industrial legislation we
have i-ntxoduced.. Zey-have opposed secret ballots which are
dasiqgid to giva union nmbers a rea. say in the zvunninSj of
their u~ Aion.' Thay h# ave-opposed leqiAz2.~ tion which will. pxotect
the riglht to work. -They have oposed ; 1t, ' not becamse thay
thoug'at it aile1 to. achieve its, aim. but because it is official
Labor Party policy t o placiz ltrade uaion above the law.
Mr. Whi"-Iam knows Ili is bound by-that policy. That is Vr. y a Year
ago ' he de fende d political & trikes by trade unvionz. That is why
on televis-Ion this wee'--he reiused.. to sy what a lzbor Goveryment
would do ' ii a wunion re-Yused to accept an Arbitration Co=" Zaioni
decisionv He iwezkly. claimed no Goverx~ ent ever solved an
Industri.& l diaputa., t a. iu t patexntly -a Zalse claim -as
he well knows*
it was the CO= 1011waalzth that brought the air contro-llers strike
to an er4. was-the str-ong stand~ of the. Victorian and
Comwneal~. Governments' that cortributed to the endIng of the
Victorian power. di spte,.
Labor wou~ ld wash its hanids abdicating.. al11 responsibility for
industrial disruption-', Litle wonder that the nvmber of days
lost * through-stxi kes in the Zirst six months of 1974 was six
tie he istri2e:: losZ, in Tesame pariod thi s ye& Or-ly uiydex
a ibra. Goveirnzment wiIU the lawd sd applied Yairly but firmly
~ n dtriil -I~ teTii;. T2h~ s is the only way industrial bce
Whil" t Co-7.16io Oarravo maha 0uph CcS2X i d
' Th Gv xn~ t soven: di-nq con. ern~ -to p) ut% AUstzalia iaily back
o~ ni -rzt~ hto econoraic ze~ cove'-v hz pxrevanted -as ~ Zoiu
i2~~ txzia~ re ~~; soc-fl aid leid relfors. Az W
ietie s ~ c~ e to those most
a ~ i PaaL, c~ w&, ca Sc;, th~ i : Lrdexation oZ social
hvs g van to hwn~ ica-pep adu2. ta nra
ou noner wJiii'V theZ. disz vagj-r aged,,
A-a 1 a o, anId ' enhanced _ giua~
TAui t Yizs-c Onmbu& sman, tha w~ ork ol r c-
~ riuaa~ the~ i~ rpiUed WayS 01
Lz n b=. eiura-' ic cso our lagiSlLtion ' ior aPa
~ icC~ T-i4o t~ i : ur concern to 5elz-ad civil
w we hava ; tcua care to : Chdo
a se-o: 7, s-~ t and Affal'lC We are
~ Aa~ Or r. erv-. ce to Woollocog
broac& caszI~ tnS sezvica aZth~ rzizi c.,_ adio on a sec~ vze,
basis. / we contracted.
We contracted out the provision of services to a migrant
welfare group in Melbourne and the experiment looks like
being an outstanding success. We are conducting an extensive
information campaign through the ethnic press to inform migrants
of their rights regarding Government services available to them.
And we have appointed the Ghlbally Enquiry into Post-Arrival
Services for Migrants, which will, I believe, lead to dramatic
new -, programmes-for migrants in this country. Recently, We have
announced a further $ 2.3 million for the migrant education
programme, which includes funds for intensive English language
courses during the December-January v4acation period using
excess capacity in language laboratories which might otherwise
lie dormant during the vacation period. This idea arose out of
the work of the Galbally Review.....
As we promised, all our policies are designed to increase
individual choice, to allow all Australians to make more
important decisions affecting their... own. 1Ives..
our taxticuts have allowed Australians m~ ore say over how their
:. own bard-earned-income is spent. -Government policies-. to assist
abrgnlconuunities have been re -oriented to give first
priority-to aborigines participating in running their owrL
programues; and of course our reforms of Meclibank, which are
n~ ow widely popular and widely accepted, have restored freedom
of. choice in health insurance-..
As we promised, we have reversed those Labor policies which
discriminated agaiyist the rural community. Far more money is
given to local govermrent and to rural roads. Income
. equalisation-deposits-and tax averaging have greatly helped to-
.!: Maintain incom~ es of rural producers during ~ a difficult period of.
* depressed markets, rising costs, and now a terrible drought.
Our recent package of assistance to the cattle industry and our
decision to establish an Australian Rural Bank clearly demonstrate
our determination to ensure the continued viability of o-ur rural
industries.
One group in our coimunity that has been through a most difficult
period and which we have actcd to help and will continue to
assist is the small businessman. The tax concessions we have
introduced have greatly helped small buainess particularly the
trading stock evaluation adjustment, the easing of division 7 tax
and the cuts in personal income tax. We realised that a mAjor
-problem facing the s= 11l businessman was-his diffIculty in
obtaining adequate funds to finance-growth and expansion.
3-ecause-of this, we have recently introduced a package of
measures to. make f inance more readily available to small business.
Ladies and gentlemen, a start has been made. Much of what we
undertook in 1975. has, already been. fulfilled. We can proudly
assert no Government has in just two years-legislated more
thoroughly to reform our society, to bring about the recovery
of our-economy. No Government has d mnstrated such a real
concern for individual rights. / But
IP.. opi3 4
7-
But much more remains to be done, and we cannot afford to
relax one-moment: in our. fight to keep inflation moving
further-: downwards, in our determination to get Australia
on the move Again..-
Only a Libetial.. Governzoent. has the policies, the ministers and
the wia1l tomake. Australia the great country we all know it
can be. I know that you will all take., up my irvitationand
challenge to work with me and my fellow Liberal M. P.&-in
ensuring,-: the-triumphant return of a Liberal.-Government on
.4.
t X.'