FOR PRE" SS 25 NOVEMBER 1977
ADDRESS AT RAL~ LY AT DFAXIN, MELBOURNE
On necember 10 the peopl. e of Australia 1will be deciding
on the kind of country Australia is to become in the next
decade. Do you want Australians having the freedomn to
build the kind of life they want? Do you want incentives
to achiev'e and rewards for initiative? Do you want
opportunities -and productive jobs for our young people?
Do you want the poor and disadvantaged to have genuine
assistance which words and increases self respect?
if you want this, then the party for yon is the Liberal Party.
The Government has had to face many tough and sometimes
unpopular aecisions. Our responsibility is above all
to take the decisions we believe are right for Australia,
whether those decisions are popujlar or not.
We have not told people there are easy answers. We have
not'courted-popularity with rhetoric and easy formulas.
we are doing thie job of getting Australia back on her feet.
After the damage of IMr Whitlain's biq spendingi hicgh tax
inco-mvetent government, a government that ehanged. its policy
from week to week as the factions in the Labor Party wrangled
with each other. We have told the Aus)-tralian people the
truth about the way to cet Australia back to prosperity.
We have rej4ected the road of lavish promises, of " crash"
progjrammes, of cheap point scoring. We are doing the job
we were elected to do. We are 5oing to keep doing that job
after December
in the forefront of our minds has been the certain knowledge
that if we are going to restore employment those who genuinel y
want work we have got to gjet the economy on a sound foot ingj.
Thatis our responsiblity to all Australians.
it is our responsibility to everyone seeking a job. it is
our Yesponsiblity to the young people leaving school next
month. it is our responsiblity to all those who have come to
Australia from other count-riez in the faith that Australia
can offer them freedomn and opportunities beyond any other
place in the world.
We are fulfilling that responsibility. We'are keeping that
promise. F~ or two years vie have pursued a steady course.
our policies are succeeding. They are the only policies
that will succeed.
We have halved Labor' inflation to create jobs.
Tnterest rates are cominq dlown -thatwl help uniemployIMernt.
' We h-ave supportedl re p" onsible wage rostraint that i~ s
helping employmnent. We have givcen Autsitralian industry
the protction we promised -that is helpimnq e-mploprient1.
lie have endea Labor's tax rp-bff A-ncomie taxes at last
are coming~ dowin that. will be C1 Rmajof oost to -jobs.
The crushJinq1 tax burden which in%-reascd 125 rntunder
r ' Ti. an is being : eiedat last.
1, et iie talk for a mo,, ment about taxation bccause it has becomre
%-he nmA: Jox jciss_ of -this electAion campaigi. Tedfrne
between the two parities or, taxatl-ion reveal the fundamental,
contrast betveen the philosophies of the cgovemcnt and
Mix Whiltla-m's Lalbor riarty. Wie have talken the view) that
a reduction in the personal ta, birder, is essential to
eorioomic recovery and to boosting j'ob onprtunities.
Taxes which are too high encovirage people to scek hiqher wages,
tL-o cpestredticing ti-he tax bUrden helps tco tcVke the steam
ou~ t of the wage push; it redu! ces the upward pr-essu-re on
prices it helps . to control1 inflataon. At the _ farne timc by
Ptitting moniey directly into the hands of constuners
createS jobs b-ecause as demanid cmeseployers are encourcaqed
to hire moye people. chcigmorginal tax -&-atcs increases
incentive ane, procluct1. ion. We also believe that excessive
I-axes erode people' z. free& oni to neet 1their own needs in the
that suJits them best. In the last two year;,> our
tax changes have savedc Nostralian -taxpayers $ 3,300 ilIlion.
In February Auisralians will become thc beneficiLaries of a major
tax cduction, N ew tax scales and ino many case-9 creatly
:( ecduced niarginal ratcs almost a quarter mi1. on low income
now paying it-x will pay not tax at all -in line with
the government' general policy of heaping4 thone most in need.
The Governmentl. s deterniination to red~ uce the burenr:, of personal,
taxation does not end there. Evxeryone knows of families who
hatve been hax-xassed and put through great distrosE; by death
duties. JTsinesses have ' been broken u) p, w. idows have had to
strtiqqle along wiJthJ~ less, fani~ ilies have had no choice
but to sink themselves der-p into debt. Under this government
this distress and worry for the bereaved will cease.
As -frolf Nyoniday all estates passinmy betvieeni man and Wife,
parent. and child, will totally free of Feederal estate
and gift duty. Ovcer the life of the next P: arliament all
erstate anl ( lift duty will be entirely abolished. Mr Whi tlam
attacked thi s de-cision by claimiiing that it would not
benefit nny people. H~ e said " estate duty is p_-aid) on a
person's estate if it is w; orth more th-an $ 90,000". Hie was
clearly implying that no duty is payable for an estate
of any lesser valuie. This claim is utlterly false. The triiniimm
for many estates is only $ 20,000, For othex-si the mlaii~ m
is $ 40,000. * 4r VNIhitlam's claimn tha~ t only the wealthy bencfit
from suc-h a change is compleLely wr'ong.
Eyvaeyr bou 1300 0Cstates have to pny estatQ duty
mrany havirvg soveral benoficia~ c Tht; msthat wtany
thousands of people are affected each yi. ar by estate duty
itany of them entirely dependent on the deiceasvd's estate
for Suppoxt. It's clear that Rr 1hitlam wants to tax
AusticaliLans to death and keep on tax~ ing them after they are
dead In his incredible poli cy speech he dertonstrated
tha.: t he would0 retCurn to the policios which had so damraged
A-ustralia when Jhe was in office highor not lower personal
trixes; full wage indexation ; hugh " cash" spending
p xo gra i fe s; and poorly thought-out schemes.
Six of his programmes alone cost $ 3000 million he hasn't told
how. orc N-The; xe he would. get the money for this.
Put it's clear he'd either tax it or print it. Ta it or
pxint it whic. h is it to be? On Sundcay 12rilhitlam
riaid that tax> indexation wyould hbe positponed for a while.
on Tuesday Yir W'illis said that Lab: or would bring in -full
tax indexation from next Ouly anz3 Mx Whitlam let it beknown
that he agreed. On Wednesday, Mz Hayden sai3 the economy
Could not cope with fultl tax~ indexatlion, and Mr Hurfoxd
saiLd in Cairns that he had not read the papers yet so he
cou~ d ot sy what Labor's policy w~ as.
in the midst of all this confusion and contradiction
MNx-Whitlata announced that Mr Hurford would today mnake the
elerintive Fstatem~ ent on what Labor's' policy was, a press
conjference _-was scheduled for noon. Wll, it is long past
noon and there has still been no pres s conference.
Poor Fir Hurford left in the lujrch aclain. Acdmist the
confusion of Labor's p-overty ofeconomic -spokesmen, one fact
stands out starkl1y to abolish payroll tax.
Laborc would have to pay the States $ 8,10 mnillioni in the r s
half of 1978. In thbe financial year 1978-79 they would hiave
to Jfind $ 1900 -million. Labor has said that they would
-Finance this by raising the Australian people's taxes.
That's a total of $ 2,750 million which they 1-ou-ld rip off
the people of Auistralia. To finance this they have said
that thley would repeal the law reformingj the tax scales
which this cjovernmvnt brought in. This would raise about
() milion this year and. $ 1470 million next year.
Buit this would-still fall far short of the total ainount
they need to finance the abolition of payroll tax. a short
fall of some $ 880 million, no less. This is why they
will not cominit themselves to tax indexation. It is crystal
clear that they do niot intend to maintain it.
Mtr lWhitla-m will have to take at least $ 6 a week from the mnan on
average earnings, Mir Whitlam would remove the incentive
vie have qilven people to work overtime. He wouldI increase tax
rates f-rom-, i 32 percent to 45 percent. He would rip this nioney
out of the hands of the Australian people and give
it to big and profitable cormpanies. 3ust to take a few
examples. Utah would get a windfall of $ 2 million.
$__ MILLION
C RAl11
1-0i i3MK S
C 2-the f act of -the 7-attrer is thait tishin,--ay_-oil tax
~~ co'tu i n eas clcyjnent. IrDmtr ; cs t1hat, and
co3n10et dd tet
The Goencthasared xi$ apw; ltx
relrli~ sion scheme: fcund thu~ t 4 t does not ce-ate ep. oyrneni..
recn ou v e y o f ig e ernf L C; y Tc, ealed a> t n t one
Ccriwk surveyed -waiz preparel " Co foxecast an", oras in
t. jheir own plyre~ levels, ifE Ynayroll tcax ~-eabolished.
Tile 8Qrvey Showed tha, n the contrtary, eal~ cr
consid-ee! Mr 1-hitan andt Mr Nawe's policy ' Lufcll wage
1~ 1~ ut~ o tec c i ty o: bu si n es toc create new
iosworse_ not Ina. t' 3r. habo r ' s so he me w4c'u I: rt the
. J~ emlovdanrt : manfy slmall siewenhcar-e already
~ mtfrom pa-ycl i tax, btwould be lumberedc with higher
wqe costs and i~ personal tax comolitments.
Ro? Kr Cripp has gcot into the act. Lfie a parrot he has come
olut wiAth exactly t'j. i cam e d iSa s-L,. r ou s e c orno i c PoCT)-'; . A
1, abor Party. LiAc Labor, hie wanu,-to spend i-nf liaionary
8,0 m-iillion. tlj Ei Luab: or, he wantgs to end p4--011 tax for
Comnpanies. L k e L. alao r h e oan t s ay, o r h e w't s-: y
wh ax-e w e Iposz-inarice al' -nse schemc-s.
On one economic is-sule M~ Chbipp has maae aizn Ea
of out-bidding Mr k htar ny et 1oi lmin rcrease
txon overtime. Z Chipp vants to end any c-7rtimae being
padat all, by er~ diric lealty rates. That on the
r-o on s tti ff. The nis. oudnever accopt that. The Axrbitration i
wom~ 2. nvou! 6 newver -, gree to it. T hje Li b -raI Paty
will have nothIng t do wi-thn thr-destructive _ con: omic poli. cl-Zos
Of either party.
Ltsloolk at the ne-,, t planlk Laber ' s cncicpolicy.
tnhis policy sp~ ae Mr Whitiam comnittedl LaQrto resor
integrity to the ge indlematCion udie.-
it has t-aken a bare eight days for this item of Mr Whit-Lam
Policy speech to crash in ruins. M~ r Whitlan's careful
formulas have come unstuzck they canf now be seen for what
they w--ere -devices to conce al decisions M! X1 laf was not
pepared to place -erethe PAustTaliar peopzeR.
I-ecislorns ho knew would be iris-tantly rejectad if -they ever
became knowrn. HeI said Labo-' Iwold restor: e inltegrity
to-he wage ineat-in qieLre.
lie meaint -Labor has reachedl an aqrec-mertt with the trade
union movemen't which, after all, pays the Labor -Party' a
bill,. s that they woulet bac'K the trade iinions clais for naxinur
wasincreases regardless of t41 onejuroe o
cenploywcent and f1o.-r INustralia's chances of economiic recovery.
ror tile last eight days, Au stralia has witnessed incredible
pre\' aracation F49 La + bor has trieed to keep this ayreemrent
concen" Ied. Mr WhitU!' s0 policy speech was only hsolrs old when
Mr flayden said that 11, r Whitlam's formu" La i-neant suipport for full
wage indexation but only for people on less -than average
iqeeklIy cearnings. y Sundiay Mx Witlwm waos saying that Labor
wantcod full wage iriiexation forc everyone. Mr H-ay'den confessed
he miaght wrong. " I fee: l I'mxr on sh~ aky ground", he saidl.
iie said questions o-n -wager indexationi sh~ ould be directedl to
Ir vWillis: " T work the economic area" " it's a demarcation.
pxoblem." So rmuch for iMr )-ayden afs an economric: ianager.
if he baliceg wages policy is outsido the econic area,
he certainly on shak; y grouind. Mr Whitlam with his usual
deylrc e of frnk 3a irccted his pxess secretary to say;
" Tm here wa s n o ota i ct on " between himnsel I ard Kr Hayden
on wac . flexatlon. The pxess secretary said: " We are
coiruitted to full wage inde> xatin, but no one has over arked
abouit the level at which full dndexatiori would6 apply."
1, ow today, M~ r 13awke has come straight oiit an-d said, with brutal
frainkness, that he is not pre-pared to wear M-r Hayden's
position on wageincde> atioj. Mr Hawkze has made Crystal
clear that under himn the trade union im'ovement stands for the
biggest wage grab it can get regardless of how many people arc
thrown ouit o~ f jobs as a resuolt.
The Labor Party is once again demonstrating wlhat Australians
learnt to grea-t cost in 19-73-75: the Labor Party
does not unlers tand the economy, has no: economic policy,
and under its present ontiuton is incapa-ble of foi-malating
an economic policy. The Governm-ent has a clear consistent
policy decided by Cabinet. There is one policy, the policy is
clear. Unlike the Labor Party the government has pi-rsued positive
and constructive policies which actually work. 120,000 people
mostly ycunq people, have been helped by our training schemes
the CP47rAFC' Stchenie for apprentices, the NEAT scheme, the
education rprocgrame for unemploye6 youth to namne some
of these schemes, eaCh of which is designed to do a particular
job, and is goinig it. We are spending more-than $ 10+ 0 million
on train ing and j ob assistance schemes which especially
help young people -learn new skills.
One of the m. Tost. im:? Dctzntaihceare -the qovernment has
an outstanainq rcco-rd of a,-Jc-vemer~ t -is in relation to
t~ e ;:" qil1atloni. It his 45 inute pol10c peeoh
Mxr Ti tI I d id 1" ot hIV e o1nICcCo nt: rt Ic-1. ive vord to propo Ge
about-, thu trade Imiolls Mr Hweand thie . Ift-WATin
u) nion laeswouldntt allow iL-. The lf'iguin
pay mconey to the Labk-or Party, They hav" e a large voice
tIe-j nn ofticial ALP icy That'I w! hy -it i F
Labor's official -Poli4cy to put unions iabove thC: law.
Th at' s -wy I; bor end orsed t he V ic torian power st rhC
TAhe y enrd6or-s e d a~ st rik e wh ic h TidJ ofA'f 6450D, 000 p e ) plIe fo r
wes; they end orcsed a str~ tke wh ich threw 3 -0 0Q peopl e
cnpceyouit otf a job. faboc.-e' policy ol lettintq the
-onacio ns have their Iheail xe-su. ItcI-. in a reooxd period
oi strPnes and dnduiatriat. lwasncss w; b-rn Jhey' we.-e in
Cf) fiC e. WT have s-how'n that a gove rrCmerlt prepared t1-o
take a flirtni and faiir stand cani protect. the. to putblic.
v; e have ihown this in the aic control. Ser stie nth~ e
posalworkers dispute, in the case of th CTsu~ anixrn
moratorunv they backeld do-wn. AIin -thb Victorcianl pxwer
diSPut'-e, it was our n-ove t~ o tt he iutenri , oen iirm olved
+ hat led to the s;-kr tur;-nInC to % work.
Of courze, bir 1~ weclaimcs the-% credift or bceirg the Cireat
ne:. ace miakex-An that elspute. yohn~ have seen Lcabor' z
~ wner i n which he is in a motel room u rel pac)'; anc
his Y; aqs to-, go out-and resolve another of his dispute-,
well An the, case oY the V~ ictoxicin di; r pvOte, it took
Mr J-. Awke 9 ek to Pack hi s bags ( let ( O* tL of his lotel
room and take a hanid.
unliTkC the Labox-Party we hcave ta-ken the viewi-, that no one
can be abc: te law, that individual unionistps havc: ia
rigjht to haheaxrd, and to ) o pCL tct from Intimidation,
thsat, it is the responsibility of: the qove* crim: nt--to prot-ect
the intILerests ol-th-e whole com-lanity.-
We have ree laws pro-tecting~ individual utiionistG and gie
resonsblerank anid file unionists the chance -to makv, t'heir
voiccs hCe4) d secxret posta:: l ball ots for union elec-tions are
now compu'& 1sory, therc is a four yea.-, celling on the ter of
office of union. officials,. We hav,, e set up~ the Thdjwstriaj
Pelatiorns Bureau, to 1* protectq-the p-ublic Jlntecrcot and
alJ'o to zAct ; is an inutilombud!, zmrn, Unions are o
revtire3 to tell their members ho) w union dues are spenvt,. IL, ie
aye pxotsectirig indivi6duals. against: being forcedl to jioin
unions against tI-he-ir -will. Diarnaq Tnq Secondary boycott,-, have
b--en bried. Al~ l this add,-uip tou -fIrrA and regponsible
policy which has the support oif all aepni~ unoitrnd
which protectsa the rciqhts of the individual uniionst andI the
pub'Lic.
L3, de5 an1d q e It 1c,' we0 Want Australia to beable to
Waac-r(,-a1 co" iLbut-ion in th---1etsr! of the worlc6; if wc
va nt Austr: Dlia ' kto be -ce-2pectt-d in t~ he cc ils of the AwOrld;
if we want A ustraa -to wzoving in top qe3r we have
to i-ake a stand-u-aj-5 a people ( inS, take . it noc1w.
c yeac of tile gay KO OMnMaoTSy
11ave been laid, ." OT et o vel. xcveyopyventst are
i-ovinc in every par-. o{ ul: aia oniec
Ai3 bIA4Cdno lip. If we can keelC, to the present Course
O'ur futur-' e is lzn-1imt 0 r. The inrqedIient Aiistra2.! ia now ne, j
certainty-v-cer-tainty that the rrespLcmsible policies
ofr ithc ' Last two y~~ swill be contiie iorc the next
th~-e years. Certainty tha't ab z~ rs~ a clovermm-~ ent which
cudws hat it 4; 3 dciinq and has a policy that "'; Orhs.
Mr 14hita'~ s axroach of government by wr; anTgle has becn. tricd
an6 it doe~ n't woxh. Australia neeeds rcsponsiblc waqje restraint.
n-Pees cons1-ructive policies for tradc urions.
Austral Jka needs responsible spending I70rarcunes, not lav ish
ill conceived " crasht' pyoyr-ates. liustrcalia needs lower
not higher tax,-es.
Thi s i the ay to get unemploynmEnnt ( lown-an u keep i4t down. j
S qfet o ihte-job.