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4AUS RL IA
PRIME MINISTER
FOR PRESS 5 DECEMBER 1977
The opinion polls have panicked Mr. Whitlam into an extraordinary
series of falsehoods on inflation and unemployment.
M r. Whitlam has embarked on a last-ditch panic campaign of
fear and deception.
He shows total disregard for truth and fact, and for the
statements of his own spokesmen.
Mr. Whitlam claims Labor will reduce unemployment by at least
100,000, yet a few days earlier Mr. Hayden claimed Labor would
reduce unemployment by one half of one per cent that is,
30,000 people.
Mr. Whitlam. has magically found jobs for 70,000 people in
just a few days with the stroke of his speech writer's pen.
The fact is, Labor's wage policies and its discredited tariff
policies, and its determination to once again reduce tariffs
even further, would add directly to unemployment in Australia.
Mr. Whitlam should visit a textile or clothing factory and
ask if they think he would reduce unemplyment. He would
get a rude shock.
Mr. Whitlam claims Labor would reduce inflation by 5% in the
next twelve months. Yet in his policy speech he claimed
Labor would reduce it by 2%.
Mr. Whitlam' s speech writer has again weaved his magic. This
time he got inflation down an extra 3% in just a few days.
The fact is, Labor's disastrous wage policies and its big
spending programmes will increase this year's deficit by
from one third to one half in just six months, and that
would ignite inflation.
Because of the inflation these policies would again cause,
business and consumer confidence will be shattered which will,
in turn, lead to thousands of Australia's trade unionists
losing their jobs. / The .7
-2
The exagg~ rations and falsehood ' s that riddle Mr. Whitlam' s
statement only compound Labor's confusion on economic
matters. Just a few days ago, one of Labor's spokesman on the economy,
Mr. Hayden, said there would be no growth next year, but
4% growth was needed to cut unemployment.
Yet almost in the same breath, Mr. Hayden promised 1% growth
under Labor, and then claimed this would cut unemployment.
That is the same kind of hypocrisy and double talk that
comes from the men who increased unemployment by 192,000
in one year and who presided over an inflation rate that
reached a peak of 19%.
They are the same men peddling the same policies.
Australia could never survive their medicine again.
We are getting inflation down. It is running at about 9%.
Under our policies, interest rates will come down further.
The expected 2% reduction means a great deal to a young
couple borrowing for their first home -about $ 500 a year
on average.
Getting interest rates down will mean a great deal for
business -small and large.
All of this means jobs; thousands of jobs for Australia..
Under our realistic-. policies, unemployment will fall . in a
sustainable way from February onwards. Labor would destroy
the hard-won gains of the-last two years.