FOR PRESS 8 SEPTEMBER 1978
OPENING OF NORTHERN TERRITORY
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
Your Excellency, Your Honour, Mr Speaker, Honourable
Members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
This is an exciting day for the Northern Territory.
Just three months ago, the Commonwealth Parliament
passed the historic Northern Territory ( Self-Government)
Act 1978.
That Act established this Territory as a distinct body
politic within the Australian federation. It vested, in
the new Government of the Northern Territory, executive
authority over a wide range of matters.
The powers of this Government will be further enlarged
next year, when on 1 January health, and on 1 July
education, also become its responsibility.
You are embarking on one of the noblest adventures open
to any people democratic self-government. It is one
of the hardest systems in the world to run, but it is
also certainly the best.
Democratic self-government involves the building of a
consensus on policies and actions; on maintaining mutual
trust and confidence; on protecting the rights of
minorities; on enhancing individual freedom and tolerance
for alternative lifestyles; on recognizing that there is
a public interest in which we all share. This is a complex
and challenging task. The fact that you are embracing it
with such enthusiasm determined to surmount the problems
which will inevitably confront you is to be applauded.
You are choosing the only form of government that truly
represents the people and that is truly responsible to
the people. The only system that provides the ultimate
guarantee of freedom and good government the right of
the people to change a government merely by casting a vote.
But democratic self-government is much more than just a
method of exacting responsibility from Government. ' It is
of the most fundamental importance to peoples' development.
To allowing people to realise their potential through
politica. participation; to enhancing their initiative,
enterprise and responsibility.
John Stuart Mill wrote: " The most important point of
excellence which any form of government can possess is
to promote the virtue and intelligence of the people
themselves. The first question in respect to any
political institution is how far they tend to foster
in the members o-E the community the various desirable
qualities moral, intellectual and active."
Democratic representative government is an institution
which does foster these qualities and there lies its
ultimate justification the freedom and responsibility
that it makes possible and that it requires.
For decades ultimate authority for the administration
of the laws governing the Territory's day to day affairs
was held by people thousands of miles away. People who did
not always comprehend the Territory's special needs.
Mr Speaker and Honourable Members, the remedy now lies
in your hands. I do not wish to speak today in any
detail of financial matters and no doubt Honourable Members
are already well acquainted with the memorandum of
understanding signed by your Chief Minister and myself.
But there is one observation about the new financial
arrangements that I wish to make.
In negotiating these arrangements, we are determined that
there should be a direct relationship between the expenditure
determined by the citizens of the Territory and the taxes
and charges levied in the Territory. By so doing, we were
seeking to put responsibility where it should be. In the
absence of such procedures, self-government would have
fallen short of responsible self-government, and power
without responsibility is the very antithesis of our
democratic system.
The new arrangements still provide for considerable financial
assistance from the Commonwealth, and leave wide scope for
your Treasurer to put into effect your Government's policies
in accordance with its own priorities.
To all Honourable Members of this House, I wish you well
in the great tasks and opportunities that await you.
Inevitably you will attract criticism and that in
itself is healthy. But you will also attract, whichever
party is in power, something else to which you should not
succumb the great Australian disease of " knocking".
Too often Australians have concentrated on purely destructive
criticism on trying to pull things down without thought
to the consequences and without seeking to put anything
in its place. The only criticism really worth listening
to is that which presents a constructive alternative. / 3
We all have an obligation to work together and to build
on those great values we all share as Australians. The
things that unite us are far more important than any
differences we may have.
By breaking down the Australian tradition of knocking
and by working together to create a stronger sense of
national purzose and co-operation, there is nothing
we cannot achieve.
The Commonwealth will give every assistance it can in
the years ahead, working to maintain the close
consultation and co-operation between our two governments,
which has been established during the two years of planning
and negotiation that were needed to bring self-government
to reality.
I have every confidence that, with concerted effort and the
support of the people, the future for the Northern
Territory is secure and I look forward to the day when
the Northern territory finally becomes the seventh state
of Australia.