FOR PRESS 15 APRIL 1979
ELECTORATE TALK
To people around the world, Australia appears to be the lucky
country. We are a resourceful and talented people. We have
abundant farmland. We are one of the great rural producers.
* We have mineral resources that the the envy of the world and
vast reserves of oil and gas.
Australia, too, is fortunate to have a stable political structure,
and we are moving to a sound economic base. What then can hold
Australia back? The opportunities are surely great.
I often think that in our day-to-day living, in our desire to
try and make a better life for ourselves and our families, we
sometimes seem to forget that above all we are Australians.
Too often we see ourselves simply as " politicians",* or " bosses",
or " unionists", or " truck drivers", or " teachers" or as members
of one political party or another. We forget we are all part
of one community, one nation.
This blinkered view of our role in the community can lock us
in to fixed positions and narrow thinking. It makes it very
difficult to sort out problems and achieve a true consensus.
The problem is compounded when leaders from all walks of life
become locked into constituencies which expect certain responses.
This reduces the scope for change, for compromise and for
discussion. Look at some of the things concerning management, unions and
government... . things like penalty rates and wage systems.
Why did it take so long for people to sit down together on
this, at the National Labour Consultative Council? Why did
it take so long to get that first step on a question that
ultimately affects every Australian family? The need to break
down the rigidity in industrial relations is one of Tony Street's
wider responsibilities. He's working to build an environment
in which disputes are less likely, rather than to merely react
to disputes as they occur. Again, it's a matter of unlocking
ourselves from fixed and rigid positions.
The structure of the union movement in Australia is something
that affects every Australian not just rank-and-file unionists.
It is Government policy, ACTU policy and Labor Party-policy to
move towards industry based unions. But the entrenched power of
officials in craft structured unions makes such a move very
difficult. / 2
2
The belief that our interests are competing interests State
against Commonwealth, State against State, management against
unions and country against city is perhaps the greatest
inhibition to building an even greater nation.
The true interests of Australians are not competitive, they
are complementary. If an industry is more profitable, it
can sell more of its goods employers benefit and Australia
benefits. Then farmers make profit, country towns come alive
and that flows through to the city factories and service
industries.
When we take pride in Australian products, we buy Australian,
we support our own people throughout Australia. In their
hearts I believe that Australians have an intense sense of
patriotism, loyalty and love for our country. But we don't
often speak about it. We rarely articulate it in any form except
perhaps when we return from overseas when we hear people say
" I wouldn't live anywhere else"
In that sense, we are often our worst enemies by talking
ourselves down or selling ourselves short.
In 200 years Australians have achieved great things. We have
built a great nation. But by constantly remembering that we
are Australians first and last we can make this country as
others see it the lucky country.