FOR MEDIA 29 APRIL 1979
ELECTORATE TALK
It's easy enough for Canberra politicians to make pronouncements
about great national and international issues. It's easy
enough to make speeches about " confidence returning" and
" recovery proceeding". The myriad sets of official figures
and surveys provide a sound enough basis for these statements.
But that's only part of the picture.
Surely, the only real measure of a nation's pulse is its people
what we are trying to achieve, what we feel and how we look
ahead to next week, next year, the years beyond -that.
Thi~ s cannot be found in any list of figures, or reports or
surveys. Only be spending time with people, in their own
backyard, can leaders in the community and leaders of Government
guage the real hopes and fears of Australians.
As Prime Minister, I have a responsibility not to lock myself
away in Canberra. I have to ask myself constantly are our
policies meeting the real needs of our people spread over a
vast continz~ nt?
Over the last few days, Tamie and I have been talking with
school kids, parents, businessmen, farmers, pensioners, blokes
in bars--people from all walks of life in the south-west
-corner of Australia and in Bundaberg on the Queensland coast.
These areas are thousands of miles apart. The people we spoke
with had very different problems they had very different
needs. Yet the over-riding impression was one of enormous
confidence of great faith in our country.
Men and women were looking ahead with the kind of spirit and
optimism that I haven't seen in Australia for a long time.
" We all know there are still problems, but we are going to make
the most of what Australia has to offer", was the kind of
comment made over and over.
Of course, people are concerned about different things. The young
people I spoke with at schools and on a television program showed
a concern a natural concern about uranium policies and
about our international obligations to refugees. They lookud
at these issues with intelligence, sensitivity and a moral
f orce that says something most telling about Australia'Is f uture.
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They were looking for explanations to questions that they had
thought about deeply to questLions that governments think
deeply about.
Many of the older and harder heads of the men in the Workers
Club at Norseman were worried about wages and wage justice.
I was disappointed to hear they had been told that the
Arbitration Commission w-ould never listen to them unless they
reinforced their case by going on strike. Of course, that is
nonsense. The Commission looks at the merit of a case and
a strike simply isn't part of the merit.
Many of the blokes who were sLriking realised that the
Arbitration Commission is the umnpire and that they would
get a fair go from -the umpire. They k1now -they are only
losing money and harming their home life by using the
strike weapon as a first step.
Of course, Australians generally speak their mind with direct
language and frankness. We will always argue about issues
we will always have a go at government, But today, we understand
that governments have many complex and difficult problems to
face up to and overcome. There are alway7s problems to solve.
People look at the worth of government by how it goes about
tackling -those problems.
As a Government, we are committed to responsible management
of the nation's affairs. We will not shirk the tough decisions.
We will. not govern through the popularity polls. From what
I've heard in the last few days talking to average Australians,
we would fail as a Government if we took any other course.