FOR PRESS 24 July 1979
TASDIMANIA: THESE ARE THE FACTS.
Mr. Lowe must indeed be desperate. He tries to use a routine
letter from me following the Premiers' Conference t,
up his weak electoral case. The letter mentioned st : h matters
as changed Queen's Birthday holiday, Energy, the Se. an( I
Submerged Land Act, and the arrangements that must come from
these matters.
The second paragraph of my letter referred to a joint working
party to make arrangements to replace the tax reimbursement guarantca
once the present guarantee runs out.
I said during the Premiers' Conference and after it that there
would be such a working party. There is nothing new in that.
The third paragraph reaffirms the Commonwealth view that the
present guarantee is far too generous, and that it cannot be
replaced in its present form.
That was also said at the Premiers' Conference. It was said
to the press outside. It was said in Hobart.
The present guarantee has resulted in an increase of 13 or
14 per cent this year over last year in tax reimbursement
payments to the States.
This is an extraordinarily generous increase. It is not one
which we should ask the taxpayers of Australia to underwrite
just to subsidise an inefficient State Government.
How many taxpayers want the State Government to spend 14 per
cent more of tax revenue each year, year after year? Such
an increase would have to be paid for by the taxpayers of
Australia. On that basis, taxes would clearly go through the roof.
It can't be sustained.
For a Premier to want it would mean he was encouraging gross
extravagance. We know Mr. Lowe has been totally inefficient within his own
administration-so he probably needs the extra money to cover
up those inefficiencies.
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In fact, one essential reason for the tightness in the loan
funds was the generosity of the Commnonwealth in taxation
reimbursements. If the increase in these tax reimbursements
has not been so great, then clearly loan funds could have
been larger.
Mr. Lowe launched the election on a false basis, 18 or 19
months before time. From the start, the campaign has gone
badly for him.
When he was trumpeting around Tasmania pretending to protect
the interests of that State, his domineering Deputy, Mr. Batt,
was in Adelaide, destroying the interests of Tasmania.
Mr. Batt, as President of the Labor Party, has sold out
Tasmania.
He supported moves which would make the Senate virtually
wimpotent, and therefore destroy the capacity of the Senate
to. protect small States like Tasmania.
He supported moves which mean that Melbourne and Sydney alone
could carry a referendum in Australia. The protection for the
small States is totally destroyed under the Labor proposal.
-It is a monstrous sell-out of the State of Tasmania and the
. Labor Party leaders should be ashamed of what they have done.
Will Mr. Lowe now disown Mr. Batt and what he has done? If
-' not, why not?
Mr. Batt also directly participated in moves that would place
trade unions totally above the Law.
we've had too much of trade unions seeking to dictate to this
country over the last few weeks.
Mr. Batt supported moves which would make it easy for unions
in the name of industrial action, to do anything they li-ke,
no matter how damaging to the people of this country, and the
law would not be able to touch them.
The Party of which Mr. B att is President has taken all
support away from the industrial tribunals. This is the*
greatest possible backing for industrial anarchy.
how can Mr. Lowe pretend to be defending his own State when
his chief Deputy is so busy selling out Tasmania?
Against Mr. Towe ' S flights of fancy and his journeys into
deception, my Government's record of firm support for
Tasmania is clear and genuine.
The freight equalisation scheme is the base on which Tasmania's
economic progress depends.
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In one year, more than $ 24 million was paid out to businesses
under the Scheme. Total payments have exceeded $ 62 million.
The Callaghan Report, initiated by my Government, provided
the most thorough review yet of the Tasmania economy. It
recognised Tasmania's special problems and the Commonwealth
Government has acted with determination to deal with them.
As we have made plain, there will be further action taken
under the Callaghan Report.
In terms of general financial assistance the Commonwealth has
maintained much higher payments per head to Tasmania than to
any other State. In 1978/ 79 Tasmania received $ 1,209 per head
of population as against Victoria's $ 686 and Western Australia's
$ 962.
This means that since 1976/ 77 the advantage to Tasmania in
terms of payments per head stands at around 58 per ce,' t more
than the average to all States.
In addition, through our considerate policy planning directly,
or Commonwealth initiatives closely related to it, Tasmania
received, in 1978/ 79, special Commonwealth assistance of
approximately $ 40 million.
Already a number of reconmendations have gone ahead approving
projects by the Decentralisation Advisory Board. These include
considerable help for the tourist and fishing industries,
which are vital for the economic life of the State.
Additionally, the $ 8 million Antarctic Division is being set
up in Kingston, and a five-year plan to help the hardwood
forestry industry is undemray.
The Maritime College at Launceston is the only new tertiary
institution under construction.
All that Labor's policies can offer is more centralism,
more Canberra control, bigger Government and more taxation.
These are the facts which Mr. Lowe tries to hide.
The people of Tasmania have been cheated and misled by their
ALP State leaders long enough. They deserve to be told the
truth. 000000