SUNDAY, 7 OCTOBER 197* 9
ELECTORATE TALK
The rough and tumble of debate in the Parliament is an
accepted part of the democratic way of life. It has been
a feature of Parliamentary life in Australia since Federation.
This country has seen great Parliamentarians, on both sides
of the House, adept at scoring political points but
without stooping to personal smear to make their points.
Peripheral politics unfortunately appears to be a trademark
of Labor's current leadership. It is a leadership so devoid
of constructive alternative policies that it believes it has
no other way to grab a headline, to make an impact.
Mr. Hayden's main Parliamentary tactic seems to be the
vilification of individual members of the Government. He
seizes on opportunities for personal attack in a way which
smacks of desperation. He chases headlines at any price.
He showed clearly what he thought of the investigation into
Ian Sinclair's family companies by refusing to regard the
matter as in any sub-judice. What came to hand he used in
the Parliament without weighing the cost to the credibility
of Parliament or the implications for justice to an individual.
The results of the N. S. W. Government, and of Mr. Hayden's
handling of this particular affair, have gone a long way to
creating the circumstances where it could be very difficult
indeed to get a fair trial for Ian Sinclair. And in this
country, every person deserves a fair trial.
This week, Mr. Hayden attempted to smear Kevin Newman, the
Minister for National Development, basing his allegation
on nothing more than a Sunday newspaper gossip column.
The report was quickly demonstrated to be so inaccurate and
misleading as to be ludicrous. It was a false report.
Yet, within hours of its publication, Mr. Hayden had put out
a press statement describing this item of inaccurate gossip
as " the latest outrage". The Sunday paper gossip was repudiated
by the Minister, by the Deputy Leader of the Party, Phillip Lynch,
by myself, and also by a senior journalist who was in a
position to know the facts. / 2
-2-
Mr. Hayden is using these tactics because the policies of the
Labor Party are still the old, tired and failed policies of
the Whitlam years; policies that wrecked Australia once
and would do it again.
We have only to look at the most recent Federal conference
of the Labor Party in Adelaide the supreme policy-making
body of the Labor Party which binds all its members.
The most damning indictment of the Labor Party's lack of
policies came when Mr. Hayden did a lunchtime deal with the
left on the critical question of economic policy. Quite
simply, there is no mention of inflation and the critical
importance of combatting inflation in the Labor Party's
economic policy and platform.
Let me read it to you and see if you can understand it:
" With the understanding and co-operation of the trade union
movement, development of economic policy-which would encompass
wages, incomes, non-wages incomes, the social wage, taxation
reform and elimination of tax avoidance, and which will achieve
a more equitable distribution of our national wealth and income
with the commitment to the maintenance of real wages by
quarterly adjustments and the passing on of the benefits
of the-increases in productivity". That is the end of the
quote and it is also the end of the policy.
That is the Labor Party's economic policy. Mr.. Wran called
it a " hotch potch", and Mr. Hawke, always a little plainer
in what he says, called it " a gutless sell-out to the Left".
It is a meaningless policy. It is a non-policy. It would
be a disaster.
Where does Mr. Hayden get this policy advice? The great
" moderate" Victorian Labor man, Bill Hartely, let the secret
: drop. he said Mr. Hayden's chief economic adviser is
Mr. Jim Roulston, a powerful and influential figure with the
left-wing controlled Amalgamated Metal Workers and Ship Wrights
Union. The Adelaide Conference also made it plain that, given the
chance, Labor would abolish every law that would place any
restraint on any trade union. Simply, under Labor, trade
unions would be above the law. They would be able to do
anything in the name of industrial action.
That Adelaide conference also showed Labor to be anti-investment
and anti-development, and consequently anti-jobs. They would
reneg on uranium contracts. They would have a resource tax
and make enterprises unprofitable. They would destroy
thousands of jobs in the process. Isn't it an old familiar
Labor story? They destroyed development and investment when
in office. They have the same policies. They would do it again.
./ 3
-3-
They would strike against international organisations. They
have said they would establish a body which would, in effect,
do little more than spy on those organisations. What would
they do with the information? They would give it to the
domestic and international trade unions. Under these
circumstances, how much foreign investment would we attract?
How many of our great resource projects would go ahead.
They would stop development dead in its tracks. They would not
only destroy development, but they would continue with
their policy of destroying the Senate the State's house.
They still have a policy of reducing the Senate's power so that
it could never protect the States particularly the smaller States.
Under Labor, Victoria and New South Wales alone would carry
referendum. On top of that, Labor would tear up the patiently negotiated
agreement with all States Liberal, National Party and Labor
that resolved finally the vexed question of territorial seas
and submerged lands. This question had bedevilled
Commonwealth-States relations for years. With the aid of
patient, cool work by the Attorney-General, Peter Durack, this
Government resolved it to the benefit and satisfaction of everyone.
What would Labor do? They would assert total Commonwealth
supremacy off-shore, upsetting all the agreements with all the
States, and moving to total Canberra control. It is all
Mr. Whitlam all over again.
These are just some of the policies Labor is bound to the
so-called alternative policies as Australia moves into a
new decade. They show that Mr. Hayden is an increasing
captive of the Left. Is it any wonder that Mr. Hayden plays
the man and not the ball. Is it any wonder that he feels at
home smearing and vilifying and jumping on the Sunday newspapec
gossip column bandwagon.
It is a sad and sorry day for Australia when the Opposition
Leader has to rely on the gossip columns of Sunday newspapers
to try and assert his
I believe Australians are sick and tired of gutter politics.
They are s ick and tired of politics of innuendo and slander.
It should be put aside and we should-concentrate on policies.
000---