FOR K THURSDAY, 12 JU TE, 1980
OPENING OF , O,,' H' 2' TON" SHOW
Tamie and I are both delighted to be asked to be here today.
Rockhampton is the centre of a wonderful part of Australia.
I can remember when it was possible for me to just call in
unofficially and very briefly a year ago and I was asked
if I could come back next year arid open the Show. It was
something that I was very, very happy to accept.
This is, as you well know, the capital of one of the
largest and one of the best beef growing areas not only in
Australia, but also in the world. 50% of all Australia's
beef cattle are in Queensland. A very large proportion of
those are in the area of which Rockhampton is the legitimate
centre and headquarters.
one of the very pleasing things in going around rural
Australia and country towns and cities at the present moment
is the sense of confidence and opntimism that I think is now
present in every part of Australia. A few years ago, with
disastrous prices and difficult times not only in the beef
industry but also in other rural industries
people just did not know what future there might be.
Now, -for the beef industry, for the sheep and wool industry,
for wheat and for sugar, where prices have increased remarkably
over the last 12 months, the outlook for Australia's major
primary products is reasonable. That means not only a great
deal to the farmers and pastoralists involved, but also
it means an enormous amount to the towns and cities that
service those industries.
It means a great deal to the factories and people in
the capital cities who produce many of the things that we on
the land need to carry on our daily activities.
One or two years ago some people might have doubted the
capacity and the speed with which Australia's rural industries
would be able to recover. It's fair enough to ask why and how
this has happened. I would* place pre-eminently, the skill and
t. e capacity, the adaptability of Australian farmers and
pastoralists. It's something they have proved down through
the decades the capacity to get through difficult times no
matter how difficult Eind black it might seem at the moment;
the capacity to get through, the capacity to survive and take
advantage when markets improve. The ski]. of people on the
land. Also I think it's fair enouc. h to staLe that. oeoole on
th-land that have to sell thc: ir products largely o,; e-vseas ce
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Governments that are sensitive to their needs. Go-e. ents
that pursue policies that will assist, create the . t
climate, keep inflation down, keep costs under control and
make sure that f: amos can be profita. ble.
There needs to be a partnership n-et: een people in > he rural
communities and Governments, whether that Governr-..: is State
or Federal, because it is so often there are diffi.: iies
and natural disasters, and drought, and some other in: s, where
you need special policies to get through the difficu: l times.
The example is wh'nat can happen in drought, which has recently
bedevilled very large parts of Australia, but which has
been broken in many areas, but which is still beirn--e; perienced
in significant parts of this State, and also in N. S..
Over quite a while, the Federal Government and the State
Governments have co-operated together to try and alleviate
some of the problems caused by drought, and to assess which
special measures are needed. About two months ago, when
it looked as though Australia, very large parts of Australia,
were going to go into a drought, I was speaking with Peter Nixon
and we both thought that we ought to implement ir.-ediately
something which had been on our minds for a while. And that was
to enable the people on the land to write off the total cost
for the constructions of dams and wells anything to do with
water supply in the year in which the expenditure was incurred.
And also to write off the cost of the capital and the equipment
involved in that so that people could get the im. ediate benefit
from it.
While that measure was introduced against the background of
drought, it is of course a long-term measure of a continuing
nature, designed to enable people to improve water supply,
irrigation projects, and to build some greater scre greater
insurance against drought which is probably the greatest
recurri. g disaster that Australia's farmers and pastoralists
have to.. face from time to time.
During the last week, at a meeting in Surfer's Paradise, I
announced that we had agreed with some State Governm. ents to
extend the provision of drought relief, especially to increase
the proportion of transport costs that would be paid and
subsidised by Government for those areas where droucht continues,
especially in this State.
I mention that because I think it is just one of the ways in
which Governments can demonstrate that there needs to be
a partnership in the capacity to respond to circumstances as
they arise. But there are many areas, of course, ::-re
incentives are needed and desirable. Many areas . re soecial
provisions should and are made in relation to tax
and the rest, the abolition of death duties, and in addition
to that, special policies which are needed to support : p. rticular
industries. There were no such policies for the bee industry
through its time of tragic difficulty a few years ago. / 3
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Quite apart from that, Governments have to maintain
general economic policies which are going to enable
Australian industries to get out and sell and compete in.
export markets, competitively and properly. That r'eans
that economic policies have to bear down on inflation, to
keep that as small as possible.
It also means that we need to have trade policies that * ill
make sure that markets won't be closed to us as they were
in 1973 and 1974 for example where we lost our entire markt
in Japan, and when nothing much was done about it. And now,
through trade negotiations the Japanese market looks li: k
building up to 140,000 tonnes of beef a year or better. The
American beef levy has been reduced with a guaranteed fall;
something achieved for the first time. While it does not
affect this area so much, for 30 years, Australian Governments
have spoken about getting rid of the American wool tariff.
They are the only country in the world that had such a tariff
on raw wool. Well, we have achieved a 60% reduction in that
American raw wool tariff,
In spite of those who said weshould not, or would not succeed,
we have started to re-open doors to trade with Europe again.
So all of these things are examples of Government working in
partnership with Australia's great rural industries. to
complement the skills and management capacity of Australia's
farmers and pastoralists in moving forward into the 1980s and
beyond. I just wanted to say one word about a policy I do not think
anyone likes very much, and Governments often have to
do things which they do not like doing, but just because they
happen to know they are the only policies that make economic
sense,' or sense for Australia that policy I am referring to,
and some--of you might have already guessed it, is oil parity
pricing which means that each time we fill up our
petrol tanks it costs more, and significantly more, than it
did a year ago.
Our. own reserves of fuel oil are certainly not limitless.
After another few years, what we get from Bass Strait will
start to run down quite sharply. And any Government looking
ahead, any Government planning not just for you and me, but
for our kids and there are a lot of children at this Show
today any Government with those things in mind, has got to
plan for the future. And how are they going to be secure,
and how are our successors going to be secure if supplies of
liquid fuel run out. It's a responsibility for you and. for
me today. Therefore, we have to have policies accordingly.
We have to conserve what fuel we have and make sure it ;. ill
last as long as it can. But more importantly than that, if we
are to avoid being held to ransom at some future time by other
oil-producing and exporting nations, then we have to develop
alternative supplies of that kind of energy. / 4
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Those alternative supplies '.. ill only come if the people who
invest the money are going to get a profit on it.
The best example of that is that great Rundle shale oil project,
which on present plans, ought to start to cor. e into production
about the-ti e oil from Bass Strait runs dry, or starts to
run do.; wn significantly.
Rundle is just the first of many great shale oil developments
that could and should occur in Queensland. But they will not
take place unless the people who have to raise the billions
of dollars to get those projects off the ground are going to
be able to r. ake it profitable. Therefore, they have to know
they are going to get a price that will make it profitable.
And so the Rundle shale oil project which has been
announced is going ahead, is the classic example of the
benefits of oil parity pricing policies.
The only other point I would like to make is that even
though we have that policy, along with the United States
where the prices are about the same as in Australia, we are
still amongst the cheapest in the Western world, because we
take in fact the lowest world price, not spot prices and
all the higher prices which many others who have got no
reserves of their own have to pay.
You will find in New Zealand they pay about 45½ a litre as
against our price of 32½. In many of the countries of Europe
they are paying 60½, 70½ and upwards of 80½ a litre. Even the
United Kingdom, which is now a significant oil producer from
the North Sea, pays prices-of that kind. Compared with that
of course, therefore, Australia is really better off than many.
But the policy is essentially a policy for the future. It is
essentially a policy for our children, for yours and mine, to
make sure that they are going to be secure, to make sure that
they can carry on our farms and properties in a way which
makes sense, and a way which will give them the energy reserves
they need. I think that is an obligation that we would want
S to meet and we would not want to put aside.
Many people have great and enormots confidence in the future
of Australia's rural industries at the present time. I believe
that confidence is well-based. It really is a joy to go around
the Australian countryside and see people planning for the
future, knowing that they are going to do it to improve their
properties and to improve the breeding of their livestock.
Perhaps for no other reason than that, it is a great pleasure
for Tamcie and myself to be with you today.
The Mayor has asked that I do a couple of things before
officially declaring this Show open. He has delegated to me
some particular powers of the Premier for today, and as a result
of that I have great pleasure in declaring a full school holiday
for all the schoolchildren for Rockhampton and the Rockhampton
District. There can be some discretion for schools as to the
day they take for that holiday, but if the kids find the holiday
not coming up, I suggest'they should get onto the Mayor, whom
I delegate to make sure that all schools provide th holiday.
Now, I have vej r, very great ple , su-lre indeed in Oeoclaring
this 107th ! Rckhampton Show open. 000
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