kJALIAjL
PRIME MINISTER SUJNDA~ Y, 21 SE~ PTEMBWER 1980
ADDRESS TO IBERAL~ SPEAKERS~ GROUP CONM'PZNCF,
ME LBOU RNE
I would like to thank you all for the invitation to-be with you
th{ i mrning and for the timely way in which. you have organised
this meeting. You obviously had some percipience about the
date of the election.
I have been asked to speak this morning principally about the
Labor Party and the damage that the policies of the Labor Party
Wdui1ia-do to A~ ustralia. I will only just skirt around the edges
of this particular subject, becaise if one : wey6 to Speak in fUll
about thf-damage that thoir policies would do to Autralia
that persaon would2 ttay on his feet for 24 houxso anid still rnot
oy-hauxt the subject.
It-* s, ot likely that this could have been a Labor Speakers
Group, because with what has happened over the last couple of
weeks, if it we3r2, the meeting . Wop-ld bave had to be cancelled.
Today I w'ould like tc, mention the AlP,-' s economic -policies which
are in part at least written by Jim lRouilston of the A1WSU defence
-polee-is centralism; the damnage they would do to develop~ rent7
what they would do to industrial relations -that would not
exist, under Labor and energy pdlicies..
We all know what happened in 1972-75 whein inflation -increased
* four-foldi in three year: s. Thle AIX inherited a relatively soi,, d
~~~-anl-stro9 c-onemTy an) d did cnormouz damnage to it. They-inherited*
an econonry thnt had traditionally peirfomed better than the world
average, and they mn-hl it into one cif thti viAeaet economies
in the world; with qrowth and inurc: inflation than in most
of our tr! adlng partner.
n o. ne year rcderal award wacy. 5, urdiar the promnotion, of Mr; Hiawxe,
went up by 38% in one year. Whe~ n thl-ink of the industrial
record of thos-a years;, should rnmcmber the close ard -friendly
relationships bi! etween Mr. Hlawke and Fr. whitlamf as Prime Miinister.
I am suro everyone and Mrz. Hawko would agree, that he was int
a position oaf qre: at influence. Well, it was an influene' that Oi
not do much for At; tral.-a.
Health expenditure went up 114% -in one year'; uder Mr. Hayden's
gentle care. Perponal inco-me taxes went up 125%-it is nio
wonder that thv coantry was being btinkrupted.
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When we came in~ to office at the efld of 1975 it was very likr'et' 2in
charge of a com-pany that w; ap in the hnnd3 of the rec i: vers. zjrid
H-ave they learnt anything Ovef-r the last five years? If wie j. iste-n
to them: not very much. In five of exp: Enditure alone thje--
are cc,-tted to * 2, O00 Yndllion-mnually of additional e'% qpend1 ture,
as conted by the operative depa-tments an: 3 by the Depaxtmrent of
Finztn---Tkr v-e: re f~ sthat would have to go into any Budget
if they were ever going to have a chance of i-troducing a zge*
Then there was the " Am" i proqramiTe where M'r. flayden co=-itte d
hjm~ lf th .41) the media to over $ 500 Tmillo inocl
a com.~ dt7. Oft which hce songht to 61, n) in the ' a nt10 d& iys
latcr. I havet no dciht t-h~ it all welfare re.-ciplents wull takc-
10~# l~~ hat~) 2~ iclarcom., ii twent lasted. With t-hat
prorpue acdd therti!' s $ 2,500 million~ in six areas of (,,,-eTp~ diturC.
What is going to happenñ r when all the other 20 Shaavw Mirii~ ters get
hin and say: " Wlyou have giveni to vo arnd so, an. d to0 So ani
S 0. N~ ow I want my sharel". Thr-& dditional'; bill would cu-te
iLrtfossib1Q for all ! wstralia.
It is no wonder that Mr. 1-Iay'dn wants to do away wi ' th the Department
of Treasury. It is a Jbulwar for co-monsenso. It is a buil-wark
. or konesty and policices t1-hat woulO, in facic work within Australia.
Yet Px. Hayden wants to abolish ho flepartment of Treasu r. H
w. amts a Budget ev ., ry three years to five years. If they thit-O
t laj is Way the--Caon hide their expenditure progrern,-ra,
th:-t really woula not work\.
Amc~ mgt te otherpr-r1re that they %-. ould want to pursue: the
o210 ! boc-' i:-s of inteIrvention) in the busdiless life of this COW-Itry;
oi ~ oluto of Ceti rcutics; tablizhinq Lild e. oi2rc
eit prijn x~ a habt ' r-a" dand tus-defired;
~ t~ ishny hdro~ atoncor;, xporation I1 suppos; e to drill dry
holes with t ayr'mone; a natic~ nal fuel and ener-gy co,-mussion,
to do more of what privaito entc' -pri. so oueqht to he doing fo; r
its~ elf. None of i~ s' 3houid any suirpriseL to p8 because t-hey
said Mr. 1iy'tf-: n in the C a~ i Lecture in 1979;
" the challengeto. As, the z'alid zpread ofL philosmsies
~ SC~ 3in I~' Crt aw2) i smnall r . governm~ nt " In 1973 1_ Wiljlis
cortffitted lhi. m--Self to t'he " r; mnohtask in rebu. i). dinig the public
sector-. 11an Coriv.. 1nin the el1ectora'te th i-shudpY a higher
e vl p f -La t o e n Pble u s to( 0 1o s o Thcn, Kr. 3-aydcn says: that
LLr -vn raising plans Larc *' tEso,-zwyhat miore r: zidical t-ha-r
had L-On outliried UD to_ 1972". He said Ihe had con-. ntted his
a ca 2tal i, ta, 5source rental. tax,
alevy-on donomftic oil producer-., and a number of initiativ~ ls
Sthc tax œ i3-c and ot[-her mensuros of that natur,: z. W4ell, what'
~ iwodrfl c iyto qec into the eleLction. nu12Z-ber of
tatiesin th* e tax ac.: arnr2 Qthc -11. Ina: 3 lre S O' th'at nat's
?' twould covor m-,-t: Anr'is th, ey couLld over w4ant.
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It was Mr. Willis who elaborated on oth~ er maasures when he said
it was " wrong" if we didn't have " some form of tax on capital,
be it death duties, capital gjains tax, wealth taxt or perhaps
som~ e kind of combination of those, or Lll three". If that is not
sufficient warning, then Mr. Hayden in a little tape we have
ofiT--' it was sent to all. bxanches of the L~ abor Party arotwid
the cowx) try and I suppose the fa , fLthf ul were meant to play it and
listen to -it in rapture -he Esaid; ' locok, if what we are talking
about publicly doesn't meet what you. want. in fact, read the
whole policy document, read the whole platform,, because there are
an enormous numnber of -things in it, and they are co~ itted to doing
th-c-lo. ) 3ut'in our ptibaic presentation we arc cowitted to being
selective, because otherwise it won'It sound too good.' ILThis was
all on tape. it was a remiarkable little tape, But it made it
perfectly plain that they are committed to doing everything in
the platform document. Because of these statements onl tax, nlobody
could say that Australians have not been warned.
There is in that abortive social contract, a promise of a ' P oyaJ.
Co~ mmission into wealth'-~ who would undertake that? Who* would wan~ t
to be in charge of that R~ oyal Commission? is it going to be
Bill h-artltoy, or is it goiThg to be Llizn Roulston? They are
probably amongst the likely candidates. Under covpr of -swflthing
__ oaf-th t Yik -, ntx\ ducinq a wealth tax, a capital gains tax, or
re-establishing death duties must be high on the list of the
objectives of the Labor Party and of' the socialist left iri this State.
it was Mr. 11awke who called the ALP eccoonic poliC-Y in Adelaide 1& ast
year a ' gutloss sellout to the loft,'. 8vcn Neville Wran, whent he
was calling it a I'hotchpotch' Pteturning to
the thro-e to fLive yearly Budget insteaa of having one once a year,
and remnembering it was Clem Jones in Brisbane who said Mr. Hayden
could not even rea6 a balance sheet, when he starts getting into
difficulty in the second, third or fourth year, no doubt it will
be Hartley who will tell hkrn what the red figures mean.
T1h at is enough on~ eoonomics, because their economidcs is hopeless.
it jiu. t does not * exist. It ' w-ould be a disaster. It would destroy
the gainvs that have been worn Over five yeare. And instead of
having a proud placc within the internzationzxl economic comunity,
Australia would ifuediately become one of the weakest nations
in the world. I am GurC that Aust. li.-ns are not going to
&) an~ fl he ind of confidencE that tbh'-y do ncA-7 have in* Australia's
future for the hopelessness that would flow from Labor's policies.
Let me turn now to deflencea. T1hey hav. e given some kind of lip
ser--) ce, to condemnation of the invasiona of Afghardistann; sose
kindI of lip service to s upport for the increased defence expenditure
-th~ hwv& e n~ ftkenin Akistralia. ntit on every hand,
their tcndency is to criticioce what we dwhat the. U~ nited States
do-_ s. And where do you find critioisi~ i of the Soviet Union, of
the Soviet Union's invasion of Afaitno h Svet Un ion' a
-stipport for that terrible occutpation of 1 amptiched by more them 200,000
Vienono, troops which is costing the Soviets $ 1,000 glillicn
a yer "( AfghzxniL: tman) is far aw--ay from our are& of
interest and Au! ta'alia irs not threatened after l3. Who
would wbint Afghanistan" V. That was M-x. 1( cating shortly a fter
the invz~ sion, in January of this yezir. Well, the Sovets obviously
$ enator Georg~ es, in a-debate in. the AutLA~ u%~ this year: 117; ere is
more dignity and norality in the Soviet Union than there is in
our own society andi in -many Western sjocitties' 1. Tall that tethe
trade iunionists in Poland who are Btruggling for so.-m degree
of freeL-om.
Then accuscd Pres~ ident Carter of be. 4ng conc-_ rned boat that inva-Bic. z
in Afahanistan becaxise he has an election this ye ar, and uZs , ecause
' ehave an election this year. iut what about lijargaret Tac
who has just had an election'. What about fielmvut Schmidt, a m~ st
notable sociatlis-t arid leader of Ce~ rorvy One of the most respececd
~~ cs roundthe world in a free society. He is infinitely
conCerned an6 has said so publicly on r~ any occasions. Is he
concerned only b--_ Cr Use he has an election some tire thi-year?
P What aboult Pierre Trudleau who has just: won an el~ ection? Or
H{ r. -Powlings, the La-bor leadcer in Nc-w Zealand. H~ e has at ti--s
been cugf'ting tiiat Mr. Puldoon shoi-ld have ta~ ken a niore vigor-ous
' in-TIEFIatiO7 to ceYtaJ3n aspec tB Of OPPOSiti. Cin tO Afghaiisan
1~ ss he doing it bc. cause there is to be an election.
making that )\ ind of criticism. of Prezident. Carter is alnhost to
suqqest that the Unitcd States xae sron'vible for the invasion,
and not the Soviet Union. I fail to understand why it is that
-4~-+ utra-~ nLabor Party whnich pur-port to cupport RNZUS, purports
to support the Westcxm alliance, Irnust always direct its criticism
at the Unitced States and at our & llies, rather th~ an at those who
are the enemdes of freedom,
3n the la-st couo2. e of days3 in the nc; tb, spex~ in~ g for Mr. Yayder
-c~ no--~ J-just at the moirr nt arind I hope he -gets-hiO
voic,_-bacY; poori, I think it is better if people can Lmderstand
exatlyt1. tho sort of thins h would say Imr. ! 3ov en has criticised
our increasing o-operation with the Unlitedl Ste3tez,
sUk" t fl wE i. re trng to qtet the United States more involv-_
ti~ cz , m irzd.: ed we ar: e, and we ourselves are beca,; St
A n-oulv be t-o leave it as a Russian sea. iL i st a
thd Ih Au ; t r F IimL bo Pr; y st rte e toa di; re t. th e ir c r 4 isr
wlh. c r they' c~ zl ~ 1~ o the p~ ower which hap. the larst
an,) d " loFt pov.,; a. ful lzinn anrm1y 2in ; the wcrld, infinitely, the larC. S;,
-at th-Je pcwer that h) as acivdnuolear pari-ty, if noct rnu'l' 2arsuperiority
with thc: -c; t IUh5eS T hZ. s_ baen _-pending 12% to
24 , of the i-L) Q*: t tlc: ! Prouct On d'--feneoryr af tcer
yea-Wheon the h~ hvcre~-inre0dth1x-( c-fnce-Qxp~ ndituxe,
which has no; t bc-z n 111-x~ r' of thc YC!-rS inT Xcal terms-thie
Sov.: cts have ncc dtheirs morc. When the United States
Jdur.-ng that pcriod?, thc high yearst of' det-ente, was reducing defonce
en n~ tur--, the UuSi: o. wvieent t on-incr ' asing tlefelnoe e-iue
They have nevexr dcvi -ated fr-om that.-path11. Deterte -for them daes not it
any sense Hai7-iniz_! h the~ ir Cc. npa4ition with the West, and the'
kind of free societies which are so inp~ tn ou. Wyi
it that the Australian Labor Party feels utterl. y unable to
understand that.
it is not surpris5ing now, that when you find a senior columist
in the Melbourne Age. sayingj some aspects of Labor policy as
presented by senior spokesmen, are remrarkably similar * to those
of one or other of the Australian commwnist gjroupings.-That is
not the iberals or Mialcolmn Fraser saying that: it is a senior
and xespected coluinnist in th6 Melbourne Age.
T'here have been othL-r things. What did happen at that midnight
meting between Mr. Hayden and Yasser Axafat where there were
no witnesses to what occurred. Were there agreements entered into?
Understandings entered into? lie all know Mr. Hfartley's affiliations
and sympathies in thes c particular areas, over the years long
exhibited. I woiild be very surprised if somzewh( Fe In the
backgrpund Rr. Hartley's influence was not evident in relation. to
that vi it and to that pbrticular m~ eting.
How is it that a senior Victorian spokesman for the Australian
Labor Party, and for the socialist left, wrote with such
enthusiasm a pross report: " JAustralians must re-atñ Ge,:' tU
Iranians, that the United States is thie numb~ er one enemy".
Well, we know that that happens& to bti the view of the sociali~ st
left in this Stiite. It is oor task to make sure that all
Australians know~ that that is the view of the socialist left,
anda thereforct of a very s iqnificant clement witbin the Ai. lstralian
Labor Party. TYhat Lp~ oCkTo smanl Called for tle--VpeVa lo-t-r-
Sovie t invasion, of AfqhaniEstan, bnd he happens to be not only
zrcnor spokesmain for the socialint left, but as I-am advised,
a senior pre ss officer for Mx. Wilkes. And for a leader of the
Labor Part%, in tho political. domain to allow any servant of his
to makQ zn statc-rent like that and to stand unrepudiated-is
to have the Labor Parti. y cendorsing that kind of statement. So,
you have the two policies--that particular policy and the
lukewcaUn coiidemn-ation of Afghanistan from some spokesmen in
the Fede(, ral VPariiamont.
There tre. 2 other ac of the Labor Party which have not clhanged.
W They want to. D-n the Com), titutjun to iace that " the Sentate
has no P0% 4cr to roject, dfror oth--iv-ise block bbilil } l
just to Minirdf,. u the ' 2~ r of the Senate i. nstea:-d to abolish the
Scriate. Thay n1~ want to amend the CcArstitu~ iaa to provide for
its ajlte-ration by a sipemajority of the alectorate, offering,
no proteCtion tiercy fu the smaller States: Tasmania,
South ; ustrallet, a-stcrn Australia, Que2ensland, smaller in
nu1-. b er. There wa! 3 a certain comipact in this nation. at the
beginnig oL F ua n bcueoor arge size; and because
-wbe~ c. scp' TIte Sta+ Zc, tChe States smaller in
p C I11a tijo) n wa-. t f1d ) rotk3ction. Thai-protection in termns
of alteringc the Constitution ought to rer min.. But the Labor
Party wouId Sc'eX to aboli: sh it.
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There are some spokcsmel, sc~) l Messiahs of the Labor Party,
who wouild plaimnly seek to cio ivluch. further. Mr. flawKe has s aid
" we must have one government with unqiuestioned power. 1
unqujestioned for what? Not to bie : subject* to chall~ nlqe befo-e
tile High Court? Not. to 1z-subject to. challenge beauae -theY
infringe upon States' xiij hts? It is an interesting phxa-!-e-j--
' 1with unquestionable power". Couple that with the-attacks
of th:, Labox Party on thc Ei9l, Court over the last eight Months.
When you add thor.( e up, they comi-to considertalc conaemnations)
anO critici., rns indced, It is no accident that this Labor Party,
which criticises everything of importance in our socic-ty, tins
over the last year tui~ rned considierable attention to the Ifigh
Court itself, which is the bulwar), of the. Constitutior, and a
dei end er-7YUhhe rgtsadFlbtyof individUal Australians. I
But Mr. Iiawke wyent on t Australians would be better serve'a
by the elimination of the eecond tier of goverfl-nt* that is, I
by the elindnation of the States. And I must Confess that I
don't havtc zny idea what Statcs' xcights are". We do believe
inl a U. ivcrstfiation of power. We do not believe t'hat all powier
be in the hainds of orne qroup of people, anid especia) ly&
Country as large as hustralia.
W~ hat would have happened to this country if there hzad bLe-n nc,
Sta-tcs from~ 1972-75, and there had beenj total power in the bands
of M~ r. Whitlom, D~ r. Cairns and 1. Hiayden becatise he was a part
of it, suppz~ rting everyt-hing that was then clone. The disasteys
thrat befell tis ould have inacinifi ed rnan-fol3. and our capacity
t: o r2) e2t4LW~~-~ b(~-rfntl iminished.
There have zwnrqcurncntc. over the Iast 10, 12 or 14 years that.
have befen ( liff~ cult for tile Liberal Party and for he nation.
Offshore sovoreiqinty and High Court cases which gate authority
to the! Corimonwea -th. It wouid have been possible for u-q to say
to Uic),, Jiarner in1 relat ion to nasis Strait, or Sir Chaxles, Couirt in
. rel1ato tol I( i C. No r th We s Shelf, " w-. ell, the courts hexvegiven us
soy or igqn t~ y a-nd W2a:-e going to exercisce it totally. 0Our
Dear~ Ot f atio~ iDeve-1priEnt. -will rsKvfe out into th), States
an ' Jot can oet out of the ariea. it is of no concern to you".
T1hat is recait'ely what the Labor Party have said they will do.
Shavc :-eL zibo-ut iii a pans: ing way to mnegotiate a serCS
ol ~ nc~ fl~. F~ nu~ g di ~ lin, i~ hnyand the i~ fg~ n
o f aK. c-rc offslhare. ic~ )" ave com tO an agreenMent with
Fillth Szat-Cs h a bi Id r L a in a truly 1ditoric set ofi
aocuLments hve tbish zc araez-nnt. We hava done thics
without 1-avinc t~ o go to referen~ un. we have done it without
d i t', ie V4(: lh d1o) it-in a way which establizhed a cor. onsens
r. Lt. ohCir , h ,, dr -nisratioonf the States and of
the CO kwJh Ht thc-L,,, hor Party would want to tear that
all up zind a:: sK-ert total Conr,: ornwcalth po~ wer. Again, it just ,. howE
thcir ph~~ pyof life which -is bo different from ours.
f eloo)-at.. thJ qke_ ticn of developrnnt-l4r. ayen queries
wiieti-er we wart the forthconirng increase in developmnent to be
uno~ rtd'. n n tl~ t, wiv in Which, it iE;, in the proporltion to which
it is. lie queriesi that point recently, almost suggesting there
t. il!, e too ' z: nnt. ain gets back to their
OWN
-7-
old philosophy of being much more concerned about the distributi. on
o! wealth than about the creation of11 it not understanding that
if there is not the creation of wealth, gove-nmentG will never
have_ adequate resources to meet the needs and aspirations of
their own people, for schools,_ bor hospita1. s, 4QrDXjoads1 Aor all
the environn'ental services nation~ al pazks and all the rest that
people expect of Goverrnments in a modern society.
Quite apart from what Governments need, without the creation of:
additional national wezlth, there w~ ill no~ t be the resources
available to people, for. them and their families to. lead the
kind of lives that they wotild want in a free society, because
ifGovernrrints consue more, there is less . imameciately for
famnilies to consume, What we produce in any one year is finitra.
To ca: st doubt on tile rIZatLJXe of development, to -quggest that there
should not be as much development: well, from 1972-75 they
stopped development dead in its tracks. We zhould not doubt
their capacity to do that once again.
S They have said they would expand the functions of the Foreign
Investmerit PPOvicw Board, whih1 Australian
equity in major resouxce projects very well over the last five
years. They are also going to establish a spying body;
. infox ration is to be gathercd about trans-national corporatio s.
Ithere will be a tmonitol'ing agency, a spy agency, to fined out
information on the trn-ainlcorporations and to give that
to the relevant dorrastic and internatioi~ al trade uniont orgamisations
and to the Unitiid Nations, W'ell, you do that and iwl hat overseas
-corporation would ever again invest in Australia. So when
Mr. Hayde-n says lie doubits thqt there should bpe as much investment
and dcvellp mnt golng forward as wc h~ planned, as we have
encouraged, and will continue to, we K-now quite well that he
has the irnzncdiate pcor and the capacityll and the policiea to
prevent th'at occuring, We should not doubt what they say in
relation to it.
Tony Street has r: ccantly said somthinq, sub1! 3tantian ljolut
industrial relation., and also abou t tle, ba~ r Party's So-called
social contract, or ralther Swinday aftexrnoon agxeement which
w;. as repudiated before Simdey ni4ght, caine._ aod. hat they hav-.!
In their platform ! L scrious5 an6 we need to understand it. A'TIs
rights of tunions to reckulate their owpi affairs..' free fro~ m
Govornreent and ju6icial inefrn&. What about the xigh. ts
f_._-ber8 of t-he tradia unions to know how, thoir laoneY is Spenl4.;
a rjqht which has now Ihc( n eztatlished withi ; Cports4t-o cah
trade imion member. 111hat about the right-of trade UP-ion
mmbers to have their rl_: pr-zsentatives e-lectz-d by secz-et hal2. ots
properly conduct(-d; a right that wQuld bre takes) away inurediately
tvider that plnnk of Lla bor' s platform, They woulel " exe-zpt uions
fi-om provisions of the TradIE Practices Act". Section 45D'ha3
b e en o f r e rr' ablIe is c a nd e ff,,-c t ive n t. ss 4QVer-n years,
and it must remain, " The rcpeal of all1 penaltieF3--or strilces
against arbi tril ( loci sions. of the Comimission * or a Cone liation
Ccwui t t c All rihyou have an Arbitration Co;. vnssion,
YOU have a de cision wi. L total ablijaion on thie urloyer to spotit,
prcoecxition Nbefore th c4rt; if -il: OAN: t,
dci3 C3Of:-~ oi that Corrni. ssior,. t is a pretty one-saided
arrza~ rsqpent, but that is the way the Labor Part y would do it
8-
" The prohibition of action by the Co~ nmaiSsio1P to insert. or-
. register clauses in awards or agreements exclucdin5 the right
of wqorkers to resgort to industrial action". The bans cl~ auses
which are important, whichi should be-there, espreeially for sorne
of the.. outlaw unions.
" Securing the ilrmwnity of -Union-, and their members from
ti-~ e-fortort co-rumtted by or on behalf of a-trade
unlion in contemplation or furtherance of Fa labour dispute...".
Trade unions -ire already the . most powerful orgaiiised group
within this country. Some people, maybe -once BHPU Or CRA or
other corporations might have hh d sic' ificant power in a total
s; ense, bUt. if you loo); at the power of the major traae unions,.
if you loD)( at their annual incom-, es, someimfes of $ 8 rai-ilion ox
$ 9 million or $ 10 ndllion a year; fr wh atLriipos doñ beh! L
use it? ' Not -to advance the cause of their mtembers very often,
not to be 8& dividend to their shareholders>, t-hei-r constituent
parts, but for the poj.. tical purposes of the union heira-chy at
the top. When union m-vembers start to get and start to read the
report of how those union offici als spend and disburse funds
of that kindl, it will bL, interosting to see what the reaction of
rank-and filc union m~ embers will in fact be. I believe it touid
we~ r~ ul. i~~ a ~ a~ vepressure fox a re~ duction in union -ees
so that monics can be spent on union purposes; to advance
legitimate industrial purposes, and not-for the mnassive political
intrusions'o~ unions such as the NV'SU.
Quite plainly, in a modern society unions have gre-at power.
While wa would agree-that in-the conduct of industrial relations
a -ensible relationship by managementE zind conciliation,
ne , oti ation and conisultatlion, about all thUr~ osrcataUcan
affect work-ing rmEn 4ricl womern of t1-his cou~ ntry, is of enormous
importance. ) ArIC, WeW~ OU0 nodaso hope that the overwhelm. ing
majority of diptsor potential disputes coul.~ d -be resolved
through that process of consultation and conciliation,. without
xrosort to law, we know quite well that from the facts of life
that that j, 4st is nLot possiable: the 13ilde.-Is Labourers who
woul. d sust that you Just go and negotiate nicel-y or reasonab~ ly
wI til G~ a~ e
Who would. suggest that the 7On4SU ard their leadErship Wouald at
zqlIl t im es be reasonable, pleasant, coming to a sensible agreement
aronda on~ eronce -able without ric sort to threats, without
n prossa-ze! on indu-Istkries an' ibusinesses that often could not
-7uattn it without the support. of law. lzo put the trade~
Unlion MovLerrnent., or tco free th-, trade union miove_ r4. t froffr-ai-yrestraint
under th, 7: law, is tc, put irndi on officials: the
o ~ jL' un_ 0Lo)) 2y above Lthe law. ' That could be a
d'iszn: rous zsiLu~ t ion f or t.; i co-, oIty or for any commrunity.
Th'e ielation to thc-_ ce partickul.-r things io very the
relationship bcitween i ventriloquist and his doll. -Youl have a
situation i. n which the left hand moves a little bit ai~ d the doll
think-is the relationship between the trade
union movement and M1r, Hayden.
It is worth asking gu esLions about the one member of the troika
Who still has h~ s voice.
-9-
Mr. h1awk-e, as President of the Australian Council of T'rade Unions
he % was from 197 to 197$ in a position of enormous influence:
President of the ACTU and President of the Australian Labor Party
with a warm~, constructive, beneficial relationship with thie A1p
Pr_ 4ne Minister of the day. What happened asi a result of that
beneficial and productive relationship? Federal award wages went
up 38% in the 12 -months ' to March. That was one' result of that
relationship. * knoothor result was an. All time-record of well over
6 million ian-day. 5 beingj lost in. 1974 for industrial disputes.-
Is there any suggestion or any reason -to believe tha-the same
would not happen again; that he will have m~ ore influence with
thQ union:~ moven~ ent aF. a politician than he hadl -as President
of the ACTU. If there were to be a better aituation with M. r.
Hawko In the Parliament. than out of it, one carn only assume then
that his influence a5 President of the AC'TU was one for the
worse than one for the better. But it is worth nothing that he
a i the-mnjor contribution of a Hayden Labor
Government with myself as Minister for Induatrial. Rclationu
will be to take the Government out of the role Of active
participant; to be there simply to put its resources andi
kno-vledge for the availability of the Commission and of the
That of course, is precisely the pozition that Labor adopted in
197>-75; with the kind of results which you knuw-raIe-as 11
said: " the Caom-monwealth is trying to take over the major role
of arquing a position". That's * not the position of a Governet,
he saiys. " It sihould put a factual: position before it and leave
it to the parties Well, who isgoing to Protect the public
intereslt? Who is cdoing to arque acainrst that kind of siv
wage incrcoasc -391% as occourred in the 3.2 months to marbh1975.
.~ cauerloy~ ckn wsthat that is against the interests
of every ceployce, and every business and manufacturer knows that
it in against their iintcrests like wise. I suppose Cliff Dolan
who is President of the ACTU, and we will look forward to working
with him and with thie ACTO after the elections made it plain
that there is no social Contract between thie ACTU and the Labor
Party. But I sug~ est that the philosophy that the Labor Party
has ad. optee.\, Hawkte or no, would be a damaging Policy indeed.
1 Wo Uldl like to mnl; e two othler ponsbriefly: in relation to
the cnc~ cgy crv. iesn thouqih Mr. } Yeating has said they would
collact mrrert from an oil resoll:: ca tax than we get out+_ of the
levy, ancl t. hat their: policies wouldn't mean much to the m.-otorist,
which c-arrica: oneI s~ ort of implication for prices. Even though
hcvse~ i th, h-y ar-tryingj to f9A'C the + h-oart
und; er Labor people woulcl have cheap pretrol. ' Well -let rre only
I" y hheapi pe. i61 iqbuld rcpresent the otslsh oly
that any Cvernin. 2! t, any c~ ormrunity, could pursue at the present
tLiue. it would be saving that you and I, and our generationl, can
use up L13ss Strai. C, that we cTan run it dry, and then when it is
rUn dr'l at. the en cf this dfecade zind AntcL the 1-90S, our kids
ct-n mcakec all the adjus tments that we failed to do, that we did
n. e: t have the couraje to unclertake. Because the Rundle shale-oil
deposit wo) uh4 noQt come on strtarn. Undler that sort of polic the
North West Shel! f woulcd lot-hajve been p. ursued. U--nde: r at sort~
001licy t-he
liauefaction of brown coal would not even bfe exa,-. ined. it would
leave Australia dry; b-eqgars for -ful on thr_ i-nternatiorial mnarket,
having to Pay Prices nuch h~ qhcr thzin are now paid.
It would ir-dcea be! a selfich policy. it is worth noting I think~
in passing th: at-i t, in the nonl course of events the r%~ ent
Saudi price -increase of -$ 2.09 Li barrel is * caxrried) through into
Australia-n prices mid I say in the no=-nTal course of events,
because in the past we have rnad~ e the deci.-jon twice a year, before
.) anuary 1 aT~ tcl before July I that Wcou) 1d re-an an adjustmentthis
tin-e, 1-3causQ of the~ strengc~ lhcthe Australian dollar
on the international rarket of significantly less than a cent a litre.
So all the ecare talk that Labor has suggeste a 5 Cents rise
on 1 January iE; obviously a lot of cheer nonsense.
Tahoea inl a! t ht e thSinogc iatlhiastt LI ewf-t n itn tot hsisay Svtearyev breiaeseftltypa, i is to Irentioelnt
0.2 life, as recordad throuqh Ul jourpaliSts in the newspaoers
before iw~ c started to gjet into an election, enviXc'nrent, is that
the So-ialist 1Lcft has an ineccasing influence in Victoria, zxnd
through M1r. Ila dcn1on the whlole political scene of the Lsbor
party. Thic',' said the-Iselvos in thc-"!, zbor Star",-Which Mir. Hartley
controls, that the socialist i1-ft has a big say in n,, ost of the
fU-ctiofS the Party. They control the Party's rknewspap~ er.
Thoy i-un the head offic, They run a weeL-ly rndio progra~ ra on
3KZ and the, Pa-rty's JAd-Anistrative Cozrrumittee. " If they g-et
any more control, tE jlmF TnChgleft for anyone else",
P. LLLIor KP in \' c~ ireport ed in the ? Ae:) bourne Age. Mir. Hawke
cialled him, a ca-erwit-hin the Pa. xty". But they are there. Thjey
are p-, art of the Pzi-Ly, and they 6oordnate the Party. It is no Wonder
that ) Iawke is bitter about it, beca use again i~ t was
Bill liartlev who repc -tcd in relation tc-that Adelaide r-et-j a
year ago that Bill Hayden had accepte d Jimj Roulston's advice on
__ wageB and econ~ omic policy, and that's never be! en denied.
Thtis the deal done wit-h the Socialist Left, and thatt in fact
is the so-c,. ile3 zxcreement. botw-Een. the-unions and thv Labor Partwhich
even now mr. h1eisn wkec to en:-) drse for the sakje of
~ i~ eIth OY, nc, d to cqave! us some causE;-for Concern, but
the : ter:\ 1Cev11iion 01, L: Aibcr Party . in Quccnsland; the sack'.-c
o1 Dr. of-~--ig all related to
the ltiatesttnqt o~ th S alia-L-it within the, organs
of th--e Party. is*; Mr. Hayd;: rn zcuwiln to criticise the
So0vCet s? ~ fV d ox s tc r it ic ic. e o ur ce e' n c ~ o 1 cis a-n d the
Am can rCiC22 0 1 u a-vidly. whny 6oes he pursue.
big spr: ending so iIss ttuhcaht. to 1i. 3 off the left, but in
riationbl forum,, s tricF to distoance hirse-lf in Aract -fromn their cost.
it is Dill ) iartae-y, wh-D \' icltcrlars z~ alknow an6 recogqnise
b LeI r hLil-" mioas L other xAistralians, who does have the last word.
Biecause " more andcl the Labor Party Jis con. geeral toth
view that a;, ti-Sovi-etis; m and anti-co-:, ainiEr are anti-working as"
7, njd he sciys: liayden has d-or--rnore t~ or tho Socialist L-ñ t
thozn thcy could e-ver have rion agec for themselves", -as repoxted
-in the Btlii. 1c wondoer Mr. lihirtlev Calls Mr. Hayden ' IthYe
of the ( Victori & ax) Branch, esp~ cially inl the a~ reas of policy
We * really do need to make sure that not only Liberals but
the wyider Australian cormmity understand this in' the few
weeklls ahead of us.
we also need to make sure that people~ understand that-. the
Labor Party niean what they say. In 1972 they tried to give
an irnpression of moderate, reasonable, sensible, rational
decisions I. n Governn~ ent. How many moderate., reasoriahlek
rational decisions were made botween. 1912 anid 1975.. -it ; is
party-Tuia-is bank)_-rupt of ideas. The very fact timt they
have to resort to attacks on Pa--rsonalities to the ex~ tent that
they do, the very faot that they have to try and resrIrrect
an excorcise ' by a f ew CMF off ic = xs somewhere down~ the track
operation Manhaul and claim that as national policy, the
very fact that Mr. Bowen over the last couple of days, haq
again criticised the increasiny dcfence co-operation with the
United States, all these things are siqns of deape. a.
Party unfit to lead Australia into the 1980s.
YOU asked for a speech about the Labor Party; the damge they
wOUld do to Australia instead of one that was Promoting the
positivpe thi~ ngs that we will be doing over the l98ohl. I -tin
-it is ' Wseful tO havo a forum in which all these strand3 could
be brouight together bec,-ause in sum they wou. ld represent the
t~~ es~-~ e--i& nof rid of iociety.