EMBARGO: 5: 00PM I'
FOR MEDIA SUNDAY, MARCH 2-9' 19 8r1
ELECTORATE TALK
I want to talk tonight about the threats currently posed to
economic recovery by excessive wage increases and the 35 hour
week campaign.
A surge in labour costs at this time will place Australia's
economic recovpry at risk. We must take steps now to prevtnt
such a surge from occurring. Several major signs of recovery
are now plain to see. Prices are not rising so rapidly,
inflation is down at around 9% last year. The amounts spent
on new factories and development projects have risen greatly.
Resources exploration and development have started up again
in a major way, and about 170,000 additional new jobs
were created last year.
These are significant gains, but they are gains that can
be thrown away. For there are warning signs flashing and
these signs are coming from labour costs. Last year average
weekly earnings rose by 13.7%. Thii increase is far in
excess in the rise in prices. It is half as much again. It
means that real wages last year increased by nearly
Business has to pay for these higher wages with money that
could-otherwise be used to expand production and create more Jobs.
W~ hat we ' Want as Australians is to sell more Australian goods.
Australian industry-is now growing strongly.
We are now exporting products to markets around the world,
selling Australian goods means more jobs in Australian industry.
But if Australian goods cost too much, we won't be able to
sell them in competition with other countries. Selling more
Australian goods means employing more Australians. That is
surely what we all want.
The problem of excessive wage increases is now made worse
by the development of a strong campaign for shorter working
hours. A campaign which seeks shorter hours but
without offsetting reductions in wages or in holidays or
in any of the other costs which must be met by those who
provide the jobs in our community. It is obvious that the
higher the,.. cost of creating a new job the less likely it is
that jobs will be created. If the cost of employing people
is too high then small businesses in particular will think
more than once before they expand their workforce. We have
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had enough experience of downward spirals in our economy,
we want now to maintain the momentum of an upward spiral.
That is the way in which prosperity can ' eontinue to spread
through this community.
The threat which a surge in labour costs imposes m ust not be
under estimated. The Government regards this threat with grbat
seriousness.' The people of Australia need to know what is at:
stake in the 35 hour week campaign and in excessive wage
demands. We all need to know about the damage that will--
result unless the Government and the community take a joint
stand for the interests of Australia as a whole. It needs
to be understood that the large wage rises to which I refer
show the effects of campaigns by some militant and greedy
sectional interests which have pushed relentlessly fc~ r too
much. None of us can afford to view such campaigns as being directed
just against individual employers or just against particular
industries. They are a cynical and selfish grab for moremoney
by powerful unions at the expense of the rest of th~ e
country. These campaigns are no better than the antisocial
tax avoidance schemes which are so abhorent to the
Australian community and which the Treasurer, John Howard,
has-done so much to stamp out.*
The 35 hour week campaign shows a heartless disregard of the
need of our young people to have jobs. I-is in effect an
attack by people who have jobs on-those who do not. ' Those
who are attempting to grab an unfair share of prosperity
for themselves at the expense of their fellow citizens are
simply not living up to the responsibilities we all owe
to other people. The future of Australia is limitless if
we are prepared to act together with a sense of responsibility
but -our future can be seriously damaged by a short-sighted
pursuit ~ of selfish gains.
We in the Government stand for the public interest and the
public interest demaands that labour costs must not rise at
a rate which is higher than economic recovery and economic
growth in this country can sustain. Unless this condition
is met all our other efforts to promote economic progress
and prosperity in Auistralia may prove fruitless and the
recovery for which we have worked so hard over recent years
may slip from our grasp. We must unite to make sure that
this does not happen, that we recognise our common interests
as Australians. 000--