EMBARGO: 5: 00PM
1, ~ AUST AIA~
PRIME MINISTER
FOR MEDIA SUNDAY, AUGUST 15 1982
ELECTORATE TALK
A groundswell of opinion is building up throughout the community
that Australians need to work together in the face of world
recession which is now hitting Australia hard. Industry and
trade unions as well as governments are recognising that the
path of co-operation and moderation is the best way to achieve
our common objectives as a nation, the best way to help insulate
all Australians from the impact of world recession, and the
best way to be ready to take advantage of world economic
recovery when it finally comes.
The growing recognition that we need to co-operate and work
together as one people is a hopeful development indeed. It.
provides a foundation for increasing moderation in wage demands,
for restoring Australia's ability to compete in overseas markets,
for improving our reputation as a reliable supplier, and it will
help in the continuing fight against inflation.
The signs of a greater willingness to work together can be seen
in several areas. There has been a substantial fall in the
number of working days lost through strikes and industrial
disputes. In the three months to May 1981, 640,000 days were
lost in industrial disputes; in the three months to May of
this year, 380,000 working days were lost-a fall of about
forty per cent against last year.
Another recent sign of willingness to work together is the
co-operation between unions, management and governments, based
on the Crawford Report to make shipping flow more smoothly
through our ports. Governments, both State and Federal, have
also been getting together with the coal industry to find
ways out of the very great difficulties which have plagued
this major export industry-and which were at the same time
jeopardising vital future contracts, particularly in Asia,
because supply has been too unreliable.
The recent meeting between the CAI, the ACTU and the Commonwealth
to analyse our economic problems and to see to what extent there
is a common understanding about them, is a further important
example of how we have begun to work together. At that meeting,
all parties agreed that Australia was facing serious economic
problems, and with varying emphasis, there was; agreement that
there is a link between excessive wage increases and a loss
of jobs.
2
In the last few days, the Government has accepted salary
recommendations well below the current inflation rate for
Parliamentarians and senior public servants, and, I have been
pleased to note that the Academic Salaries Tribunal has also
recommended a salary increase substantially below the rate
of inflation. An important example to the community has been
set by these actions and I have written to a number of companies,
to State Premiers and to the ACTU and the CAI explaining
the importance of these decisions. Several notable companies
have announced a freeze or very small salary increases, and
a number of leading figures in the trade union movement
including the President and the Secretary of the ACTU have
both spoken out strongly in support of wage moderation. Mr Dolan,
the President of the ACTU, was reported last week as saying
that more people would have to accept less pay to keep their jobs.
These are examples of Australians recognising that we have
to work together and that if we act in this way rather than
pursuing sectional interests in a selfish and shortsighted
way, then we will be able to work our way through the present
difficulties and continue to build the kind of economic strength
and prosperity that we all want for Australia.
L