J~ j EMBARGO:
PRDME MJ3N IS T ER
FOR MEDIA 29 AUGUST 1982
PRIME MINISTER'S ELECTORATE TALK
The findings bliat emerged from the tabling of the Costigan Repoxt
in Parliament last Tuesday must be a matter of the utmost
concern for all Australians. Indeed, the initiative takon by
thre Federal Government and the Victorian Liberal Government in
commissioning Mr. Costigan to investigate the activities of the
Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union has been fully justified
by what his report has revealed.
Much has been said about the revelation5 concerning tax avoidance
and the deficiencies of the Crown Solicitors office. The Governmeonlt,
haa acted with vigour and determination on both of these m~ atters.
LVven berore this report was completed, the Governmnr had3
taken action on 26 occasions through over 20 pieces of
legislation against over 50 schemes of tax avoidance and evasion.
This is-indeed in sharp contrast to the record of Labor when it
was in office and indeed when Mr. Haydeni was Treasurer, a period
which saw the explosion of the tax avoidance industry and its
encouragement by the inaction of the Labor government.
Perhaps one ought to reflect for a m~ oment on the boost the tax
avoidance industry was given by Labor's refusal to act on the
Curran Scheme.
But the aspects of Mr. Costigan' s findings which are of eqiial
concern are those which relate to the activities of the painters
and dockers themselves. Mr. Costigan nioted that " in Victoria,
the Union is under the control of hardened criminals". He
referxred to " some 15 murders that took place between 1970 and
1979, ' Their answer to any interference with their activities
is not to use the processes of law but rather threats, violenc e
and intimidation", and " in this way the painters and dockers
have assumed for themselves a position outside the law and have
-maintained that position by violence".
Hc~ wever, the criminality of the orz nistion and th e.~ tnp
that it treats the most basic institutions in our society was
most acutely demonstrated by an assertion that the Union's Federal
Secretary, Mr. Gor-don made at the Sweeney Royal Commission. He
said " We catch and kill our Own". Those six words speak for
themselves. ./ 2
-2-
The Commonwealth Government has acted with great vigour in
responding to the findings of the Royal Commission. We have
already instituted a number of far-sighted and effective measures
including the decision to appoint a special prosecutor and
task force, the suspension of two officers of the Crown Solicitor's
Perth office named in the Report, the commissioning of the President
of the Law Council of Australia to examine the Perth office, the
appointment of counsel to assist in advancing particular prosecutions
and the urgent examination of S. 16 of the Income Tax Assessment
Act relating to secrecy.
It must therefore be obvious that in response to the Costigan Report
the Commonwealth has now acted swiftly and effectively. Not so the
Victorian Government.
The Report brings to the fore the most horrifying picture of an
organisation whose activities Australians would think belonged to
another world. The Victorian Government has before it a most. grave
and serious challenge. I can only hope that Mr. Cain pursues
the cleaning up of the painters and dockers, " the hardened
criminals" as Mr. Costigan refers to them, with the same enthusiasm
and endeavour that he has talked about pursuing tax avoidance.
Mr. Cain must not allow the fact that the Union is affiliated to
the A. L. P. to influence his actions. It is indeed of immense
concern that the Union should to this day remain an affiliate
of the Victorian sending representation to the State
Conference and being a participant in the supreme policy making
body of that A. L. P. branch. If such an organisation were affiliated
to the Liberal Party I would immediately act to ensure that such
association was repudiated.
It is also disturbing to note that two Labor senators revealed last
Thursday that the painters and dockers are also an affiliate of
the NSW and Qld branches of the Labor Party. Indeed, Senator
Georges' statement " that he was aggrieved by some wild remarks
made about the Ship Painters and Dockers Union" would be listened
to with horror by every decent Australian.
In the light of such revelations, the threat made by the Leader
of the Opposition on Thursday to table the reports supplied to
him in confidence by the Royal Commissioner is all the more
remarkable. It should be made clear that the Government has not
tabled these reports at the request of the Royal Commissioner
in order that his continuing investigations are not prejudiced.
Mr. Hayden's statement that " if the Prime Minister seeks to
associate the Labor Party with the painters and dockers in
the way in which he is about to I will find myself no longer
bound to confidentiality" is most curious. His own senators
tell us of this affiliation.
I& it then to be piesumed tht the Leader o the Opposition Was
prepared to endanger the important continuing investigations of
Commissioner Costigan on the basis of seeking to suppress
information which his own senators made public?
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