EMBARGO UNTIL 14AJOR
EVENING NEWS BULLETINS0
PRIME. MINISTER
FOR MEDIA SUNDAY, 30 JANUARY 1983
AUSTRALIA DAY MESSAGE
Australia Day is an occasion for all of us to think about what
Australia means to us, and the opportunities and challenges of the
coming year. We can make 1983 a year of real achievement. We
have the resources and the ability to succeed, but it-will only
be a year of achievement if we meet difficulties with a strong
sense of unity, realism, and determination, and if we make the
most of the opportunities this year will offer.
Provided we are realistic about the recession we can work our
way through it and build a stronger and more vibrant Australia.
But we cannot just sit back and wait for help from other
countries. What we have to do is get out and do for ourselves
the things which are really going to help Australia.
One of the most important things we must do is make sure wie getfull
benefits of the wage pause. By itself the pause will not
revitalise our economy but it is providing opportunities, and
very real assistance. For example, from the savings in Commonweal1th
wages alone, the pause is providing $ 300 million for construct iv. e
activities which will help create new jobs. $ 100 million is
going into welfare housing, and this will help boost employment
in the building industry. $ 100 million will be used specifically
to help young people who are trying to get jobs, and the other
$ 100 million will help older unemployed people who have been
displaced from the. workforce. Those policies are giving help
to people who really need it. Every Commonwealth public servant
can see that the money which would have gone to him or her as a
wage increase is now providing jobs for other Australians.
The wage pause will also provide pxrivate enterprise with an
opportunity to become more profitable and more competitive,
especially in overseas markets. * Provided this opportunity
is grasped, Australian firms will be able to grow, and create
permanent new jobs. We must have a strong and profitable private
sector to keep building the kind of Australia we want,-tar t'-; e
private sector is the real source of our prosperity, and it is
where mrost jobs come from.
There area number of other things we need to do to improve conditions
in Australia. We must demonstrate that driver and energy which hs.
enabled Australians to win wars and overcome depression. ./ 2
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We must get out and obtain a bigger share of existing markets
and find new markets. This means we have got to produce our goods
more effectively. It means our industries and firms must take
imaginative forward looking decisions. It means above
all we have got to produce what people want, especially for
markets overseas.
Secondly, our enterprises need o take greater advantage of
new technology. Better technol,. gy will enable us to compete
effectively. It will give us th. ability to produce the products
people want, and it will allm.~ us to make the best use of Austra'lia's
great natural advantages.
Thirdly, we need to look close I at what governments can do,
especially at a time when thex is less private investment in
the development of Australia. rhe Government has already
taken action by increasing sicj Lficantly spending on capital
works. We have launched the Bicentenn. al Road Develor-ent Programme which
will greatly improve transport. We have made the decision to
complete the Darwin/ Alice Sp~ rings Railway in 1988, and most
recently we have embarked on a major 5.-year bicentennial programmne
to conserve and develop Australia's very scarce water supplies.
We will also be funding a full investigation into whether rivers
in northern NSW and Queensland could be turned inland to water
our dry, sparse continent. We are resolved to test this age
old dream to see if it can be turned into reality for our
children. These measures will provide more jobs, they will
encourage economic activity and they will provide the foundation
for future development.
As we look ahead through 1983 and beyond, these are just somie
of the things we need to do to create the sort of Australia wie
allwant: an Australia with rising living standards, which can
provide greater security and which can create more
opportunities for all Australians. But we cannot create the
future we want for our children by waiting for a world
economic recovery. We can't wait for the world. If world
recovery does come, that will be a bonus. We have to do the
job ourselves. we must get a bigger share of the action
for Australia.
Every Australian has a part to play. I know people often think
that what they do as individuals doesn't matter. ' But it
matters enormously, because what we'achieve as a nation is no
more than the sum total. of what we achieve as individuals.
Australia is nothing without the contributions and the efforts
of every Australian. This is why making 1983 a year of
positive achievement is a task and responsibility which we all
share. I have the greatest confidence that we not only call
make the effort required but that we will make it.
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