PRIME MINISTER
E 0 E PROOF ONLY
TRANSCRIPT OF PRIME MINISTER'S SPEECH AUSTRALIAN WORKERS'
UNION JUBILEE CONFERENCE CENTENNIAL DINNER BALLARAT
24 JANUARY 1986
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
A notice in the Ballarat Courier on the 12th of June 1886 was
a model of precision. In simple unique terms it said:
' IMPORTANT NOTICE TO SHEARERS: A MEETING OF SHEARERS WILL BE
HELD FERNS HOTEL, STURT STREET THIS SATURDAY EVENING AT
8 O'CLOCK. BUSINESS: RE-ESTABLISHING A SHEARERS' UNION ALL
SHEARERS ARE REQUESTED TO ATTEND. DAVID TEMPLE, SECRETARY
PRO TEM."
When those first forty men ( later in the evening the number
swelled to something like 100) sat down in Ferns Hotel at
8.00 o'clock on that evening in June 1886, they could have
had no idea that they were initiating what would become in
fact-one of the great elements and legends of the future
Australian nation.* They elected W. G. Spence as Chairman,
David Temple as Secretary and a Committee of nine. They
were the products of their time and they were reacting to the
injustices of their time. And in that they provided great
leadership. But like all leaders of greatness, their secret
was in their capacity to get a glimpse of the future, create
a vision and then, on that glimpse of the future, to establish
the principles of organisation and the policies for action upon
that perception of that future and to be relevant for that
future. And this greatness the glimpse of the future those
great leaders had was reflected in two central principles I
believe enunciated by Spence and accepted from the outset by the
Union. They have been referred to already this evening.
Firstly, as a central principle as they put it, the Union must
be intercolonial, ignoring arbitrary political boundaries.
Secondly, the policy of the Union was to be consultation and
conciliation. And associated with those two fundamental
principles came the commitment to political action through the
Australian Labor Party, soon to emnerge to share a similar
unbroken history with the Australian Workers' Union. And it
was because of that far-sightedness, because of their capacity
to get that glimpse of the future which shaped those basic
principles to which I have referred, that a new young organisation
which became the AWU was able to grow. That organisation your
organisation grew with Australian industry. It grew with a
conciliation and arbitration system and it grew to the
Parliamentary Labor Party.
Let me just briefly refer to thbse three aspects of its growth.
Because those early leaders of the AWU had that glimpse of the
future, the sort of organisational constitution which they
established was one which lent itself to involvement with the
diversification of the Australian economy which occurred from
the turn of the last century. So through the consti* tution
which they shaped we have seen throughout this century the ACTU
going into a vast range of industries and there's hardly any
industry of significance of which the AWU is not either direct * ly
or indirectly associated. Secondly, as I said, it grew with the
concilitation and arbitration system because of those early
16& ders that had-the for-esight ' fo under~ stand that the path inthe
future in Australia was going to be one in which the
intekests of those that they sought to serve would be best met
by the processes of conciliation and discussion. And so, in
their own constitution, they were ready to grow with that
conciliation and arbitration system which in fact they were so
instrumental in helping to establish.
And as the Judges of the High Court interpreted our constitution
in a way which allowed that Court the early Arbitration
Court to grow in a way which had never been envisaged by the
founders of the constitution and those interpretations allowed
the jurisdiction to be indited by the serving of paper demands
from their rejection by employers, the AWU was there centrally
involved in that growth. Because of that glimpse of the future
that I referred to, the nature of the organisation of the AWU
lent itself to involvement with the growth of the conciliation
and arbitration system.
May I say by way of parenthesis about the greatest conciliation
and arbitration system in the AWU, I still remember with
amusement and, indeed with affection, the headlines in The
Worker in 1959 when a young academic moved down from the
Australian National University to become the advocate for the
ACTU to take over the role of Dick Eggleston, Queen's Council.
The Worker described the transition with the headline " From
Eggleston to Egghead". I think in a very short time the doubts
of my good friends in the AWU haa been cast aside and together
we were able to work in that position for the advancement of
the working people of Australia.
Thirdly, I said the AWU grew with the Parliamentary Labor Party.
It is a matter of well established record and fact that in the
early days of the Australian Labor Party, both at the State and
the Federal level, the AWU was synonymous with the growth of
that Party. The people who learnt their politics in the
industrial fields of the AWU quickly transferred into the
Parliamentary halls of this countfry at the State and Federal
level.
There were so many great figurqs that emerged provided
three Prime Ministers in Watson, Scullin and Curtin. A range
of great figures and that tradition has been maint-ained by*
one we have here tonight Mick Young. I believe, when the
story of the 20th century political scene is written, there will
be very few, if any, to match Mick in the great wit, insight and
humanity which he has brought to the Federal Parliament.
Let me say of that growth of the AWU, acquired with the growth
of the Parliamentary Labor Party, it depended not simply upon
those periods when Labor was in office long period in the
State Parliament,.-not so long in--the Federal Parliament--buteven
when Labor was not in office, never let it be forgotten
that it was essentially the Labor Party of this country that
set the terms of the political agenda in this country. And
that had to always have been true.
of course it is a matter of great pride now that in so much of
Australia, including at the Federal level, Labor is in power
and we are setting that agenda directly and not indirectly.
It was true of the AWU as it grew in the way to which I have
referred that it grew with Australian industry. And it grew
with the conciliation and arbitration system as it grew with
the Parliamentary Labor Party. It is true of the AWU that it
rejected the extremes of political philosophy. It was essentially
a Party committed to the democratic socialism, social democracy
( describe it as you will). But essentially it was a movement
and organisation committed to the Parliamentary system and if
you wanted to find one single proposition which would describe,
I believe, the philosophy of the AWU from its beginning right
through its history, you don't have to get into complicated
philosophies, but simply to say, it essentially believes in the
equality of opportunity. It believes in an Australia where
young people, irrespective of the background and income level
of their parents, should have that equality and opportunity.
We can say at the end of this 100 years that things have changed,
and with those changes and growth has consistently developed
and grown the AWU. We can say that things have changed but we
can also say that things have stood still. Because just as I
was looking at a few notes in the last couple of days about
the early period of the AWU, I was reminded how much, for some
people, things have stood still. Those of you steeped in the
history of the AWU will recall in those latter days of the 1880s
and the early days of the 1890s that the one central cause of
conflict was the question of freedom of contract.
It is fascinating, isn't it, how the conservatives throughout
history have had this facility for tying up the most reactionary
and conservative position in the most beautiful and liberal
language. They talked about the freedom of contract. That's
what they were fighting for. When~ they talked about the freedom
of contract what they were talking about is the right of the boss
to exclude the union and on their terms to ensure that they got
labour on the worst possible terms.
And that's what the AWU fought about. They have living proof
to the concept of unity being. strength. They weren't going to
leave individuals to be exploited to the whims of. people
waving the great flag of freedom of contract but under that
delightful banner being permitted to establish conditions
socially unacceptable. The AWU fought against that contract
of so-called freedom of contract in the 1880s and the 1890s.
As I say, things have not changed because, if you look around
today, you see the same sort of people wanting to talk about
freedom of contract, to push the unions out of the way, to give
the right as they say, to people just to deal with their
employees. Now-it sounds marvellous but it's just the same in 1986 as
it was in 1886. It's still founded on exactly the same
principle that employers should be allowed under that process
to deal with individuals in a way to try and ensure that they
will not get the sort of benefits that they are entitled to
get from their involvement in the productive process. So I say
nothing has changed.
It always makes me amused when I hear people in that sort of
context say why should they have anything to do with the trade
union. The very basis upon which those people start is from
the standards which have been established-. over the years, the
generations beforehand, by the millions of Australian working
men and women who, through their association in great unions
like the AWU, fought together to ensure that there shall be
decent standards ' in this country. And I believe that as far as
Australia is concerned today, they are no more in 1986 going
to succumb to the blandishments of this misguided and deceptive
language than your predecessors did in 1886. We will not be
decluded by language like that.
Throughout your 100 years you as a Union and those before you
set your sights on objectives which should be pursued to
advance the cause of ordinary working men and women and those
dependent upon them. You have not been static or unimaginative
in the perception of where the duty of the organisation lay in
meeting those interests. And if I could bring you up-to-date
on a matter which is perhaps not so generally understood as it
should be. When we talk about superannuation it is the AWU
which in recent years has been in the forefront of advancing
that concept. You saw that, because of the nature of some of
the industries in which many of your members were involved, being
under very considerable difficulties, they should receive justice
in terms of retirement benefits.
A decade or more ago you devoted-yourselves to developing schemes
which would give universal coverage wherever your members went.
In terms of superannuation you have been so successful I
understand. Industries, employers and others have asked you to
drop the AWU exclusivity provision so that you can bring to bear
the benefits and the very considerable experience that you ' ye
developed in that area. It is appropriate therefore that you
should have taken the lead in an issue which is going to be
predominant in the industrial field in the next year or so.
Let me make it quite clear that . the Government, as is obvious
through its discussions with the ACTU, totally endorses the
principles that have now been arrived at. Remember what the
facts are in regard to superannuation in this country. Half
the people, that is working people have it. But it's very
inequitably distributed in terms of the income levels~ of those
who enjoy it. Of those who are on $ 480 a week or more, over
per cent have superannuation. So if you look at those with
an income of $ 280 or less a week, less than 30 per cent of
those have superannuation. Now that sort of situation is not
tolerable and it was inevitable, given a democracy such as ours,
that-there was going to be-a push-to make-superannuatio-general-
It is not only in the best interests of those who currently have
not got superannuation, but it's also in the interests of the
community as a whole that the extension of this benefit should
now be pursued in a coordinated, regulated way which has regard
to the varying capacities of sections of the Australian industry.
And that's what is at the centre and the heart of the Accord
that's been reached between our Government and the ACT).
Just briefly, there are three things I would like to say about
that, picking up some of the totally misguided criticism that
has been made about the agreement that's been reached between
the Government and the ACTJ. Firstly, it is said that this is
ignoring the rights and the role and the responsibility of the
Arbitration Commission. I want to say before his Hon Mr Justice
Madden that that Accord is not so.
Both the Government and the ACTU have a very clear and proper
understanding and respect for the role of the Commission and
there is a total role for the Commission in its consideration
of the way in which this benefit which is enjoyed by half the
working population of Australia should be extended the timing
and placing and so on. It is accepted and understood by us and,
I believe, by the Commission, that there is a proper role for
the Commission in that regard.
Secondly, there is the misguided proposition which says there
is no capacity, that the Union is talking about past productivity
and that's been used up. Let me make it quite clear that the
cooperation of the trade union movement in the past two or three
years, which has brought Australia to a position where it has
the highest rate of economic growth of any country of the OECD,
has only been possible because of the constructive cooperation
of the trade union movement of this country. And it's
appropriate that now arrangements should be arrived at whereby
over the next two years productivity increases which occur in
that time should be distributed in part to the workers of
this country whose efforts have made our economic growth
possible.
The third thing I should say about it, in terms of the
misrepresentations that have bbeen put about superannuation,
is that there is concern as to the way in which the
superannuation scheme should be run. The Government has had
serious discussions not only with the ACTU but with the
representatives of business. We are developing guidelines.
We have talked with those representatives about these generally,
and in regard to the tax treatment and those guidelines,
where necessary, will in turn be put into legislation so that
not only will workers and employers be able to have confidence
in the integrity of these schemes, but so will the community as
a whole.
If you look back at the history of the 100 years of the AWU,
there is one consistent threat that you can find in terms of
the things you have sought by way of improvements for those
that you represent. That one consistent thing is that it has
always been said about what you thought was appropriate
gradually to improve the conditions of your members either
could not be afforded, it wasn't the right time, or it was
going to bring disaster.
It is right that the trade union movement should be required
to have regard for the economic circumstances of the time and
there is no trade union movement in the world today which has
more constructively and cooperatively been prepared to have
that regard. But we say as a Government that it is appropriate
that in the next two years ahead of us this benefit, now
enjoyed predominantly by the relatively more affluent in the
workforce, should in this coordinated and responsible way be
extended to the rest of the workforce. I have said that it is
a matter of great pride for me now that I can come to you as
you celebrate your 100 years, as you look back on so many
barren years in terms of our non-occupancy of the Treasury
ventures, as a Labor Prime Minister and report to you on what
is now nearly three years of very considerable achievements.
I repeat that that achievement the most outstanding feature
of which is the creation in the five months ahead of schedule
of over half a million new jobs has only been possible
because the people of Australia, through their great organisations,
have responded to our call for cooperation and constructive
conciliation. And foremost of course in that has been the
trade union movement.
And the AWU has been so important within that framework because
of the call that I made to the people of Australia, on your
behalf, for cooperation and conciliation. I hope in its small
way that as well as being a glimpse of our future in Australia
there is a glimpse of the future founded on an understanding
of the past. Because I knew from studying the history of our
great Labor movement in this country, particularly the sort
of commitment that you Union has had to the processes of
conciliation, that that approach could work. And your Union
is entitled to draw much pride from the fact that it's your
experience, it's your commitment to that principle which has
been part of enabling us to get a vision of where this country
can go in the future.
And as you've now finished your first 100 years and you look
to that next 100 years I firmly' believe that those great
principles of those early leaders which they enunciated, and
which were embraced by the membership of this Union, will
clearly serve you in the years ahead and serve this country as
well as they have in the past. Because we must, like those
early leaders of the AWU, ourselves attempt to get that glimpse
of the future. What is the sort of contextgoing to be within
which your Union, our Government are going to be operating. We
know that it's going to be a more complex, more competitive,
tougher environment, but one of great opportunities. There is
no country in the world better placed to meet those challenges,
to grasp those opportunities thanAustralia.
We are uniquely blessed with resources. We have a great people
and we have a commitment to decent processes and the resolution
of conflicts. So as you look back with pride from those 100
years, as you remember the way in which your founders tried to
glimpse the future and were successful and were to produce
such results, I hope that you will join with us in Government in
similarly trying to understand what that future's going to be.
Try with us to apply those principles to which I have referred
and I believe that if we do that we are going to be able to
hand on to those who come after us a great country, a great
opportunity and a more equitable distribution of wealth within
it.
Let me conclude by saying this: that because I and my colleagues
in Government are so conscious of the achievements of this great
organisation; because we understand that you have in part become
an intrinsic element of this nation; that you've become part
of its tradition; that you've served its people so well; we
want to identify with you in this your centenary year. I
therefore have pleasure in announcing my Government will provide
financial assistance in support of up to $ 10,000 for specific
projects being planned by the AWU during 1986.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I again congratulate this great
organisation on its achievements and I wish you and those that
you will be serving well in the'next 100 years.