PRIME MINISTER
EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY CHECK AGAINST DELIVLERY
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER
OPENING OF FREMANTLE TOWN HALL
16 NOVEMBER PERTH
It's not often a Prime Minister gets the opportunity to open
a building which is 99 years old. The Fremantle Town Hall
was already a fairly venerable building when I was a boy in
these parts and I could never have guessed I would be
involved in this official ceremony in 1986. So Mr Mayor, it
was a great honour you did me when you extended your
Council's invitation to be here today to open, or to be more
precise, to reopen this marvellous building.
Fremantle Town Hall has seen this city grow from a small
coastal port less important, in fact, than the then
bustling port of Albany to its present status as the
acknowledged western sea gateway to our great nation.
It is perhaps a commentary on the " Wild West" nature of
Fremantle almost a century ago that the original opening of
the Town Hall was attended by rather more drama than we want
to see here today. In fact, someone shot one of the
Councillors, a man by the name of Snook. The good Mr Snook
may have spoken for too long, and I will bear that message
well in mind today.
Earlier today I was involved in a ceremony to mark the
commencement of the People's Day Program. The concept of
People's Day is'an inspiring one a day of caring as a
community. It would be hard to think of a better example of community
caring than the restoration of this Town Hall to its grace
and beauty of a hundred years ago. We fully acknowledge the
vision of the Fremantle Council in initiating and planning
the project, and I can say with some pride that the
Commonwealth Government contributed $ 3.2 million to ensuring
its completion. But in the final analysis the success of
the restoration depended on the skill, experience, and
dedication of individual craftsmen and workers. I
understand that all sorts of problems were encountered as
efforts were made to make the restoration as authentic as
possible. What we see today is virtually the same sights,
colours, and textures that greeted our forebears on that day
in June 1887 when the populace of Fremantle turned up in
their thousands to admire their new Town Hall.
And it is pleasant to note that the expectations of the
people of Fremantle in regard to the quality of local
government dispensed from their Town Hall were not
disappointed. Fremantle has maintained, from its earliest
days, an enviable standard of public service at the local
government level a standard still being met today.
For far too long, too little recognition has been given to
the important role that local government plays in the
administration and welfare of this country. Such cursory
regard is hard to understand when one realises that local
government, of the three spheres of Government, has the most
immediate and obvious impact on the daily lives of many,
perhaps most, Australians. Local government plays a key
role in providing essential facilities and services at the
grass roots level of Australian society. But for decades,
local government could with justification have been called
the poor relation of the public sector in Australia. When
we were elected in 1983, we resolved to do our best to
correct this situation.
Our first action was to establish the first Ministry for
Local Government in 1983.
Since then we have expanded and developed the Commonwealth
Office of Local Government. In contrast to its condition
before 1983, it now has the resources and expertise to
effectively advise the government on local government
matters and to fight the local government cause within the
Commonwealth bureaucracy.
We have backed our words of support for local government
with funds. In the year just completed, 1985/ 86, the
government provided over $ 1 billion to local government a
level of 50% higher than in the last year of the Fraser
Government. And for this year we have taken steps to ensure that the key
part of local government's funding from the Commonwealth
the Untied General Purpose Assistance Grants is maintained
in real terms. As a result, local government has been
placed in a more advantageous position than the States, as
was also the case in 1985/ 86.
In these times of economic difficulty and constraint, the
new general purpose funding arrangements for local
government represent a significant vote of confidence by my
government in local government. The City of Fremantle will
receive $ 948,000 this year under these arrangements an
increase of 9.39% over last year's figure.
An important feature of the new financial assistance
arrangements for local government is the way in which
co-operation between the three spheres of government is
fostered. I
3.
Under the new arrangements provision is made for all three
spheres local government, the states and the Commonwealth
to be involved in drawing up the principles that will
determine the distribution of funds between councils in each
state. Another significant factor in encouraging greater
co-operation between governments has been the introduction
of the local government development program.
Under this program we have spent over $ 11m since 1983
funding some 430 projects directly involving 327 councils,
in all the States and the Northern Territory. These
projects have concerned all aspects of local government
activity, including the development of skills in management,
planning, environmental improvement and service delivery.
The results of these projects are now becoming available and
action is underway to disseminate the experience gained
throughout the local government community. Priority will be
given to this task in the year ahead.
Because of our recognition of the essential role played by
local government we have taken other steps to strengthen and
improve local government's position.
In last year's budget we introduced new arrangements to
permit the deductibility for income tax purposes of expenses
incurred in local government elections. This was a reform
long overdue and brought the local government situation into
line with that applying to State and Commonwealth elections.
We have taken steps to ensure that local government is
represented at key national economic forums. The Australian
Council of Local Government Associations is represented, for
instance, on the Economic Planning Advisory Council and
makes a valuable contribution to its work.
We have encouraged and assisted local government in its
rightful claim to be included in the Australian
constitution, supporting your representatives at the
Constitutional Convention in Brisbane last year and ensuring
that local government is adequately represented on the
Constitutional Commission we established recently.
I am hopeful that firm recommendations will now come from
the Constitutional Commission, enabling us to proceed to
changes in the Constitution which will give local government
proper recognition. There is no doubt in my mind that such
recognition is long overdue.
We remain committed to supporting local government as the
key area of the public sector in providing many essential
community services. Its direct contact with the local
community places it in a unique position to meet these vital
tasks.
4.
But I must not forget the reason for my invitation to be
here today. Let me express the wish that the second century
of local government in Fremantle will be at least as
successful as the first. With that wish, I have pleasure in
again declaring the Fremantle Town Hall open.