CHECK AGA70ST DELIVERY EHBARGOED UNUIL DELXVERY
RURAL AUSTEALA SYnvOSlUo
AL Y 6 JULY 1987
John nerdn
Geoff Niller
Jim Lees, Director
of the C[ ural Developnent Centre at the
Unive octy of New England
Ladies anC gentlemen
Over the next two days you will be discusGing cattere that
have a crucial bearing on the future of the four uillion
Australinns who live outside the nation's big cities.
Many conforences have been held over the years dealing with
issues of inportance to coctions and groups among those four
nillion people especially to those directly engaged in our
great rural industries of agriculture and mining, forestry
and fisiag.
This symposium has a broader reach and a greater challenge:
to consiCer in an integrated way the whole of rural
Australia, all its industries, all its residents, all itf
Government services, all its community groups.
There used to be a notion that public sector policies in
reaard to rural Australia, and private sector investments
for that matter, should depend on a version of the " trickle
dotn" thocry. This was the belief that what was good for
primary Industry was good enough for rural Australia as a
whole, because the benefits of a healthy primary industry
Would trickle down to the provincial towns, and to the rural
manufacturers and service industries.
To question that notion is certainly not to question the
continuing importance to the rural community indeed to the
whole nation of agriculture and mining. They are the
basis of the non-metropolitan economy and are the nation's
biggest export earners.
But to question the trickle down notion is to acknowledge
that times are changing in rural Australia and they are
changing rapidly. -00 0 4
Th( pojyulatloja trift to the citicz apq-arrC to have beon
roversed ash. 3c at tile Dante Zimo~ the nuaibor of irural poople
workin, in pz. production is decreasing. The quaiyo
services in~ r,, al. areas is dramatically increasing.
Attitt~ deG of::-a Austzralia towa.; da the use o thoso
services Chasiging.
But the unas. tlchange one which i-as affected all
justralians, : hoein tie bush and those in the cities waz
the realisaticn that th'e AuStralitin econotay as a whole was
in need of a-_ ss,-ive overhaul.
That realicatici, was promptedi most directly by tho drama'tic
collapse in orr termsz of trade in 1l) 85/ 86. Tho hardl truth
waa that the warld wzes no longer wiillin~ g to pay the picices
it once had p Id ios: our agricultural and maining cozi;, oditios
pricer, which '~ ad Gustained the ration's living standnardo
dur" 4ng the 1950c and l960s, and which had foctered th3
imbalancad ocorjo: aic growth typified by that trickle down
notion.
This collapze ,' a2 e~ xacorbated by the economically inoano
protectionist, u'cies of the Eu~ ropean Conmunity, the US and
Japan which -have corrupted the trade in farm product6 and
which have mado parts of rural Eustralia the innocent
victin3 of a foreign trade war.
Ya all, the tormG of trade collapse ctripped some $ 9 billion
off our national. economsic capacity the equivalent of
$ 2,000 for every Australian fam-1ly.
No nation', no ccanolmy, could withstand that kind of
buffeting wit. hout a significant short term drop in living
standards or, juit as importantly, without a roalisation of
the need for lvr. q term structural change.
It has to be GtrsDssod that the tern~ s of trade collapse was
not the fault off any Australian farmer or miner or
manufacturer. Et was the result of our vulnerability to
commodity price Iuctuations a vulnerability which had
been built up over decades.
Reducing that vulnerability is the great task in which the
Australian nation is engaged at present.
I ant not here coake a partisan speech but I do want to
express my pride o Prime Ministor that my government has
perceived and actod on this basic national need, and has
taken the hard, and sometimes unpopular, decisions necessary
to overcome th at_' need.
We have floated the dollar, which has been of enormous
benefit to all K'-ustralian industries, including rural
industries. We have deregulated financial markets and
reimoved unnecesGary regulation on other businesses. LjJd UL
We have broken down the barriers of protection which cramped
our manufacturing industries. We are endeavouring to build
a more diverce regime of exports to supplement our
traditional reliance on what we have been able to shear, or
grow, or dig up.
We have steaCily reduced the growth in farm costs from
11 per cent o year when we came to office to an expected
4 per cent in the coming year.
And as the Treasurer, Mr Keating announced over the weekend,
the Budget dcficit has been reduced by $ 3010 million
compared with 1985/ 86 $ 800 million mo-e than was expected.
This will strengthen the downward movenent in interest rates
a movement wlhich is already well underway, and a movreent
which is of Leoefit to the entire rural community.
In the keynote address to the World Economic Forum in Davos
this year, I outlined a plan for a ceasefire in the trade
war and for a gradual reduction in the gap between the
artificially cnintained domestic prices for farm goods and
the prices tho: would earn on the free market.
The recent meeting of OECD Ministers endorsed the major
elements of th proposal. The Cairns Group of fair trading
nations, brought together by Australia, had a successful
meeting in Canada and called on the Big Seven leadero to
take action at their Summit in Venice. As further evidence
that the . Cairin Group has becomae a vital third force in
agricultural diplomacy, the declaration of that Venice
Summit did in fact echo the long-term proposals sought by
Australia. I was gratified to read in today's press the opinion of US
trade representative, Mr Clayton Yeutter, that the Cairnc
Group has a major and influential role to play in resolving
the farm trade groblem.
Australia can and indeed must become a competitive and
vigorous exporter of manufactured goods and services; the
efficiency and innovation which have typified our rural
production must spread throughout the whole economy.
The implications of this task of reconstruction are vitally
linked to the themes you will address in this symposium.
For reconstruction is not just a task for manufacturers in
the big cities. It is a task which will change the nature
of rural Australia too.
Let me give you some examples.
Australian primary industries have traditionally
concentrated on bulk exports of unprocessed goods.
It is imperative that we complement this with value added
processing within Australia. 0odo / 0
The plan the textiles, clothing and footwear industry
includes aicouragement of downstream processing. The
proportion of our wool exports that has been subject to the
first stagen of processing has increased by over fifteen per
cent since ue came to office. This is clearly an important
direction for Austalian industry in the future.
A second way in which reconstruction will change the nature
of rural Auntralia is through the enormous increase in the
number of foreign tourists visiting Australia. Since 1983,
the number of international visitors arriving in Australia
has risen from less than 1 million per year to the point
where we cau confidently predict more than 2 aillion
visitors Will arrive next year.
The money those visitors spend here helps our balance of
payments. And when they arrive they travel extensively
outside the capital cities, creating further demand for
recreation, accommodation, food and transport.
This is what reconstruction is about bringing new
industries and creating new jobs throughout the Australian
community. A third important impact of reconstruction on rural
Australia is through the creation of a more officient and
technologically sophisticated nationwide infrastructure
our communications and transport networks.
Road funding has been increased by over 80% in the past four
and half yearn, and three quarters of this has been spent in
country'areas. This is a massive investment linking rural
producero with cities and export markets.
Australia's shipping industry is being revitalised and is
becoming conpetitive with the fleets of our trading
partners. On the waterfront, policies are in place to improve the
reliability and efficiency of this vital link in our export
chain.
We remain conritted to the principle of cross subsidisation
in charges foi telecommunications and postal services. The
Telecom crocss-ubsidy was worth $ 460 million to
non-metropolitan people in 1984/ 85.
In broadcasting, services under the Second Regional Radio
Network begin this year, with transmitters installed in
Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
The passage of our media legislation means that people in
regional and rural NSW, Queensland and Victoria can now look
forward to receiving up to three commercial television
services plus the ABC. The legislation also provides for
fast-track introduction of at least one extra service in
Tasmania, the Northern Territory and regional areas of South
Australia and Western Australia. ( 00007
in F'ebruairy the Ninister for Communications announced plans
to introduc. new PH services in soma thirty regional areas
over the inA three years.
Side by , iic with the~ imlpact o. l reconstruction, rural
Australia in also bencfitting from a more coordinated
approach tj tie 6eliJery of governent services.
Country svare entitled to the same quality of service
frofa rjovcern..-nt anid thu. saiac. access to governmont ceirviceu
ac anyoan Dlao. L'hi$ 3 symposiu is a Part of that
coordinitiA approach.
one of our Lujor reforms haG been financing local government
on a more eq~ itable basis. We have given all Australians,
through thoilr local Councilo, much greater say over how
their tantes are spent which ic of special importance to
country poo~ e, in particular, as they face widely varying
and often uaicque local or regional problems.
The particular needs of rural women will be addreosed in th&
follow-up to th, consultations on the National Agonda for
Women. This follow-up will be better targeted as a result
of the GUrVej undertaken by the Country Women's Association
in conjunction with the Office of Status of Women.
Let we take this opportunity to thank Dorothy Ross of the
Country WcocxiIG Association and, indeed, all the women who
particanoi in tha survey, for the insights and suggestions
they gave u3; zbout how government services can be better
delivercd the country.
we have aluG, directed the Public Service to pay much greater
attention tc: the delivery of programs and services in rural
areas and provincial centres. The practices and procedures
which operixte in cities are in nany cases simply not
appropriatc, to the country.
As a resul. t of the establishment of the Rural and Provincial
Affairs Unit in the Department of Primary industry,
administrators and decision-makers throughout the Public
Service havy constantly before them a reminder of the
special n~ cus and requirements of rural Australians.
The Unit *., for example, co-operating with other portfolios
in their ruview of rural housing needs and policy, in
examining tVe adequacy of post-secondary rural education, in
examining tIs delivury of comimunity services in remote
areas, and in the trial of a completely new co-ordinated
basis for dulivery of information on government services in
rural Austr : lia.
When I launched my Party's rural affairs policy in Bundaberg
eleven daYG ago, I announced another aspect of this change.
My Governpcnt is committed to establishing a Commonwealth
Services Iniormation Systen a national network designed
especially to provide country people with information about
Government zGervices of which they could avail themselves. k) 0 0 07. 8
6.
The Rural and Provincial Affairs Unit has also produced a
comprehensive guide to major Federal programs and services
relevant to rural Australians. It is a tangible sign of our
determination to take the broad view of rural Australia.
Called sizply ' The Rural Book', this publication will help
people find out which level of Government is best able to
meet their needs. It is my very considerable pleasure to
launch thic guide this evening.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Rural Australia is a distinctive and important element of
our naticoa
I trust th Rural Australia Synposium will help Government
develop and widen its sense of the needs and aspirations of
rural Australians. You will not produce a blueprint for
rural policy but I am certain you will amass a great deal
of the information needed 2or such a blueprint.
The answoru may take time to implement but with this
Symposium the action has begun. OU00? D
M I