PM Transcripts

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PRIME MINISTER
TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER THE HON P J KKATING MP,
ADDRESS TO ST VINCENT DEk PAl L, TOWNSVILLE, 15 NOVEMUR1R 1992
E & OF. PROOF COPY
We support~ yv lqntar agenies in program with funny names. One we caM SAAP,.
Supportive Assistance Acormonudazn Program, and that program is rccurent expenditure
which we provide to voluntary agencies for overnight and other acixommodation and care.
We havo another thing cAlled C AP, the Capital Ashistance Programn, which builds the
accomnmodation which provides for those people. We have the general relief program
where, if people need a 1it of money for the gps bill or the light bill or food or whatever it
might be, we supply some money as wel.
We're not the dominant supplier but were becoming more significant in wupport for the
voluntary agencies. In the One Nation prograrn announced earlier this year, I put some
exctra money in for the voluntary agencies this year because of the problem the recesson
has brought.
But the thing that will always mnatter the most when dealing with the underprivileged or the
weak or the poor or the sick, will bc in' this sort of society public provision. That'Is why we
must keep a stron~ g social secu5itv~ y" e. We should reject those, as the American
electorate have just reJocted those, who have argued the line that if we support the poor it
drags the rest of us down.
1 might say to you that some of my opponents are arguing that if you put a hand out to
pull the poor up behind you it instead pullsthe rest ofus back. I don't beevetgut Ithink
a community we'-v got to go along together. Sure, some win earn mome in this
communityand somewll am lows, bvthe gapshouldn't beso greatas tosee an
underclass actually oewur, where it actually grates away from the main comnmunity.
The public systemn has got a role to play in providing a good, secure safety net for people.
And that's why I was very pleasantly supportive when I found myself able to tick off the
sentencs in the statements of the Catholic Cornmission for Social Justice and Peace in
recent months, saying thcac very fffings. Ilat co mmunity value is the value that we have to
play to, and not the value of the individual. Private initiative and private reward have their
place, but it shouldn't be the dominant culture of Australia. It has to be a community and a
broad culture.
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