PRIME MINISTER
TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATING MP
SPEECH FOR THE OPENING OF THE BLACKTOWN BUS/ RAIL
INTERCHANGE, BLACKTOWN, 14 OCTOBER 1995
E& OE PROOF COPY
It's a great pleasure to be here it's great being in the West again. I used to come out to Blacktown on my pushbike. Today, I came out on the train, and it was a good ride too nice and quick, and smooth. And I think the thing that we celebrate here today is we always as Australians tend to value community things. We like to do things together. We appreciate doing things as a community. And this is a big community effort this is something done between the Government of the Commonwealth, and the State of NSW $ 25 million for, as the Mayor and Brian Langton said, the largest
Interchange in the CityRail system. Now, you know, I'm sure sometimes
Blacktown feels the squeeze between Penrith on one side and Parramatta on
the other well, one thing is for sure you have got the biggest railway
station. And you have got that and not only that, a modern one, and you
have it because it does serve the community and you need it. And we know
that given the fact that these days in a big metropolis like Sydney, you have
got to be able to move around it to find work, and to find enjoyment, and it's
not easy in any city these days moving on the roads you get a better ride
and a faster one, and a cheaper one by going on the rail system with
CityRail. And so, this is why we have built it. We have tried to make your life
better and easier and more comnfortable by developing this Interchange so
that you can make the link easier from the railway station to the bus, so you
can get home, and you don't have to be sitting up in the car sweltering on the
way out with the western sun belting you in the chest all the way home, and
the sun belting you in the eyes all the way in. I used to a bit of that a few
years ago, and that's why I decided to take the train for a long time too. But
in those days, it was the red rattlers, of course one had to fight for a place
on them.
I'm very pleased that the Better Cities program of the Commonwealth could
be arraigned here, and used here we're spending $ 1 billion in trying to
develop facilities such as this and re-develop some others. And, of course,
we have got the Y-section rail link just back down the line, we have got he re-construction of Parramatta station, and of those of you who go to the city and go past the old railway workshops, we're re-building that as a place for living, as a place for medium-density development. And of course, Ultimo-Pyrmont
we have got money there seeking to do that, as we also have in Newcastle.
So, this program is, I think, an important one, and one where we can use the
Commonwealth with the States to create really good things. And we have
been able to do this with NSW in a place like this in Western Sydney.
Now, I know a lot of people in Western Sydney think that the Government
resources won't be committed to them. But, let me tell you this Labor
Governments always stick with the people in working areas because they
know that the social wage and community values are the things which make a
difference to their life. We're just now in our fifth year of economic growth
we have just completed 16 quarters of economic growth. The economy has
been growing at about 4-5% a year, we have had 610,000 jobs since the last
election, and if you live in the Western Suburbs of Sydney, the thing that
matters most to you is the strength of that economy. Because most of us live
off the ebb and flow of the economy if it's doing well, you do well. If it's
doing poorly, most people feel the effects, or they feel the unemployment.
And we have been getting people back to work at a record rate, as we have a
record number of people joining the labour market from school and from
migration, and women who are coming into the labour market as they haven't
come before. And as a consequence, getting that economy growing matters
a great deal.
Then, of course, there's all of the other things that hel p the social programs like the Family Allowance, or the Family Allowance Supplement, or Additional Family Payment as we call it today. Or Rent Assistance, or of course, that big foundation stone Medicare, which its under our health system. These are all the things that buttress the sort of life that you have. And then of course, education. Just a decade ago, only 3 kids in 10 completed secondary school this year, it's 8 in 10. And you know where the big gains
are? They are in the Western Suburbs of Sydney, and places like it -in the
big areas where working people live, so that we can see the children of
working parents do well in secondary school and in universities. This is the
great liberating force in Australian life -you jump the boundaries by
education. And that's where our mobility comes from so the kids of working
class parents get their break in the education system. And if they get sick,
they get looked after by Medicare. And if mum and dad have got a modest
income, they get support in the Family Allowance Supplement. They get
support with Rent Assistance. They get support with childcare. They get
support with these sorts of things, and they get support with facilities like this.
Now these are the things that Labor Governments do, and Labor
Governments believe in. By the way, my little mate Johhny Howard was out
there talking to ACOSS yesterday that's the Australian Council of Social
Services. And he was saying he has had a big Paulian conversion on the
road to Damascus, or so he would have you believe. Three years ago, they
were going to kick working people to death with their policies, in terms of
throwing people off unemployment benefits after 9 months, scrapping Medicare, making you pay the full freight for health insurance, knocking down all the Social Security payments, they want to cut $ 10,000 million out of Government spending, but of course now he says he won't touch any of these
programs. Well, the thing is I'll give you a bit of good advice: don't believe
him. Don't believe him. He will go for you again just as he was going to go for you through John Hewson 3 years ago 16 members of the 19 members
of the front bench [ of the Opposition] are still the same people that put Fightback together. So, they have all had this it's been like group therapy they have all had the Paulian conversion on the road to Damascus they
have all seen the light in 3 years. Now, you would have to give John Howard the Gregory's to get out to Blacktown. He would need an army map to get out there I reckon I could get my old pushbike and it would get out here by itself.
But, be that as it may, the fact of the matter is again, let me return to this theme: what matters are the things we do as a community. Now, when
Australia Remembers was on just 2 months ago, the reason a nation felt proud of it, that we felt part of it, is because we fought that war together as a community. And Australians rejoice in community things because it is not
just private wealth and private reward that's all right for the individuals. But it's not right for everybody. We want to keep the egalitarian values of
community spirit and a fair go, and inclusion, that we are all in this together, These are the values that we want to keep going. And this is very much what inspires projects such as this to say if you live in Western Sydney, you're as entitled to good transport as if you live in the ritzy parts of Sydney. And that t Government is not going to forget about you it's going to put these
facilities in place, it's going to see that they're safe. And this thing has got, I
believe, 37 Closed Circuit Television cameras, it's all open so people can see through it, there's going to be safe areas of a night which are going to be
policed so your kids can come home on the train, and they can go to a place
where you know they are not going to be accosted, or worse. These are the things that matter to the security, to our peace of mind, and to the way we
Jive. At any rate, I'm glad to be here today, back in Blacktown with my
colleagues Russ Gorman and Roger Price, who have, of course, represented this area fervently and well over a long period of time, and to be here with the
Labor Minister for Transport, Brian Langton, in opening this great facility. It's
a great thing for Sydney, for the rail system, but a good thing for Blacktown
and the environs, and I am very pleased and proud to be here to officially
open it.
Thank you very much, indeed.