SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTE,* MR. MENZIES,
T700 BUSINESSMEN AT FINNEY'S AUDITORIUM, BRISBANE,
; ON
FBIDAY, JULY 22, 1955.
SUPPORTED BY
MR.. KEN NMORR IS, PARLIAMENTARY LEADER OF
THE LIBERAL PARTY IN QUEENSLAND
SPEECHI BY'ThiEPRIME-MINISTEB, MB. MENZIES,
" TO 700 ' BUSINESSMEW-AT FINqNEYlSAUDITORIUM,
BRISBANE, OW-FRIDAY. JULY 22, 1955.
This . is, a very remarkable gathering,
because . I have-. just . been. considering. whether!* I have
ever been . called upon to'speak to-so-many people at~ a
single dinner~ anywhere in the world before. ! And with
some difficulty,. I have.. dredged~ up out.. of nmy. memory
an occasion on which, through -somebody'-s courteous : error,
I made. a speech-in London to.. a thousand people. at. a
dinner.-That! is. the only occasion that I can-thinkaof,
in alongand mis-spent life , which : excels in-numbers
this-very remarkable gathering,
Ken Morris is here tonight, . and: I jist
want to say-in.. the simplest possible words,: that.. * 1
a veteran in these affairs. I don't want you to think
that: I. am doddering~ into the grave, bit. I. havereached
the . ripe. age of. 60. . want to tell.. you that Ken Morris
Dleases-me-beyond. words. There is nothing that I can
dio for him that I won' t do for him, It is a'* splendid
thing. to have, particularly here . and in State politics..
somebody who has enthusiasm: -who is full of hope or:
as he would say,-as he has said to me full of
realism, and who goes out to win, -And you know, Sir:
a good deal of my political life,. when I've heard . State
politics discussed in Queensland I have heard people,
actually .1 have heard-them shrug their shoulders,. and
say-, ' Oh well, you know'. And if there-is anything
I detest it-is these fellows who say:. ' You I4now'. I1
have had a-lot of experience of this kind of thing.
May I tell you that ' I can rehnember as vivid~ ty~ asany,
living man,, how. in 1943 we were told that . Labour was
in office in Canberra almost forever. And-in 1949
they,-had the bi~ ggest defeat that any party had-had-for a
long, long time, You don' t win political campaigns
by. being. an. apologist. ' You don't win political
campaigns by . not being too clear : about what. youtstand
for. You. don t win political campaigns -by going
around: andijoining the Proqhets of Gloom, because the
Prophe _ ait_ at_. ar__ te largest
religious oanisationin Australia. But you wn
campaigns: b y saying -' I. am going to win. : And. when
the Leader says that, then it just depends on how
many people can rally around and say. ' Right; and we
are going to win with you'
Now, I commend my friend, Mr. Morris,
to. you. He has: been down in Canberra. I halve had
the benefit of: a number of long discussions with him
I want tosay to you, ' I believe in this man', And
if everybody in this room tonight and you. are the
most influential collection of men who could be
brought together in this State if everybody in this
room believes in him, believes in my friend
Frank Nicklin,. whose absence I so much regret tonight,
then ; they can win. I know all about the question of
whether the. electorates. are so organised, but I hope
you will allow me to sdy that I never come into
Queensland myself, without remembering that in 1949,
in 1951, in 1953. and in' 1954; this* State of'Queensland
was my sheet anchor. Butfirst of all, may Isay a word or
two about this great and historic meeting that is
occurring jn Geneva. I don't know. what it is going.
to do any ' ore than you do. I don't know what the
result of it is going to be any more than any of those
who are taking part in it, because the more responsibility
you have on international affairs the
less likely are you to be dogmatic in advance about
what's going to occur. But I just want to put one
or two thoughts. into your minds about this conference.
The first of them is this; that one of
the great troubles in our time, in modern times, is
that it is. almost-impossible for the heads of
Governments to. have genuinely private conversations with
each other. That is something that is worth remembering
They decide to meet. They have scores and scores of
technical . advisers The Press of the . world, the wireless
of the world. are all organised.. The people are
fascinated: by it. And the result is that discussions
which if they. are to be for the greatest good of man._
kind, ought-to occur quite privately, occur under the
fierce glare of publicity. And that,, I. think : is one
of the unfortunate things of our time, Just imagine,
the four men sitting down. together nobody . else present.
With no. agenda. saying to.' B. Now look,. we
are in great trouble What are your real troubles. about. us?
And the other one reciprocating. and saying: What. are
your: real troubles about us?' And they -talk as men may
talk. Not to the recordc . not for the audience : but they
talk to each other as any four of: us tonight might talk
to each other sitting in a private room. chatting about
some matters about which we had disagreed,
rAnd that unfortunately, appears nowadays
to be almost completely impossible. And the tragedy of
that is, that the moment you amke. a negotiation between
nations or between men. a matter of'public debate you
must accept the consequences qf public debate.
Public debate clarifies differences, it
cry tallises differences . but . so far as I know. it never
resolves differences, Because when you golinto. a: debate
you go into it to win. That is the essence of. debate,
And you don't normally go into a debate unless you know
quite clearly what you have in your own mind, what your
views are and how wrong the other man's views may be,
I think public debate is a useful thing in Parliament
because it lets the ordinary voter know what the issues
are. It may be a very useful thing on an occasion like
this, . because it may serve to let the world know what
the differences~ are. So it-is useful solong as we
remember that public debate does not resolve differences.
And I-am hoping very much that. when-the. good things that
will undoubtedly come out of this meeting-have come, when
ice has. been broken,. when people have ibecome : accustomed
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to talking to each other: in. a friendly way, when there
is more understanding and more knowledge, I am hoping
that. after that, there may be private discussions,
quite: informal discussions, with no publicity which
will enable problems to be looked at from the point
of view of resolving them and not from the point of
view of expounding them. I hope I make my view on
that matter perfectly plain.
In the meantime, ladies and gentlemen.
so far as we are concerned, in this remote corner of
the world, all we can do in the old words of Holy
Writ is ' to watch and pray'. These talks can't
produce peace . nor; indeed, can they hope to resolve
particular differences which require immense technical
examination. But I believe they can open a door that
the world has wanted to see opened I believe that
they can. roduce among heads of Government and among
those immediately associated with them, a new spirit
of friendliness maybe that is too great a word to
use but a new: spirit of understanding. And a new
feeling that well I have met the other man and I
know him. I have had myself, in my own very small way,
a vast experience in international discussions and I
have never engaged-in one that-was half so useful as the
private talk with the head of-some other Government a
private talk with some Minister, the kind of talk in
which you can, -in the metaphorical expression; can let
your hair down, and get to understand what it is and
what the trouble is about. And the only things that
have happened which I would regard as effective
internationally in my own second term as Prime Minister
have been brought about by private talks when you met
as man to man and talked personally and not for. the
benefit of. a gallery. And, therefore, all-I-want to'say to
you about this great conference, and it is a great
conference, this is quite historic, is that we are not
to expect too much. It is a very human temptation,
isn't it, to think that after a week or ten days of
talks we will be given the complete recipe for
universal peace. Now don't. let' s have any such ideas.
Peace is not producedby'resolutions. Peace: is. not
produced by-some article of protocol. Peace is prod uced
byanattitude of mind ln the nation': s concern. We will
have peace in this . world when the people. of the Soviet
Unioh, the people of China, the people wherever they may.
be.. have'--th. same instinctive desire for peace. as we
have and have Ithe power to make that desire effective in
governingfrces. And, therefore,. don't let's be over-..
. simple in our minds on this matterand-say Wel. l, this
will produce-some resolution which will mean-that we-can
beat our : swords iinto ploughshaies'.. Bec4ause ! to; expect
such athing from one meeting,! fronvthe', first-meeting,
would, 1I think, ; be : a -fatal erro..
: In -the ! second place, don.' t : let us fall
-int6 the.: i rror, ladies : and gentlemen,. of ithinking-that if
much: advancei s made i in u; siderStanding, : and that; is'the object
of-the conference uin.' Geneva, that; the result may be that
, we will abandon our def. ence programmes : and give ourselves
a: defence holiday. That, let me remindyou, is : some--
thing that has ialmost happened before. Between the two
. wars-there were lots of people who'said: ' Well, we-have
the ' League of. Nations, ' and because we Wave the) League of
Nations1: : all is -well. We -have collective ' security.'
And la -lot of peopl'e -said: ' We-ll, colle-ctive security : i-s
security'.. Whereas-, collective security merely meant
. something-that had: to . be ' backed ' by ' strength -in the
interests of common seturity. : And because that wasn'-t
. understood:, w e haduin this world between-the two wars
the'spectacle of the victors in-thefirst. World. War.
the British Empire: as it was,: I-am happy to. remember,
still called:.. the United Statesof -America -France.
What happened? ' The . victors in-the . war proceeded-to
disarm-each other , by agreement, but not the ienemy.
The result-of this illusion this ! amotional cloud cuckoo
land, inwhich we lived -for'the -seCond-tie rin this
century we Iwent . within ace of utter -defeat -in a war.
Now, we must-remember-these things.
You may nbver confidently,-and you certainly may never
comfortably, argue international problems ' from -weakness.
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It is our-duty-to be strong, and I. don't want to be
regarded by any of you as having. a pessimistic view.
I believe that this conference will do an immeasurable
amount of good. But when it isover, I will-be
surprised,. if. as Prime Minister of-Australia, if I
still don't have to say to my own people: ' We-nmust
still be-strong'. Now. Sir, thattinduces me to mention
one other matter, and. I mention-it merely because
every now: and then -some echo comes ' down from Queensland:
-And. after all. Queensland has every right to
be-regarded. : by me as -my favourite Stat e. I wouldn't
be here'bit for Queenslnd. -I know that. ' But-every
now: and then, somebody says: ' We'll, there is a great
propaganda moverent going on. It-is occasionally
promoted by people-with their tongues in-their qheeks
about the necessi. ty'for defending Queensland,: and what
is the -Commonwealth doing about it? And, therefore,
I: want-all of you to do-a little thinking between-the
18th hole and the 19th on : thiis matter,: and-sayto your-
, selvesi ' Where', is Queensland best defended?.
Now,-like-all of you, I am British, and
. British-:. to the boot heels. andJI have an undying
affection-for the Old: Country,. And I, therefore, recall
to your ,! inds -that Great Britain has been the
principal home of liberty. and the principal: defender
oftliberty: inthe whole of-the modern history of-the
world. Therefore. ' it-is worth recalling that-from the
Battle of Hasting in 1066, : f i
on throu&._ whoija -o-f-momder n--' ia tor y-),,, Grea.-BrritailLhas
defended her. own. territorial. integri-ty -inothe-r--
places~ and not on her own-soil, The only time when
f sion was in prospect, arose when'the fatt). e
of Britain went onin the recent war, And there the
Battle'for Britain was won-magnificently in the: air over
GreaitBritain and later on, by the indomitable -spirit
of people confronted by new, strange weapons-. coming
from distant places But for 9G0 years, almost 900
years'the good-sense of that country and of its-people
has indicated that you want to defend yourself: as -far
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away from yourself : as.. you can. ' fAnd, -therefore, * when,
peopleisay~ nosAustralian.-troops ought'to~ go to'Malaya,
that-. we oughttc'! eaveiit~ to -the . conscript. youths of-
' GreatrB~ rit ain, we, ought ' to leave it the conscript
youths oft t~ eUnited. Stajies; jit'iis. not our , usinxess.
How terfible. *.-How. utterloyu t of harmony with: the
true iAustt-lian~ spirit. ' iAnd. yet~ this uis. the doctrine.
of the Evatt LaorParty, : naked 4and zunashamed.
Do you know, ladies 5and gentlemen, , that
at this momnent, when the. United. Kingdom~ has õ . under
training-and under ~ arnis, boys ! for-a period of months,
two years,!' sent:. around.; the world, -when. Great . Biitain
has ' a greater fo'rce,: a. greater mil~ iiary~ f'orce under . arms
than sever ! she ' had , in. her peace time . hi'story before,,
of'! them: are outside'. Great'. Britain.-! And. wetare~ to~ be
told-with our limited forces. that we mustn'. have-the~ m
anywhere except on the* Queensland ~ coast,. or the
Victorian coast,. or. at . Darwin.. or somewhere ; else. : I will
refer-to this -TIought to. apoligise'toyou for . referring
toi1t -but it is very frequ entlyforgotten thatlif
aggressive Communism~ tfinally ~ decides to ~ sweep , in our
' direction, tit will be a pretty bad . day-for ' Us,, if. th-e:: first
time , we'taketany ' steps about ' it, ' is when~ they. are. couple
of hundred miles away ' from ' ovr coast . across ' the isea.
Now, Sir, the othermatter: thatl ~ thought
I might trespass on. youritime~ about~ for.-a-, faw. minutes
is our internal Ceroblews, -the ' internal ecortomy. I can
relieve the minds oi mny distinguished ~ colleagues'by
saying' that I'. don'-t p'ropose-toantioipate the Budget.
And -: nothing, that -' I-say, is~ tcbe treated'w-as * an ' a'ntirqipa'. tion
of'theiBudget. : Bqcause . I-always anticipate-the; Budget,
but. I. always anticipate it with -fear~ andtrembling.
' And having fearand~ trembling, i theniproceed-' tomanticipate
it by-doing what ' I would recommend very warmly
to many other people, J sit down andI. swot over-the
docmens. I'fmidout what the-facts are": It'. A
very good-idea when you aretsettling~ these matters, to
know the-facts. That is-a p-iace of wise advice that ' I
merely hand out to you-. gratis. Though, snoodoubt,
Leon Trout. would like to. charge. you. a~ shilling. or'two
-for -it. But-could -I venture,. gentlemen, to help
you on this matter. by~ saying-that there:, are ' some things
-that* we ought-to have quite clearly'! in our minds., One
of our troubles ~ in , Australia, : ahid, indeed, ut goe s
for every-country iis that whereas we, who have the
responsibility,. must consider-financial-andleconImic
policy-from-every pointof view -lbecause-that : is-the
e'ss. 6ivce if the whole mocvement for which I-stand most
private people uinevitablyconsider-it-from-their'-own
point 8f ' vie, , as t affects -their business : as ' imprters
or.: asexport-ers*, or as-farmers or:, whatever-it
may-be.. Now.-I am-nt-quarrelliig:' abouthabuI
do-think.-that% -every.-now: and then we ought to'stand
back-a little-andsa) ' Whattis the position-in the
broad?'. Because I' know-that there'are practical people
* in the world who-' say that politicians generalise, but
believe me, -tpo be able to ' see a problem ' in the broad,
to-be-able to-evolve general-principles-for-its
solution'is ' the. hardest'-exercise of-the ' intelle~ t.
fAnybotdy mayw'say. h'Thisa'is hotw to fix my busines's, or
) is the first thing to be s-aid? Our troubles,-and
we have -economic-tropht.-, nAltqi -r r njg
õ n or t iLerpt robably in our history. -te
proble-ms inherent~ injprosperity. Have-that~ in mind,. I
b~ eg: of: 5; MI.: Most-of the men here-tonight-have been
through: a period of ' the depression: and-can-remember-: all
the -bitter problems of those -days were-the-bitter
problems that-were~ inherent: in: depression, . not in prosperity.
' Andwe have-. now lived-long-enough -to know
that prosperity produces lits problems.
Bu -t yo~ ui: don'-t guarantee-the continuance
of prosperity, -and'Australia. isat-this moment-more
prosperous---than ever before ; in : its -history, -we donL't 7
. Caatete~ otnac of prosperity_, merejy'_% p . sqy;-.
ing-' We-will go oi ain-g a-d"' an wew Lretend
that -there'is no'economi Lc probem'. -Because-there -is
an-economic problem. We are prosperous. We'-have~ a
high purchasing power.. Wearelshort of-labour. Our
manAgerialefficiencyris-still ji'tas--high as-that -in
some other countries in the world We have at the elbow
of our wage-earner a smaller supply of power than his
opposite number in the United States has. In other
words, we are feeling. at this moment thep ure of hig
monetary demands on a. re-. tricted_. suppLy4. f-abL. au
management and materials. And, Sir, that gives rise to
problems that are not to be brushed off. These problems
require thought, Somebody who says Well, the right
way to deal with that is for the Government to let us
have more of our own money: seems to settle. the argument.
He hasn t necessarily settled it, Somebody says
: Well, this is the perfect case for. a great migration
programme, so that we may have more and more people to be
employed', I am a great supporter of. a high migration
programme. But, please look at; it both ways. A
migration programme does in the short. run increase the
demand upon. capital: facilities . the demand. upon factory
accommodation, the demand on plant, the demand on schools,
on hospitals or whatever it may be. The capital demand
that is generated by 120,000 150 000' migrants coming into
the country every. year is enormous : In the long run ;--it
may be five years it may be eight years I don't know how
long in the long run the productive effort of the new
population will be counter inflationary, because it will
stimulate the production of goods the people want. But
you can't go through. a period of: intense migration without
understanding that that s a period in which inflationary
pressure is bound to be quite substantial,
I balance those two things, one: against the
other and. I have come down heavily in favour of migration
because I believe that what this country wants more than
anything else is population more and more millions of
people, But all I am talking to you. about this matter: for
is this don t please. accept the idea that when you have
said we will have more millions of people that you have
solved the problem, because we will, in consequence for
some time have a high pressure of demand on our resources
of men and of materials. and those are things that may
require, occasionally stringent financial measures. rAnd
the stringent financial measures which we took in 1951, in
the short run; produ. ced hostility. and misunderstanding. and
criticism and, sometimes, abuse. But if you don't. mind
abuse and I assure you I thrive on it then you
know in the long run that if you have been right, you
will find that the economic position has been improved
by it and that in the long run, as now, everybody is
better off. Now Sir. I don t want to make a long
sermon to you about this matter. But could I, perhaps
illustrate the. kind of thing I have iximind and I
have been talking rather longer than I intended to
by talking about a matter just quite shortly which most
of you.: gentlemen here tonight have discussed privately
I amsure, more than once, And that is the question
as to how: we get more capital into Australia from
overseas, There, again, I occasionally find,
Mr, ' Chairman that people oversimplify this matter, and
theysay : Well. let's get capital in from overseas and
everythingoin the. garden is lovely'-Then every Premier
will have what he wants, though I don t believe that'day
will ever come, and there will be plenty o. f money to do
everything, Well in the first place I think we ought
always to remember this, that if everybody in Australia
let's put it in this way if every working man if every,
man capable of work, caab f mployment in Australia
is in fact employed, and you add œ 100 million of capital
to the demand upon his services do you create more men? 7
Do you make them more willing to work? My experience has
been I hope I am not entirely pessimistic that the
greater certainty of a job, the more likely it is that the
productive effort will tend to fall. I don't want to
put it too high, That goes for you. too as well as to
the fellow who carries the bricks, It goes for me. no
doubt, If somebody were foolish enough to guarantee me
that I will be Prime Minister for the rest of my natural
life I don't mind telling you with all shame, I would
take three weeks holiday for the first time in my life,
And therefore, it isn t just a matter of
adding money to the economy. I agree that to develop
Australia and Australia is in spite of its remarkable
efforts, a relatively undeveloped country to develop
Australia we need capital But we also need manpower
we need skill, we need effort, We need more production
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of: the materias.-that-are wanted for this. work. And
. you mustn
fYouican -solve : it for me?, iby, borrojing.@. œ 0' million.
.1 hope I rake-that point quite plainly-to
you,. because: at this moment in! Australia there is no unc
: employment. Onthe contrary,: we have: a demand an
unsatisfied demand; for peopleto.-be . employed. There: are
more jobs thanmen. Nowdoes ' that mean~ thatwe~ are -not
to concern ourselves with overseas -borrowing. Not at all.
I. would like to tell~ you . a-simple little story about that,
because JI kriwsomething about overseas borr owing.
In 1950, just after we had-come back into
office ,: and justafter our distinguished opponents. had
Ssaid lthat you couldn t-borrow money, and couldn' t : borrow
dollars~ and we must, therefore, go-without-the dollar
goods ; for . which at that: time there was no substitute,
great earth-moving-equipment, all isorts of things . needed
for : public works. They-said it can'. t be done. : And I sat
in myl room until half past one-in the morning-for: about
two months and read all the documents I . could. get * out of
all the departments on these matters, and then wentiinto my
Cabinet and~ said: ;' Well, we have no aiswertothis vital
shortage of capital goods.' You: see why -I mention * capital
good. ; It i s not just a, matter of . bringing money in and.
adding: to monetary demand,-: but a matter of buying capitaf
goods. that wouldcome . in here. and be producers -from the
time. they. arrive. I sawno hope of that unless we can
raise a dollar loan-and. I would have thought that thatiwas
impossible. And-. so eloquent ; was on this matter -and I
have my-moments,-thatall my colleagues: beamed at me and
said: it is quite unanswerable,. you had better go
abroad-and borrow-some dollars". I-said, Iwas
saying Lexactly the opposite'. And they -said: " Yes,
I know, but still give it a go. Go and-see whetheryoucan
borrow some dollars'. That. was a pretty good assignment.
. and-I went. Now,: you don't borrow money anywhere-in the
world, and this again I want. you to have in mind,: unless
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your country is regarded: as creditworthy, unless your
administration is regarded: as-reputable and creditworthy:
and unless you, yourself, are regarded: as-a
responsible person. And-I don't mind telling . you that
the credit of; Australia when we came inat the end of
1949 was'such, that had it continued, nobody would
have been able to borrow dollars in the United States.
I have not the-slightest doubt of it. And I went over
to. England on one of these tours that people com~ plain
about ? so much. Great holiday jaunts. they call them.
I was there for five days and I had three or four long
discussions with my friend, Stafford Cripps ( my
political opponent). who was-then the Chancellor of the
Exchequor. I got him to agree : that if I could borrow
dollars-in the United States, I wouldn't have to put
them'into: the dollar-sterling pool, which is very
important from our point of view, because then: everybody
-else would have a cut out of it, you see. I
said: i'I want them': for myself, Stafford'. : Andhe
agreed. And then I went to the United States.
Well, I had my negotiations with the
International Bank. I: started, being -fairly long
in the tooth now, with President Truman. I got him
on mylside. I: then ' got Dean Acheson on my-side, -then
gotrAverell Harriman on my side. There is nothing like
having: a'few-friends,. you know. I have sometimes had
very : few, but-you always wanlit a few. And we got from
-the International Bank 50,000,000. in as many days
as they. had-taken. months to lend them to any other
country in the world. But. every dollar, every dollar was
earmarked, not just to stimulate some monetary demand
in Australia, but was-earmarked for -the importation
into Australia of capital goods of massive working
equipment needed for the developmtnent of this. country.
That -is the. whole point I am making. Don't borrow
for money, borrow for things, bdrrow for the things
that you need. And on my last visit through-there,
Mr. Black, President of the World Bank, said to. me that
he would like me to come to the World ' Bank to sign the
last. borrowingwe had-made. He had the whole of his
of them,. in the room,-from all: the
countries in the world, or a great number of the countries
iuthe. world. and. I signed a loan contract for.$ 542
million. -He pointed out to the Directors that: Australia
had, during our time in office,--permit me to emphasise
that Australia had secured from'the World Bank 258%
million for capital goods, mare dollars than had been
se'cuwredby~ any other country in the world.
One has only to go aroondfAustraIia to see
theiimpact of this kind of thing. Well,; I mention that
to you to demon strate how I approach this matter of publ ic
: borrowing. ; We don't-share the Labour Party s horror of
borrowing; These silly statements that ' are made: at
, Canberra from time.-to timeabout putting yourself: into
the hands of-the Overseas Bankers. This is~ alot of
nonsense. Nobody in this room, in his five. wits, can fail
* to~ understand'that if we hadn't-secured all this dollar
finanne there would be works : s tandiig h alf-completed all
round ' Aust'ra lia, which have now been done. iAnd~ what', you
must do: is not-to borrow justifor'the: fun of it, not to
borrow with. reckless indifference: as to how you'repay,
because we have had-all thatin mind all that matteriwell
in hand. ; But to borrow on the public account, not just
to~ add to expenditure,: but to. add to our physical resources
of plant and equipment in Australia.
And, Sir, the other.. aspect of'the matter is,
of course, . private'finance. There-hassbeen a'fairly
substantialmovement of private investment. capitaliinto
Australia. : But'there again,: I point out to. you, that
nobody bringing œ 100 million into Australia~ can by that.
si-mpl-e. act, create-another X thousand employees. I f we
haven't more people, tMIER ne. adds'to the demand and up
goes the cost of wages, up goes the price,. up-goes the
inflationary movement. -And, ' therefore, we ourselves have
always to consider that while we encourage overseas in--
vestment, we believe in private invesgtment,. we believe in
private capital. : We have'. none of these.' silly'ideas. I
merely-. want you to have-in mind that-if private capital
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coming into Australia: is to be effectively. employed
for our benefit,: and for its own legitimate benefit,
then: we must : face up to the . conditions of that kind of
thing. One of-those conditions is that we must
justify additions to our capital supply by additions to
our productive effort. : And that doesn't really mean
one man or-two men or-three men. It means management,
it means efficiency of organisation, it means technical
improvement, it means genuine productive-effort on the
part of the : employee. This . goes all tound. Otherwise
we will become'drunk with the idea of money; we
will say: ' Well, there is more and more money. rThe
turnover is greater'. We don't pause to: say'. ' Well
it may be greater, because the price level has risen'
We can : easily become obsessed -with the idea of money,
whereas for genuine continuing prosperity in : Australia,
we-must match: more and mre ' purchasing power'with more
and more productive: effort: an' productive: achievement,.
And if I might . bring that-to. a simple-single point, I
would: say this to . you:.-
This country,,. through the Arbitration
Court : and-various State Jaws, -has a 1forty-hour wtdk.
This : country.. can afford a forty hour w ek, but onlyif
it is forty hoursiwork. If we are goingto'be-such
' fools : in the face of history as to get : all-the -enormous
benefits of. a forty hour week, : all the leisure that: it
Sproiducefs :-and wthis eis a country of enormous leisure--
are going'to be such fools. as to think, that
hav-ing. a Tforty hour week, we can-by this rule or that
regulation or that practice. to whittle it away to
to 30 to' 28. then we must be intelligent nengh to
face up to the consequences of-that; Andthe consequences
of aniy such: attitude of mind as that must
inevitably be -that our costs will rise, that our prices
will rise and the day may well come when we price even
our'export. indistries on-the land out of the world
market. If we are going to do that, then we will
have reached the last folly; because although there may
be some people in the world who believe that a Government
with inexhaustible-supplies of money can subsidise-every-'
body, so that everybody remains happy. You don't
believe that. Nor do I believe that. This country! s
prosperity,: so great, must be a-solid prosperity. I
would go out of office miserable, out of politics dejected,
if I-thought that all I had done was to-leave
my own. country in a state which looked likea -state of
pro'sperity. and in reality was : a'state of complete
delusion. J1 am not a pessimist. I am an optimist. But
if you are going to be full of hope about your~ country
and ' full of confidence n its future, then it becomes
necessary,: every :. noi vand then to; say: ;' ontlet : s. forget
the simple, sensible conditions of continuing prosperity.
Don't: let's abandon the ancient virtues'.., Because, you.
know,-. if you go around Australiaand lookatwhat'has*! been
done: anid. what is being -done, you constantly . remind,. yourselves
that'this was done : by the ancient pioneering-. virtues
that made iAustralia, work done by simple people. who worked.
in their day. and~ generation,. who were as hone! õ t as the: day
and-honedty takes many forms, just: as~ dishonesty doeswho
were honest in their day and generation; * God-fearing
people. who believed in'their familics. and ; in. their : future
andin their country. * God knows: there is not a man here
tonight who-doesn'. t come from-some familyof that kind.
And, therefore, let us retore in our own minds, repair An
our own minds, these great virtues, so that the-happy state
oF-affairs -in which we now live will continue.
Now, Sir, I-said just now'that I was about
to finish,. but will.: you permit me just three ninutes; to
mention one other matter beforeI have done? -I-haven't
except . in. a glancing way, referred to-the impact upon
Australia of the greattinfluence against production,; and
against . effort ' that . we have and,-that; is the ' Communist
movement.. .' That is its ' stock-in-trade. It believes -in
the strike. It believes in ' slowing dbwn. -It believes-in
getting rid of prosperity, because then-it has the ' soil-in
which its doctrines may grow. I -hope everybody in ' Australia
has observed in the last few months that the two'elements
which have conspired together honourably and-effectively to
get-rid of ' Communist control in unions the sec-ret ballot
and'the groups in the unions who stood against iCommunism
have both come under violent attack by Dr. Evatt. The
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attacks, so violent and so successful, partly
cloaked. as some bogus sectarian view, partly cloaked
in other ways, have been so successful that if you
open your newspapers week by week, you begin to read
how this union which was under Communist control and
came out of it, has gone back to it. Does this give
pleasure to the people of Australia? This is no
accident. This is deliberate. This is the price
that, is paid for Communist support. I never read any
of the records of these things without feeling, that one
of the most shocking things that has happenedin my
time-is that the great Labour Party, which really is no
more Communist than I am, as a Labour Party should have
been misled into. a course of conduct which is greeted
with cheers in Marx House, and greeted with despair by
decent trade unionists who have for years been: battling
against Communists.
-17-
VOTE OF THANKS TO: THE PRIME MINISTER MOVED BY
MB. KEN MORRIS PARLIAMENTARY LEADER OF THE
LIBERAL PARTY IN QUEENSLAND,
It is my'very, very proud opportunity to
propose a vote of thanks to the'Right Honourable
R. G. Menzies. : As I looked around the'table. as he. was
speaking, : and as I heard the reception that you gave to
him. at the conclusion of his speech, I realised that
every one of you in the room tonight would-like to. be
doing the same thing. Because . Ibelieve that. you will
be with me when I say that we have got in our Prime Minister
ofAustralia, in Robert Gordon Menzies, the. greatest
Australian that we have known in our generation.
Many of you will have heard me say that. not
only in the presence of the Prime Minister, but also in
his absence. And I have heard you say the same thing. The
proposal of a vote of thanks, of. course, is usually-the
formal. conclusion of a gathering. But there are some
exceptional occasions, when we have an exceptional guest, that
it resumes somewhat greater proportions, as it does to-night.
And when I think of the pages that will be written in history
in the future about -our Prime Minister, I believe that. all
the historians will most proudly put him shoulder to; shoulder
with that other very great leader of our generation,: and of
a previous one, that great Englishman, Sir Winston Churchill.
Ladies and gentlemen, we of the Liberal
Party have ideals of which we are enormously proud. . We have
issued, as you know, a booklet called ' We Believe'. I
think all of you have had it, But I feel that those ideals
which are illustrated in that booklet, ' We Believe', are the
ideals for which our Prime Minister has worked and fought
and sacrificed let us not forget that and sacrificed
over the past 25 years. It is because he has sacrificed
himself for those ideals that he is bringing to Australiat
something that we could never have had, if it hadn't been for
18-
his presence. I ask you to co--operate with my
Parliamentary colleagues in the State sphere to'give
him what I believe he needs, a government in the State
sphere which will. co.--operate with him to bring to
Queensland the real development and the real advance..
ment that Queensland'so richly deserves: but-is
losing because of the lack of co-operation that we
have from the present administration.
I want you to know th, t everyone.: of my
Parliamentary colleagues in Queenslan, believes with me
that they, and you, who are leaders of your industries
have faced in the years that have g6ne by. tasks that
have been difficult. tasks that have been almost
frightening in theirdifficulty. We in the State
sphere face a task, not at all frightening; but a task
which is admittedly difficult. But I can assure you
that all of us bei. eve that with your . co-operation we
will, most definitely, win the elec'tion next year.
That is not optimism, but it is based on a realistic
analysis of every electorate in Queensland. And don't
forget this that in the past few months, I have had the
opportunity of visiting with my Leader, Mr, . Frank Nicklin
all the large areas throughout Queensland. I say to
you in conclusion on that matter that if you will co
operate with us, as I. know you will, if you will go
out, as I think Sir Arthur. Fadden-said a moment ago.
if you will go out on a crusade and spread the gospel
of the ideals of Liberalism whi. ch are the greatest
political ideals which it is possible to have then you
will'see the change of Government in this State.
To you Sir, may I say that I am awfully
proud to be the mouthpiece of those who are here now.
and-who heard you, We feel it is more than an honour
to be associated with you. You are our Leader, and to
you we give all the thanks for the work that you have
done. We will show you what we think in the State
election next year in 1956.