NO. TV RZCORDING: " TALK TO THE NATION"
BY ' THE PRIME MINISTER T" HE 1FlT.' HON. R. G. MENZIES
6TH DEMBER, 1261
Ladies and gentlemen,
This, you may be glad to know is my last appearance
on Television in this election campaign, and it's a very brief
one five minutes I think. Therefore all I need do, all I
can do, is to give you a very quick summary of what I beieve to
be the issue in this election,
Now I've been all around Australia I must say I have
had some f the best meetings I have ever had in my life and
I've been delighted to find wherever I go that people are not
only conscious of the development of this country in recent
years, but they are very proud of it and they are looking
forward to the next period of development because they know
that this means everything to them; not only in terms of
national strength, but in terms of individual advancement,
rising living standards, high and rising employment.
Now what has been done in these recent years has
been done by what I will describe as a system of co-operation,
Commonwealth Government, State Governments private enterprise
hardly any of t. hese big things that are going on in Australia
fail to reflect that particular friendly co-operative
association. And of course we have been aided in all this by
the fact that into Australia there has come a vast amount of
capital, a vast amount of skill and a great number of people.
And all these things have worked together, in an atmosphere of
good credit, and good repute, and stable government, to
produce the results that we have seen and to produce tose even
greater results that will be seen in the years to come.
Now on the other hand we have our opponents tthe
Socialists of the Labour Party, who offer you very li te in
terms of development. They haven't had so much to say about it,
but they offer you handouts, very attractive offers, on the good
old socialist principle. But where they stand on the matters
that are essential to development is another question.
They appear to object to investment, here from
overseas. All they have to do is to cut it off like that, and
the result will be seen before very long in a slowing down of
the national progress. dhere do they stand on industrial
peace? Because the high level of industrial peace has meant a
great deal in these recent years to national progress, and one
of the elements in it has been, for example, the democratic
control of the trades unions by the secret ballot, So far as I
can make out Labour is pledged to repeal the Secret Ballot
legislation. I certainly know that when it was before
Parliament they voted1 to a man, against it. Where do they
stand on these other ' Matters?
I've said something about overseas investment
something about secret ballots, but dhat happens under their
inflationary system of finance? Rising costs, great damage to
the export industries, consequently a considerable loss of
national income consequently a considerable tendency for the
real standard ol living to fall, and, as these things go on, a
considerable building up of unemployment on the large scale.
Not a moderate amount of unemployment, temporary, and in a
volume that will undoubtedly disappear in the course of next
year, not that; but massive unemployment as a result of loose
expansionary finance and rising costs.
2.
Now that is as much as I can say in this time it by
no means covers the ground. But it's your choice and I don't
mind telling you that, not so much for my sake, as an
individual, but for the sake of this country, I hope you will
choose to go on with sound government and sound national
advancement.