OPEvii4G OF NATIONAL EXPORT WEEK el OTl96
11 OCTOBER 1968
Seech by the Prime Mviinister, Mr John Gorton
This is a week of the year which . means something to
every Australian. It is one week'% in the year when, I think',, all of us here,
Federal and State representatives, primary producers, manufacturers,
miners, businessmen agree on one thing. Vie need to " export to prosper"
and we need to develop if we are to achieve what is within our grasr. in
national development. For that reason, I am glad to be honoured to be asked to
be present today and to have the opportunity of supporting you and all those
who have so energetically and enthusiastically organised this National
Export Week. W. hat Sir Charles has said has been to the point. L-Ie has
been perh'aps, I think, a little chilling, a little difficUlt in his assessment
of the future, but that is all to thle good. Let = i accept what he has said as
a warning of what could happen, not necessarily as a warning of what will
happen, but what could happen if we become backsliders in the export drive.
I agree entirely that Australia needs to do more in exports
and that the greatest danger we face is, as has been pointed out, complacency.
If complacency is an offspring of the success so far achieved, then let us
strangle her offspring at birth.
The whole purpose of National Export Weelk is to make the
nation more export-minded, to convince producers and mnanufacturers that
there are great benefits, direct and indirect, to be won from increased export
activity. I believe in this nation we have the will and the capacity to dQ more.
I think we have the will and thle capacity to succeed.
I want to say a little about the Federal Government's role in
this task. There is a lot we can do and indeed have done, but there are also
limits to tile Government's role because we live in, and believe in, a free
enterprise society. Governments can lead by example, by facilitation,. by
co-operation and by giving incentives of one kind and another. But with
industry itself primary or secondary lies the final response.
At national level, the Federal Government has a duty to
create, by the sensible use of the powers it has, the right climate for
stability and growth, a climate which will allow development at home and an
opportunity for access to world markets on reasonably competitive te tr-s.
It has to do this in full co-operation with State Governments.
Today the Australian economay is fundamentally sound, and the
base onl which we can build anl increased export effort is there and is expanding.
The problems which arise are, I think, only shiort term problems, providing
we accept the challenge that is inherent in this National Export Vleelc. .. s/ 2
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There are always incipient dangers in any expanding econprny.
W/ e can't control the weather not yet anyway and this can have a gie at
effect on export incomes and on production. We have no, or little I think
perhaps the proper word is " no" Government control over wage structureaand
wage levels. We have to compete in overseas markets where the n4. tional
self -interest of countries which provide those markets inevitably takes
precedence over the fortunes of the foreign trader which in this case wouldd be
us. We need more people and we need more capital.
None of this is a new phenomenon, nor have we been slow
in recognising our problems. The very existence of the Export Development
Council is evidence of a recognition by the Government and by industry; of
these problems. which I have set out. And may I say that I think the Cotancil
has done a splendid job for a good many years now as an adviser to the,
Commonwealth Government on exports.
The picture I see is this. If our export effort just paddles
along, then we are creating problems for ourselves and doing that with our
eyes open, and not achieving all that may lie within our grasp. When the
terms of trade ( as you have pointed out) broadly are against us, we cannot
afford to be casual about those balances of payments or to depend too heavily
on capital inflow to offset what we are losing on current account. I do hope
nobody will assume that that sentence means that I don't want as much
capital inflow as I can possibly get.
We have to earn more foreign exchange, and the best, the
safest, the most secure way in the long term is to build up an expanding
export programme. In that we can be sure of paying our import bills.
In that way we can develop our home industries by giving them new outlets
for their products. I look forward in our national planning to what Australia
will be in the year 2, 000, and I believe the 70' s here in Australia will usher
in for us a thirty-year period of quite remarkable change and of extraordinary
opportunity for growth, but we have to get moving now to be " with it".
By the end of this century, if all goes well, we could be
a nation of around 28 million people. To achieve that, though, we need to
sustain our birthrate and to develop our migration intake on the lines of
pre * sent planning. -If we do, this figure of 28 million is a reasonable figure
for which to aim. But this will mean a continuous pressure on our resources.
We will continue to need overseas capital, but insofar as you are successful,
we will be less dependent upon it. Our economy is vulnerable if we become
too dependent on it, and our solvency could be at risk because of factors
entirely beyond our own control. The best insurance policy, the only valid,
long term safeguard is that sustained export effort which I believe this
Ccuncil is dedicated to achieve,
The 70' s will bring us not only the population of which I have
spoken and indeed, these things, many of them will come before the seventies.
The 70' s will bring us the jumbo jets and supersonic airliners; it will turn
friends into next-door neighbours in terms of time. Perhaps man will land
on the moon, and what may result from that, even in terms of industry, can
only be guessed at. Perhaps nothing, perhaps a great deal. These are all part
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of the drama of our age. They are going to affect us in ways we can't measure
now, but one thing is certain. They will draw us deeper than ever into the'
international community, where the current for freer trade between nations
has been flowing quite strongly for some time past.
The Australian exporter will acquire a new status and a'new
significance. He must be ready to respond, not only to the rising demapdij
of the large, recognised markets of the world, but to the emerging marlef@
which will be there as the developing nations of Asia establish viable
economies and, like us, become hungry for imports Some forty per cent
of our exports now go. to Asia, but as. you said, Japan takes the greatesv
share. But there will be opportunities among the others as their resoucs
increase, as their security is estalished, and I hope and believe that the'
members of this Council will recognise those opportunities as they ari~ e and
will work to take advantage of them for their industries' benefit and fov the
benefit of the nation. Whatever excitements the seventies bring, they won't $ submerge
the hard facts of economic life the business of meeting and paying
international bills. We are, in this field, deeply committed to a costly
Defence expansion programme and much of the defence " hardware" Jiich
is the term, for some reason or other, usually applied to anything to do'
with defence defence " hardware" has to be purchased abroad because it
can't yet be made here. This has been taking, and it will continue to take, for
some time yet, large bites from our foreign exchange resources.
It is essential spending, absolutely essential, but it is not
income -producing in business terms. It is not developing, in terms of
adding industrial rather than military muscles. It gives a dividend, of
course, in the form of security to the nation and ability to discharge treaty
obligations, and I suppose that without that, business could not prcaper and
exporters could not export, but those requirements being laid upon us are
added reasons for increasing our earnings by exports from this country.
Sir Charles has given you figures which show we are making
progress but that other nations, admittedly much bigger than ours bigger
in terms of population and bigger in terms of size of industries in many
cases has given you figures that other nations bigger than ours are doing
better. I believe that we can do better and that is why my Governm-ent supports
tis National Export Week up to the hilt.
Our policy, in basic terms, is constant. We stand for
economic growth, we stand for national security and we stand for full
employment. We aim to maintain what we already have, and that is one of
the highest living standards in the world. That is to say we aim to maintain
that, provided the workers, the manufacturers of this country take advantage
of the climate which has helped this situation to come about.
I think we are the thirteenth largest trading nation in the
world today. I don't know that it matters a great deal how we rank, but I
think we are. What matters more than how we rank is the contribution our
trading makes to our balance of payments.
We have proved ourselves to be one of the world's most
efficient producers of temperate farm products, and by a tariff poikcy of
protection for economic and efficient industry, we have developed a
sophisticated and diversified economy. I -" think it is hardly necessary to ./ 4
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mention mifleralq oil and gas because we read about them every day at
breakfast. Now all this provides exports and export potential. We
have already penetrated, in some form or other, most of the recognised
mnarkets of the world, but there are still new ones to be found and there are
still opportunities for stepping up sales in the markets we have. There is
plenty of scope for Australian ingenuity and originality. Although we have
displayed quite a lot already, the more we can display, the greater will be
the success of the efforts you are making.
I know that some of you know, but did you all know that we
export stainless steel cutlery, for example, to Sheffield, that we export
tulip bulbs to Holland? Di d you know we export spaghetti to Italy, ball
bearings to the Ruhr and windscreen wiper bla~ ies to Iceland? Did you
knww xotchqebost Angok Our responsibility fiishes though
with providing the cheque books! We export waffle-making machinery to
America, safari suits to Zambia and Irish stew to Scotland? I could go on,
but I think these examples are enough of the ingenuity and the taking advantage
of opportunity of which I have spoken.
The pattern of our trade has already changed significantly
and it will continue to change. Vie have to adjust to that change and it is
the individual exporters, the . meni in the field, who have ultimately to do the
job. So I appeal to you today under five headings
1. Be adventurous
2. Aim for higher productivity
3. Improve your products in such cases where it is
possible for a product to be improved
4. Research your industries and the Government is
prepared to help research in industries.
Double your efforts.
I daresay you could well appeal to me under exactly the same headings, but
well fair enough, let us both try.
You, Sir Charles, ackmo w ledged the part the Gover nment
is ptaying in encouraging exports. This will go on, through the commercial
services of the Department of Trade and Industry, through insurance
facilities, export incentives of one kind and another and by research and
development grants. These are constantly under review to meet changes
as they occur, and I think, Sir, that you bring suggested changes to our
notice without noticeable inhibition.
I would add that mñ-y Government has always looked
syrnpathetically at proposals from industry designed to give Australian
exporters a stronger competitive position overseas. It has also given
leadership in negotiating commodity agreements and access to world markets
under international trade arrangements. But I stress again at this point that
this is where we hand over to you.
There is only one more thing I want to say and it concerns
an export less tangible than the ones we have been talking about, It is*: the
status of the Australian nation.
W-e have, I think, a reputation among the nations of tIp
world for stability and responsible administration; we pay our bills a-Ad
we honour our obligations. This is an export commodity we must nourish carefully,
just as carefully as we must watch the standard of the goods we prod~ ce
to sell in the tough, competitive markets of the world. This again helps
us to attract capital and market oppo rtunities.
I believe we have the resdurces and the skills, and our
people you people have the character and the integrity to be a really
great nation. This is a period of bbilding Which in itself carries its own
excitement. We are one peop le, living in an area of change and
opportunity. I am confident we can make our future secure and also make
a significant contribution to the peace and stability of thc Asian and
Pacific environment in which we live.
This we can do, not only by our industry at home and the
development of our own country, but as a trading nation sharing the export
markets of the world on a fair, permanent and enlarging basis. This is
your objective, this is the objective of those who are attending this Week,
this is the Government's objective. M-,-ay I express the hope that t~ og--ether
we achieve those objectives for the good of us all.