EMBARGO: 10.00 am Friday 14th
December
PRIME MINISTER PRESS STATEMENT NO. 159
14 December 1973
JOINT PRESS STATEMEFNT LlY THE PRIME MINISTER AND THE MINISTER FOR
FRItMARY I14DUSTRY
RURAL POLICY
The Prime Minister, Mr E. G. Whitlam, and the Minister for
Primary Industry, Senator K. S. Wriedt, today announced the Australian
Government's decision to hold an inquiry into all aspects of rural
policy in Australia. The inquiry will be conducted by a working
group consisting of:
Sir John Crawford, formerly Secretary of the Department
of Trade and Director of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics;
Dr S. F. Harris, Deputy Secretary, Department of Overseas Trade
and formerly Director of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics;
Prof. F. H. Gruen, Consultant to the Prime Minister's Department
and Professor of Economics at the Australian National University;
Mr N. D. Honan, Director, Bureau of Agricultural Economics.
Dr Harris will be convenor for the group.
Sir John Crawford's membership is on the basis that he will
give what help to the group that his earlier commitments will allow.
His unmatched qualities and background in the field of rural policy
will however be available to the group.
The working group will be able to draw on the resources
-of the Departmtent of Primary Industry, the Bureau of Agricultural
Economics, Department of Overseas Trade, the Bureau of Census and
Statistics and other Government offices during its examination. The
Group will welcome submissions from farm organisations, other interested
bodies and the public. Submissions should be directed through the
Secretary, Department of Primary Industry.
In making the announcement, Senator Wriedt and the Prime
Minister emphasised that the decision to call for an inquiry was
based on two major considerations. First, there was not place in the
economy for a rural policy that was not both equitable for primary
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producers and economically sound. Second, there has been no
Government sponsored report on overall rural policy since the
publication of " Agricultural Production: Aims and Policies" by the
former Department of Commerce and Agriculture in 1952, over 20 years
ago. The present Government wishes to avoid ad hoc decisions
that might appear to some to be politically attractive at the time,
but which in fact might offer no long term security or real benefits
to the genuine primary producer. The Government needed a basis of
expert advice on which to formulate economically sound and socially
equitable measures that would help the resident farm family.
It also saw a need for a rural policy that recognised
that large and important sections of the rural community are not
themselves engaged in farming although the prosperity of many did
depend on the health of the primary industries.
The working group would draft, for consideration by the
Government, a " Green Paper" on Rural Policy, incorporating aspescts
from present Australian Government policies such as selective
decentralisation, conservation, rural reconstruction and long-term
international commodity agreements. It would also attempt to integrate
these and other factors into a set of principles upon which future
policies could be built.
It is anticipated that the Green Paper will be published
by Government authority but without formal approval. In that form,
it would be debated in Cabinet, in Parliament, and in the community
generally particularly in the rural sector. These debates will
assist the Australian Government to create a more viable rural
sector in the Australian economy.
The Australian Government anticipates receiving the working
group's report by April 1974.
CANBERRA. A. C. T