QUESTIONS BRISBANE PRESS CLUB FRIDAY 29 NOVT'', E 1 7
Q ' irto use one of your own phrases, is the melia
giving Labor a fair go taki ng into account that some of your
colleagues have accused the media of indulging in Labor
bashing0
1HITLAM el I I've not made tha* allegation. I do agree
that editorially we do not of course get as fair a go as the
Liberals and the Country Party or the National Party. I've
made no general allegation about that at 4all and I suppose
I am one of that mi nority of the population that reads
editorials at all.
Q Bime Minister could you c.: mment on the announcement
today by Mr Lewis The NSW Premier elect that the QLD and NSW
Governments propose a council of state governments to
coordinate a campaign for state rights.
PM Yes, I was fascinated by this I gather they
are goin to establish a central body to crush centralism.
No whatever there may be about the way the Federal 2arl. is
elected however unequal electorates may be in the Federal
Parliamennt they are not nearly as unequal as they are in every
mainland b -te parliament and I do not believe th't the people
of Aust. wouñ d accept that the state parlia, ents are as
democratic as the Federal Parliament. The Federal Par'. iar.
could be more deiocratic if the electoral systeom vas applied
more , qually as for instance it is in the United States. But
the I-Etates are a blot on Australian democacy the wiy they
are .'. eced. You now in this city and in every rincial
city in the State votes are worth only 2/ 3rds sometimes (_, Iy
1/ 3rd of L other votes are worth in othe-pvarts of the itnt
And the most distant^ ii this State, Mt Isa, has on of the
largest enrolments in the bigger than most of the
electorates in 3risbane. So wl. 4+ comes to lettin,; the peo-pi'
decide what sort of government they will hive I do* n't believe
the people would prefer for one minute the state parliaments
of this country to the Federal Parliament. Despi. e all the
faults of the Fedecal Parliament m it's much closer to the people,
it represents more accurately the views of the people, than any
w~
of the mainland parliaments. Furthermore I eliv . hat the Statesand
this State is a conspicuous example showed tiemselvcs unable
to look after Australian resources, showed themselves unable to
innkxazkfr provide opportunities for their citizens. You only have
to, look at ( what my Govt, my Ministershave been able to achieve
as regards exports. Three times as much is now being recei ved
for every ton of coal af exported from QLD than was the case when
we came into power. This wasn't done by your state govt., it wasn't
done by any other state govt. It was done by a national govt.
at last doing what national govts in every other part of the world
i doing. I mentioned coal, but the same applies to every other
natural resource which we export. At last you have a national govt
which does lookk after these things. The state govts alsways had
the power to do it ., ut they would fall over backwards in crawling
to powerful companies overseas companies too! Overseas companies
have no respect for that. But they will cooperate with a govt.
such as mine which also looks after the nation's interests. Not
only coal but also iron ore, uranium and natural gas. All the things
which are our greatest assets after our skiled population are getting
a very much better rturn than any state govt was able to get for them.
And when you look round at the places where most people live in this
c , try what hai been, public tranport or sewerage if I may
mention it at table or any of the things-schools and honlth centres
that new suburbs that new growth centres need. What had been done
before we ' ide it possible for s mething to be done about itl i
don't believt people will give anything but a 3ronx cheer for thi
very belated initiative a central body to crush the cent. im.
Q the PM aware that according to latest Dept of Labour
figures Tasmania in fact has the highest unemployment in Aust.
And ' 11 the PM explain why umemployd fr,' m throi -' it Aust are
coming to QLD to fill the large number of job vacancies here thus
creating ' naccurate unemployment picture in QLD quite contrary
to the situatiu. as outlined by the PM a few minut s ago.
P. M. It is true that is quite a number of vc. ung a
in the far south and the far north of the state.-the ' old Coast an'
the Tableland Kuranda and so on. That is true but tj,: y are on"
pockets. I believe I accurately stated the situation that isyou
hive the opportunity to create a very great deal of employment in
QLD if you only accept the offers which other govts Labor and Liberal-
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have seen fit to accept.
Q Two years on Monday you came to power amid I would st. y
high hopes even in QLD of a new visionary govt for Aust. Many of
your voters are obviously now upset by high unemployment in all
states, inflation, and high interest rates. As the man who gave us
that new vision for Aust will you please tell us and the voters
what you feel has gone wrong and how you feel about it personally.'
P. M. r am naturally very disappointed indeed that these
circumstances have arisen. I know and everyone who takes the least
interest in it knows that it is not an Australian phenomenon alone
There is no country in the Western world which does not have very
much worse inflation than it ha: d two years ago. Certainly Australia
has. AsixatiaR The same as every other ' estern. country. And this
is of course a great disappointment a great frustration. And no
one of course iS very popular because of it. But I am satisfied
that the peo'ple whenever there is an election of the House of
Representatives will realize that we at least have some positive
programs. , ie hove achieved a very great , umber of them and our
opponents aire doing nothing but nitpicking. They are narks. They
are thoroughly negative. I'here is no program that our opponents
have put up which bears in any way upon these things which affect
Australir % xxnaharand all othe r countries. Now there are-some
people iho ' ij-k that it muight be possible to insulate us fro
rest of the world. You can't do that in Australia. ar,
great trading country. We are the twelfth largest tradi uI VOL ry
overall in the world, and proportionately I doub. if there is anothe
country which engages so much i overseas ra. 1 as Australia. Nou
in ,1', ose circmst. nces it is impossible for us to ' ve to ourselv,
That _ s e are all infecting eachotherif you linii , wt. These vii ' o
of unemployment and inflation. I am satisfied that we fe
taken steps, -teps which have the earliest effect ossib. Le-L,
there is not way t at you will get an emmediate effect_, but we hitsken
tsteps which will hav.. he earliest effect pos: ible ' nd I 1.
have every confidence that by tn ' le of next year re i.
been able to reverse quite markedly the unemployment situation and
even the inflation situation. a " 4
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Q As a democrat Sir, and as a d. oclu' Jy ecl d
Prime Ministee With a majority far greater than Bjelk-orseiins
sd is ever Llikely to be, you have taken a nyimb. of ans for
which you have a mandate at the last election and the previous
election on/ tari u Ss wich many people have admlired you for
and admird your courage for taking against the views of some other
pressures groups and lobbies. Would you agree that no lobby, not
even a trade union lobby, represented by Mr Hawle, has the right to
dictate to the Government what it should or should not do.
IP. M. I agree with you conpleely there. No lobby should
dictate or I believe will dictate to us. You've mentioned tariffs
in particular. One of the remarkable things is the way tha. t trad( e
unionists in some industries cooper te readily with employers and
they are not always australian employers to ncrew the public
That ' it is amazing how trade unionists who are comsumers, in very
great numbersand employers who are marginal consumers get together
to make the Australian public Kxxnxy pay very. much more for their
goods. This is an extraorglinarily difficultto be economically
rational in protection or tariff matters because there is a long
standing feeling in Australia ever since the Depression that high
tafiffs are the way to make numberous jobs. Tariffs a4' cct some
industries and not others. They affect some com! panies and not ot er
compa:,. es in the one industry. For instance no-one in Holdens or
Fords cqi. -eally blame tariffs, but at Leylands they did. The-i. re
all producing the same sort of thing. Now if the tariffs wc
responsible for one company having trouble you would thii
would also be respo! sibl. for othc cn:. ipani s h! ving: the a,-e trel,
But there wasn't the same trouble. The 9reat thiing that we have
be-r in mind is that a country thLit has gre t natural ;.-esouces awe
rid a country which h s a sma ll but highly , ialifi. i and
healtity, literate numerate population ought to conicentra on i
strength u it is quite foolish for us to spend very :. ich n
on some produ which we can get of good quality just as
quality cheaper from , ee as. There are man.; more things of
course which we ought to coi: -toe, on which we c .1 pr , uce
efficiently and cheaply than any peoile outside and ' here we c:
compete with other countries. Some people in the trade unions, n
less than among employers, are doing their very best to scre tihe
consumer. Now it is very easy for trade unionists to speak up and
they have in Mr IIawke a very effective spokesman. And some employers
sometimes have 4 very effective spokesmen. But unfortunately
consumers do not have effec.. ive spo , esmen. You ' t ot, c-, r: Jumers
to get together and put their case. Now the publjc as a
result of that. Having said that i must concede tinat it is
extraordinarily difficult to say to eeople who are being laid
off at Leylands that they should view with equanimity a few thousand
cars coming fully built up on the wharves three miles away. You
can't expect people to accept that situation and we have acted to
correct it because the igports doubled in one year. '' ell you h-ve
got to moderate that sort of thin;. Nevertheless the long thing
which we have to bear in mind in Australia is that we need to use
our human skills in relation to our natural resources to -roduce
what we need ourselves and to sell what we can compete in selling
in other countries. That is the best way for us to be prosperous.
It is quite absurd for us to be making as many refrigerators, as
many motor cars, as many TV sets as say the United States or
West Germany. is uite a. surd that we should produce as many
models of those things, We are getting no better models but we are
paying twice as much.
Q As you have personally and vigorously participated in
the State election campaign would you see the result as a;
ind; cation of the electoral popularity of your government's policies
in 11d. and also do you think your Federal onionents might use the
electioi result and that of the recent N. T. polls to precipitate
a genelal ," ection next rear.
P. M. I will very naturally comparing +. he percent of
votes cast for the L-hor I'arty, the Liberal iarty an. i the National
Party in Qld on Saturday week wiLh the percentage of votes cast
on May last. Obviously I will be lookin;; g t! t. t t: is i.-
not I eral election it is a state election. at -t does gi
me the oportunity to put rirjht rouga Qld the record strFai. ht.
frankly it ot possible for me to devote my time to vyr
Premier might lil. e out against my Governmorent day and day out.
I mean I have some dea of articulate and coherent the iremier
is, but frankly I haven't got 2 rd of oublic re',.. li
that I assume ts 64yt r know their master's voice and use one of
there biblical things I suppose you can see the hand of Jacob in toe
paw Esau. I mean I am not one of those political lea err who ithoroughly
familiar ;, ith the i6d Testament. I r: member some of it.
If I were to take time to answer every-thing about my Government / 6
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which is said by all the Prer. iers or just the Old ., utgoing .' eiier
I would have i-o time for any other work. But since I ha-i) een
invited to participate in this campaign on all sides, I thoughtright,
this gives mle the opportunity to put the facts as I have
today and to make the comparisons as I have today And of course
I will be watching very well the percentages that are cast. Now this
is a state election, and I believe that in Percy Tucker there is
a very effective and agressive political leader. I have known him
a long, time and I am satisfied that we will do very well here.
Let me quote what the percentages were the last state elections.
We got six percent more than the other two combined and the Nati: onel
it was called the Country Party then was just over
My Party always gets 30o more votes in this state then the National
Party does. You have also asked what eshwhat the effeci, would be
on the Federal opposition. One of the reasons why the Federal
opposition particularly the Liber-ls every now and then say there
should , e an election, is because a p . son o-f Mr Snedden clearly
believes th: t this a very good insurance to say ' well look ti'ere
may be -: an election in three months you can't drop me now. Now
the Country Party to its credit always wants an election federally,
o cause it realizeA that its only hop of preserving its undue
irilucnce in the Parliament whatever Government is in power, whether
it Liberal iP'i or a Labor P. M. is to preserve an unfair electoral
systern. ; o its of course wanting Lo have an election to make it all
cor fused. And the Liberals or : t least the Snedden Liber
If you win by one vote that'. stili , inning sn' it! T e
constantly saying ' don't rock the t now we naay h vo to lal'nch
li , re may be an election'. The only thing is that lasi. ay the'
nT suggested that if there was an even Senat. th t w-shoul:
tiher down if they won. They never said i. an eon
and we in the House of Io.. resentatives that they I h
another elec n. They never sought they never got
use the Senate to have elections for . he House of . epreseo
alone. They wercthe firsL oi l ito do it. I I ulr' tiby
learnt their lesson and of courst.. of the tri.. u es . h; t
paid to the most magnificent o' the Liberals in this -tate is tl'
fact th . t he opposed it.