Embargo : Sunday_ 5 pm
PRIME MINISTER'S QUEENSLAND BROADCAST No. 7
CENTRALISM
Sunday 4 May 1975
I thought I'd talk to you about a subject that is
dear to the heart of the Queensland Premier Centralism.
Mr. Bjelke-Petersen has a regular obsession with centralism,
as we all know. Whenever he objects to something whether
it's a Labor idea or even something from the anti-Labor sidehe
cries " centralism". I don't mind people having bees in
their bonnet, but I think we're entitled to object when their
obsessions hold back the development of a State or interfere
with Government programs that the people have clearly endorsed.
As far as I can understand, Mr. Bjelke-Petersen means
by " icentralism" anything that the Australian Government tries
to do for the people of Queensland. He used to say Medibank
was centralism, but fortunately his Liberal Party colleagues
in the coalition saw the clear benefits of Medibank for their
State. He said our plans to make Townsville a growth centre
were centralism, that our plans to get down the price of land
were centralism, and he used this catchcry to deny Queenslanders
$ 50 million in Federal funds.
The fact is that the powers of the Australian Government
in relation to the States are defined in the Constitution.
If anyone thinks the National Government is overstepping the
mark they can challenge our action in the High Court. That
is the real defence against any centralist policies. In our
federal system the States, the Commonwealth and Local Government
all have a role to play. And we have to play it according to
the constitutional rules.
I have said that it's not just Labor Policies that
Mr. Bjelke-Petersen regards as centralist. He levelled the
same charge at Mr. Gorton when he was Prime Minister.
Mr. Gorton was convinced that oUi? off-shore mineral resources
were the responsibility of the National Government. He was
quite right. Anything that has to do with mineral exports
or overseas trade is a federal responsibility, and other
countries expect to negotiate with the Australian Government
in these matters rather than particular States. Mr. Gorton
got nowhere in his efforts to assert this very clear principle
and Queensland has continued to resist our own efforts to
legislate on off-shore sovereignty. Mr. Gorton had the
same trouble with the Great Barrier Reef. His attempts to
protect the Reef from oil drilling and other damage met
strong opposition from Mr. Bjelke-Petersen. The centralist
slogan was trotted out again. And it was used when Mr. Gorton
sought better tredtm~ rit for Qd.~ eris" I~ iid's Abdrilirids:
2.
You will remember that the referendum in 1967 -which
was carried overwhelmingly in Queensland gave the Australian
Government clear authority to legislate for the welfare of
Aborigines and, if necessary, to override State laws.
Mr. Gorton sought an end to a number of discriminatory laws
on the statute book in Queensland. Mr. Ejelke-Petersen saw
this as centralism. It is taking a long time to remove
these laws. In the past few weeks my own Government has
introduced legislation in the National Parliament for this
very purpose. One of the great phobias of the Premier concerns
our efforts to make the High Court the final court of appeal
in this country and to end appeals from Australian courts to
the British Privy Council. It was the Holt Government back
in 1967, that stopped appeals to the Privy Council from the
High Court. We think it's time to stop appeals from the
Supreme Courts as well. After all, our Australian High
Court has a reputation second to none throughout the legal
kwortld: oits judgments are everywhere respected. How absurd
have a British Court, sitting in Britain, with judges
appointed in Britain by the British Government, sit in
judgment on Australian courts. Surely it's time surely
we're mature enough to accept that Australians should no
longer litigate their disputes before the Court of another
country. I give you other examples. In his holy war against
centralism, Mr. Bjelke-Petersen has opposed our plan for
an Australian honours system. Never mind that the old
imperial honours are made in the name of an empire that
doesn't exist. Never mind that the Queen herself has
approved the Order of Australia and will confer the awards
herself. Mr. Bjelke-Petersen thinks it's " centralism"
He doesn't want an Australian national anthem either that's
liIcentralist" too despite the fact that a vast majority of
Australians want an anthem of -their own. His silliest idea
of all was to have Her Majesty described as Queen of Queensland.
Imagine if every Canadian province or British county had a
separate monarch a Queen of Ontario, a Queen of Alberta,
a Queen of Lancashire. Where would it end?
It's strange, isn't it, that everything Mr. Bjelke-Petersen
calls centralist" is really pro-Australian, a mark of our true
nationhood and maturity? I wonder what he's really afraid of.
He constantly talks about the meanness and wickedness of
Canberra. The fact is that Queensland has received more in
assistance in hard cash from the present Labor Government
than it has received from any previous Government in history.
No amount of hedging or qualification, no talk of restrictions
or strings or the value of moneXy1 can alter the t?
p~ whxnggr erbust. In t, -I~ t -f4I~
3.
Not only does Queensland get much, much more than
she did from the Liberals in Canberra; she gets considerably
more per head of population than other States get now.
Queensland received more than $ 382 per head of population
in 1973-74 compared with $ 343 per head in average payments
to all States. Last year our grants for primary and
secondary education were up 145 per cent on the year before,
tertiary education was up 165 per cent, technical education
110 per cent, welfare housing 20 per cent, aboriginal
advancement nearly 30 per cent. Health and welfare, roads
and urban and regional development in Queensland are all
getting record amounts from my Government.
Next time you hear the Premier talk about centralism,
think of those facts of what the Australian Government
has done for Queensland, and the real help we have given
despite the Premier's obstruction.