Broadcast: 3HA Sunday 29 February
3YB Thursday 4 March
AAL
PRIME MINISTER
FOR PRESS 29 FEBRUARY 1976
ELECTORAL TALK
I want to talk to you tonight about the mandate you have given
my Government.
I want to spell out our commitment to every Australian.
Our mandate is clear. We not only have to resolve the present
economic crisis but we have to use this nation's unrivalled
resources to rebuild a country which will be an example to other
nations.
First, we have to reduce inflation, reduce unemployment and
stimulate community confidence. We have t * o aim for stable
prices, more jobs, more rewarding jobs, higher real incomes and
better living standards.
However for us to succeed where Labor dramatically failed there must
be a much more realistic view of what Government can and cannot
do. Governments cannot presume to live peoples' lives; they cannot
set personal achievement goals for individuals; they cannot take
important decisions in peoples' lives.
But Governments can and should create atmospheres where people
have the confidence to plan ahead to achieve worthwhile goals
and where the Government has adequate resources to generously
assist the needy.
Over the past three years this confidence in Government has been
eroded. Ordinary Australians have been forced to finance a whole
host of costly programmes through personal taxe -that flourished
in the wake of the great inflationary tide.
And let's not fool ourselves. The people who have paid for these
massive and costly programmes that were in no way related to
Government revenue are those whose income and savings have been
eroded by inflation.
The Henderson Report on poverty said:
Inflation favours the active and powerful. The position of the
poor deteriorates. The wealthy can protect their savings it
is the small saver with savings bank deposits who suffer. / 2
Many of the Labor Gov(-rnments programmes were introduced in the
guise of assisting the disadvantaged. The fact that many of these
programmes were financed out of inflacion makes mockery of these
pretentions. Let's look at our mandate to the hundreds of thousands of unemployed
Australians. We are committed to erasing this blight -the worst unemployment
level in this country since the Great Depression.
Three out of every four Australians rely on private business for
their jobs. Therefore we must strive to create a climate where
businessmen are again prepared to invest in plant, and machinery
and people.
You are aware that the Government has taken a number of initiatives
in this area. And only this week in Parliament the Treasurer
( Mr Lynch) announced further investment measures that will particularly
h'elp the small businessmanA and farmer back on his feet.
I talked earlier ojf this nation's unrivalled resources. Of course
they are great but they are not unlimited.
We therefore must choose which of the thinqs we do now, and which
we postpone.
These choices are not just choices about different areas of Government
spending. They are choices between Government spending and private
enterprise spending.
The more Governments-spend on goods and services, the less real
value the wage earner will receive in his pay packet. The more
politic~ ians decide how to spend your savings, the less control
you have over your own incomes, It's as simple as that.
So a responsible Government which values the freedoms of Australians
yet is mindful of the needs of the underprivileged must be
prepared not to earmark too much of people's pay packets for
Government programmes.
Accordingly, as resources arp limited the choice between Government
and private spending should be explicit. That is one of the
reasons that tax indexation is a major part of the Government's
plan to protect the value of people's savings and earnings.
We strongly believe that by being responsible in our claims on
people's incomes, so Australians will be responsible in their
wage demands.
Australians do not want Governments to run their lives. They
want responsible Government, ethical Government, honest Government
and fair Government.
Our mandate then is to restore Australian Government to a role
consistent with freedom and true democracy.
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