PRESS CONFERENCE AT BOULEVARD HOTEL, SYDNEY,: COMMUNIQUE
1 September 1978
Communique: ( Ke-c. 6,_
LThe Liberal Party Parliamentary and Organisational leaders
meeting in Sydney on 31st August and 1st September discussed
the longer term objectives for Australia now that substantial
progress has been mad e in breaking the back of inflation.
It has been inflation that has been the biggest single factor
preventing Australia's economic recovery.
The leaders agreed that it would be dangerous to lower the
anti-inflationary campaign, but that the time had come to
identify more precisely the goals to which Australia should
be moving.
The meeting ranged over many of the important political and
social issues facing Australia today and that challenge for
the future. Topics discussed included our domestic economic
recovery, strengthening the private sector, international trade,
industrial relations, the increasing impact of the technological
age, social welfare, fuel energy policy, Aboriginal Affairs,
infrustructure financing, and national development.
The meeting exchanged ideas on the Liberal approach to many
of these issues at State and Federal level. The leaders spent
some time examining the social and industrial impact of
technological change and innovation. They agreed that this
was an issue that required detailed attention from both
Parliamentary Party and the Organisation. The leaders were
optimistic about the contribution of technology. They were
convinced that, in the longer term, it would create new-job
opportunities in Austalia. At the same time, it would make
Australia more competitive in domestic and in overseas markets.
It would also strengthen the private sector.
The total community needed to understand the challenges and
the opportunities. There was a need for a better understanding
of what is in the real interest of Australia's working men and
women throughout the whole industrial area.
The leaders were confident that Australia would cope with the
computer age, and benefit substantially from it. Unfortunately,
there were too many people with narrow vision those simply
concerned with undermining the Federal Government's programme
for recovery. The opponents of the Liberal Party were trying
to destroy Australia's faith in the future.
The leaders agreed that the Liberal Party needed to strengthen
still further its partnership with the electorate so that the
whole nation understood and backed the Liberal plans for
Australia's development and its vision for a better way of
life for all Australians. / 2
The Prime Minister said that the Federal Government was looking
forward to early decisions through the loan council in respect
of infrastructure finance.
The Liberal leaders endorsed the overall objectives of the
recent Federal Budget as part of the strategy for reducing
inflation and interest rates, and contributing to Australia's
economic recovery. They were optimistic about the economic
future based on today's policies. In particular, they noted
the strengthening prospects for rural industry. The best
prospects for 15 years. Further, there was every indication
that Australia would increasingly become a major resource
supplier--even more important than we now are--to the world.
They recognised that there weresame immediate problems, not
least the social difficulties associated with unemployment
that needed careful and sympathetic monitoring and attention
by Governments.
All the leaders were united in the determination that Liberal
policies designed for the long-term health of Australia should
not be sacrificed to short-term political expediency. These
responsible Liberal policies stood in marked contrast to the
socialistic approaches being reconfirmed by the Australian
Labor Party.
The two-day exchange of views have made a significant
contribution to the acknowledgment of objectives, and to
closer co-operation of both the Organisation and Parliamentary
levels of the Party. It has strengthened the Party's vision,
strengthened its resolve, and underlined the essential unity
of the Liberal Party.
And Australia,. with Liberal policies, could move forward
confidently into the 1980' s. 11~ 000---
PRIME MINISTER:
That is the communique which we all put our names to this
morning after two days of very useful and constructive
discussions, and there are one or two aspects that I think
I'd like to emphasise.
one of the things which is now widely recognised by the States
is the very real degree of co-operation between the Commonwealth
and the States in a number of areas that are, in a sense, very
important to government, very important to the well-being of
people. But because of the wqy they have been handled they are
not matters of major political contention.
We know what has happened in the past overseas in submerged
lands legislation, for example, and the arguments between
governments, High Court decisions apparently taking power
and influence away from States and areas that have traditionally
been their concern. It has been left to this government to
resolve that in co-operation with the states, by practical
arrangements made by practical people in sorting out solutions / 3
to the problems as a result of that High Court decision.
Over two or three Premier's Conferences very great progress
has been made. Agreement in principle has been reached,
agreement in practical areas has been reached.
In other areas also we have co-operated with the States in
treaties powers, being prepared to have Federal causes in
treaties, keeping the States in close consultation through
the format of stages of treaties. These are new hallmarks
in the development of Commonwealth and State co-operation,
which augurs well the good government of this Commonwealth.
There is one other innovatory area, which originally camne
out of the advocacy of Sir Charles Court. That is infrastructure
financing to enable State instrumentalities in certain
circumstances to borrow overseas to assist in the forward
development of major resource projects, energy projects,
matters that are going to add to the commercial strength,
to international paymen~ ts of Australia, and I think you
know that the States have all put forward a number of
projects that they hope will be financed under these
arrangements. The total list costs $ 2,500,000,000 and
the States all know that that total list can't be met but
once, and officials have been having meetings since the
last Premiers Conference, and there is to be a further
meeting in about a week's time, and we're instructing
our officials that flowing from that the matter will then
come back to Ministers and Premiers and myself for decisions
in relation to priorities in what might be done. In
Western Australia for example there are projects in relation
to the Dampier-Perth gas pipeline, the Pilbara power
development, Worsely rail and water supply; the NSW power
stations, port facilities for coal export; Victoria
power generation project which is a very major project_.-a.
world trade centre project; Queensland the Hay Point
coal loaders and power development; South Australia
Redcliffe Petro-Chemicals; Tasmania Hydro electric
power generation projects and in Tasmania other water
supply projects.
I believe that if we can assume that Premiers and the States
and the Commonwealth are going to come to agreement about
infrastructure financing, raising funds overseas for this
kind of infrastructure development, that that will be one
of the things that will help to herald in an exciting new
period of development for Australia--looking forward into
the future. I'm quite certain that we are now setting the
scene in Australia for an exciting decade of further
development in the 1980' s and beyond. The determination
and views of the Liberal Party", which Are firmly committed
to achieving that kind of result, are going to be a great
help to Australia. I'm certain that we have an exciting
time ahead of us, with Australia running a good and wellbalanced
economy, being well able to look after herself
in the international economic community, but at the same
time because our inflation rate is down, our economy is
well run, we'll be able to take advantage of opportunities
that become available in a larger share of world trade, / 4
a larger share of resources for investment and development,
our industries will become more competitive, have a larger
share of our domestic market, and will at the same time
become increasingly competitive and able to penetrate other
markets overseas. Therefore, I look to the future with a
very great degree of optimism, and I believe all Australians
should share in that.
Question: Prime Minister, you mentioned the States had put in requests
for overseas borrowing totalling $ 2,500 million dollars.
Can you see indications of wAat limits might be placed
Prime Minister:
That's over a period of years. Some of the projects are so
large they are phased over many years. I don't want to
pre-empt the report that is coming to us as a result of the
joint work of Commonwealth and State officials. There will
be advice on that. I just mentioned that to you to indicate
the size and scope of the projects that, in a sense, are on
the shopping list, and also the hope that it's not a
hope, it will be a reality that in a very short space of
time the Government should be in a position to make decisions
about these matters.
Question: Mr Fraser, you said that the Leaders were optimistic about
the contribution of technology, and it was announced this
morning from Canberra that a technology inquiry, an automation
inquiry, would be held. Why didn't the Government announced
that last Thursday when the Cabinet decision was made at the
height of the Telecom dispute?
Prime Minister:
You would have to ask the Ministers concerned about that.
The Government makes decisions and it is generally left to
the Ministers to make the announcement when they want to.
Question: You don't think it would have helped the Telecom dispute and
eased the tension somewhat?
Prime Minister:
When you have a full understanding of the totality of the
discussions that have gone on,., I don't really think so, no.
We already had the Clarkson pr6posals before us. They were
further developed by Commissioner Geudrin on Sunday, and
the basis of the Clarkson six points were maintained in that
discussion on Sunday. It was over a year earlier than that
that members of that particular union had been given a ten
year guarantee against retrenchment as a result of technological change.
I think I made the point yesterday that on advice available to me, it
is expected that employment in the Telecom area will expand as a result
of technical change and innovation, because while there can be some
changes in employment, new technology will enable Telecom to offer more
services, different services that businesses or people will want to buy
and share in. Overall, therefore they would be doing more business and
employ-ing more people. This is one of the things that will clearly come
from new technology. Just as today we have things in our home that 30 years
ago weren't dreamed of, so too in 30 years time I believe there will be
other things in peoples' homes and part of their daily lives which today
we don't think of. But that's part of the continuing change.
our task is, through the Department of Productivity, through other
programmes of Government, to try and make sure that we keep up that we ' re
in the forefront. Our scientists have put us in the forefront of
Interscan, which has been accepted worldwide as the best possible
system for international aviation. Now the task is to make sure that
Australian industry capitalises on the production potential of that,
and that we haven't just invented something, put something together through
the work of CSIRO and other scientists, which then is developed by the
industry of other countries.
The Government, as you know, is backing the Interscan project very substantially,
and a very noted Australian Sir Ian MacLellan has become Chairman of
the Guiding Light ( inaudible) of the Interscan project and development.
That's one particular area, but we need to sort out those things which
Australia can do, not well, but better than anyone else, and make sure
that we go for our lives and are successful.
QUESTION:
When can we expect the decisions to start flow on the new borrowing arrangements
for infrastructure?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think we're very near those decisions, because there have been many
meetings of officials, whose projects have been put forward, and the
report that we are expecting after the next meeting is designed to put
us in a position of making decisions. Then matters will flow from there.
QUESTION: You mentioned the consultation with the Premiers. Are you suggesting
another Premiers' Conference be put into view?
PRIM] E MINISTER:
I think that in relation to these things it is very likely that a
discussion either Premiers Conference or Loan Council, because they'll
be Loan Council procedures which enable the infrastructure borrowing
to proceed but I think we've got to look at the officials' report
to see to what degree they have got unanimity, how much of the decision
making is left to members of the Loan Council. So, let's not pre-judge
the report, but I will be very disappointed indeed if the report doesn't
put governments in the position of making decisions pretty rapidly. A6
QUESTION: Prime Minister, the thrust generally of this communique seems
to me to be far more optimistic about the future in terms
( remainder inaudible).
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I don't think so. I think that if you note soem of the
things that I have been saying, and other people have been
saying We have spoken about the five percent inflation
rate being a breakthrough, that the Budget is a watershed in
terms of economic recovery and success that's not unnatural,
it has been put together more. We've spent a day and a half
talking about the future what we can jointly do to make
these things a reality in even a shorter space of time and
so in this document I think we have a consensus of views that have
been emerging over recent weeks. You see a number of things
have happened:
We had the Budget, and that was well received in financial
communities. Let me emphasise this was not just large
investors, there are tens of thousands of small investors
in Australia who have their savings out in that stock
market. For years the market has been in a pretty
desultory position with things just jogging along, but now,
quite plainly, there is a degree of enthusiasm there.
Then we had the Commonwealth Loan result, which was the
best result in history, with I'm sorry for the technical
jargon over 70% of the money subscribed by the non-bank
public. For technical reasons, there there is no need for
me to go into, the Reserve Bank always regards it as a much
more successful loan if a high proportion of it is subscribed
by the non-bank public, rather than being taken up by -Ehe
Trading Bank. That again is a watershed.
So a number of things have come together: a Treasury estimate
of 5% inflation; the Budget itself, which has re-confirmed an
anti-inflationary policy where, because of talk going on not
from the Government, but I think from other circles there
might have been sme doubt as to whether we would maintain
the policy in the middle months of the Winter, but now those
concerns are put aside; then the success of the loan. All
these things come together, and when people start to come into
my office and say " There * are not many countries overseas
that we'd like to invest in." There is our own country of course..
This was a member of a major United States corporation which
is involved in Australia, and in a very responsible way and a
way which is good for this countr~ y but he said " then there's
Germany and Japan". I didn't say it, he said it. That really
is putting Australia in respectable company, and that's something
which I believe every Australian has every right to be proud of.
We've got to make sure that we build on that and capitalise on
it, because that's what's going to get this country moving again,
/ 7
re-establish confidence, not just in investors but in consumers
and people out in country areas. Once that happens things will
really start to hum.
QUESTION: ( inaudible)
PRIME MINISTER:
There was some discussion of the training. programmes--these are
obviously monitored, changed, modified as necessary. I mentioned
yesterday that we are spending very much more money on those
training programmes this year than we were last year, and that
about 110,000 people many of them young people are in
training at any one time; that in the youth programmes over
who are at on-the-job training keep the job at the end
of the training programme. obviously it would be better if that
was higher, but in terms of Australian and overseas
experience the success rate is not too bad. We would have to
be able to improve on that. I also mentioned, although it's
too early to be categoric about, that the employment figures
especially for the last month were marginally better than
forecasts had indicated. It's too early to say whether that
is going to indicate a trend or whether it's an aberration.
Quite plainly, having Australian industry move forward thus
establishing productive jobs for Australians in many different
areas of activity, that's going to be the best thing to help
the employment situation in this country. We have avoided a
number of the mistakes that have been made by overseas countries,
whereby subsidising labour directly in certain industries they
locked labour, government and industry into uncompetitive
enterprises. Training programmes, while helping a lot of
people, have avoided that error and that's important tothe
future well-being of this country. The Williams Inquiry
into educational training Senator Carrick could have that
in his hands. The decision which was announced today about
Tony Street is also a further example of the Government's
concern. We would hope that the Williams Inquiry would help
us in devising future policies, determining what should be
done, and making sure that the education system, for example,
is well revised to meet the needs of Australia's young men
and women through the rest of this century. So it's not just
a question of standing off and watching with sympathy and
concern, there is a good deal being done. There's much in
train and the results of Inquiries which were established 18 months
to two years ago in the Williams Inquiry. We how know when
we are going to get the results * of it, and I hope that it will
be the sort of inquiry that will., lead to action by State
Governments and by Federal Government. So, it's not just an
expression of concern there is a desire for action in these
areas, as long as we do it in a way which enhances the well-being
of people. / 8
QUESTION: Prime Minister, was there any discussion about the possibility
of a State election to be held in N'SW this year?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, there was some discussion about the possibility of that,
but not major discussion. The major discussion was about these
particular issues I think there is-probably a general belief
that there is going to be a State election. The Liberal Party
will obviously fight back as hard as it knows how.
QUESTION: Are they confident Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
The Liberal Party is always confident.
QUESTION: The Liberal Party has always taken the attitude... ( inaudible).
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I was holding a second press conference partly because
I was asked to would I be available after the discussion
this morning, and I said I would consider it. So I blame
you for that, since I think you asked me the question, and
I'm always willing to meet the press if they put the request
in a nice way. Secondly, it was the nature of this discussion
over the last two days. Very often the discussions, have been
about internal organisational matters, which I don't think are
of all that much concern and interest in the wider community.
But over the last two days, contrary to what people might have
thought, we have overwhelmingly spent the time discussing
matters of intimate and great concern to all Australians, and
having done that it becaupe very apparent that we should be talking
about it. It hadn't originally been intended that there should
be a communique. This communique was written as you know
because we were waiting for it in the last stages of the conference,
and it fully and adequately reflects I think what was discussed
and said there. But it was one of the Liberal leaders not
myself who suggested that there ought to be a formal communique
because I think everyone felt that the discussion had been such
a productive one and a useful one. 9
QUESTION: Prime Minister, with the inflation rate down to 5% ( remainder
question missed due to faulty tape)
PRIME MINISTER:
( beginning of answer missed due to faulty tape)... There are not
options in this. It is not one course or another. Because if
you devote yourself only to unemployment and try to spend money
to create jobs, you will end up with more unemployment. And that
is what has happened in European country after European country,
when they haven't given adequate attention to inflation. Now,
getting inflation down, and getting interest rates down, will
of itself proivde the circumstances in which private industry
in Australia will be able to expand, will be able to invest
and encouraged to invest, and investment will come into this
country, and that will establish the preconditions which are
necessary for getting down unemployment. Those countries that
try to focus on unemployment and forget inflation have failed
in both tasks, and failed dismally, to the immense cost of
their own people. You can disguise it for a while, but you
can't disguise it for too long. And the path we are taking
is the path that will most quickly overcome the problem of
unemployment. I'm not going to say that it's easy, or that
we can get back to the 1950' s or early 60' s situation quickly,
I know we ban't because circumstances have changed, and you
can't play life over twice in the same way. But in terms of
getting unemployment down I am absolutely certain that the
policies we are pursuing are the ones that will achieve a
desirable result that we all share, more quickly than any
other path.