FIL
PRIME MINISTER
FOR PRESS 11 JANUARY 1979
ADDRESS AT YOUNG LIBERALS' CONVENTION, BRISBANE
It is good to be speaking today to young Australians because
it is the young of this country who often provide our best
and most creative ideas.
Young people will be a vital part of the growth and development
of Australia and young Australians have never been better
educated, more able to contribute to our society. Australia
needs your originality, your enthusiasm, your energy.
This is a time of opportunity for young Australia because the
economic strategy we have pursued over the past three years is
putting Australia firmly on the road back to economic health.
we have reduced inflation to under eight percent.
and we are now seeing the benefits of our anti-inflation
policies. Business investment has been rising strongly,
consumer demand is more buoyant and the rural economy is having
its best period for many years. As a result, we expect
Australia's overall growth rate for 1979 to exceed the Q. E. C. D.
average. The growing competitiveness of Australian industry has been
noted in a number of recent economic surveys. One survey last
month found that the quarterly rise in manufacturing unit costs
was the lowest since December 1969. This is a vital breakthrough
in our capacity to export and the same survey showed an upturn
in manufacturing export deliveries for the second consecutive
quarter for the first time since 1973.
Another encouraging feature of the economy has been the fall in
interest rates on bank and building society loans over 1978.
Interest rates on the vast majority of home loans fell by one
per cent over the last twelve months a saving to the home
buyers of Australia of over $ 150 million a year. To businesses,
the reduction in bank overdraft rates means significantly lower
costs.
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one important indicator of Australia's development potential
is the many large investment projects where construction is
under way or could commence in the next one to two years.
During the last election campaign I said that Australia was
ready to go with $ 6,000 million worth of investment. Since'
then, as the latest A. B. S. statistics and surveys indicate,
an estimated $ 3.4 billion was spent on investment in mining
and manufacturing in 1978 33 per cent up on the previous
year. In addition to that, the latest survey by Phillip Lynch's
Department shows that today $ 7.5 billion investment projects
are ready to go.
Government policies are encouraging and supporting developments
in mining and in manufacturing by reducing costs and providing
a more stable economic climate, by providing taxation incentives,
by promoting exports and research and by helping State authorities
to provide essential infrastructure for major resource and other
projects. The Australian Government's energy policies have stimulated the
oil and gas industry. In 10.78, 52 exploration oil wells were
drilled, the highest number of wells drilled for five years and
1979 is expected to be even better. The Government's policies
have resulted in a substantial increase in petroleum exploration
with minimum expenditure committed for the next five years of
over $ 500 million.
our energy policies have given Australia a much better chance
to keep its substantial self-sufficiency in oil and develop
export markets in gas. It is estimated that by 1985, 30 per cent
of Australia's crude oil production will be derived from oil
fields which have become viable as a consequence of these
policies.. The Government is encouraged by these exciting prospects for
Australia. As they are translated into lasting and noninflationary
economic growth, employment will increase, new
entrants to the workforce will be absorbed and the numbers of
unemployed will be gradually reduced. This is the only way in
which unemployment can and will be beaten.
The magnitude of the economic problems we have inherited means
that a return to high employment is a slow process and we have
responded to this problem by devising a wide range of programmes
to help the unemployed. Many of these programmes are especially
directed at giving young people training and work experience,
at extending their education and making it easier to enter the
workforce on a satisfying and permanent basis. Since coming to
office, more than 300,000 young people have been helped by such
Government programmes. And in December we established the
Department of Employment and Youth Affairs to allow a Cabinet
Minister, Ian Viner, to concentrate his time and energies on
this national problem. Ian has of course, spoken to you earlier
in this conference. 3/
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A major review of the effectiveness of Government manpower
programmes is currently under way and we will continue to
search for better ways of helping young Australians. If
programmes can be expanded or improved they shall be.
The Government has approved in principle the development of a
voluntary youth community service scheme to provide unemployed
young people the opportunity to involve themselves in worthwhile
community activities and to assist them to acquire work
experience and skills.
Later this year, we will be holding a national conference on
youth policy bringing together all sections of youth and the
community to consider the economic and social issues facing the
young, to provide information which will help improve the coordination
of Government youth policy and suggest ways in which
young people can get better access to Government.
Solutions to the problpms of young unemployment of course require
the cooperation of all members of the community and cooperation
between Commonwealth and State Governments.
In December I wrote to the State Premiers suggesting that we
together look at possibilities for changes to our education
system, covering such matters as alternative secondary school
courses more attuned to the needs of early school leavers,
courses outside the schooling system for those in the 16 to 18
age group who have already left school and are unemployed,
intensive summer holiday courses for school leavers, including
labour market information, careers guidance and vocational
counselling, and, in the longer term, a review of the whole
process of schooling to take account of the rapid changes in
our society.
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The State Education Ministers have responded to my invitation by
forming a working party of senior officials to review what has
been done to assist the transition from school to employment and
to recommend additional action by both State and Commonwealth
Education authorities. I have also invited the States to
co-operate in a review to consider whether any of their legislative
or institutional arrangements are having an adverse effect on
unemployment. For example, inconsistent standards and regulations
between the States may affect employment opportunities.
Devising policies to alleviate youth unemployment requires
information about the structure of our industry, about the
education and training system and about the labour market.
The Crawford Inquiry into structural change and the Williams
Inquiry into education and training will help to provide this
information.
More recently, the Government has taken initiatives to examine
other aspects of the labour market by establishing a Committee
of Inquiry into the process of technological change in
Australian industry. We have also supported a tripartite committee,
under the auspices of the National Labour Consultative Council
to examine the effects of certain factors for example penalty
rates on the labour market. In the end, however the solution
to the problem of unemployment is strengthening the economy.
Additional jobs will be created only if our economy grows faster
than it has been. For this to happen the constraints preventing
faster growth, such as inflation, the imbalance between wages
and productivity and the inadequacy of profits will have to be
removed.
The Government's specific measures to alleviate unemployment
must be seen in the context of our drive to restore Australia's
economic health, to remove the constraints holding back our
economic progress and the capacity of private industry to
provide employment.
While we have been grappling with the fundamental economic
issues facing Australia, we have not been distracted from other
major areas of social concern.
We are a Government of social and legislative reform as much as
a Government of development and progress. We have the great
advantage of a liberal philosophy a philosophy which allows
us to recognise and respond effectively to the goals and
aspirations of all Australians.
The Liberal Government knows that young Australians give the
highest priority to maintaining a free and open society. The
young people of Australia know the importance of individual
freedom and the opportunity to make their own way through life,
to pursue the livelihood they choose, to express their views,
to bring up their families and to live in the way they wish.
Like all Australians the young seek a society where the laws of
the land are observed, where each citizen has equal access to
justice, where individuals are able to exercise their creativity
and talents and where there is redress when Governments unfairly
or unreasonably interfere with their lives.
in pursuing these goals the Liberal Government for the past three
years, has been comprehensively reviewing Government programmes
and existing legislation.
Already a good deal has been done.
Our policies have provided effective help for those in need while
encouraging self-reliance. They have done a great deal for the
less privileged in our society.
We have introduced family allowances; one of the greatest social
welfare innovations in Australia's history. We have increased
the Government's help for the handicapped. We have helped the
aged to live in their own homes and we have helped those requiring
special accommodation.
In three years, we have provided a total of $ 304 million for
aged persons accommodation and home care services, an increase
of some 38% over the previous three years.
More than $ 80 million of this amount has been directed towards home
care services which assist the aged and infirm to remain in the
happiness and independence of their own homes by subsidising home
help, home nursing, meals on wheels, senior citizen centres and
welfare services. That is an increase in expenditure over the
three Labor years of 112%.
We have introduced the indexation of pensions, tax indexation,
a fairer means test, revenue sharing with the States, the supporting
parents benefit for sole fathers, Aboriginal land rights in the
Northern Territory, a new deal for our migrants, self-government
for the Northern Territory, three successful Constitutional
amendments and abolition of Estate and Gift Duty.
And for rural industry we have introduced the Primary Industry
Bank, income equalisation deposits, fuel equalisation, improved
tax averaging and many specific programmes supporting Australia's
wool, meat, dairy and sugar industries.
our programme of reform will continue in 1979 and I will give you
just some examples. In seeking to play our part in enhancing
human rights in Australia, the Government will proceed with a
bill to ensure that Commonwealth laws, acts and practices conform
with the international convenant on civil and political rights.
The Government is also conducting discussions with the States to
achieve a comprehensive and co-ordinated approach to protection
of human rights throughout Australia.
We propose to bring forward a bill to clarify and define the
powers of A. S. I. O. and to establish a security appeals tribunal
to provide an avenue of appeal for those affect~ d by an adverse
security report. Legislation will be introduced to establish,
in co-operation with the States, a new national companies and
securities commission and to implement our agreement with the
States on jurisdiction over off-shore matters.
The Government has submitted references to the Australian Law
Reform Commission on a number of other areas in which reform may
be desirable, including insurance contracts, the laws relating
to debtors, the incorporation in our legal system of traditional
aboriginal law and defamation. The Government will consider
these reports as soon as they are completed. .6/
Since coming to office, the Government has also initiated a
number of important Parliamentary reforms. The continued
effectiveness of Parliament remains one of our strongest
guarantees of individual liberty and democratic rule.
We have taken steps to see that the procedures of Parliament keep
pace with the increasing complexity of the executive Government.
We have introduced legislation committees of the House of
Representatives a House Expenditure Committee and we are
legislating to authorise the Auditor-General to carry out, and
report to Parliament on, efficiency audits on Government Departments.
Perhaps, most importantly of all, the Government has undertaken to
report to Parliament within six months on the recommendations of
Parliamentary Committees.
The Government will continue to review the Parliamentary processes.
One matter under consideration is the possibility of the committee
stage of the next Budget being carried forward in two or more
committees which could sit concurrently, enabling more members to
express their views on matters of importance to them.
The Government has acted to protect the citizen against unwarranted
interference by the bureaucracy. We have appointed the Ombudsman
to investigate complaints, and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal
now hears appeals from a wide range of bureaucratic decisions.
We have also passed legislation requiring reasons to be given in
writing for many administrative decisions made which affect
individual citizens.
Our reform programme has also tackled the difficult area of
industrial relations. We know that Australians want a society
in which industrial disputes are settled by consultation, reason
and free choice by the individuals concerned.
We have gone a long way towards this goal by providing protection
for conscientious objectors, and 170 conscientious objectors
were registered with the Industrial Relations Bureau in its first
year of operation; by introducing secret postal ballots for
union elections more than 360 union elections have been conducted
by the Commonwealth Electoral Office during the past 12 months;
by requiring unions to have their accounts audited and report
regularly to their membership; by establishing the Industrial
Relations Bureau and the National Labour Consultative Council.
However, where consultation and conciliation breaks down it is
essential that the rule of law should prevail, and we have
strengthened our industrial laws accordingly.
Education is a major priority of the Government, as it is of course
with all parents and young Australians. The Government is committed
to providing a high standard of education, one that will meet
the career and social aspirations of young Australians. A great
deal has been achieved already. 7/
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The Government will examine all the information which becomes
available, including the Williams Report, to assist us to upgrade
the quality and accessibility of education for all Australians,
and to make it more relevant to individual and community needs.
Good health is also one of the first priorities of Australians,
whether young or old. The Government is determined that no-one
in the community need fear crippling financial costs from illness.
At the same time, we believe that individuals should have the
responsibility to provide for a part of th.-eir health costs.
Our health initiatives reflect this philosophy; they give
Australians one of the best and most efficIent health services
in-the world.
I believe we are well on the move towards the sort of Australia we
all desire; a growing and prosperous country, with progress in both
economic and human terms; a more responsible, imaginative, a
fairer society.
It is not our role as a Government to direct individuals and
dogmatically lay down the goals they should follow. We wish to
encourage the people of Australia to use their resources and their
talents to the full. Australia needs contributions from all its
people, and achieving our goals requires much more than mere lip
service to theoretical ideas.
Every Australian must seek to play a positive role in our work, in
our relationship with our families, in our dealings with all members
of the community so that we can achieve our goals.
Employers can help by providing jobs and, in those cases where
they employ young people under a Government youth employment
programme, by keep them on when the initial subsidy ceases.
Employers can boost the job satisfaction and productivity of all
their staff by actively seeking to make employees aware of the
decisions that affect their work-Dlace.
Unions can help by realising that unreasonable wage increases harm
the economy and contribute to unemployment.
We can all play our part by working harder, by using our
initiative, and by doing so, helping the economy to grow. Another
way we all can contribute is by taking an active interest in
Government. The Young Liberals have a special opportunity and responsibility to
give us timely and relevant advice, particularly on those issues
which most affect young Australians.
Today, we are farewelling a Young Liberal, Dr. Bruce Noble, who has
made a major contribution in advising government in his two years of
invaluable service as National Young Liberal President. The time
he has given to the movement has often meant great personal sacrifices
for Bruce and his family, and I thank him warmly for all he has done
for the Young Liberals and the help he has given to the Government. 8/
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The Government welcomes comments and constructive criticism
from all Australians which helps us in developing our programmes and
in broadening our understanding of Australians' needs and
aspirations.
We seek a partnership between all members of the community,
between governments, between employers and employees, between
all Australians. With such a partnership and with a determination
to make our aspirations a reality there is nothing this country
and its people cannot achieve. 000---