B13AGO: 9PM*
CHECY, AGAINST DBLIVR-K
FOR MEDIA THURSDAY NOVEM3ER 20 1980
Takyou for inviting Tamie and me to share with you this
18th anniversary dinner, celebrating as it does the founding
of this marvellouscet.
~~.--This-i-s.-your eighteenth year of operation. The Hebrew word
for 1.8 is " chai1 which also means " life" and I cannot think of
A better word to describe this centre. it serves the local.
Jewish cormunity from early childhood to old age, and is a
focus for your religious, cultural, Focial and sporting
8 ivities, It serves as' a prime examiple of commiunity involvement,
not only to the Melbourne Jewiih comzntnity, but to the comua-Iit. y
-whole.
You have shown what dedicated individuals can do ~ yusing
Vtheir initiative and enterprise -qualities which my government
seeks to foster by its policies.
Realisation of Australia's potential for development depends
I ~' on such initiative and enterprise. It cannot depend upon even
ofbggvenethas betrdinhepast in an attempt to
acheveecoomi prspeity bu itfailed miserably.
Theo eAopuet raia ejetedbiggovernment in 197
-Te-Biisrejected i-n199. Adthe recent election of
Govrno Regantothe Presidency of the United States shows
tthha pepleofthe United States now overwhelmingly reject i.
Th eocai world ireonsgoceageAin the values of
conosvrveanivme et. Popl ar onc agin ealising thatconsrvaivegovenmet
des nt man eactonaygovernment..
~ ht--guovneerantime et pesrve thsethings which are
ghooadnwhiinsgt thoe thngstha ned t bechanged and
dosnoyuru cmanite r ounde th el. Then iSwhy the more
0 radical left-wing big government solutions are being rejected
seek to do everythinc~ they do so at the expense of the individual.
If governmnents take unto themselves nmorre political
and economic power, and use it, there is less opportunity for
decision-maXlng by individuals and families, Por the total
Sum Of political and economic power is fin~ ite, th~ us the more
power the government exercises, the less there is for individuals.
Trhe greater the exercise of government power, the greater t he
infringement upon the individual.
Conservative, or liberal, governmento see% to create the
circumstance where people not only can..-but will waflt. to do
things for themselves. That is ) iot to say. that there is not a
role for gocvernment in hze-lpingtheneedy, the diSadvantaged,
Of course there is. And no gove rnment worthy of the name woul-d
dispute that proposition.
Btit governments ougqht not seek to do things that people want
to do for themselves, thiat. peop~ le can elo for thenselves, for there
are Tmany things that people do far better. t1hap. governments.
and we are comitted to encouraging and1 stim~ ulating enterprise
andl initiative. We are determined to continue to promot a
environment in which individual capacities, individual choices
and individual decision-nakiny are given the maximum possible
scope. Over 100 years ago, John Stuart K4ill rentarked in' his essayv on
liberty, moSt cogent -reason f6r restricting interference
of governarent, is the! great evil. of adding unnecessarily---ts
power" I 5 uppose all I air saying is8 that there can be no real
political freedom without economic and social freedom.
It is only possible to achieve real political freedom when
individuals like your8elves are not constrainled by an.. unnecessarily
interferingq government and when taxation does not pl ' aceaac rippling
burden on effort and initiative, Only by giving due recognitiUonai
and encouragement to the talents of the Australian people and
allowing; theiAr full utilisation is true and lasting economic
Prosperity attainable..',
We have taken action on many fronts to achieve our objectives.
Our corxnitrn'ent to individual enterprise involves an empbha
on ' restraining taxation. Governments do not create wealth.
When they promise grand procjrarwues, they are prbomirinj to
tax you and then spend your money. Individuals should bie left
as free as possible to choose where and how they spend their
money, money which is the result of their enterprise, their
effort and their initiative.
Ti.
. I 7 Since coming into office, we have reformed the taxation scales
and we will reduce taxes consistent with the proper demarndg
of government. Our emphasis on~ restraining taxati6TF-5-1-sii1T~ h
part of our, commitment to smaller government.
We have imposed limits on the overall growth In the staff of
public service departments and authorities while continkling-
. to allocate additional staff where nieeded. For exanple, since
we' came to office, the number of Commonwealth emplpyees in areas
subject. to staff ceilings has been reduced by over 10,00.
Yet, in areas where it can be shown that there is a clear case
for additional staff, such & s in the Department of Social Security,
3,000 more peoplehave been engaged to ensure that. those in
need receive the attention to which they are entitled. At the
sae. time, the most rigorous tests have been applied to proposals
for expenditure. However, controlling the size of the.-p41blc--
sector is not just a matter of restraining st~ f f numbers and
administrative costs.
: 1t is also necessary to re-exami. ne the functions of government.
As I announced on November 6, the Government has established a
committee of senior ministers to review the functions of all
Coraionwealth departments and other associated agenckez-. The
review is yet one more step in the Government's continuing
commiJtmnent to restrain the size of the public sector to avoid
intrusion into areas of activity capable of being performed
ef ficiently by the private sector, without reducing the quality
of those services which are properly provided by the Commonwealth.
3 Central to the Government's policy that the public sector
should be reined in so as not to restrict private sector
dynamism is the belief that in most cases the best results
can be achieved by allowing freedom of choice in the mnarket
place. For, a classic example of this econott. ic fteedoin'in.
action, one need looR' n6 further than the local supermlarket.
Tlhere, shoppers exercise their free choice select th-:
they want demonstrate economac freedom and in that way ensure
that markets provide the goods and services that they, the
customers, want and thereby determining which products, stay
on. the market, and which producers will prosper or fail.' Only
by giving markets flexibility can Austra. ial resources be
allocated in ways that give the highest returns. Only a
competitive and growing economy can give returns that--'
encompass profits and incomes and in this way preserve inidividual
choice1 the cornerstone upon which economic freedom rests. / 4
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K I;, What-can a government do to create such an environment?
It can, * as we have done, assist industry to replace obsolete
machinery by providing investment allowances and in that way
enable industry * to meet the demands of the market place.*
It can'also encourage businesses to plough back its profits,
as we. have done by reducing taxes on small businesses and as
we are committed to do -to reduce those taxes still further.-
Inl this way we enable businesses to expand,' and offer firther.
* choices to the consumer,. And finally, a governmnt can enable
people to determine the level of income they woald'like to
receive in retirement, . as we have done by of ferinj superanrnuati~ on
taxationi incentives to'self-employed people an~ d einployees not.
-co-ve. red by employer-sponsored arrsngemnft5, rather than glvi-ng
peopA3e no Other alternative than to rely entirely On
governments in their old age.
These are some pxamples of a liberal philosophy in actiozi, a
philooophy Which the record shows, is brinigirig Auatralia back
on to the road to prosperity. our commritmnent to strengthen
the foundations of the economy has involvecl a constant
do~ rward pressure on inflation.
PAlthougti it hasn't . been painless, our su-stained fight agAins t
inflation has recorded notable successes. In the -' 12 months
to the Septe-mber * quarter, Australian consumer-prices rose by
10.2 percent, still too much, but 2.5 percentage points les
__ than the increase in Prices i-n all OECD member in-dustralisednati.
ons, f.
Our approach offers the greatezst prospect of Permanent inc * reases
in employment. Our aii -is to ease the distressing periods. of
unsuccessfnil job search faced by Bchool leavers in the past -to
raise* living standards, create new jobs,' and providethe-capacity
t o-concent rate effective help on the Oisadvantaged.
Investment in resource projects * and their associated infrastructure
and -in other avenues of enterprise is already on. the increase. I~ ast.
trmonth's labour force survey figures sha-i there ame ferwer people Unemployed
now than there were a year ago. In the 12 months to 3.980i
ov-er 207,000 new~ job8 were created in the econoiny., This.
was-l-it-tie short. of the Increase of over -212,000 ' in the. year
to July which was the largest such increase for 10 years.
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U I. You might wonder why, with employment growing so stro) ngly,
the unemployment rate is not falling rapidly. The answer is
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In addition to -normal population growth, al greater proplortion
Of the Working age popul. ation is coming back into the workfo:, Ce,
lured no doubt by tIjob o-V-xtunities-ow--vailable.
If the proportion of the population in the workforce ha,
stayed the same over the past year instead of increasing?
unemployment would have dropped by a further 96,500.
More jobs are being created daily, indeed, in the-year to
September 1.980, over 800 jobs were created every working day.,
and we are providingextensive L iinJ P= 4z. es to help generate"'
the skills needed in the jobs market of the 1980s.
Although unemployment remains dispiritingly high a -concern
to families and to business and government -our policies are
working, we are on the right track.
In puxsuing these policies, the Government is determined
that the economic gaitaae~ ihn-~ laspotential
are shared amongst all Australians for economric wealth is not.
an end in itself. 4
it is'the means whereby individuals can have the maximum
choice in their way of life. it enables the community, both
privately and through government-agencies, to help those
who are i real need, And i t-provides a -MrmTouidation upon
which future generations of Australians can build.
Ladies and gentlemen, those who founded thia centre had their
eyes on the future. It stands as a memorial to those who had th e
foresight, energy and generosity of purpoge and purse to bu il1d
it and as a comm~ andrnent to those who come aftax-. to never losa,
sight of the values abdTE-rdit-ons which have enabled the
Jewish people to enrich every corunity of which they have
been a part.
David Ben-Gurion once said on a visit to Californlia,
" I envy your deserts not just because they are deserts, but
because you can affoxdts~ keepth* ade-serts"-.-
Eighteen years ago the Jewish residents of these north
eastern suburbs of Melbourne faced a aewish religious anid
cultural " desert". They could not afford to keep it a. desert.
Their whole' history embroidered as it was with thetar
and blood of countless millions and tempered,_ like * steel, by
the' holocaust cortadd-them--to akethatdesert bloom,
And bloom it has.
Tamile and I' are deeply honoured that you have allowed us to
share-this important celebration with you. Thank you once again:
for inviting us.