EMBARGO: 5.00 pm,
PRIME MINISTER
FOR MEDIA SNA, 26 APRIL 1981.
ELECTORATE TALK
Over the past week Federal Cabinet has been considering the
recommendations of the Ministerial committee that has been
reviewing the functions of the Commonwealth Government.
I shall be announcing the Government's decision
on the committee's recommendations to'.-the Parliament in the
coming week.
Since the Government came to office in 1975, we have
established, maintained and strengthened a range of review
procedures and mechanisms designed to make sure that expenditure
is restrained in each sector of Government. But from time
to time the Government must take a: long, -: hard'look at the
totality of its activities, aizA measure its;: achievements
against its goals and its underlying philosophy; it must
renew its-commitment to its philosphy and take steps to ensure
that that philosophy is put into practice by its policies
and its actions". The review of Commonwealth functions was
designed to serve precisely this purpose.
In 1975, the Government committed: itself to. a programme
of reform designed to restore prosperity to Australia.
Essential to that programme was the view-that prosperity
would be promoted best by more limited Government: that
massive Government spending and huge.' budget deficits were
a source of inflation, uncertainty, and unemployment; that
high taxatio * n took income from the hands of individuals who
know best what they need and put it into the hands of
bureaucrats; and that Goverment intervention and regulation
was often a source of inefficiency, destroying incentive or
misdirecting them. Also essential to our programme was the
view that good government does not mean highly centralised
Government; that highly centralised Government gives undue
influence td" a priveleged few,-. removes responsibility from
those who should exercise it and impose uniformity where
people want diversity.
Our approach has been guided by our fundamental nhilosophy
that it is individuals and their needs that count, and that
the greatest possible * decentralisation of decision-making
gives people maximum influence over their own destiny. our
policies sometimes have been misunderstood, or deliberately
misinterpreted, but the results now speak for themselves. / 2
2
The review of Commonwealth functions has been undertaken
to continue the process of reform of Government and to
ensure that the hard won gains of the last five years
are not.' lost. li
While the'review has been concerned to further increase
economy and efficiency in Government by eliminating waste,.
duplication and unnecessary cost, it has not been simply a
cost-cutting exercise. The name, the razor gang, given
to the review committee by: the media, implied an entirely
inapproptiate emphasis, the review's objective was to promote.
prosperity, not austerity. The central purpose of the
review was in fact to continue the process of restoring an
appropriate balance between the role of the public sector
and that of the private sector and an appropriate balance
within the public sector between the Commonwealth and the
states.
Accordingly, the activities of all Commonwealth Government
Deoartments and their authorities have been extensively
examined to determine whether functions currently performed
by the Commonwealth can be taken over by, or sold to,
. private enterprise; where the burden of regulations imposed
on private activity by the Commonwealth can be reduced or
eliminated; whether functions' and responsibilities undertaken
or shared by the . Commonwealth can be more appropriately and
efficiently handled by the states, and which Commonwealth
functions might be reduced, performed more efficiently or
eliminated. The importance we attach to this review was clearly indicated
by the fact that the review committee was composed of
senior Ministers and by the fact that the Committee was
chaired by the Deputy Leader of the Parliamentary Liberal
Party, the Minister for Industry and Commerce, Sir Phillip
Lynch. I believe that the Cabinet decisions resulting from that
committee's deliberations which I shall announce this
coming week will be seen as confirmation of the Government's
commitment to strong, effective but limited government. But
more than this, they will be seen to be a milestone on the
road to an Australian economy, and an Australian people, which
fully exploits its true potential.