FOR MEDIA SUNDAY, 10 MAY, 1981
ELECTORATE TALKOver
the last two weeks the Government has taken a number of
decisions designed to set Australia firmly on course for
the 19.80s and beyond. These decisions relate to the Review
of Commonwealth Functions, the new health arrangements, and
the new financial arrangements-with the States determined at
the Premiers' Conference last Monday.
The Government is determined that Australia not go the way of
other countries whose prosperity and future have been undermined
by ever-growing bureaucracy and ever higher taxes.
We are at a very important stage of Australia's development.
Australia is a country with great prospects provided we take
wise and responsible decisions now. This is a time when we
must establish the framework for the economic growth and
development on which Australia's future depends.
our aim is to see that Australia has a high rate of economic
growth which will provide rising standards of living through
higher incomes. We aim to achieve g rowth through lower inflation
and greatly expanded job opportunities. This growth will provide
increasing resources to support improved assistance to those in
need, tp education, to the arts, to health, to the environment.
It is the pre-condition for so many other of our objectives.
Australia can only achieve these goals if Government is modernised
and streamlined and made more efficient; if bureaucracy and
over-regulation are reduced and if the tax burden can be lightened.
They can only be achieved if we realise as a people that there
is not~ a limitless supply of money to do all that we want, all
at once, that we must establish priorities and direct our rescurces
to the most important needs of the time.
To achieve these objectives it is vitally important that Gover-nment
does not take too many of the scarce financial resource. whicl7.
private enterprise needs in order to develop and create Lhe jobs
we all want to see. By exercising responsible restraint over
Government spending, we free money for other needs of greater
priority. And by rationalising Government functions we open uip
new opportunities. ./ 2
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I mention particularly here our decision to establish a new
institute for energy research which I announced as part of the
Review of Commonwealth Functions. Energy is a top national
priority for the Government, and a new institute will make a
major contribution.
Our new health arrangements also reflect the philosophy that
Government should concentrate its help on those who really
need help. We do not believe that taxpayers' money should be
used to pay unnecessary subsidies to the well-to-do. Labor's
health scheme proved far too costly, it created unnecessary
centralisation in the administration of health care, and it undermined
the effective provision of medical services. We do not believe
in undermining individual responsibility by centralised 3
bureaucracy, nor do we believe in schemes which must be paid fo~ r*--
by higher taxes, disbursed by officials, rather than by individuals
who know their own needs best.
We believe that where the user-can afford to pay, the user should
pay and have the influence that comes from paying. We reject
the assumption that Canberra knows best, that officials know best,
and that it is Government, not individuals, who should control
the payment of doctors and hospitals. Our scheme is designed to0
encourage a system of voluntary insurance. We are confident
CPhat this scheme will improve the efficiency of our health system
and its responsiveness to individual needs.
If taxes are to be reduced to the greatest extent possible, thiLs
is not a matter for the Federal Government alone. If inflation
is to be reduced to the maximum extent possible, the Federal
Government alone cannot achieve this. Federal Government policies
can provide the conditions for success or lead to failure in the
achievements of these objectives, but their full realisation
depends also on the co-operation of the States and of individuals
around Australia.
At the Premiers' Conference we took the view that the greatest
possible restraint should be followed in the interests of
Australia's taxpayers. The States and local Government are the
final spenders of just over 50% of the tax dollars collected
in Australia. Reducing the tax burden, achieving higher economic
growth, more jobs, and lower inflation requires a high degree of
restraint and forward thinking on the part of all Governments.
The Victorian Government has recently established a Ministerial
-group of a kind similar to our own Review of Commonwealth FunctLions
to examine State spending and activities. I know that all
Victorians will welcome this initiative. Likewise the South
Australian Government has established a deregulation unit in
the Premiers' Department. It is very encouraging that other States
are also planning for the future.
The real question is for the Commonwealth and States togeth. rer
to establish the conditions under which there can be a responsible
lightening of the tax burden in Australia as economic growth
picks up. The Commonwealth's policies of restraint and forward
thinking have already set us firmly on that course. / 3
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From the first of July this year the indexation tax cut as
a consequence of our election commitment will give to Australia's
taxpayers some $ 500 million that would otherwise be absorbed
by Government. The new health arrangements provide for a tax
rebate to those who take out private insurance. The costs of
these rebates to the Government's revenue will be of a similar
order to that of half tax indexation. These tax concessions
are possible only because of the policies which the Government
has followed.
The maintenance of these policies over the next few years will
make possible a further lightening of the burden of taxation I
in Australia, a further reduction in the size of Government, and
a considerable increase in Australia's economic strength and
prosperity. The decisions of the last few weeks have set Australi A
firmly on course to a strong and healthy society. They will help
to secure to Australia a place in the world that we all wish
her to have. 000---