AS DELIVERED
FOR MEDIA FRIDAY, 23 APRIL 1982
SPEECH TO THE " LIBERALISE NEW SOUTH WALES" LUNCHEON'
In times of world uncertainty and economic challenge, people
want to know what a party stands for, the faith it lives by,
and the-direction of its policies. People want dedication
and effectiveness from Government. I don't want glossy
facades, or running away from facts. This makes the campaign
to !' Liberalise New South Wales" all the more important, all the = rre
relevant and it is certainly very timely indeed, for it will carry the
message of what we are doing and where we are going.
our task as the Liberal Party is to keep building a great and
prosperous Australia, to encourage pride in Australia and
confidence among Australians, to increase opportunities so
people can create the way of life they want. for themselves. When we look
at Australia's present position and prospects, there are
two things that stand out, the strengths of our economy, ' and the
damage that sect~ ions or groups sometimes do to Australia. Whi we uniderstand the
real strengths of theAustralian economy, our initiative and
enterprise, our abundant resources, our capacity to find
export markets for our products, our investment, the growth in this
economy, it is impossible to understand how th unbalanced
stories of total gloom that we have read in recent weeks or months ever
get written, ever found their way into any part of the media.
Our greatest strength of. all, the one which underpins all the
rest, is the capacity of Auseralians to keep building
Australia up, and the capacity of Liberal Governments to provide
the conditions in which they can do so. Building Australia
up has always come high indeed on the Liberal Party's agenda,
and it always will. over three-decades of Liberal government
the living standards of Australian families have more than doubled.
and the lifestyle of the average Australian family today bears
no comparison with that of 30 or 40 years ago. It is not
governments Ithat have done this, it is the capacity, the energies
of Australians in every part of this country, but it is Liberalgovernments
for the most part that have established the policies
that have made it possible and that have unleashed the energies
and imaginations of Australians. None of this
of course happens by chance, it has happened because we have
given people room to strive for their desi~ res, room to use
their initiative. It has happened because' we have encouraged
achievement and excellence. As a result people throughout
this nation hEive energy and ability to keep building Australia
and that is the real key to all our strengths.
Through the initiative and enterprise of Australian people,
we have built a strong manufacturing base; we have efficient
primary industry; we have developed the resources; including L # 4 1
/ 2 A
ed -2-
the abundant energy resources, that we have had the good fortune
to be given, ' ardwe have developed the export markets that
are so important to our continuing growth and prosperity.
Through the policies we have applied -for the last six years we h.' ave
created Igrowth substantially in excess of the average
among our majorc trading partners. Would there be anyone here
who would trad2 the policies of this Government and the
achievements of Australia over the last six years for the
policies or the achievements of any other advanced industrial
country anywhere in the world? Private enterprise
under our policies has created hundreds of new jobs
when in some other countries, in the United Kingdom, in
Germany and in France employment has actually declined. You
would have seen the reports in at least one of the journals
this morning, indicating a very significant down turn in the
United States economy.
Above all, we ihave business investment which last year grew
Sat its strongest rate for 30 years, and which is continuing
V strongly this year, not only in the mining industry b * ut throughout
the Australian ecxxonmy. The absurd talk of recent days about the
investment upsuarge petering out totally overlooks the fact that
new investment in this country continues at a high level, while
it is stagnant or declining in other countries. Ongoing
investment is -the lifeblood of Australia's future prosperity.
It is keeping -as growing, if more slowly -than we -would have liked,
and it has* provided 1 he new plant, the new factories, the
mines, the smelters that we need to take full advantage of 4ny
recovery in world trade. When there is an upturn, . as one day,
one month there, must be in the United States and in Europe,
Australia as a result of the investment that has taken place
will be better placed than any other country around the
world to take advantage of that upturn.
While investment is strong as it is, there is underlying
strength in the economy, there is confidence in the future
and a basis forc ongoing growth and improvements in the living
U standards of Australian families. It is economic growth.
The real income increases that growth makes possible, that do
far more to raise general living standards than any tax cut
or public spending program can ever do and I hope no journalist
turns that around into a headline that says Fraser says never
a tax cut ever again. Well it would be quite possible and
not necessarily much worse than some of the things that have
happened. While investmenat is strong, as it is there is
underlying strength in the economy; there is confidence in
the future; there is a basis for ongoing growth. And it is
economic growath, and real income increases that it makes
possible, : that do far more to raise general living standards
than any tax cut or public spending program can ever do.
/ 3
-3
But while our continuing investment, our continuing growth,
indeed all of our strengths, are a source of satisfaction and confidence
Australians have also exhibited a remarkable capacity to do
damage to ' Australia, to Australian prospects and Australian prosperity.
Through strikes, needless disputes, and unrealistic wage
demands, through bad planning and mismanagement, through
faihures to realistically assess Australia's situation,
and through the attitudes brought to so many aspect * s of
. our activities, many people undermine the advantages we have, not
intentionally, and maybe unwittingly, but nevertheless it happens.
Domestic wage anid price pressures, industrial disruption, andthe
sheer mismanagement of some state governments, constitute
a serious threat: to our competitiveness and our growth. The
worst of it is that the effects of these domestic factors
will not simply fade-away with the passage of time. For our
costs and prices are being pushed up at the very time costs
and prices are * Ealling among our trade competitors,
and albeit falling because there is very severe recession
and because of much higher unemployment than there is here,
working people in the United States and in some places in
Europe have been accepting real reductions in their wages.
They would sooner that in-the hope that they could keep jobs
and sell American and European goods. And, at the same
as the world overseas is becoming more competitive,
our reputation as a reliable suppliersto overseas
* markets is being undermined by supply constraints and industrial
disputes. The case of coal exports from New South Wales provides a
particularly disturbing. example. . This great industry has been
plagued by strikes and stoppages. One strike by the miners led
Mr Wran to concede a $ 63 per week wage rise, which has obviously
flowed through the whole industry, about $ 120 a week with
overtime and other benefits that are built in, added on
and that adds up to about $ 4 a tonne to production costs.
H -ow hard our exporters-have to fight sometimes to negotiate
Wa price increase from purchasers overseas of an equivalent.
In present world circumstances it is not easy
to achieve that. IThis comes on top of a chaotic
situation in the ports where most ships have experienced great
delays, 36 days has been normal in Newcastle, and 90 days is not
unknown, partly due to strikes and partly due to poor planning
of port facilities.
The chronic shortage of coal loading capacity in New South Wales'
ports arises directly from mismanagement of the Government, for
it has delayed a decision whether to construct a new loader
in Botany Bay, eventually decided to expand capacity at Port
Kembla instead and to upgrade the Balmain loader as a transitional
arrangement, but fell two years behind in meeting that commitment,
hardly an example of good management. / 4
-4
As a result, companies which had made contractual arrangements in
the expectation that capacity would be in place, find themselves
with delays and congestion, unable to deliver. This has led to
the absurd situa-: ion of self-imposed quotas on our ' own exports of
coal. We grumble enough when we get quotas against our products
into markets in Europe, Japan or the United St'ates, but this is
a quota placed on our export as a result of bungle and mismanagement
and should never have occurred. There is not the slightest excuse
for it, in any sense at all. The cost of the delays to ships
in New South Wales was estimated at $ 60 million last year, and
export shortfalls have occurred worth nearly $ 200 million in exportearnings.
Quite plainly, when people contract to deliver coal
to a power authority in January and it does not get delivered
until April, Aus-zralia' s reputation is severely damaged. That
reputation is no-: just restricted to coal, it tends to flow
through to other aspects of Australian life.
It is worth I th.* Lnk, making a comparison of what has happened in
Sthe same industry in Queensland, because there ships rarely have
Wto wait, more than 3 days. Queensland has co-ordinated
effectively the expansion of its port capacity with its export
needs. But while this is obviously a dramatic example of what
has happened in New South Wales. It captures the essence of
problems that are encountered to a differing degree throughout
other aspects of the Australian economy.
While some unions are reasonable in their wage expectations
and demands, how often are we confronted with unions who want to
grab the benef its of growth before that growth has even occurred,
and how demand higher incomes, shorter horus and less work at a
time when in other parts of the world employees are offering to
work harder for less, because they know that is the only way they
are going to have any work at-all and in recognition of the
realities of difficult economic ( circumstances. Nothing
government can do can offer to people benefits nearly as large as
they can obtain from sustained soundly based growth and
expanding employment opportunities, because it is upon that
the living standards of Australian families depends, it is upon
Wthat that governments themselves get the resources to provide
other needs, and other services that people expect of us in
Government. Nothing will des-troy the prospects oll a better life more surely
than demands for wages greater the economy has the capacity to
provide, especially in current world circumstances.
While some companiies and senior. executives, and indeed, I believe
a growing number, attempt to develop good relations with their
employees, how often are we confronted with costly strikes that
would really seem to be unnecessary, and with employers who take
the view that it is up to governments to sort out the industrial
relations problems. How often have I, or I suppose John Howard
or others of us a-ere , been tackled and asked what is the Government
going to do about it? We can provide a framework of institutions
and awards that ' hopefully can facilitate good industrial relations
and legislation now before the Parliament I believe will help
very significantly in that regard providing the legislation
is used once it is in place. Whether it is used or not will
to a significant extent depend upon management courage in
its use. The Government cannot conduct industrial relations on
behalf of firms, for in the end industrial relations are
relations between people in their own working environment.
While some firms firmly face up to wage demands that they know
they don't have the capacity to meet, how many others find
it difficult to do that, Hlow many others maybe give in and hope
that the Government will ultimately give in too because that
might seem to be the easiest way out and expand the money
supply and in~ crease protection to accommodate the resulting
increased costs and prices. But while firm money supply
control can be painful, it is the weapon we have to use against
the sorts of pressures that can otherwise lead to
economic ruin if they were left unchedked. While some firms
are prepared to invest, to restructure, to go out and look
aggressively look for markets, even in the most difficult of
circumstances,, how many other others may look for higher
protection to see them through' more difficult times.
We all know t~ hat higher protection is not the way to improve
productivity, to improve profitability. The record does show
that higher p rotection is the path that leads to a more
permanent dependence on government assistance of one kind
or another and to a loss of real income by society as a whole.
In the end it: all comes down to the attitudes that we all
have, our obligations to Australia and what we want to do
about it.
In many ways I think-sometimes we are our own worst enemies.
Too often people fail to assess what is happening realistically
and sensibl. y. People are influenced in this perhaps by
frequent extremism in reporting. Last year we were told
very often that the sky is the limit, there is a resources
boom and I am not trying to suggest that the Government was
not saying that things were good through that good, of
course we we were, but the headline places an extremist
view on it. Then one or two unfavourable indicators coming
through the summer months and suddenly all was gloom. The
future had completely disappeared and the truth of course
was never that.
I don't think any government, any country would ever be in
a time when there are not some economic problems that have
to be grappled with because there are always wants, always
unfilled needs and decisions, often difficult ones, have to
be made. Quite certainly, the optimism of some reporting
last year, the extremism of reporting in the first few months
of this year, the suggestion that inflation was quite out of
control as a result of one dip in the figures last December
are of course doing no good to this economy and confidence
in this economy at all. / 6
-6
I hope the figure that came out yesterday of a very good
CPI result will jerk people back to a sense of reality that
there are basic strengths in Australia that we need to
understand arid they don't just disappear because you get one
or two indicators that seem to be unfavourable.
This sort of thing does not only happen in economic reporting,
it happens in political reporting. What with the doom and
disaster for me and the Federal Government as a result of
an 8% swing in Lowe and a swing double that in Drummoyne
and people try to suggest that it has not happened. Well
Drummoyne was as big as Bass and Lowe was half of Bass and
so Mr Wran should take note of that.
Lack of balance, which gets presented to us so often, and
often daily must disturb people quite significantly. It does
have an unwarranted, but real impact on people's expectations
upon their outlooks, upon their hopes for the future, on
their belief in what is possible and in that way makes ~ It
harder for people in businesses to make sound judgements on
some important decisions.
There are of course, significant difficulties ahead, none of
us have tried to hide that, some of which Australians have
tended to create, or make worse themselves and some of which
are created by very difficult conditions in the rest of the
world, but ini a very important sense indeed our own future
is in our own hands. Given the capacity, the resources and
the strengths that Australia has, if we take a realistic
view of our circumstances, we tailor our demands and our
expectations for the realities that we face, if we continue
to apply broadly the policies that we have and that are right
for Australia, then the prospects and the possibilities for
this country are I believe very great indeed, and I would not
change those prospects for the prospects and futures of any
other advanced industrial country anywhere around the world.
It is against this background that the campaign that John
Valder is leading to put things right and to help. with the
rest of the division and parliamentarians to put things
right in the State of NSW is so vastly important because
to Liberalise this state with its industrial strength, with
its great primary industries, with the energies and initiatives
of the people, it cannot afford any more of the bungling.
mismanagement and whatever. Whatever words one wants to use
about recent events in this State, this State cannot afford
these things any more. The administration needs cleaning
up, the policies need putting right and efficiency needs
bringing to bear on government in this State. Because there
has just been an election, it is a long and it is a hard
road ahead and the division realises that and John Valder
realises that but it is going to need the support of all of
you and the.: support of some thousands of other places right
across the State to open the doors whenever the next election
is held. It maybe if some things develop that election might
be forced around earlier than would otherwise be because
things are sick at the heart of this administration in NSW.
Thank you John Valder for what you are seeking to do for the
Liberal Party and for the State of NSW.
oO