PMA E MINISTER S-Ut, AY, 22 AUGUST 1982
ELECTOPATE TALK
ihth e t ax cu ts a n J re e1o f rim i n tere st r a t-es p.) rovided( Ijn
the Budget, the Budget ofters an oppor-tunit which Austrailians
cannot afford to miss, to obtain commuity-wide support for
wag e restraint and co-operation. The combination of nersonal
tax cuLts and the new Lax,. reb,-ate on home interest rates w,. ill
improve the position of Australian families dramatically.
The BudIget also addresses the wider needs of Aus-tralz'an families
with increaises in family al-lowance~ s and threlch the new family
income snoojilement of7 $ 10 .00 a weel-ffor each dclpent chil
for low income families.
The Budget also iimproves the position of. E otnier needy groups
substartiall-v and the efforts of Auta ~ indu stry to achieve
g reater cometitiveness will be haloped bys-ecJ:: ic Buge measures
which bDUIf d upon the indius try packacefl annMOtI. McOu( on .9 J1u iv.
The k1ind of co-operation which Australia needs t-odlay ca nnot,
however, be achieved by Governn-enlts alone,, it cannot be imposed
as a matter of Government Pol icy. The Government has done what
it can in giving a leadl, and providince a-basis ' or co-operation
to prevent any new wage push, and T bol i,, ve the comt-runitv,
will want employers and emrployees, iii--nagement and unions, to
heLed th1e, Government's call for i-oidera tion and oo-opera-: tnon.
It is important to) realise th-' at the ACTU has not yet gjiven
its real response in a practical way to tChe fact that rm. any
things in the Budget are consistent with -, h-at th-ey have been
advocating. But it is encouraging that the ACTU has welcomied
the tax cuts in the Budget. as -a contCribuD~ tion to stability in
industrial relations, as sati.-fy,-Jig ACTU demands for " tax
indexation and an equl table redistribution of the income tax
burden away from the lowver income earners and famiiiilies", and
is alleviat-ing noe:. for unionis to aoly i'ncom,, e tax increases
into claims for cos". ff livin~ j idjustiiontF;
Trhis degjree cf La1& ' p ue acc Vawn what the
pulic now expects ii. s t thI-e uni. on spendi
positively to the iviis c1f. : oc-operatti on -Tihti-Uzilycl, has
est-L nl ished arid I Dii~ cnii~ ilri t thI t i t JA~ L1. d cC; iJn; r) r a c t i cc.
A good. deal has alIread','. hbeen zichilecd a I liayr' re. Lerred
previous l t o ie 1avstL3cons'' i . b hco.:, the level
of in flat io(-. n and-torc'.. r. c 1u c'o-oper ation
in t.-he shlippanq anjdj3 usr e / 2
What we need is a willingness of groups within our community not
to push demands which are out of line with these recent
settlements and to take account of the enormous costs in terms
of employment and Australia's long term economic prospects which
would flow almost inevitably from significant wage rises at this
time.
When we look at the urgent need for co-operation the Labor Party's
talk about prices and incomes policy is total irrelevance. Labor
has not got a policy on prices and incomes. The whole proposal
is utterly vague and ill-defined, it provides no basis for
2ffective economic management in difficult times. But there
isno doubt that in practice, a so-called prices and incomes
policy would mean support from the Labor Party for higher wage
rises than the economy can afford, together with Government
provided benefits which would increase Government spending massively
and fuel inflation as a result.
It is also clear that after 12 months of detailed discussion,
Labor has not got real ACTU commitment to practical and
realistic policies. That is not surprising because Labor's
policies are vague in the extreme and Labor has certainly got
no agreement to a prices and incomes policy from the employers,
because it has apparently not yet seen fit even to consult them.
People should also remember that in any case a deal with the
ACTU would not be a deal with all the unions. What do the
metal trades unions, the air traffic controllers, the Bass
Strait oil workers, the railway workers in Queensland, the BLF
and the Shop Assistants' Union, for example think about all of
this? What would they be prepared to do? The Labor Party
never has and never will be able to get the Australian community
to work together. The time when Mr Hayden was in Government and
when Mr Hawke was President of the ACTU and of the Labor Party,
tells the story of Labor's economic and industrial incompetence
in Government, because at that time, when they had the chance
to show what they could do, Australia's industrial relations were
disastrous. The almost 6 million working days lost through
strikes and disputes in 1974 is more than 50% greater than the
S number of working days lost last year and as we all know last
year. was not a good year for industrial relations.
Labor would again pursue divisive policies. Labor's policies
remove all incentive to co-operate. Labor would give special and
unreasonable privileges to the trade unions, whichwould give the
unions every reason to be immoderate in their demands. Labor's
distrust of the private sector means that business will never
have confidence under Labor, that its interests will never be taken
into account.
Labor would deliberately, favo1ur sectional interestss, r specially
through . practices such as trade ' union preference, . wh. i. ch would
not provide a basis for the com! muii. ty as a whole to work together.
Wherever Labor has had a chance t. o gov(). rn, it has always caused
economic chaos through mj. sl'nag( cement and wrong policies and
this does not happen by cha. ncc. It happens because Labor's
socialism means that Labor Governments try to drive Australians
where they do not want to go and this prevents; Australians from
working together or co-operating. Au; : tral ia cannot a[ ford that.
It is only with responsible, practical economic policies and by
working together, that we will be able to keep building this country
and overcome present economic problems. n r
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