E. O. E. PROOF ONLY
TRANSCRIPT OF SPEECH AT OPENING OF HUGHES CAMPAIGN, UNITED
SERVICES CLUB, SUTHERLAND 27 JANUARY 1984
Les has made his decision. We are obviously going to have
the services in Canberra of an extremely talented young man in
the person of Bob Tickner. I look forward to welcoming him
into the ranks of the party in Canberra and I know that he will
make a constructive and telling contribution to the affairs of
the party and to the affairs of government.
Now, if I could I would like to pick up the approach that has
been adopted by Neville Wran in opening this campaign because it
is necessary if we are going to understand where Australia is
today the threshold of 1984 to remember just what this
country was like 12 months ago.
I don't want to spend any time in going into those details
because despite whatever attempts we may make to push the matter
out of our mind they are etched too deeply in the consciousness
of Australians, easily to be forgotten.
Rather I want to remind you of the promise that I made on behalf
of the Australian Labor Party, being elected as leader there in
February and being catapaulted into that early campaign that was
thrust upon us by a desperate Prime Minister.
I perceive that underlying every other problem in this country
was the fact that we had had seven desperate years of division
under a Prime Minister who proceeded ( inaudible) role of
government to set Australian against Australian. There had
never, in our relatively short history as one nation, and it
is, as you know, coincidental with the century never before in
its history had there been a time of such divisiveness and we
were tearing ourselves apart under the impetus of that approach
from Canberra.
So, I promised you, you will recall, that a major task of my
Government would be on its election to undertake the process of
national reconciliation because it seemed to me then as it
still seems to me, whatever grand policies we may have and we
must have them and programs and we must have them that
until you get a sense of community of purpose, all else
substantially will be in vain and so I promised you that we would
undertake the task of national reconciliation as the basis for
recovery and reconstruction. / 2
It is less than 12 months since you gave us that mandate on
March 1983, but I believe I am able to come to the people of
Hughes and report that we have significantly achieved that
task of reconciliation.
I said that within one month of coming to office we would call
a national economic summit conference. We were commissioned
in of fice on 11 March and on 11 April in the house of the people
in the House of Representatives we called that historic
conference where the representatives of business, large and of
small business, the trade union movement, the great State
Governments, the local governments, community organisations, they
gathered there historically in the house of the people and in
a sense that was a beginning, if you like, of formalising of a
pact between the people of Australia and their representatives
a commitment that as far as it was conceivable within the
democratic processes where we do have differences as far as it
was possible and consistent with the pursuit of principle, both
people and their representatives would commit themselves to trying
to work together for the benefit of Australia and they went away
from that inspired not simply by the conference but with a view,
I believe a determination to make the principles of the Summit
conference work. We, on our part as government, said that we
would move from the Summit to legislation to establish an Economic
Planning Advisory Council where the sort of representation that
had been there in large numbers at the Summit, would be reflected
on a statutory basis in the Economic Planning Advisory Council.
And we have received t he support in that processs from business
and the farmers, the trade unions, welfare organisations and
that Economic Planning Advisory Council is something to which
the Government attaches very significant importance. It meets in
the Cabinet room under my chairmanship and senior ministers present.
I want you to understand what that reflects because it is a
fundamental change in the approach to government and by government
in the history of this country, because we make available to
your representatives, whether they are the representatives of you
as Australian citizens, as workers, as businessmen large or small
or in the community sphere, or, as I will be saying tonight in
Corangamite, the rural community your representatives are there
and we make available to them the information that we have as
government and reciprocally those representatives of great
organisations of Australia come to us and give us the benefit of
their thinking, of their experience, so that now in a very real
sense I believe we have translated the concept of Lincoln with
government of the people by the people for the people into a
reality because we don't say, as the elected people there in
Canberra that we have all wisdom. We certainly believe that we have
experience. We believe that we have appropriate policies and
programs, but there is no monopoly of wisdom as far as we ' re
concerned. We really want to tap the resources of the Australian
people and that is what we are about and that is how we have
undertaken the process of national reconcilation. / 3
We started at the Summit, transferred it to the Economic
Planning Advisory Council. And all of my Ministers all
of them know that what we want and what is their desire
is that in the discharge of their important portfolios
they reflect in their microcosms, if you like, of government,
the same concepts as are involved in the Economic Planning
Advisory Council.
In other words they are consistently consulting with the
organisations which are relevant to the discharge of their
portfolio and that is how you make good government and that
is how you get a cohesive and effective community not to
impose decisions but to try and share information and
reciprocally get information back as experienced from the
community and that has been the basis of this government.
And that is why we are now, in less than 12 months, able to
point to the result in those secondary processes of recovery
and reconstruction.
I want to remind you, without exhausting you with a whole range
of statistics, but I go to some of the important areas
reflecting that success in government. Now, of course, the
most important area is employment. I remind you of the promise
I made on behalf of our party in the February/ March by-election.
The promise was in three parts.
I said we would halt the explosion of unemployment. I said we
would start to create jobs. Thirdly, I said that in a period
of three years we would create half a million new jobs in this
country.
Now, they were deliberate statements of intent and I am able to
say now, in less than* 12 months, that we have achieved what we
said we would do.
Let me be specific.
You know that the rate of unemployment is coming down. we not
only have stopped the exploding upward rate of unemployment,
we've brought it down and we will continue to do that.
Secondly, we already have created a significant number of new
jobs. In the Budget, being cautious in our approach, we
expected that in financial 83/ 84 we may create 90,000 new jobsthat
is between 1 July 1983 and 30 June 1984 90,000. Already
we have created over 130,000 in that financial period and
indeed, in the period since we've been in office until the
present time, 158,000 new jobs. So that you can see that in
that three year period where we promised half a million new
jobs we are already right on target.
So, in that area of basic importance to the Australian people,
we've altered that disaster that characterised particularly
the last 2-3 years of conservative rule. Now, we don't say
that with any sense of complacency because it is going to be
difficult to get back towards those experiences of full
employment that characterised the post-war generation, but we,
in less than a year, have demonstrated our commitment to do
things to reverse the trend and what we are calling on is
the community as a whole to understand that this problem
of unemployment is a community problem, not just one for
governments. We have demonstrated our commitment, we have
given evidence of our capacity. We call upon the rest of
the community now to join with us so that we can progressively
remove this blight of unemployment and the frustration of
the hopes and aspirations of the young, from this community.
So that's employment and unemployment.
We also said that we would adopt policies which would address
themselves to the great problems of inflation and interest
rates. We have succeeded.
You know in respect of interest rates from your own daily
experience that we have significantly reduced interest rates
and that is not accident. It has followed from the responsible
and carefully thought through economic strategies which were
involved in the May Statement of last year and in the Budget
process. And in the result business, home buyers, large
business and small business, all people dependent upon the
use of money in this community, know that there have been
significant reductions in interest rates. It has for home
purchasers released their capacity to satisfy their aspirations
and to meet their needs in other ways.
Inflation we said we would bring that down and we are
signficantly doing so. The figures that came out just Wednesday
show a continuation-of that downward trend, it's now down to
8.6% and I promise you that in the year 1984 inflation will
come down significantly more so in those areas of employment,
interest rates and inflation, we have delivered what we
promised.
We recognise that one of the great tragedies that characterise
the mismanagement of the Australian economy is the way in which
the housing industry has been run down to a point where there
was a significant under-utilisation of capacity. That is an
economic and a social disaster and WE! immediately took
deliberate steps in both the public and the private housing
sector to turn that around.
In the public housing sector we gave the largest increase in
funds for public housing that has ever occurred, increased
the funds from 363 million up to 500 million an increase of
In the private sector we introduced a scheme which has come
to be recognised by all sectors of the industry as the most
effective scheme in the history of this country the first
home owners scheme which had the two benefits firstly of
being directed towards those on higher income most in need of
assistance and secondly being a scheme which is directed towards
the building of new housing rather than financing the transfer
of existing housing stock between the upper income sections of
the Australian industry.
And in the event the housing and construction industry is
now moving to a point where it is operating very close to
the limit of its capacity and we will achieve the objectives
that we expressed in the Budget of having hous'ing running
at an annual rate of at least 135,000 units which is right
up there to the top of its capacity.
So, in all these things we have acted in ways which were
calculated on the basis of cooperation and consensus to turn
this economy round and in aggregate terms the figures are
there the year before we came in ' Leaving farm products
aside because some suggestions to the contrary we do not
claim credit for the breaking of the drought. Putting farm
products aside, just looking at non-farm products, in the
year 82/ 83 there was a 1% decline in gross domestic product,
including farm product in this year the growth 83/ 84,
the growth will be 6% -so we've had that turn-around from
up to 6% and that, if you like in aggregate terms, reflects
the success of the policies of this Government.
In conclusion I want to say that when you examine the
operations of democracy, it is not sufficient just to talk
about what a government does. You have to look at an
opposition because an opposition is part of the function
of the democracy. Unfortunately you haven't got much to look
at in this country, so it won't take me long to talk about it.
But as has been said, led by Mr. Peacock on the one hand and
Mr. Sinclair on the other. I don't want to talk too much about
them in personal terms. I believe that some of my colleagues
will not be capable of being restrained in talking about
Mr. Sinclair when the Parliament resumes. We are told that
he is waiting for Parliament to resume because he can't reply
to what was in the Cross Report until. Parliament resumes. I
don't quite understand why that is so. There is no muzzle
across his mouth.' People ought to be able to talk before
Parliament resumes. Is it because he feels that he may say
something in the Parliament that he is not game to say outside.
Nevertheless there will be a full opportunity, I can assure
Mr. Sinclair and-the Opposition, to have a full analysis of the
contents of the Cross Report, the most damming indictment of
any politician in the history of this country.
But more importantly than those problems of leadership of the
Opposition, I would remind you of how they have, in fact,
behaved during this year of our Government, because you will
recall that when we went to the peop: le in February/ March, we
said to them that we believed that one of the great stings of
the previous government had been that they had been so
distinctive and discriminating in their approach to the
application of the laws to the people of this country in terms
of the responsibility to pay tax. There had been a vast
tax evasion and avoidance industry grown up under seven years
of conservative government. Ile said that we could not perceive
the beginnings of justice in a situation where ordinary
Australians workers and small businessmen had no alternatives.
They met their obligations under the law automatically and
we saw no justice in the situation where hundreds of
millions indeed over the years billions of dollars had
been avoided by a relatively small section of the Australian
community. So, we said that we would take action in the
Parliament to ensure that as far as it was within our power,
the law would operate in a way that everyone met their
commitment. Now, we passed the law, passed the legislation, passed the
bill in the House of Representatives, but in our bicameral
system it doesn't become law until it is passed by the Senate.
Unfortunately, the will of the people of 5 March election
was not reflected in Labor having control of the Senate.
So that legislation which has been up there three times to
ensure that everyone meets the law in regard to the payment
of tax, has on three occasions been rejected by this
unholy alliance the Liberal Party, the National Party,
some of the Democrats, and Senator Harradine. Now, that
has meant very simply that our capacity as a Government to
deliver to you the promise that you would all be equal before
the law has been frustrated and it means that there continues
to be an additional obligation upon ordinary taxpayers to
meet more of the tax bill because a wealthy few and when I
say wealthy I'm not talking about all wealthy people it's
a minority, but significant have avoided their obligations
and it means that ordinary people have to pay more. Now, we
are still committed to the position that we will pursue the
commitment that we made last February and March. I give
notice that there will be a further opportunity to this
Opposition in this year to make it clear to the Australian people
whether that is what they want to continue to do to directly
impose a greater tax burden upon the ordinary people of this
country. I am committed, my Government i s committed, as we go to the
next Budget to try and reduce the deficit and to bring in tax
reduction. You would notice that the extent to which we will
be able to do that will depend upon the readiness of the
Opposition in the Senate to match the clearly expressed will of
the Australian people and so, my friends, you here at the
electorate of Hughes, have the opportunity on 18 February to
and to renew the mandate that was so effectively carried
out over so many years by Les Johnson, renew that mandate on
18 February through Bob Tickner, who will bring, as I say,
great capacity and talent to the Parliament.
I thank you for the support that you've given us over the
years. I ask you to renew that on 18 February and we will
continue to give you the service the Government of the
sort that we've given in the first 12 months. We believe it
has been successful. We believe it is the sort of Government
that will guarantee the future of this great country of ours.
Thank you very much.