, jOUS T A LU A
PRIME MINISTER
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY
LUNCH IN INALA
SEPTEMBER 1985
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to be here today.
The pleasure is not only because it gives me the
opportunity to see at first hand the needs of this area.
It is also because nationally we are at a crucial stage
in the economic development of this great country.
Particularly here in Queensland we should be reflecting
on what is happening in the economy. At the national
level we are moving into the third year of strong
economic growth, rapidly approaching our three year goal
of 500,000 new jobs, and have inflation down to half
what it was when we came into office.
Queensland's economic performance, by contrast, has been
very poor. Measured by most of the key economic
indicators, it is performing worse than any of the other
States of Australia. Worse despite having a resource
base at least as good as the other states, indeed better
than many. Worse despite a growth rate which
outstripped other states just a few years ago. Worse
despite the policies of the Commonwealth Government
which have been overwhelmingly successful elsewhere over
the past two and a half years.
Let's look at the evidence.
The unemployment rate for Queensland is the highest in
Australia at 9 per cent in seasonally unadjusted terms,
compared to 7.9 per cent Australia-wide.
Where in every other State the relative incidence of
industrial disputation has been falling, in Queensland
it has risen dramatically in the period since August
last year. This is a compelling indictement of the
confrontationist industrial relations policies of the
Queensland Government.
Consumer demand and confidence, measured by
registrations of new motor vehicles, is also well below
the Australia-wide average. And dwelling approvals fell
sharply in the three months to July this year compared
to the same three months a year earlier and contrasts
with a much smaller decline for Australia as a whole.
All Queenslanders should be deeply concerned about such
trends. Queenslanders deserve, indeed they have a right
to demand, better of their State Governmnent and its
policies. My Government's-aim is to see all Queenslander's
benefitting as they should from the strong economic
performance we are achieving nationally.
My Government's vision is of an Australia growing
stronger every year, growing stronger by using its rich
human and material resources to the full: growing
stronger in partnership with the world's most dynamic
economic region; growing stronger by developing a fair
and equitable society in which equality of opportunity
for all Australians was a realisable goal.. Above all,
the Australian Labor Government's vision of Australia
and I'm sure it's a vision every person here tonight
shares is of a dynamic, self-reliant nation, making a
worthwhile contribution to a goal shared by all humanity
the goal of a world free from the threat of nuclear
war. At the last two elections I have put our vision of
Australia to the people. That vision is a startling
contrast to the actions of our liberal predecessors.*
And it is even more dramatic to contrast our objectives
of a united, growing nation with the policies of the new
Opposition leadership. But today I want to emphasise
how we have lived up to our vision, how we have honoured
the promises we made to the Australian people.
When we were elected in 1983 our inheritence from the
Liberal Party was an Australia showing the effects of
seven years of rule by confrontation and division.
Their approach was to confront the trade union movement,
to attack the arbitration system and the Conciliation
and Arbitration Commission, and to the undermine and
then abandon centralised wage fixation.
The result of these policies was a wages explosion,
followed by a new bout of inflation, and the worst
recession for fifty years culminating in zero growth,
record inflation, record unemployment and record
industrial disputation.
My Government has rebuilt the Australian economy from
these ruins. We have created the conditions for
economic growth. We have put in place policies to
provide sustained economic growth at the same time as
reducing and containing inflation.
These priorities recognised that sustained growth-is the
only way to generate more jobs, reduce unemployment and
alleviate associated poverty and distress.
The distinguishing feature of my Government's strategy
has been a consensus based approach to economic policy
making. TJe Prices and Incomes Accord has been the
centrepi~ cs of this approach. Its recent renewal for a
further two years has been a matter of momentous
importance. Our strategy recognises the vital role of the private
sector in sustained and expanded economic recovery. We
have set a framework within which the private sector can
plan and work with confidence. Central to this was the
Government's trilogy of commitments on fiscal policy.
The May Statement represented the first instalment in
meeting the trilogy; the Budget continued the strategy
of economic restraint to make way for private sector
expansion. The credentials of this Government as sound economic
managers are without question. Shorn of all but the
most basic statistics, we have achieved:
Economic growth averaging 5 per cent per annum.
This is more,' than twice the annual average rate of.
growth of 2.3 per cent achieved by our
predecessors. A reduction of inflation to less than half the
level which was inherited from the previous
government. The creation of more new jobs during the first two
years of the Labor Govenrment than in the whole
seven years of Liberal-National Party rule.
Remember that in the year before we came to Government
160,000 jobs disappeared and unemployment increased by
over a quarter of a million. Under Labor, in just 28
months, 430,000 jobs have been created.
The Prices and Incomes Accord, which the opposition has
pledged to abandon, can take credit for the fact that
industrial disputation has fallen to levels last
realised in the late sixties. The agreement reached
recently with the trade union movement on discounting
wage increases for the impact of the dollar's
devaluation on prices will enable us to contain the
inflationary effects of the devaluation. This agreement
could not have been achieved by the previous Government
and their confrontationist policies.
This Government is a Labor Government; a Government
proud of the record of social reform of the Australian
Labor Party, a Government committed to ensuring that
Australia continues to develop as a fair, just and
equitable society.
The provision of security to the Australian family is
basic to the goal of a fair and equitable society. Any
Government has a responsibility to ensure that all
Australians have the security afforded by an economy
that can provide jobs now and in the future.
A Labor Government has a particularly heavy
responsibility to ensure that high standards of
education, ' health care, housing and social welfare can
be achieved and maintained. We have delivered on these
fronts.
My Government has:
Substantially increased education funding and
ensured that increased funds will be directed to
the most needy schools.
Provided a fair, equitable and stable health care
system through Medicare, thus putting an end to the
interminable changes in health policy which have
mar'Ked the past decade.
Attacked inequity, evasion and avoidance in the tax
system, as well as reducing taxes for honest, and
especially low income, taxpayers.
Increased public housing funds by more than sixty
per cent and assisted 140,000 first home buyers.
Substantially increased welfare funding, with an
emphasis on relative need.
The Government has given a high priority to increasing
levels of assistance to those in greatest need
pensioners and beneficiaries renting privately, those
with children and those unemployed beneficiaries who
were so callously victimized by the previous Government.
The fall in real disposable income of most pensioners
and beneficiaries which occured under the Liberal-
National Party Government has been r-eversed.
Ladies and gentlemen my Government cannot be accused of
discriminating between the States in its programmes.
Queensland's relatively poor performance finds its
complete explanation in the failures and inadequacies of
the Bjelke-Petersen Government.
Under my Government, the Commonwealth has undertaken
major civil works programmes in Queensland, including
the constr~ ction of the Burdekin dam, and the Brisbane
and Townsville Airports.
In fact,, Wt ot a total allocation of $ 443M for the
1985-86 fi-nancial year for civil and defence capital
works, $ 102M will be spent in Queensland this year, an
increase of around 15 per cent over last year's
expenditure.
We are also addressing the problems faced by some of
Queensland's major industries. The crisis in the sugar
and diary industries would be among the most pressing.
As you would all know we have taken important
initiatives aimed at securing necessary solutions to the
problems of those industries.
Mine is a Government of action. It will not shirk the
hard decisions. It will continue working tirelessly in
the best interests of all Australians. I look to you
all for your continued support.