PM Transcripts

FOR MEDIA 29 June 1986
As I foreshadowed in my Address to the Nation on 11 June, I have
now written to business leaders and business and professional
associations calling for shared restraint in incomes and prices.
All told, 161 letters have been despatched.
The Government has welcomed the decisions of the National Wage
Bench, handed down on Thursday. These decisions were consistent
with the approach suggested in my Address to the Nation and
provide for firm restraint in the growth of award wages and
superannuation payments.
But it is only fair that, if there is to be restraint, it should
be universal. I have pointed out in my letter that this requires
each organisation to play its part in this national effort in at
least two key areas. First, non-wage incomes such as executive
salaries and directors' fees should be subject to equivalent
restraint. Similarly, price increases should also be restrained
to the maximum possible extent. The Government will be
monitoring developments in both of these areas.
Incomes policy is an integral part of the Government's broader
economic strategy. As evidenced in the outcome of the recent
Premiers' Conference, this includes firm restraint on budget
outlays and the PSBR, which is the only effective way to address
both the current account deficit and high interest rates
simultaneously.