1.3
PR1ME MIMSTER
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER
INAUCURAL RAURICE BLACKBURN MEMORIAL LECTURE
COBURG 28 MARCH 1987
Ladies and gentlemen, friends.
On 31 Narch, 1944 forty three years ago, almost to the day
Maurice McCrae Blackburn died.
With Blackbvrn's death, at the age of 63, the Labor movement
lost one of its most articulate and tireless advocates, and
the people of Australia lost one of their most dedicated
representatives.
Maurice Blackburn was " one of the great servants of the
people of the Commonwealth of Australia".
That was the judgement of the then Prime Minister, John
Curtin, when he moved the Parliamentary condolence motion
after Blackburn's death.
It is too easy, with the passage of time and the constant
rush of pressing problems, to let the achievements of our
predecessors slip from mind.
But we must I believe resist that easy amnesia not in
order to induLge in nostalgia, which can often be
self-deceiving, but to rescue from the past its hard-won
lessons and to reappraise and reapply them, where we can, to
the problems we face today.
That is why I am happy to be here today to deliver this
inaugural address in memory of Maurice Blackburn.
Blackburn's political career spanned some of the most
turbulent times this nation has ever experienced.
It was in 1914 the first year of the First World War
that Blackburn was first elected to the Victorian
Parliament. When he died, after more than two decades as a
member of the Victorian and Federal Parliaments, the Second
World War was within a year of its conclusion.
These war and depression years were years which challenged
the nation's economic and military security and which
moulded the Perty's deepest philosophical underpinnings.
That Maurice Blackburn left his stamp on the way the nation
and the Party responded to these crisis years is I think a
striking lesson about the influence one man can have on his
times. Labor peoplo this part of Melbourne can be particularly
proud of Blachburn since it was this region that he
represented throughout his Parliamentary career.
After his de~ ath his widow Doris, who was in her own right a
formidable anid early advocate of women's rights and
aboriginal advancement, was herself elected to the seat of
Bourke which her husband had represented.
She was only the second woman elected to the House of
Representativos and of course it was as a result of her
legacy that this lecture series could be established.
Maurice Blackciurnls greatest contribution to Australian
politics of MiG day was his intellectual contribution. He
was not the hind oZ Party member who blindly followed or
mutely acquicocced.
He was in fact twice expelled from the Labor Party over
matters of ") rinciple and after the second of these
expulsions, when he was sitting as an Independent Labor
member of Pairliament, he further alienated himself from the
Labor Governont over Curtin's plans to introduce
conscription i for military service in the South West Pacific.
Curtin hissolV had been prosecuted for his anti-conscription
stance during world war 1. it is a measure of the greatness
of his wair-timne leadership that he came to regard
Australia's atiore serious military position in 1943 as
obliging him to support the introduction of conscription.
Maurice Blackburn, however, refused to change tack and when
it came to a vote he stood quite alone in opposing the
proposal. Hence when Curtin came to move the condolence motion I have
already quoted, he perhaps ruefully acknowledged of
Blackburn that " however unpopular he might become, however
discomforting his attitude might be to his colleagues, the
divine monitor within him impelled him to stand for what in
his soul he believed."
But it would be wrong to imagine that this " divine monitor"
forced Blackburn to spend his life in barren and solitary
isolation frong the mainstream of the Party and the nation.
Indeed, in 1921 Blackburn demonstrated for all time that his
sense of principle was capable of being very well attuned to
the mainstreanm of the Party's and the nation's opinion.
I refer of course to Blackburn's crucial intervention in the
debate at the 1' 921 Federal Conference about how the party
should express its Objective.
At that Conference, the delegates had before them a proposal
to express tho Objective with these now familiar words: "' the
socialisation of industry, production, distribution and
exchange." The debate about the Socialist objective became one of the
great debates of our Party's history.
Supporters of the Objective believed the Party needed an
unambiguous statement of its goal to prevent it straying
from a straight and narrow path.
Opponents saw the word " socialisationt as too vague and
likely to deter more voters than it would attract.
Blackburn was prominent among those opponents, and as he
always did, he summed up his position with clarity and
conciseness including with this aphorism: " The Objective"
he said, " must be so clearly worded that he who runs will
read. But the ( proposed) objective is such that he who reado
will run."
Although tho Objective was voted into the platform,
Blackburn rofused to give up the fight. Later in the
conference 1-c returned to the issue and successfully moved
the motion that has gone into history as the Blackburn
Declaration. 0
It is worth quoting in full:
" This Conferen-ce declares:
that the Australian Labor Party proposes collective
ownership for thz purpose of preventing exploitation,
and to whatever extent may be necessary for that
purpose;
b) that wheiever private ownership is a means of
exploiteation it is opposed by the Party; but
c) that the Party does not seek to abolish private
ownershiqo even of any of the instruments of production
where such instrument is utilised by its owner in a
socially useful manner and without exploitation."
The fact that the Declaration, as outspoken as it is by
today's standards, was seen at the time as a moderating
influence in the Party, underlines just how different was
the party, and indeed the nation, in 1921.
In the wake of5 the First World War and the Russian
Revolution, no one could tell for certain how far the
revolutionary spirit would spread or how many ancient
regimes would topple.
In the Labor Party, some of the most deeply held convictions
were for White Australia and blatant protectionism.
So the simple nostrums of that day should not be seen as
having an automatic relevance to today's Party or to today's
issues. But the test of the objective should surely be whether it
was relevant to the problems which faced the Australia of
the 1920s. That certainly appears to have been Blackburn's
test. For the duty of each generation of Labor Party members is to
endeavour as best it can to make the Party relevant and
responsive tc the challenges of its day.
The Labor F1_! rty has been successful where it has learned
that lesson -where it has learned to identify and to
articulate principles of operation which are relevant and
responsive to contemnporary tasks.
Look at our history. Each of our post war Labor governments
has had a unique challenge and each has solved it in ways
which were relevant to its times. The Curtin Labor
Government h~ ad to guide the nation through the crisis of
war. Chifey had to build the edifice of peace-tine
Australia. WThitlam had to solve the legacy of wore than two
decades of conservative neglect.
And today w2 face a task which is a unique challenge of our
time. It is to car!: y out the most sweeping reform in our history
of our nat!.: il economic institutions and attitudes.
We must cope with the collapse in our commodity prices
and the consequent fall in our national income now amounting
to more than $ 6 billion. we need to learn to compete on
world markets with new exports. we must face the
imperative o-1 making our economy more flexible through the
removal of unnecessary regulation. We must retain the
internation;) l competitiveness we have won through freeing
the dollar and we must exercise restraint in wages. And
we must fully' understand and accept that the world does not
owe us a li. ving.
This task of economiic reconstruction has been dodged and
fudged by decades of irresponsible conservative governments.
Had we in thc! Labor Party followed those conservative
governments Did proven ourselves unable to develop relevant
and workab). i. answers to our economic problems, we would have
failed both o-ur supporters and the whole nation.
But this ha-: to be clearly understood. Meeting the stringent
dweamy ancdosn troaf diaccotnso mouicr Lmaabnoarg empheinlt osiso phnyo. t a policy which in someI
Indeed in thase difficult times it is the only path
available to uo which leads to the traditional Labor goals
of helping the underprivileged and supporting the less
well-off.
Like previous Labor governments, we are commuitted not only
to relevance in responding to our particular tasks, but also
to compassion and redistribution in doing so.
So as I said I-ecently at Bathurst in a speech to celebrate
our fourth anniversary of government don't let us have any
of this noflsof3e that we are not a real Labor Government.
Don't judge u5 by whether we have blindly adhered to the
standards o th e past or uncritically observed tho
shibboletts oC the past.
Judge us by o-cr ability to take our inherited principles
thoce we inhorited from a great line of predecessors like
Maurice Blackburn and breathe new life into then:, applying
them anew to the task we face today.
We have, thtough the Accord, forged anew the traditional
links between the industrial and political elements of the
Labor movement.
we have, to tle maximum extent possible in the economic
circumstance~ s, worked to help the poor and protect the
battlers of the Australian community.
in fact wie hiave made something of a virtue of the need to
limit governint spending. Rastraint has forced uo to
scrutinize our priorities so we can direct what resourceo we
do have to those who need them most.
This has meant, for example, applying an assets test to
pensions to disqualify millionaires from drawing on the
public purse. As a result we have been able to increase
pensions for those who need them, by more than 6 per cent in
real terms, compared with a paltry 1.5 per cent in the
entire seven years our conservative predecessors spent in
office. it has meant_ reforming the tax system to disqualify the
wealthy fromo ripping off the system through tax-free capital
gains and fringe benefits.
As a result wo have been able to cut income tax rates, lift
the tax free threshcld for those at the bottom of the income
scale, and, ' from 1 July this year introduce a series of
measures to alleviate poverty traps for pensioners and
beneficiaries. It has meant exempting low income families and individuals
from the medicare levy. We have ensured that needy students
are not hurlt by the tertiary education administration
charge.
6.
Now this may sound less bloodstirring than the battle cry of
the Socialist objective. But it is in the l980s proof of C
our commitment to, and our success in achieving, effective
and measured redistribution.
For us, it is action rather than words which achieves real
improvement in the lot of the traditional constituency of
our Party.
Let me briefly outline some other examples where we have put
our traditional Labor commitment into action.
In the knowledge that the best route to the abolition of
poverty is through employment, we have created three
quarters of a million new jobs in our four years in office.
In the knowledge that workers who have exercised restraint
in wage claimns have a right to expect restraint in prices,
we have boosted the Government's efforts to put the lid on
unfair price rises.
In the knowledge that in many Australian families both
parents need to and want to work, we have created a network
of child care centres around the nation.
In the knowledge that school children must gain an education
if they are to find worthwhile work in the future, we have
moved to ensure that more children stay at school longer.
When the conservatives came to power, only 36 per cent of
children wero staying on to Year 12. This year, more than
per cent of them will be staying on.
And in the knowledge that many Australians still have
difficulty finding adequate accommodation, we have expanded
our spending on public housing by 42 per cent in real terms;
and we have helped nearly one-quarter of a million low
income families buy their first home; and we have increasedI
the number of youth and women's refugees. I
In the knowledge that when the poor get sick they have least
resources to afford necessary health care, we have
introduced medicare and introduced a scheme to limit the
pharmaceutical bills of the chronically ill.
most fundamentally of all, we have pursued Labor goals
through our reconstruction of the economy.
We have sought to increase productivity, remove inefficient
regulation, create a more competitive and diverse
manufacturing base, foster an economy capable of exploring
the horizons of high technology production.
Economic reconstruction is not a notion plucked out of some
economics textbook. I
It is the only solution to the challenge we face; it is the
only genuine means of securing higher living standards and
increased employment for all Australians.
Let me explain this economic reconstruction in this way.
I said earliez that the sixty-six years since the 1921
Conference had seen enormous change in the Labor Party and
in Australia as a whole.
It is hard not L o accept that the next 66 years will see
even greater change and even more shifts in the assumptions
and attitudes which shape our lives.
if in those next six decades Australia is unable to
restructure the economy, the prosperity of what used to be
called the Lucky Country will be irretrievably gone.
Let me just read you the list of Australia's top ten exports
today. They are: coal, wheat, wool, iron ore and
concentrates, alumina, beef and veal, crude petroleum oils,
refined petrol. eum products, aluminium, and gold.
All of these exports are based on agriculture or mining.
All but two ef them are unprocessed primary products. I-ost
of them are susceptible to the dramatic slumps in world
prices which we have seen recently in the commodity markets.
in 66 years time, the Australian Prime Minister, whoever he
or she is, miust not be leading a country so heavily
dependent as vic arc today on what we can dig up or grow or
shear off the oheep's back.
Australia's great farms and mines will doubtless continue to
be major export earners. But they m~ ust not be our sole
export earnercs.
We must make sure that manufactured goods and service goods
and knowledg~ '. ntensive industries play a much greater part
in earning our national income, and that we find and exploit
new overseas m~ arkets for them.
So this task of economic reconstruction lies before us as
the first and principal task which my Government is pledged
to fulfill not just in the lead-up to the next election
but as the country enters the 1990s and beyond.
There are three other elements to our Labor strategy which
will guide Australia into the future.
The first of these is this: we will continue to manage the
economy with fairness and compassion. Where sacrifices are
necessary, they wilTh-e shared fairly; where gains are made,
their benefits will be passed on, with fairness, to the
whole comnmuniity.
The second element is this we will continue to manage the
economy, and manage the task of reconstruction, with
strength and
8.
We will continue to co-operate with the union movement and
with businc. sz to ensure economic stability; we will continue
to support Australia's established and relevant system of
centraliseE wage fixing which the conservatives are pledged
to demolish'; vie will continue to protect the mainstream of
Australian society from the wreckers of the New Right.
The final clement of our strategy for the 1990s is this : we
will continue to ensure that today's policies not only
achieve goals for today but are so geared as to protect the
interests of future generations of Australians.
That is why we must continue to protect our unique
environmental heritage. That is why we must continue to
seek the bost educational and employment opportunities for
our children. That is why we must continue to create a
multicultural society in which all Australians have equality
of opportu. Aty. That is why we must continue to seek real
peace and cficctive disarmament without which all our hopes
and plans car. founder.
These then are our aspirations : reconstruction of the
economy, fairness in the protection of livin~ g standards,
stability in Government, and care for the future of our
nation. I draw the ccntrast with the opposition parties. They have
not of late covered themselves with glory in the area of
informing tile Australian electorate about their policies.
But the reckless and reactionary nature of the policies they
have revealed shows us at least this much : they not only
cannot provide the answers to Australia's plight, they do
not even understand the problem.
So, sure, ve would love to have been able to do more, and to
achieve our g~ oals more rapidly.
But I'm proud of what we have in fact done, in the difficult
circumstances imposed on us by the collapse in our export
prices and the consequent fall in our national income.
Moreover I'm totally certain that our record stands in the
starkest possible contrast to the conservative forces, with
their spurious promises and disunited leadership and
single-minded determination to restore the privileges for
the well-off few in place of the shared benefits we are
delivering to the whole Australian community.
Ladies and gentlemen.
we have many tasks still ahead of us. Many challenges lie
ahead.
After Maurice Blackburn's death, John Curtin described him,
justly, as ' a ran of strong character and of great
independence of mind, direct and fair in the expression of
his views and forceful in the advocacy of those things which
he considered to be right and just regardless of whether or
not they were popular."
While the LaboL Party continues to attract to its ranks mon
and women of Raurice Blackburn's calibre, we will remain
strong and capable of meeting those challenges and solving
those probler3o
But we must not lock ourselves into the past, nor should we
don the straitjacket of rigid ideology.
That courso iay produce great internal debates and memorable
phrases. It does not always produce answers which the Party or tho
nation needs.