PRIME MINISTER
TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P. J. KEATING MP
DOORSTOP, CITY HALL, BRISBANE. 20 OCTOBER 1995
E& OE PROOF COPY
PM: I have a number of things to say to you and some information to release
to you. You may now have a statement where I have said I am going to
appoint Con Sciacca as Minister Assisting the Treasurer for
superannuation matters. As you know Mr Sciacca was involved,
through most of the year, as Minister for Veterans' Affairs, in the
Australia Remembers commemorative arrangements and
commemorative program, which by the way, reached its climax here in
Brisbane and I think that we in the Government have been very proud
of the commitment he has made to that. The fact that it has worked
particularly well and that, I think, also the RSL and other groups
Involved in the commemoration were very appreciative of his efforts.
He has very clear personal skills to do an outstanding job consulting
Australians and explaining to them policies, things which are of value to
them and we think that superannuation is such a significant matter
given the fact that this Government now over a period of a decade has
got superannuation up to the point where soon, by 2002, every
Australian will be putting away 15 per cent of his or her income for their
retirement benefits. Many issues are involved here and I know the
public want information about this Important and sea change to
retirement income and national savings and while this area of
responsibility, of course, is principally that of the Treasurer, he has
indicated to me that he could do with more both administrative support
and field support on this. So, Mr Selacca will be Minister Assisting the
Treasurer on superannuation and will be working with Paul Elliott who
has been Parliamentary Secretary involved with this and who, with the
Treasurer, has done a very good job to date.
That is one thing of, I think, importance to the country and also to
Queensland because a Queensland Minister will be doing it and we
now have a strong complement of Queensland Ministers in the Cabinet
and this is, in a sense, a bit of a feather in Con's cap for a job well done
this year and the appreciation of his colleagues.
A number of other things I would like to announce. I have got three
statements. One which is to announce a major upgrade of the Bruce
Highway which is a $ 150 million commitment to the highway and today
we have committed $ 64 million towards that $ 150 million planned
upgrade from Brisbane to Cooroy. Under plans approved by Cabinet
today a 24 kilometre stretch of lhe highway between Brisbane and
Cabooltuie will be widened to six lanes. Over the next three years $ 14
million will be spent on this section, $ 9 million on the construction of an
interchange at Buchannan Road serving Caboolture and Morayfield
which will be opened to traffic by Christmas next year and $ 5 million on
planning, project design, land acquisition, traffic management plans and
an EIS and public consultation on the Brisbane to Caboolture
upgrading. The project which will get under way before Christmas Is
te first stage of a $ 100 million ten year upgrade of the highway.
My colleague, Laurie Brereton, also announced that $ 15 million will be
spent widening the dangerous stretch of the Bruce Highway between
Yandina and Cooroy to four lanes. The full 18 kilometres will be
completed by 1990 end will link up with the Yandina bypass now under
construction. So, I think there are about 2000 construction jobs over
four years involved here. This is a further important upgrading of the
national highway system and particularly this section of the Bruce
Highway Another announcement that I am able to make is that we will be
spending an additional $ 20 million for capital developments for
Queensland universities in 1998. Simon Crean has, I think, announced
today that $ 15.5 million will be for three major capital developments at
Loganlea, Gold Coast. Ipswich and Rockhampton in 1998. This on top
of the $ 27.3 million allocated to Queensland institutions from the capital
development pool in 1998/ 7. Queensland institutions will receive a
further $ 4.5 million in 1998. Around $ 13.5 million will be directed
towards a new campus development In Brisbane's western and
souther growth corridors and the remaininlg $ 2 milliol will be allocated
to Central Queeilland University for its Rockhampton campus. The
1990 allocation represents the federal government's ongoing
commitment to providing adequate facilities for Queensland's rapidly
growing higher education student population. You might remember in
an earlier announcement this year we added 4200 places to university
places In this state; $ 6.5 million of these funds will go to the University
of Queensland to enable construction of a new campus on the site of
the old railway workshops in North Ipswich. This is estimated to serve
a population of around 400.000 In Ipswich and the surrounding
communities. The develuplent of the new campus will enable the
University of Queensland to maintain its tradition of providing a diverse
and high quality range of courses to Queensland and Brisbane
students.
An allocation of $ 7 million will go to Griffith University to enable
expansion of Its existing Gold Coast campus as well as the
development of a new campus at LoganLea In Brisbane's southern
growth corridor, This southern growth corridor has, of course, been an
Important component of the growth along the east coast of Australia. It
is one of the fastest growing areas in the country, if not the fastest and
you know the natilal government has had an interest thoro in rail
facilities, in transport and now in education. So, that funding will be
made available there as well.
I might also mention that my colleague the Minister for the Environment,
John Faulkner, announced with the Government of Queensland today a
$ 16 million package to protect the endangered Mahogany Glider and
other unique flors and fauna along the Queensland coastline. It will
involve a package of around 38.000 tiectares along the coast being
voluntarily acquired. Il these areas most of the crucial glider habitat
will be purchased and added to existing national parks between Tully
and Ingham and voluntary conservation agreements will be introduced
on the remaining crucial habitat areas. This package is, I think, an
important landmark package that will ensure the continuing protection
of four remaining significant Mahogany Glider colonies including the
one associated with the Cooper wetlands adjoining Halifax Bay. The
package will also ensure the continuing protection of other important
tiora and fauna species unique to the regiuon such as the Southem
Cassowary and the Proserpine Rock Wallaby.
The Minister said they were looking at acquiring 16 free hold and free
lease hold properties in the Tully/ lngham area and, I think, land holders
in the area have been informed of the Governments intentions. I
understand this has been very widely welcomed by industry and by the
environment movement around the country.
So, I'll leave my remarks at that and that Is. of cui se, additional to the
remarks I made at lunch time.
J: Prime Minister, Peter Costello denied that a Coalition government
( inaudible)...
PM: No, obviously this is the problem about secrecy in politics, of political
parties not coming out and saying where they will stand. Obviously the
source of that article in the BRW was someone who has been engaged
with this process over a considerable period of time und this, of course,
was for an announcement in September next year. Long after a
national election had been held. As a consequence of such a change
and remember it is not as If this has not been heard of before. This is
very much in the conservative agenda and they have been at the
Commonwealth, of course, they wasted their time with me proposing In
my day as Treasurer that we should give them a commonwealth
income tax and then let them set the rates. I mean, the glue that holds
this federation together is the uniform taxing power of the
Commonwealth. The day it is split up and given back to the states you
will have six state economies and you will have the Australian nation
substantially fractured. When one looks at any of the federations
around the world be it Germany or Canada it is very clear that the
taxing power is central to their maintenance ea cohesive countries
The Coalition's view has been always that If you have all the power
vested in the national government the economic power particularly
and the Labor Party gets hold of the government therefore the whole
progressive agenda is advanced. Their question is, how do we hold
the progressive agenda back? You hold it back by fracturing the power
and giving it back to the States. All in the name of federalism as if
when we federated a century ago it wasn't simply to create the nation
which, of course, now it is. being used as a way of regressively going
back to the needs of the States, what ever they might be.
But, in this proposal where they would vary the marginal tax rate from
the initial 16 per cent, as a consequence of that it would affect some
States differently than other States and South Australia would need to
increase the total marginal tax rate by 6 per cent. Tasmania by 9.5 per
cent et cetera. So, again, this would have very different affects and, of
course, those States which have stronger domestic, stronger if you like
indigenous tax bases would be able to give more income tax relief by
way of a different rate structure than others. So, the States that had a
stronger domestic base would be able to provide a lower rate of income
tax than other States. So, you would have wealthy people shifting their
domiciles so they could pick up the lower tax rates et cetera. It would
be the sort of mayhem you would see from it.
I have said before and I said today earlier and I'll say it again and that is
there can be no honesty and credibility in public life and in politics
without policies. Mr Howard says they will dribble out, this is what he
means by dribbling them out. But here you have got an important
component of national economic policy, the prerogative of the
Commonwealth to be able run fiscal policy in this country, which you
know has been very important in these times when we have had
problems with the current account imbalance and savings problems and
terms of trade problems in the middle 1980s. It has been entirely
central that the Commonwealth has this power. This is a power, of
course, they would put asunder.
J: As part of his denial today Mr Costello says a Coalition government
wouldn't raise taxes and has called on you to give a signal.
PM: He wouldn't be giving the denial unless someone wrote this In the
BRW. You wouldn't be asking me any questions about this. In other
words, he has kept you in the dark, happily, and then when we flushed
him out he gives you a pap answer and you want me to respond to it
seriously and I'm not going to. The only response I make is this, at
least we can see what John Howard is up to. It is all the old agenda
tax powers back to the States, hopping into working people, knocking
Medicare off and getting a consumption tax up, the GST up but in the
name of the States and the hands of the States. It is the same agenda
and when the Liberal backbencher Kevin Andrews said this week and
was rebuked by Mr Howard for supporting a GST, lie probably didn't
know that Mr Costello had a more surreptitious way of getting to it, that
is to say to the States you have yuur own consumption taxes.
J: Do you put any store to the criticism today of calling the major
institutions...
PM: I got asked that at lunch time, I can't make a senal of it
J: Has Cabinet decided what to do with the computer bounty
PM: No, it hasn't but It will probably do so later in the year.
J: Later in the year, so ( inaudible)
PM: We had a preliminary discussion about it, but no final decisions were
made about it.
J: So you need more Information from Peter Cook?
PM; More information and more time.
J: Prime Minister. France has apparently called on Britain and the US to
sign the treaty banning nuclear testing in the South Pacific.
PM: I often say to people that those who try to pretend that Britain Interests
and ours are the same, particularly in respect to the republic, that
Britain has her interests in Europe and we have ours in the Asia Pacific.
It is very clear in respect of nuclear testing that Britain has been one of
the very few countries which has said anything. In fact it said nothing
which has been critical of France's decision to test weapons in the
Pacific. I make no criticism of them in that respect, it is entirely Britain's
right, but people in this country should notice that Britain's interest and
our interest are completely different and that the Queen of Australia. as
head of Australia and Queen of Great Britain is looking at the world
through different prisms and that is why, of course, we need an
Australian head of state in this country. We need our full sovereignty to
be expressed so our views on Important issues such as these are not
compromised whatsoever.
J: Just back to computers again, do you think that despite your general
predisposition to oppose tariff barriers, subsidies that there is a case
for the computer industry...
PM: There has never been a, if you like, any religion in all this for us. We
have generally taken the view that Australia is advantaged by getting
protection levels down and I thinK the proof of the pudding has been in
the eating. Those who believed In high tariff poltections have been
wrong and shown to be wrong, but we have got other programs and
other supporting measures in ship building which has improved, I'm
sure. ship building, computers in the partnership programs. We have
sought to encourage particular parts of industry to do innovative things,
but in the context of generally declining overall protection.
J: Well, this is an industry that does require considerable investment..
PM: Yes, but again the bounty does apply generally and the things we tend
to do best at are software writing, that sort of sharper end of the
business and not particularly the hardware area, the screwdriver area,
where this bounty has in the past generally been spread. Now, it may
be this is the right way to support the industry.
J: But something more focussed?
PM: But something more focussed might be bettor too.
ends