E&OE.............................................................................................
Well, thank you very much, Dr Eric Tan, to Philip Ruddock, the
Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs in the Federal
Government, to Colin Barnett, to Sir Charles Court, the former Premier
of Western Australia, Senator Alan Eggleston, to my other Parliamentary
colleagues, if I have missed any of them, ladies and gentlemen.
I am especially delighted to have the opportunity on this visit
to Western Australia to address the Chamber of Commerce. It's
a timely opportunity. It's a timely occasion and it is a chance
to say a few things that are important to relations between Australia
and Australia's neighbours in the Asia Pacific region, and
it's also an opportunity for me to say something about the
values that bind all of us together as Australians, irrespective
of our racial or ethnic background.
I start by complementing the Chamber on the tremendous contribution
that it's made to the commercial and social vigour of the city
of Perth. There has been, for a long time, very close links between
Western Australia and many of the nations of Asia. And I know that
during his time as Premier, Sir Charles Court fostered very close
links between Western Australia and the nations of Asia. And that
tradition has been carried on by the Coalition Government in power
in Western Australia at present.
The investment that has flowed and the contribution that has been
made as a result of those links has played a very impressive part
in building the economic strength of Perth and the economic strength
of Western Australia.
It's also an occasion to thank the people of Chinese descent
who have come to Australia from different parts of Asia for the
contribution that they have made to the Australian nation. It's
an occasion for me, on behalf of all Australians, to mark the enormous
contribution of Chinese Australians to our nation. That is a contribution
that is felt in every walk of life. It is felt in commerce. It is
felt in the professions. It is felt in politics. It is felt in community
life generally. And the bonds that have been developed between Australians
of different backgrounds is one of the important and enduring values
of the Australian community. And it is important at this time that
those values and those bonds be very forcefully and powerfully stated.
Australia has a very long record of openness and tolerance towards
people who have come to our shores from all around the world. In
the years that immediately followed World War II, the doors of Australia
were thrown open wide to hundreds of thousands, indeed millions,
from different parts of Europe. But for a long time the doors were
not thrown open to people from Asia. And it was under the Prime
Ministership of Harold Holt who lead a Coalition Government in 1967
to formally abandon what was known as the white Australia policy
and from then on progressively Australia adopted and embraced a
non-discriminatory immigration policy.
The level of immigration and the composition of the migrant intake
to Australia will always be a matter of legitimate debate. And there
are strongly held views on both sides of the argument as to whether
Australia would benefit from, in present or immediately foreseeable
circumstances, a significant increase in the migrant intake. And
that is a debate that should be encouraged.
The Government that I lead has made a number of decisions since
it came to power, which it believes have been in the national interest
to alter the intake with a greater emphasis on skilled migration
and a slightly lower emphasis on family reunion. And we have also,
because of our assessment of economic circumstances, induced a reduction
in the overall intake. Now there are those in the community who
will disagree with that. There are those in the community who will
argue that it ought to go further. And that is a matter of legitimate
political debate in Australia.
But so far as I am concerned, and so far as the Government is concerned,
we bring to that debate a number of very important principles. The
first of those principles is that over the decades, particularly
since World War II, migration has made an enormous contribution
to Australia. It has helped change Australia for the better, not
for the worse. It has helped make Australia a more outward looking,
a more welcoming, a more interesting country. And perhaps the most
valuable thing that I have observed over the years is the way in
which we have been able to absorb into Australia people from something
like 150 different countries with a remarkable degree of harmony.
And that has been one of the great Australian achievements. I can't
think of a country in the world that has done it more successfully.
Nor can I think of a country in the world that has been able to
do it and in the process preserve a core set of Australian values
that maintain a long continuity of values connecting us now in the
last years of the 20th Century, with the early beginnings
of the Australian federation almost 100 years ago.
So we have bring to that debate as a Government, our view that
immigration has been an enormous plus for Australia, and for Australia's
development. And another principle or another value that we bring
to the debate about immigration in Australia is that immigration
in this country should be based firmly and absolutely on the principle
of non-discrimination. In other words, we will not choose people
according to their race, their ethnic or national origin. We do
not prefer somebody because he or she is of a particular ethnic
background against somebody else who is of another ethnic background.
And I do want to make it very clear that the Government is firmly
and resolutely opposed to any change in the non-discriminatory character
of our immigration policy. It remains an important cornerstone,
a core value of the approach that we bring to immigration. We believe
that Australia's links to the various parts of the word have
been enormously enhanced by the way in which we have been able to
absorb people from different parts of the world.
We are proud of our record of tolerance. But like all things that
we hold dear, like all values that are central to our being as a
nation, the principle of tolerance and openness is not something
that can be taken for granted. There are some in our community who
would seek to foster division based on race and ethnic background.
And it is the obligation of all of us, whatever our political beliefs,
to hold firm against those attitudes. I believe they are minority
attitudes. I believe they are attitudes that are held in contempt
by the overwhelming majority of the Australian community. And they
are certainly attitudes that are held in contempt by the members
of the Government I have the privilege of leading.
I have often spoken, ladies and gentlemen, within the context of
other polices of the Government, I have often spoken of the principal
of mutual obligation. We have a policy in relation to work for the
dole, which speaks for the principal of mutual obligation, that
we as a civilised decent society have a belief that people who,
through not fault of their own, are not able to get work, should
be supported by the community, subject to certain principles and
certain tests. But we say that in return for that support, those
people should be willing to put something back into the community
if it is reasonable of us to ask them to do so. And that principle
and that policy which finds, the principles expressed through the
policy of work for the dole, of mutual obligation, has been quite
well received within the Australian community.
And I often see, ladies and gentlemen, the interaction between
people who come to settle within Australia as being in another way
the working out of that principal of mutual obligation. We who live
in Australia have an obligation of welcome, of acceptance, of decency,
of harmonious treatment and of tolerant understanding, of people
who come to our country. And in return, those who come have an obligation
to embrace along with all other Australians, whether they were born
here or have come from another nation, have an obligation to embrace,
along with all other Australians, the values that bind us together
as Australians irrespective of their ethnic background.
And I've had occasion, in other circumstances, to remark that
the things that unite us as Australians, are infinitely greater
and more enduring than the things that divide us or put us apart.
And those things that unite us as Australians, are things of which
we should frequently remind ourselves. And they are things and values
to which Chinese Australians, along with Australians of other ethnic
descents have made an enormous contribution. They are the principles
of tolerance and of fairness. A striding towards an essentially
classless, egalitarian society. A belief in individual effort and
individual liberty. A respect for the right of every Australian
to treasure and to practice and to mark his or her own cultural
heritage consistent with their membership of the broader Australian
community.
Chinese Australians have made a particular contribution to our
community. The energy that they have displayed in commerce and in
the professions, constantly draws admiration from their fellow Australians.
The contribution that they have made to the bonds of family life
is equally something that draws admiration from their fellow Australians.
The Government has placed an enormous importance on the family
unit. It's long been my belief that as well as being the environment
in which children can best be raised to adulthood, united functioning
families are the most effective social welfare system that any nation
has devised. And the contribution made by the Chinese in particular,
but not exclusively, to the strengthening of the family unit and
the ideal of the strength of the family unit within Australian society
is enormously important.
So, ladies and gentlemen, on this 50th anniversary,
if I can put it that way, in meeting terms of the establishment
of this firm, I did want to say those few things about some values
that I regard as important, and some values that I regard as essential
to the continuity of the kind of tolerant, harmonious society in
which we all believe. There is no place within the modern Australia,
for any semblance of racism or any semblance of intolerance based
on racial difference. There is no place within our community for
those who would argue that race or ethnic background should be a
determining factor in the way in which people are treated or the
way in which people are entitled to exercise their rights under
the law.
I believe very strongly in a united Australian nation in which
all people are equally accountable under the same set of laws and
from which all Australians, irrespective of their background, are
entitled to an equal dispensation of justice.
Before I conclude, I would like to say one or two things as well
about the economic circumstances of Australia, particularly in relation
to the Asia Pacific region. It is without any equivocation one of
the proudest boasts of the Government that we have been able to
give to Australia a measure of protection through the building of
Australia's economic foundation which has meant that the worst
effects of the Asian economic downturn have not come to Australia
in a way that might otherwise have been the case if we had acted
differently.
Over the last two and a quarter years, the Government has worked
very hard to strengthen the foundations of the Australian economy.
We now have the lowest inflation rate in the OECD area. We are projected
to have probably the fastest economic growth rate of the G7 nations
in 1998 and possibly also 1999. Australia now has the lowest interest
rates that we have had for more than 30 years. And whereas three
years ago we had a budget deficit running at $10.5 billion a year,
I am very happy to say that Australia is now in surplus. Our levels
of business investment are strong and Australia is widely respected
in international financial and economic forums. But very relevantly
to the region, that strength has enabled Australia to play a role
in helping the countries of the region that are going through very
difficult economic times. Along with Japan, Australia is the only
country which has participated in each of the three international
monetary fund bailouts of Indonesia, Thailand and Korea respectively.
And we have done that because it is in the long term economic interests
to do so. It is in Australia's interests that we have strong
economies in the region. It is in Australia's interests that
we build those economies up and help them during their hours of
difficulty and need.
And when, as inevitably be the case, there is an economic resurgence
in the Asian Pacific region, because there will. I have enormous
long-term confidence in the economic strength of the Asian Pacific
region. And when, inevitably the economic resurgence comes, the
contribution that Australia made in the hour of need of many of
those countries will be well and favourably remembered. We have
not been a fair weather friend. We have put our financial support
where our political rhetoric has been. And that contribution will
be understood and it will be remembered.
The Government has endeavoured, in the two and a bit years that
it has been in office to further build and diversify the links that
already existed with so many of the nations in the region. And we've
been particularly successful in improving Australia's relations
with China consistent with the maintenance of very good relations
with other parts of the region.
I am also very proud of the fact that through all the difficulties
that Indonesia experienced a few months ago and which continues
to experience, Australia has remained a very strong and faithful
and reliable friend to that country and has recognised the long-term
importance of the bilateral relationship between our two countries.
Japan, today, has chosen a new Prime Minister, the former Foreign
Minister, Mr Obuchi. I want to take this opportunity of placing
on public record my thanks to the man that he will succeed, Mr Hashimoto,
for the contribution that Mr Hashimoto made to good relations between
our two countries. He was a good friend of mine and he was a good
friend of Australia. But I look forward to cooperating with equal
warmth and closeness with the new Prime Minister of Japan, our best
customer, our most important trading relationship and a nation with
whom Australia has so much to share in the years to come.
When I became Prime Minister I said that I would continue the close
relations between Australia and the nations of the Asian Pacific
region. Our emphasis has, of necessity, been a little different
from that of our predecessors. All governments do things in their
own way and they do them a little differently and they have different
impacts as time goes by. Without, in any way, weakening the links
between Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, I wanted to make
sure that our economic links with Europe and North America were
as strong as they could possibly be. And I frequently said that
the Government has tried to follow a policy of Asia first'
as distinct from the policy of Asia only,' which sometimes,
I think, was the impression given by the policies pursued by our
predecessors. And in maintaining those links and in diversifying
those links, we have been greatly aided by the contribution of so
many Australians of Asian descent within our community. And they
have played a very important role, on a people-to-people basis,
in furthering our understanding of the communities with which we
wish to develop and diversify those linkages.
We spend an enormous amount of time in this country navel-gazing
about what kind of society we are. It seems that, on some occasions,
that we engage in a form of public fretting about what it really
means to be an Australian. It always strikes me as rather unnecessary
and rather odd and rather unproductive. Because national identity,
in so many ways, is an instinctive thing. It's something that
belongs to the emotions rather than to the formal description. You
don't write down what it means to be an Australian. You feel
what it means to be an Australian. You don't indulge some kind
of intellectual exercise in trying to enumerate Australian qualities
and Australian values, you practice them. And we're practicing
one great Australian value here tonight with such an enormously
diverse audience, in terms of ethnic and racial background, yet
we are bound together by something that is far greater than that
diversity and that difference and that is a common love and a common
commitment to our nation.
Ladies and gentlemen, I congratulate the Chamber of Commerce. I
congratulate the forum on having made such a great contribution
to the city of Perth, to the understanding and the harmony that
exists between people of different backgrounds within the Australian
community. I thank you for listening and I wish all of you much
happiness and much success for the future.
Thank you.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, I'm Wilson Wu, Chairman of the International
Business Council of Western Australia and also, happily, Vice President
of the WA Chinese Chamber. In my work I travelled in parts of Asia.
There's no doubt, as an Australian myself now and very proud
to be one for the past 11 years, I came across a lot of business
people asking about the Hanson phenomenon. Now, I'm very proud
to say that we, in our own - I should rightly point out - always
tell our friends and business people abroad, Australia is, indeed,
a very tolerant society and, indeed, that is our hallmark. But,
regardless, we still have to confront this recent phenomenon in
terms of, perhaps it's a perception that maybe, just maybe,
we're beginning to be seen or perceived by some of our friends
abroad as being beginning to go along maybe a different path by
some politics of divisiveness. So I'm asking, perhaps, as Prime
Minister, you could give us some advice how we, as Australians going
abroad, can confront this in a more positive role so that we can
assist the Government, as well as in our own ways, make this perception
correct.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I'd be happy to try. There are a number of things you
should say to those people about Australia. The first thing that
you should say is what you mentioned in your question. And that
is, Australia is a very harmonious, tolerant society. You might
remind them, for example that on a per-capita basis Australia took
more refugees from Indo-China in the 1970s than any nation on earth.
You might remind them of that. You might also remind them that Australia
has a very open, liberal democracy. We allow people to exercise
freedom of speech in this country. We allow people to run for office.
We are proud of our robust democracy. We have a free and open press.
Sometimes it aggravates us, but it's infinitely better than
the alternative, which is a cowed or muzzled press. You should remind
them of that. You should also tell them that whilst some of the
policies of the One Nation Party seek to exploit differences based
on race, which they undoubtedly do, that the great bulk of the people
who have voted for that party in Queensland have done so for other
reasons. And I think it's very important, and I'm glad
of the opportunity of such a gathering as this to speak very directly
and to speak very frankly, because unless we have an understanding
of what is happening we will get the messages wrong, not only to
the Australian community but we'll get the messages wrong overseas.
The principle thing on which One Nation is playing is economic
insecurity and bewilderment about change. But you have added to
that an element of intolerance and insensitivity and desire to exploit
differences based on race. Whenever you refer to people by a racial
label you are running the risk of promoting hostility unless it
is done in the most benign and understandable of circumstances,
as I might do tonight by referring to people of Chinese background
because this is the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and it would be
rather strange if I didn't. It would be rather ill mannered
of me if I didn't.
But the point I want to make to you, Wilson, is that the support
base for the One Nation Party is drawn, principally, from people
who respond to a simplistic answer to their difficulties. When you
don't exercise power or hold office it's very easy to
offer an instantaneous solution to everyone's problems. It's
very easy to say that the way to improve Australia's rural
economy is to keep out imports without being honest enough to acknowledge
that if Australia locks out imports from other countries, those
countries will lock out Australia's exports and that that would
be very counterproductive. Now, what I would counsel you to say,
suggest you might say to those people is, certainly, that we are
a very tolerant country. You should say to them that we are a country
that the great majority of whose citizens have no truck with and
have no belief in and have no time for racism or intolerance based
on race or ethnic difference. You should also point out that Australia,
like all other countries that are open democracies, have experienced
the rise from time to time, for a period of time, of political parties
whose doctrines are based on economic populism and simplistic solutions.
It's happened in other countries and there's no reason
why it oughtn't happen in Australia.
Those who ask me: how do you deal with One Nation. I reply by saying,
you deal with One Nation by reason, by argument, by fact, by commitment,
by demonstration, but most of all by demonstration, that the policies
you espouse are better than any alternative policies. The best way
that the Government can deal with One Nation or, indeed, any other
political party because I take the opportunity of saying
that the economic policies of One Nation are almost indistinguishable
from those of the Australian Labor Party. On most of the major economic
issues of debate in Australia at the present time, One Nation and
the Labor Party are much closer than One Nation is to the Liberal
Party or to the National Party. There's a strange view running
around that they're closer to us on economic policy. They are
much closer I mean, Hanson and Beazley are almost indistinguishable
on major issues of economic policy. And I think that's a point
that ought to be made fairly strongly and fairly firmly whenever
the opportunity arises.
So, I'm sorry to have given a lengthy answer. But I think
it's an important answer. It's an important question and
I'm glad you asked it. And I'm glad there's media
here to hear both the question and the answer. Because where else
in the you know, there aren't many countries in the
world where you can have this sort of exchange and I think that's
terrific and that's one of the good things about Australia.
And one of the things that you should tell your friends is that
you can ask those sorts of questions in Australia. You can ask them
in front of the media. The Prime Minister's got to answer in
front of the media and the media can do what they like with both
the question and the answer which, undoubtedly, they will.
QUESTION:
Mr Prime Minister, my name is Katherine Tan. I have been in Australia
for 22 years and I am an Australian citizen. Ever since Pauline
Hanson's maiden speech and her One Nation scare-mongering and
unsubstantiated accusation to the visible ethnic migrant communities
and the minority of marginal groups that there is strong evidence
of harassment to the individuals of this group. I, myself, have
experienced that only two weeks ago. My