E&OE................................................................................................
Thank you very much, Richard, to David Johnston, the President of
the Western Australian Division of the Liberal Party, to Colin Barnett,
to my federal Cabinet and Ministerial colleagues and all of my federal
colleagues, other Parliamentary colleagues, and fellow Liberals.
I'm delighted to be back again to address the State Conference
of the Western Australian Division of the Liberal Party. And I start
my address by expressing my thanks to all you for the great support
and loyalty that you've demonstrated towards the Government since
it was elected in March of 1996. I particularly thank the organisation
through you, David, and your State Director, Peter Wells, for the
professional way in which you have worked to keep the wheels of the
Party organisation turning over and the message being sent out to
our grassroots supporters.
And I want to commence my address to you today, which takes place
at a very important time in the life and the history of our federal
government, by remarking in a few words upon the challenge that lies
ahead of us. And if there is one message that I have for you, as members
of the Liberal Party in Western Australia, and indeed a message I
have for Liberals all over Australia, is that it is long past time
the members of the Liberal Party stopped being defensive. It is long
past time that the members of the Liberal Party came out fighting
on every conceivable front.
I want Liberals all over Australia to come out fighting about what
our Government has achieved over the last two and a quarter years.
I want every Liberal to remind every friend of theirs of what we inherited
from Mr Beazley and Mr Keating. And how, in a little over two years,
we have turned an annual deficit of $10.5 billion into a surplus of
$2.7 billion, of how we have given Australian home buyers the lowest
interest rates in 30 years. We have slashed the monthly mortgage bill
of the average mortgage repayer by $300 a month. And we have started
to do the same thing for small business.
I want you to tell your fellow Australians that we now have the lowest
inflation rate in the industrialised world, that we have a projected
growth rate which will be superior to that of any of the G7 nations.
I want you to tell your friends that if we hadn't taken the action
that we took, when we came to office, the Australian economy would
have been gravely weakened and undermined by the Asian economic downturn.
We can't escape the impact of that downturn but we have through
the prudent and strong policies that we have adopted we have been
able to minimise that impact.
I want you to come out fighting and tell your friends that if we had
listened to Mr Beazley, we would in fact be more weakened and enfeebled
now than we were in March of 1996. Because not only did Labor leave
us with a deficit running at an annual rate of $10.5 billion, an accumulated
federal government debt of $95 billion, but they tried in opposition
to move heaven and earth to stop us taking the measures that were
required to be taken in order to repair the shattered budget position
that we inherited over two years ago. Not only did they create the
problem, but they spent all their waking hours trying to stop us curing
the problem. I want you to come out fighting and to tell your friends
that.
I also, particularly want you here in Western Australia, to tell your
friends the story about Native Title. To remind them that it was Mr
Keating who was Prime Minister, with an act of gross insensitivity
to the interests of the great export industries of Western Australia
which are so important to the national economic wealth of our entire
nation, that it was Mr Keating that dumped the unworkable Native
Title Act upon Australians in 1993. And for five long
years we have tried with the help of your Premier, Richard Court,
to remedy that appalling situation. It was the Labor Party once again
who left us with a mess, and it was the Labor Party once again hand
in glove with their friends in the Senate, the Australian Democrats
and the Australian Greens who fought tooth and nail to stop us fixing
the problem.
And it looked at one stage as though the only way the problem would
be fixed was through a double dissolution. But fortunately I was able
to negotiate a settlement with Senator Harradine, a settlement that
delivered in full on all of the essential things that we wanted. And
I want particularly to thank your Premier, Richard Court, for the
very constructive way in which we were able to work together in the
closing stages of those negotiations. I also pay tribute to that marvellous
satellite phone that Richard operated in the middle of the Great Victoria
Desert. It failed I think on one or two occasions, but for most of
the time it worked very effectively. And the two of us were able to
work together, as we should always, on matters of joint importance
to Western Australia and the entire nation.
And we have been able together to deliver an outcome on Native Title
that will give to the mining industry of Australia, to the farmers
of Australia and to the indigenous people of Australia a fair and
balanced outcome. It will give all of them predicability, it will
give all of them fairness, and it will give all of them security.
And it was a Liberal Government working with a Liberal Government
in Western Australia that was able to achieve that outcome. And we
achieved that outcome in the face of what I can only call the most
despicable hostility from sections of the Australian media, from the
Australian Labor Party and our other political opponents.
And the crowning hypocrisy of Mr Beazley was, that not only did he
let down the interests of his native state, Western Australia, in
the stance that he took on the issue, not only did he sell out the
interests of Western Australians in a quite spineless way, but he
allowed his spokesman in the Senate to describe our Bill day after
day as racist, to describe our Bill day after day as racist. And yet
a day after it was passed, what did Mr Beazley say about the possibility
of a future Labor Government, however remote that might be, repealing
the Bill? Mr Beazley said, "Oh no we have to move on". So
after five years, after having given us the mess in the first place,
having fought tooth and nail from opposition to stop us fixing it,
having allowed his spokesman to describe us a racist for what we were
going to do, when finally he was beaten, when finally reason prevailed,
through our negotiating persistence and the cooperation of Senator
Harradine, when finally after all of that what was Mr Beazley's
pathetic response? His pathetic response was that we had to move on.
I can't think of a more spineless performance from a weak leader
in many, many years in Australian politics.
I think here in Western Australia, Liberals have got to come out fighting
and tell the people of Western Australia what has been done on the
score of Native Title.
And I think we also have to come out fighting to tell the people of
Australia, all over Australia, about our plans for the future. Because
when you compare us with the alternative, when you look at our record
of national economic management, when you look at what we have achieved
in the area of industrial relations reform, when you look at the way
in which we have sensibly diversified Australia's international
relations towards what I describe as an Asia first focus, rather than
an Asia only focus followed by the previous government, the comparison
works very much to our favour.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have spoken for a few moments about what has
been achieved over the last two and a quarter years. I want now to
say a few words abour what lies in front of us. The most important
event on the Australian political calender over the next few weeks
and months will, of course, be the release of the Government's
plans to reform and make fairer and better the Australian taxation
system. All of you know that Australia's taxation system is badly
in need of reform and repair. I know it's difficult. And I know
there are many in Australia, there are many in the Liberal Party who
will say, don't attempt it, it's too difficult. There are
many who will say, get back into office and have a meeting and do
it somehow or other through that kind of device. But, my friends,
you simply can't do that. If you really wanted to hand to the
Leader of the Opposition the mother of all scare campaigns, you would
make some vague statement about taxation reform when you got back.
You would lay down a few principles. And he'd run all over Australia
saying we are going to introduce a 30 per cent goods and services
tax without any kind of income tax compensation. He would exaggerate,
he would say we were going to cut payments to the states. He would
invent all sort of horrendous descriptions of what we might do. And
we would be absolutely powerless to refute that kind of campaign.
I have no intention of going to the next election and denying the
need to reform Australia's taxation system. Because I know in
my heart that it needs reform. And I know in my heart that it's
my responsibility as Prime Minister to argue and explain the case
for reform to the Australian people and to invite the Australian people
to make a judgement. We have committed ourselves to reform, because
we think that reform is good for Australia, for no other reason. I
haven't done it because of some kind of ideological zeal, some
kind of political ego trip or some kind of craving for a place in
Australian political history. I have committed myself, and my colleagues
have committed themselves to taxation reform because we believe that
it is good for Australia. We don't believe that Australia can
go on any more with a taxation system that penalise exports. We don't
believe that Australia can go on any more with a taxation system that
is going to push average wage and salary earners into a situation
where they are paying a slice of their income at the top marginal
rate. And can I particularly say here in Western Australia, I don't
believe that we can go on any more with a taxation system where the
relations between the Commonwealth and the States are so profoundly
out of balance and so screamingly in need of reform and change.
I can assure you, my friends, that when the policy comes out, it will
be comprehensive. It will be the necessary next step to further strengthen
and buttress the Australian economy against an increasingly difficult
and competitive world trading environment. It will be family friendly.
I have committed much of the resources of my Government to ensure
that families in Australia get a better deal and they will not be
overlooked in the taxation policy when it is released.
It will address issues of Commonwealth/State financial relations.
I do understand the need for reform in that area. And that is why
one of the principles that I said would govern reform was to address
Commonwealth/State financial relations.
And, my friends, it will not result in any increase in the overall
taxation burden. That was one of the other principles that was laid
down. But it will represent the most serious reform to the Australian
taxation system undertaken by any government since the end of World
War II. And it will help to catapult Australia, economically, into
the 21st Century. The last great piece of unfinished economic
business in Australia is repairing and reforming our taxation system.
The Coalition Government tackled the disastrous fiscal inheritance
of Labor. The Coalition Government has addressed industrial relations
reform. The Coalition Government has undertaken a courageous programme
of privatisation. The Coalition Government has continued the process
of reforming the Australian financial system through the Wallis Inquiry.
And it is now left to the Coalition to address, in a courageous and
far-sighted way, repairing Australia's taxation system. Unlike
our opponents we are prepared to do it. Unlike our opponents we are
not going back to the past, we are leading forward into Australia's
future.
Can I say just one other thing and that is that it's very important
at this particular time in Australia's political experience that
parties maintain their commitment to what they believe in. And that
parties are not spooked into abandoning their commitment to those
reforms that they know are necessary for Australia's future.
And I can't think of a reform in the economic area which is more
important to Australia's future than to take the existing system
and to change it in a profoundly positive and beneficial way.
Mr President, I would now like to address one or two remarks to the
position of the One Nation Party in the Australian political firmament.
I want to say that I encounter Liberals and I encounter other Australians
asking the question - what are we going to do about One Nation? And
there are many answers that come forth to that question. But let me
give you, in simple terms, my answer to that question. I believe that
what the Liberal Party does in relation to One Nation is the same
as what it does in relation to the Labor Party or any of our other
political opponents, and that is that the Liberal Party offers Australians
something better.
Can I say to you, my friends, that there is no one slick, one-line
put down of One Nation. There is no one speech that can demolish a
political party. The only thing that will drag support back from One
Nation is for the Liberal Party to offer the people of Australia something
better. And part of our job, part of our responsibility, is to remind
those in the community who may have been attracted, however unwisely,
to support One Nation, not only what we have already done to address
some of their concerns but also what we will do in the future.
I mean, you might remind some of those people that it was the Liberal
Party that for five years stood for the principle, in relation to
Native Title, that all Australians should be treated equally. I keep
hearing from One Nation that one of their catch-cries is that all
Australians are equal. Well, I agree with that. All Australians are
equal. But we've been practicing that principle for the last
five years in relation to Native Title. Why do you think we stood
out in favour of getting rid of the right to negotiate? Why was the
right to negotiate in Native Title the sticking point between us and
the Labor Party? It was the sticking point because I was not prepared
to accept the situation where one section of the Australian community
had an advantage and had a process that was not available to other
Australians. Now, I can't think of a better practical example
of a political party, the Liberal Party, standing up for the principle
that all Australians should be treated equally.
You might also remind those people who are attracted to One Nation
that it was the Coalition Government that introduced work-for-the-dole.
It was the Coalition Government that enunciated the principle of mutual
obligation. That we, as a decent, compassionate society, have an obligation
to look after those in the community who can't look after themselves
and who can't get a job. But they have an obligation, if they're
able to do so, to give something in return to the community through
working for the dole. It a Coalition Government that pioneered that.
It was a Coalition Government that promoted that.
You might also remind them it was a Coalition Government that brought
balance and commonsense to Australia's immigration programme.
That it was a Coalition Government that put a greater emphasis on
skills and less emphasis on family reunion. That it was a Coalition
Government that has ended the rorting of the immigration system. It's
a Coalition Government that has turned back the tide of ten years
of political correctness under the former government. And it was a
Coalition Government that introduced the two-year waiting period for
new migrants before they could receive welfare benefits.
Now, these are some of the concerns, some of these issues are the
basis of concern of One Nation supporters. And we might remind them
of what we have done. We haven't talked about those things, we've
actually done something about them. And we've offered Australians
something better. But we offer Australians something better in our
willingness to see the good in people and to see the positives in
people. We offer Australians something better by not criticising what
is wrong but offering a better way. We don't lament the state
of Australia's taxation system and then do nothing about it.
We don't lament the state of Australia's industrial relations
system and then do nothing about it. We don't go into the rural
areas of Australia, many of which are impoverished and depressed,
and say to people who have lost their incomes and their livelihoods
that the answer to Australia's problems, it's rural problems,
is to put up the barriers of protection and to lock imports out of
Australia.
I can't think of a policy that would be more calculated to drive
rural Australia into even deeper despair and deeper poverty than to
go back to days of high protection. Australia is a great rural exporting
nation. And it would be the death of rural Australia if we behaved
in a way that invited international trade retaliation against Australia's
farm exports. If we were so foolish as to try and not farm exports
out of Australia, as our One Nation opponents want us to do, we would
invite massive retaliation. You go to Queensland and argue to a sugar
grower or a beef producer that we ought to bring in massive import
controls on other products and he or she will shout, no, a thousand
times, no. Because if you do that the Canadians and the Koreans and
others will lock out our sugar and our beef exports.
We have a massive export balance in our favour in relation to farm-based
products. And if we are so short-sighted, so stupid, so unwise as
to imagine that salvation lies in locking out imports, then we are,
indeed, a very naive nation. As a farming nation, as an exporting
nation, more than most we have a long-term national interest in trade
liberalisation. Yet, our opponents in One Nation would argue the narrow,
destructive, anti-Australian approach of locking out imports in the
naive belief that we could go on exporting to our heart's contents.
So we offer a better way forward, something better for Australians,
in that department. And I think the other thing that we offer which
is better, and it's something we offer which is better compared
with all of our political opponents, and that is we offer a fundamentally
optimistic and positive view about what both Australia and Australians
have achieved and what Australia and Australians can achieve into
the future.
We are not apologists for Australia's past. I recognise, like
every other Australian, that there are blemishes in our history. And
there were occasions on which the indigenous community of Australia
were treated in an appalling manner. But the balance sheet of Australian
history is a balance sheet of heroic achievement against tremendous
adversity. It is a balance sheet of a very, very benign, a very, very
positive and a very, very tolerant people.
We have welcomed to our shores millions of people from around the
world and they have enriched and made better our nation. And I say
to all of those people: this country is as much your home as it is
mine. And I say to those people: this Australia is as much your land
as it is mine and tolerance and compassion and understanding have
always been Liberal hallmarks.
And the way forward for this country does not lie in narrow scape-goating.
It does not lie in demarcating Australians according to their ethnic
or racial background. It lies in focussing on those things that unite
us as Australians and not those things that divide us. And we can
offer to all Australians something better than all of our political
opponents. And it's a responsibility not only of me, not only
of Tim Fischer and of the Cabinet and of the Parliamentary party,
but it's the responsibility for all of you, at this very important
time in the experience and the life of the Government and in the political
history of Australia, it's your responsibility to come out with
me fighting to tell the Australian people what we have done, what
we have achieved, what we plan to do in the future and how the Liberal
Party, governing in coalition with the National Party, can beat all
of our political opponents by offering Australians something better.
[Ends]