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Well, thank you very much, Mr Mayor, for your very warm words of welcome;
to Warren Truss, David MacGibbon, Ian Macdonald, Mr Kingston, other
distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
This is my first visit, as the Mayor said, to Maryborough as Prime
Minister. Not my first visit to Maryborough but certainly the first
as Prime Minister. I'm in this area for a day and a half or a
little less than a day and a half - it seems a lot longer because
I've been to a lot of functions - and it's an exercise in
talking, in listening, in exchanging ideas, of getting some advice,
of receiving some criticism. In other words, it's an exercise
in accountable democracy.
I've said at the other gatherings I've addressed that I
personally enjoy public gatherings. I still believe they are the best
form of political dialogue that you can have in our community.
I won't beat about the bush. I'll acknowledge that for some
time there have been significant concerns in regional Australia. There
are many people who feel economically vulnerable and insecure because
of economic and social change. I also know that the level of unemployment
in this area, in the Wide Bay electorate which Warren represents,
is very high indeed, particularly youth unemployment.
Some of this has come about as a result of the impact of particular
decisions. A lot of it has come about as a consequence of fundamental
economic change. What I believe all people in political life should
do, whether they are in the Government or they're not in the
Government - and there's an equal obligation on all of us. There
is no such thing as a non-participating politician. We're all
on the same field and we're all playing according to the same
rules. And we all have responsibilities to address issues, to analyse
the reasons why problems have arisen and to try and put forward solutions.
We also have an obligation to be candid enough, when people speak
to us, not to pretend that there's an instant, immediate solution
when clearly there isn't. And I learnt very early in my political
life that there's no point in kidding people. There's no
point in going to some remote part of Australia and promising the
earth and saying that if only you were given the chance, you could
solve the problem, and then scuttling back to Canberra and writing
somebody a letter saying: well, I've had a look at it and unfortunately
I can't do that. There are people I've met over the last
few hours who I have said: look, I don't have any ready answer
to your particular problem. But there are others where I believe that
we can help.
Much of Australia's economic foundation, despite the difficulties
of people in many areas of our country, is very sound. I hope I can
say to you that, in terms of our inflation rate, our interest rate
structure, our budget position, our level of investment and despite
the difficulties of the Asian economic downturn, the Australian economy
overall is in quite good health. But, in a sense, that only makes
the difficulty of isolated, vulnerable communities even more acute
because you find it difficult to understand how it is, that if the
overall shape of the Australian economy is sound, why is it that you
will have, in particular areas of the country, why you will have difficulty.
And that, of course, is something that I'm very conscious of.
Now, what the Government has endeavoured to do over the last two and
a quarter years is to strengthen those foundations. And I say very
proudly, in defence of the Government's record, that we have
been able to get our interest rates to a level that they haven't
been at for 30 years. Not all of you will have got the benefit of
that. Some of you will have. And I say to you that if we hadn't
have got those interest rates down there would have been a lot more
small businesses going to the wall and a lot more people out of work
and a lot more difficulty and a lot more dislocation. And you can't
separate the reduction that we've achieved in interest rates
from some of the difficult decisions we've taken on the budget
front. Because you can't run a huge budget deficit. You can't
print money to finance a budget deficit. That's highly irresponsible
and highly inflationary and undermines the confidence of people in
their savings and the economic stability of the nation. Nobody can
do that with any sense of responsibility. So you have to see the link
between the decisions we've taken, some of which you haven't
liked, over the last two and a quarter years and the benefits that
we have derived from those decisions. And the same applies to further
change.
One of the paradoxes of Australia's position at the moment is
that some people are simultaneously unhappy, and I understand why,
with the pace of change but also they're unhappy that some things
they would like to see changed are not being changed quickly enough.
I mean one of my frustrations as Prime Minister, over the last two
and a quarter years, has been that the Government has not had the
numbers in the Senate to put through legislation that it regards as
important and the Australian people in March of 1996 regarded as important.
We're still, for example, discussing the issue of amending the
Native Title Act two and a quarter years after the election.
And the reason for that is that we haven't been able to get it
through the Labor Party and the Democrats and others in the Senate.
It took us much longer than we would have liked to have got other
necessary legislation through. But I have to live with that because
that was the verdict of the Australian people under our political
system. And no politician has a right to say to the electorate: well,
you were wrong - so far as the outcome of an election is concerned.
The obligation is that if you think the electorate's wrong is
to persuade them next time they vote, to vote in a different direction.
You have to accept the umpire's verdict.
And over the last two and a quarter years we have worked very hard
to stabilise and strengthen the fundamentals of our economy. And there
are other things we need to do in that area. And one of them is that
we do need to change our taxation system. Now, I know there are a
few people outside who disagree with that. I know the Labor Party
disagrees with changing our tax system. I know that other political
parties on the horizon are against changing our taxation system. Well,
I disagree with them because I think the present system's very
unfair. The present system does place a very heavy burden on our exporters
because the exporters bear input taxation which would not be there
if you had a different taxation system and it makes them less competitive
with other countries. The present taxation system's very lop-sided.
You don't pay any wholesale sales tax on a lot of items and you
pay very high rates on others. The present taxation system does contain
a lot of areas where, if you earn a bit more, you go on to a sharply
higher taxation level. And the present taxation system contains a
lot of disincentives for extra effort.
We think it's important for Australia's economic future
that it be changed. We're not interested in changing it just
for its own sake. We think it's good for Australia to change
it and that's why we're pressing ahead with that reform.
And I can assure you that when the details are released, which will
be soon, you will see that we are protecting the low income earners
in the Australian community. I do not intend, as Prime Minister, to
preside over a tax reform plan that will hurt the poor or the vulnerable.
But I do want to preside over a taxation plan that will deliver much
greater incentive to ordinary wage and salary earners and also a system
that will make it harder for people to cheat and also a system that
ensures that everybody makes their fair contribution.
I know that there's a lot of concern in a number of rural industries.
I've received a lot of representations from people representing
the pork industry in recent weeks. We gave a $10 million package late
in 1997 to help reconstruction of that industry. And after my meeting
with representatives of the industry at Toowoomba a few weeks ago
we agreed to a number of other plans that involved a further contribution
of between $9 million and $11 million.
Now, I've had some views put to me today, they were put to me
last night as well, to the effect that there needs to be a further
addressing of that issue. Some things we can do and some things we
can't do. Not speaking specifically of the pork industry but
speaking generally of how we react to industries that are in difficulty
in this country, there's one thing we mustn't do and that
is that we must never turn our back on world markets. And there is
no section of the Australian community that should be more conscious
of that than people who live in regional Australia.
I've just been to Walkers. Now, that magnificent company employs
600 Australians here in Maryborough and it is a living example of
the critical importance of not turning our back on the world. Because
many of those carriages are sold to Asian countries. I was told about
the hoax they have to get a contract to sell into Hong Kong. I was
shown the cars that are going to be sold into Malaysia in time for
the Commonwealth Games. Now, that was a living example, a perfect
example, of how important it is to maintain those trading links with
the world. It was also living proof of the wisdom of our Government's
decision to give some help to some of the ailing Asian economies last
year. I know that was criticised. Some of our political opponents
criticised it and said we shouldn't have done it. The reason
we did it was because it was good for Australia. Because if you have
a weak, collapsing Malaysian economy or a weak, collapsing economy
in any part of the world that buys from us, they can't buy from
us any more. And to let economies go down the drain through some sort
of misplaced xenophobic view of the world is to cut off one's
nose to spite the face. We send 34 per cent of our total exports as
a country to Japan and Korea alone. Those two countries alone take
34 per cent of Australia's exports. And if we don't nurture
those links and we don't make certain that those links are preserved
then we could lose them. And if we take arbitrary, foolish trade action
in relation to imports coming into Australia, then other countries
are going to retaliate and take action against our exports. And that
is a view that is very, very well understood by such bodies as the
representatives of the sugar industry and the representatives of the
beef industry.
Now, I just mention that to make the point that the answer to our
problems is not to turn inwards, is not to say: well, stop the world,
I want to get off. You can't do that. The world won't allow
you to do it and Australia last of all countries and regional Australia
which is really the backbone of our primary production exporting potential.
It is the last part of Australia that should adopt that kind of attitude.
Because so much of what we send abroad comes from rural and regional
Australia. And I know the pain and the frustration, I understand the
pain and frustration of farmers. Australia has the most efficient
farmers in the world and all the while those farmers are fighting
corrupt world markets. But the way to fight corrupt world markets
is to keep trying to prize them open. It is not to say to other countries
that we no longer want your imports because if you say we no longer
want your imports they will say we no longer want your exports and
we end up being a very, very big loser, as a consequence of that.
We are going through a time of transition. And it is very important
at a time like this that we try and get a balance between preserving
what is good about our past, but also recognising that we have to
make changes if we are to secure our future. And there is much about
Australia's past of which I am, and I know everybody in this
hall today is very proud, the fact that we have the most authentic
participatory democracy in the world. There aren't many countries
in the world where you can have this sort of activity. You get a few
heckles, you get a few boos, you get a few placards. That's fair
enough, that's part of the process. It goes with the territory
as the saying is. But at least we can do it. And we can do it in a
frank, equal way and that's very much part of Australia's
egalitarian past. And I want to hang on to that. I don't want
any of that changed. If anything, we need to reclaim a bit more of
that because it's one of the things that we do very well and
this method of political exchange is infinitely better than the rather
more antiseptic methods that we find increasingly we use.
There are other things about our past that we need to hang on to and
we should never change things just for the sake of changing. As you
know I've been, all my political life, a very strong supporter
of the Australian flag. Now I'm a supporter of the Australian
flag because I think it represents our history and our being and I
see absolutely no reason to change it and that's why the Government
when it came into office passed the amendment to the Flag Act so it
couldn't be changed without every Australian having a say at
a referendum. And if they want to change it in the future through
that process, well that's fair enough.
But those sorts of things you should preserve and value and you should
never denigrate or be ashamed of. But equally there are other things
that do have to change because the world in which we live is now different.
We've tried to change our industrial relations system. We set
out to make changes on the Australian waterfront. We were criticised.
Not everything we wanted to achieve was achieved. But I can say an
enormous amount was. And people who once again who live in rural Australia
will know the benefits of a more efficient waterfront. And many of
you will know the pain and anguish of your produce being held up on
the wharves and after you've worked your butt off through a difficult
season to see it held up at the wharves is just adding insult to injury
and pain. We set out to do that and that has to change. We can't
live with an industrial relations system that was developed before
World War I.
And so it is that we are living in a world where, whether we like
it or not, what we do is judged by investors in other parts of the
world and we have to ensure that this country is always receptive
to overseas investment. I know that some of you think that foreign
investment, that some of it is a waste of time. Could I say to you
that no country that has developed a standard of living that Australia
has developed with a population of 18 million can sustain that standard
of living without having a large amount of foreign investment. Because
we don't generate enough savings of our own to do all the things
we want to do. So you have essentially a choice. You either accept
a lower standard of living because you don't have enough savings
to produce the investment for that standard of living. Or you take
the savings of foreigners. You borrow from overseas. You take their
investment. And walk down the main street of any city or town in Australia
and you will see some evidence where foreign companies have invested
in this place, and have employed Australians. You see names like Toyota
and Ford.
You think, as I mentioned this morning, of the birth of the motor
manufacturing industry in Australia, where legend has it that Ben
Chifley went around Australian companies and said: "Would you
start a motor manufacturing industry in Australia?" And they
said: no we won't. So he invited General Motors and Ford, Chrysler
to come into this country.
And if you look at the history of the United States the railroads
there were built in the 19th Century essentially with British and
German capital. And if you look at the history of any country that
has developed the way that Australia has. Now you need rules, you
need requirements, once again as I mentioned this morning at Hervey
Bay I can remember almost twenty years ago when I was Treasurer having
some arguments with a well known former premier of Queensland about
the level of Australian equity in some coal mines in Queensland. And
I took the view that if you could get 50 per cent Australian equity
you should. Our foreign investment is always operated on that basis
that if the Australian equity is there, it ought to be injected. But
there are many cases there's no Australian equity available so
you've got a choice between taking the investment and the jobs
that come with it, or once again cutting off the nose to spite the
face.
Now, I mention these things, ladies and gentlemen, because they're
issues that are being debated now in a way that perhaps they haven't
been debated before. And I think it's very important that when
propositioned to put forward that sound all right on the surface that
they be questioned and challenged. And the value of what is now being
done be preserved. That doesn't mean to say that everything that
is now happening is correct. That doesn't mean to say that you
can't make changes. It doesn't mean to say that in the process
of my going around our country and listening to the views of people
there aren't insights and attitudes that shouldn't be taken
account of and I certainly do. Politics, successful state-craft is
very much a process of keeping your own goals and moving towards them
but understanding that you need to take people with you. And also
accepting as you go on that journey that from time to time you'll
get things wrong and you need to alter them. And I've never been
reluctant in my political career to admit error. I've never been
reluctant in my political career to acknowledge that it isn't
possible to do something different. But I've also been very determined
in my political career to hang on to those things that I think are
important. Those values that I regard as important and to maintain
the momentum towards policy reform that I regard as important.
A number of people have spoken to me this morning about the importance
of small business in Maryborough. They've spoken to me about
the despair in relation to the young people in this community. There
was one single thing I wished one could do overnight but I can't.
And nobody can. And that is to remove the blithe of youth unemployment.
You can patiently work at it. You can produce, as we have, a new apprenticeship
and training system that has produced 200,000 traineeships and apprenticeships
over the last 2 years. You can make other changes to the climate
to small business. Changes to capital gains tax. Changes to provisional
tax. Reductions in interest rates, all of which make circumstances
a little more congenial for small business. You can try and further
reform the unfair dismissal laws, which I know have discouraged many
small business men and women around Australia from employing people.
And unfortunately our changes in that department are held up in the
Senate by the opposition parties and it's one of the pieces of
legislation that I have felt an immense frustration about over the
last two and a quarter years.
We can improve the operation of our labour placement system. And we've
introduced a new system called the job network in that department.
But ladies and gentlemen, I don't pretend that I've come
here today with every solution to every problem that you have. I don't
think that will ever be possible. I acknowledge the fact that people
feel a sense of detachment from what they see as some elements of
mainstream politics in Australia. And when that happens I think people
who are part of that mainstream have got to examine why and where
they see the concerns of people justified you respond and where they
are not you put your own case with increased vigour and increased
determination and that is what I have been doing over the last few
days and what I intend to do over the weeks and months ahead. I think
people do feel a sense of, I think anger at the confrontational style
of some of Australian politics. I don't know that they're
always impressed every night when they turn on their television with
point scoring arguments. I think they would rather see something different.
I think that is a message I have got very directly and very loudly
from the Australian community.
Now I can assure you, despite what you see on your televisions, that
there is a lot of legislation that goes through Parliament in a very
uneventful way. And in lightness, in harmony and sweetness. It's
true. No. No, there are many other things where that happens. But
that's not terribly good copy. I mean when everybody says: hey
that's not very exciting television, but if you have a little
bit of a verbal exchange it is. But the point I simply make is that
sometimes the perception of that can be very negative. And perception
is very important. It's very important to the way people form
their views.
But, ladies and gentlemen, I just want to say just two other things
I wouldn't want to let the opportunity go by without very, very
warmly commending to you the tremendous job that the your local Member,
Warren Truss, does as the Federal Member for Wide Bay. Warren is one
of my Minister's. He's done a very, very energetic job as
a Minister, and a very, very enthusiastic job as a representative
of the Wide Bay electorate. And he has been somebody who's been
very vocal in the Party Room in relation to many of the issues that
effect rural and regional Australia. And I am very delighted also
to have on the stage my two Liberal Party Senate colleagues from Queensland
of Ian Macdonald and David MacGibbon.
Finally, friends can I just say again how valuable I find this kind
of encounter. It's an opportunity for you to say what you think.
I've enjoyed moving around talking to people in the last two
meetings doing that and generally exchanging views.
I think every issue affecting Australia's future should be debated
fully and should be debated intelligently and people who seek to represent
their constituents in parliament, all of us, no matter what interest
we represent should be fully accountable for what we say. There's
no such thing, as I said earlier, as a non-political politician. Everybody
is a player upon the political stage who seeks to represent the people
of Australia in the parliaments of Australia. And all of those players
are accountable to the same rules. They must explain, they must defend,
they must advocate, they must justify. Where they deceive and mislead
they should be identified and criticised and where they disappoint
expectations they should enjoy and expect to receive the same judgement.
I always live by that rule myself. I've always tried to be accountable
and I've always accepted the verdict of the people. And I do
thank all of you for coming along today. I've enjoyed very much
meeting you. I wish the city of Maryborough a great success in the
future of its delightful community. I must say it's a stunning
Queensland winter day and I'm told that the weather here over
the past few days has been approaching that of the Federal Capital,
which is quite unusual for Queensland even in the middle of winter.
But it's been very great, it's been very nice being amongst
you and I wish you all well. Thank you very much.
[ENDS]