Subjects: women; business; economy; taxation reform; industrial
relations reform;
E&OE...............................................................................................
Well thank you very much Peter. To Ita Buttrose our MC, to Senator
Helen Coonan, the Liberal Senator for New South Wales, ladies and
gentlemen.
It is a privilege for me to be here again at this luncheon, and to
direct a few remarks to you about the state of the Australian economy,
how that relates to all men and women in Australia, and also a few
observations about the contribution and the influence and the impact
of women in the Australian economy and within Australian business.
Ita Buttrose mentioned in her introductory remarks the transformation
that had come over the role and the place of women within Australian
society in her lifetime. Speaking for myself as someone who was born
in 1939 and who grew up in Australia during the 1950s, I think the
two single most transforming events that I've observed in my
lifetime are externally the collapse of communism and the disappearance
through the end of the cold war of the old ideological divide across
the world between right and left. And the other great transforming
event of course has been the total change in the role and status and
influence of women within our community.
Those two things are very separate, very different but domestically
for our country of course domestically for other societies the change
in the role and the influence of women within our society has been
absolutely enormous. One could spend a whole afternoon regaling oneself
with statistics which demonstrate it. I always give a homegrown example,
that when I started Sydney University law school in 1957, out of class
of something...or a year of something like 120 there were about
a dozen women. When my daughter 35 years later commenced the same
faculty at the same law school more than 50% of those in that year
were women. And one confided in the realisation that 55% of all students
at universities, tertiary institutions, are women, and in fact in
small business one-third of small businesses are now owned by women
and the rate of entry of women into small business is three times
faster than that of men into small business.
Now this is not a speech that's going to be replete with statistics.
But I mentioned those to dramatise and personalise the point that
both Ita and I have made. So it is a society that is very different.
It is a society that provides particularly to those under the age
of 35, or even younger, provides options and opportunities that simply
weren't available or weren't dreamt of a generation ago.
The impact of information technology has had a transforming effect
on the operation of business throughout the world and most particularly
small businesses.
When I've tried to contemplate why it is that at the moment we
seem to be enjoying a level of economic activity and a level of economic
achievement that not even the most optimistic of us a few years ago
would have thought possible. I search around for some of those explanations,
and some of those reasons, I draw some instruction from a man for
whom I have immense regard and that is Alan Greenspan who's the
Chairman of the federal reserve system of the United States, and somebody
who I believe has made a great contribution to the economic success
and strength of the United States which is so important to all of
us - always has been and always will be because it's the greatest
economy in the world. Now his observation after a lifetime of studying
economic activity is that he believes that the industrialised world
and the modern industrialised economies such as the United States
and Australia are at long last getting the proper economic dividend
from the huge investment that has been made in technology, particularly
information technology over recent years.
But whatever the reasons are it is quite impossible for anybody who
has the long term interests of Australia at heart, it is quite impossible
for therefore from somebody in my position to look at the Australian
economy and the opportunities that it presents to both men and women
in business of all shapes of sizes at the present time without feeling
a great sense of enthusiasm, and excitement, and anticipation, and
expectation about what can really be achieved. Because in many ways
we are living at the moment in what could be regarded as the third
golden era of Australian economic performance. If you measure that
performance by the years of the federation of Australian since 1901.
And in putting this proposition to you I'm not being original.
I'm plagiarising the observation from an economist who was an
adviser to a Prime Minister, not of my political party but rather
a Prime Minister in the person of Bob Hawke who was Prime Minister
between 1983 and 1991. A few weeks at a seminar in Melbourne his economic
adviser, Dr Ron Garnaut, who's often written things that have
not always been to my liking politically. He's certainly a very
good economist and he made the observation that we've had three
great golden eras of economic development and performance in Australia.
The first of them began in 1901 and ended in the trenches of World
War I. The second began in the early years of the 1950s and ended
in the early 1970s when the world reeled from the oil shock and all
the economic dislocations that flowed from the floating of exchange
rates away from the old Breton-Woods agreements which had fixed exchange
rates. And the third era is the one that he believes that we may now
be entering because we are enjoying at the present time levels of
economic stability and economic predictability, the like of which
I haven't experienced at any time over the last 30 years. You
really do have to go back to the late 1960s to find a period of time
when we've had such constantly strong economic indicators.
Now it's always dangerous for Prime Ministers, or Treasurers
or anybody senior in government to make remarks about this through
fear that you will see on the television bulleting that night an observation
that the Prime Minister's getting carried away with hubris, the
Prime Minister's getting carried away with his own rhetoric and
that really doom and disaster is just around the corner, and that
somehow or rather it's all going to fall apart, we're going
to wake up tomorrow and we're going to find that interest rates
have climbed and that inflation has soared, that our exports have
fallen into a deep hole.
Now of course I'm conscious of the fact that it's very dangerous
to luxuriate too much in apparent economic success, and apparent economic
success. But I also think it is very dangerous and counterproductive
not to recognise opportunity and not to recognise strength when it
is staring you in the face. And I'd have to say to you today
that I can't remember a time when I've been able to address
a gathering of people whose very active years in business are so much
ahead of them, when I can talk with such optimism and confidence about
the state of our economy, and the opportunities there are for Australians,
men and women alike, to achieve and to do well in business because
not only do we have an economic circumstance at the present time which
is strong and stable and predictable and successful. But I think we
also as a community understand better now, than perhaps we might have
a few years ago, why it is so.
I think we do understand now that if you make changes and you embrace
reforms that are necessary you do ultimately get a result, and you
do ultimately get a dividend. The amazing thing about Australia at
the moment is that we were able to stare down the economic collapse
in Asia. I don't think there would have been many people in this
room, perhaps none, and there certainly weren't many people in
Australia who a couple of years ago were prepared to predict that
we were going to ride out the worst of that Asian economic downturn.
I have to confess to you I didn't think we would. It's turned
out to be better than I expected. I was rather more cautious a year
or 18 months ago, or two years ago, about our capacity to do so. I
hoped we would. I thought we'd taken a number of steps to protect
Australia against the worst impact of that Asian economic downturn.
But I had a fear because it seemed to be a very conventional thing
to predict. But because we exported so much to the Asian-Pacific region
it would overwhelm us. But of course it hasn't turned out to
be like that. And the reasons why it hasn't turned out to be
like that is that we were able as a society and a community to take
a number of decisions over a number of years that gave the Australian
economy a competitive edge and a competitive strength that it simply
wouldn't otherwise have had.
I mean one of the reasons why we were able to stare down the Asian
economic downturn is that we've run a very successful and very
flexible exchange rate management policy in this country for a number
of years. And that has meant that we've been able to diversify
our exports into Europe and into the United States far more successfully
than many people thought we might otherwise have done.
Other reasons why we've been able to do it of course are related
to the fact that we got our budget in order and we undertook other
reforms in the financial sector and made this country a lot more competitive
and a lot more aggressive in winning markets around the world. In
other words I think we have learnt from the experience of the last
couple of years that if you are able just as you find this experience
in running business, that you are able to undertake reforms and to
address structural challenges then a few years down the track you
normally get a dividend. And that has been the case I think with Australia.
One of the things that makes me so enthused about our prospects and
about our future as a society and as a country is that having learnt
that today's prosperity and strength is a product of yesterday's
reforms and change. More and more Australians are likely to accept
the proposition that tomorrow's prosperity and success and strength
will only be purchased and guaranteed if we are able to today continue
the reform process.
That of course brings me unavoidably and ineluctably to the issue
of taxation reform which of course is the biggest single piece of
economic reform on our agenda at the present time and the biggest
single piece of economic reform that this country has indulged for
the last 20 years. I say indulged in the broader sense of that term
because it doesn't seem particularly indulgent at the present
time when you're still in the political process of arguing the
case and getting the legislation through Parliament.
But I have believed for more than 20 years that this country has needed
fundamental taxation reform. Not because of some ideological commitment
to taxation reform but because I've watched the present system
slowly breakdown bit by bit under the weight of its own anachronistic
character. We have needed for a very long time to have an indirect
tax system that more broadly and equitably taxes economic activities
in this country. We can no longer have one that has a lumpy discriminatory
approach to the taxation of the consumption level and different forms
of economic activity.
Now you are all aware I'm sure of the debate that's gone
on over the last 18 months of our taxation reform. You are aware that
we put a certain proposition to the public at the last election. You
are aware that having won that election we weren't able to get
it in its entirety through both houses of Parliament. And that we
entered into an arrangement with the Australian Democrats whereby
in summary we got about 85% or 90% of what we wanted. Now of course
we have gone to the public with something a little different, and
of course that was our first priority. And having recognised the reality
that we couldn't get that our obligation was to see if we could
secure agreement for the great bulk of that. And I'm very happy
to say that we did, and I've said before and I repeat it today
that the negotiations the government had with Senator Lees on behalf
of the Australian Democrats were both positive and candid and constructive,
and they produced an arrangement and an understanding which I believe
when translated into legislation which I have every reason to believe
will occur in a couple of weeks time, that that will deliver in 12
months time, from the 1st of July in the year 2000, the
taxation system will give enormous competitive economic benefits to
Australia and to the Australian economy.
One of the great things it will do is it will make our exports cheaper.
It will reduce the operating costs of many businesses. It will provide
greater incentive for middle Australia. We should always remember
that 80% of Australians earn less than $50,000 a year. 80% earn less
than $50,000 a year. And under this proposal those people, those 80%
will face a top marginal tax rate of not more than 30 cents in the
dollar compared with a top marginal rate of 43 cents in relation to
that segment of the Australian population at the present time.
Now it's possible to look at any taxation system and any taxation
agreement and say well I would have liked more to have been done in
that area or more to have done in another area. And of course we are
yet to deal finally with the issue of business taxation. One of the
many things that will be examined by the Ralph Committee whose report
we expect to receive by the 31st of July, and will form
the foundation of the Government's deliberations of business
tax reform, one of the major issues to be considered by Mr Ralph is
the impact of capital gains tax particularly on venture capital and
particularly on small businesses, because the impact of capital gains
tax which in an appropriate form is a necessary part of any fair taxation
system. The impact of capital gains tax is very significant and has
considerable ramifications not only for those people who seek venture
capital but also to the people engaged in business, particularly small
and medium sized business.
Now I mentioned to all of you ladies and gentlemen the importance
of taxation reform to illustrate the point that I made at the beginning
of my remarks on the Australian economy, and that is that today's
strength is a product of yesterday's reform, tomorrow's
strength is going to be the product of today's reforms. And of
course it is not only in the area of taxation where major reforms
have been undertaken, but an area that touches very much I think on
the interests and the aspirations of women in business and women in
the workforce in Australia in 1999, the area of industrial relations
reform.
One of the things we have sought to do in changing our workplace relations
law is to provide for much greater flexibility. To provide to both
men and women the opportunity of more effectively and more harmoniously
and a more complimentary way matching their work and their family
responsibilities. One of the reasons, the many reasons, why we opposed
the rigidity of the old award system was because it was built upon
a mindset about the structure of the Australian workforce that was
predominantly male, predominantly blue collar, predominantly seeing
the Australian workforce as a large congregation usually of men working
in one place under some kind of central supervision and some kind
of central direction. The idea that people would work from home, the
idea that people would have the benefit of information technology,
the idea that you could achieve greater efficiencies with small units
with a decentralised command structure, none of those concepts were
in the minds of the people who developed the rigid award system of
our old workplace relations approach. And they were amongst the reasons
why we campaigned very strongly to bring about change in this area.
And we believe quite passionately that the changes we've made
in this area have opened up opportunities and greater flexibility
especially for women in the Australian workforce than would have been
dreamt of only a few years ago.
Different political parties have different approaches to policies
impacting on various sections of the Australian community. It's
fair to say that the approach that the Government that I lead has
adopted, not only in relation to issues that are important to Australian
women but also issues important to the entire community, is that we
have endeavoured to the maximum extent appropriate and possible, we
have endeavoured to adopt a mainstream approach. We have sought to
create a society that is fair and decent and strong for all of the
Australian community. We do not see Australian society as some kind
of aggregation of individual groups. But we do see Australian society,
essentially, as being a society which has a common purpose, a common
reason and a common set of goals and a common set of aspirations.
We also recognise that within the pursuit of those common goals and
those common aspirations different sections of society will seek to
achieve their goals and realise their aspirations in different ways.
And so it is that in our approach to issues that affect women we have
not sought flashy symbolism, we have not indulged ourselves in things
like quotas and been over-slavish about targets but rather we have
sought to create a society which is built on merit, which is built
on greater opportunity and is built on sweeping away attitudes that
hold back and impede rather than to impose artificial outcomes or
artificial quotas from on high. Now, some people criticise that approach.
There'll be others, though, that will see in the long-term that
that approach is both more realistic and also more respectful of the
role and the capacities and the aspirations of women, particularly
younger women, within the Australian community. Because in the end
if we are about a society which encourages self-achievement, a society
which gives people the maximum opportunity to realise their goals
according to their own choices I don't think there could be any
other approach. And, afterall, it's not the role of the Government
to dictate the character of a relationship between two people. It
is not the role of a government to say, well, during a certain period
of your life when you have children you shall have them in paid childcare
or rather you should care for them yourself or your husband or your
wife should care for them. What we have as a government is the responsibility
to say to those people, we will give you the maximum opportunity to
choose for yourself as to what is the appropriate arrangement.
Now, I have a very strong view that, in relation to issues like this,
the role of the Government is not a compelling or an interventionist
role. The role of the Government is of a facilitating role and one
that provides people with opportunities, that doesn't mandate
that one particular approach, one particular pattern of behaviour
is the ideal but rather that recognises that different people choose
to do things differently and they can do them very differently with
equal degrees of success and equal degrees of family and career satisfaction.
But I do it against the background of recognising that the world in
relation to the contribution and the participation of women in all
aspects of our society has changed forever. And as one reflects on
the different circumstances into which men and women have been born
into Australian life over the last almost a century now of our existence
the transformation has been quite amazing. And yet through that transformation
and recognising that it has changed forever there are still some constants
and there are still some enduringly common approaches and enduring
values that haven't altered.
And the desire to find personal happiness and satisfaction within
a family is equally as strong as it was a generation ago but it is
manifesting itself in a different fashion, people will do it differently
according to the different generations. The desire to be successful
and to provide one's self and one's family with economic
security and economic achievement and economic success is still as
strong as it was. But that will be achieved in a very, very difficult
fashion by people in their own particular ways.
And that the role of government is to provide a framework that facilitates
people to make the choices they want themselves. And that is the guiding
philosophy of ours both in relation to our approach towards issues
that particularly affect women, recognising that all policy issues
affect men and women in different ways and at different stages of
their life, that the idea that you can have a hermetically sealed
set of policies that just relate to women and not to men of course
is unrealistic. But it is equally unrealistic not to recognise that
there is a particular interest on the part of Australian women on
certain activities and policies of the Government.
So our approach has not been one of flashy symbolism, rather has been
the one of creating a supportive society and certainly a supportive
economy that enables people to exercise a maximum degree of choice.
Ladies and gentlemen, I've enjoyed again being at this gathering.
I want to congratulate Business Class' and the magazine
on the contribution, along with many other magazines that are being
made to informing and writing about and understanding and analysing
the lifestyle and the aspirations and the hopes of women within the
Australian community. As I said at the beginning of my remarks, it's
quite impossible to address any gathering in my position at the present
time without feeling an immense sense of enthusiasm and pride and
hope about the strength of the Australian economy, the fact that we
are seen with greater respect. We are seen to exercise greater authority
in the world because we have achieved. And I think the opportunities
that lie before an audience such as this, whilst not limitless, they
are infinitely greater than they have been for a generation and it
is a marvellous time to be involved in business, and it's a marvellous
time for an audience such as this to be alive in Australian community
and thank you very much for having me.
[ends]