E&OE..........................................................................................
Well thank you very much Ian. To the Mayor of Longreach, Joan Maloney,
to Vaughan Johnson, to my many parliamentary colleagues who are here
today and members of the National Farmers' Federation, ladies
and gentlemen.
This is the first occasion, I think, in history that the Federal Cabinet
has met at Longreach. It is also, as you said, the 20th
anniversary gathering of the National Farmers' Federation and
it is also 25 years ago today that I was elected in the middle of
the three year term of the Whitlam Government to Federal Parliament
as the member for Bennelong.
I want to say how pleased I am as part of a programme since we were
elected of taking Cabinet around the country and out of the larger
population centres, how pleased I am that we are having this meeting
in Longreach and that it coincides with the National Farmers'
Federation special 20th anniversary gathering. The Party
I lead, the Coalition Government I lead has had a long association
with the National Farmers' Federation and its predecessor organisations.
And as I look around the room I am reminded of the many discussions
we have had on very important issues. And your organisation has been
an outstandingly clear and loud voice for the interests of farmers
all around Australia.
And as I look back over the last 20 years I can recall that the National
Farmers' Federation has been in the forefront of arguing for
necessary change and reform. The National Farmers' Federation
was one of the first organisations at a national level to articulate
the need for a floating exchange rate. And to argue the cause that
attempts to regulate the value of the Australian dollar in an increasingly
globalised world market were doomed to failure. And, of course, I
am very conscious of the great campaign that the National Farmers'
Federation waged in favour of industrial relations reform. Something
that has been very close to my heart most of the time that I have
been in Parliament and one of the most fundamental reforms that this
country has needed to embrace over the years if we are to become a
more competitive nation and a more effective player on the world stage.
I am very conscious as I address this gathering of something of a
paradox in the Australian economy. On the one hand, the general economic
conditions in our country are better now than they have been at any
time since the late 1960s. We grew stronger last year than any country
in the industrialised world. We have low inflation, low interest rates,
in fact, the lowest for more than 30 years, we have high levels of
business investment, we have turned a budget deficit of $10.5 billion
into a strong surplus, we are repaying debt. And if indeed we can
implement all of our commitments out of the last election then we
can by the year 2003 be completely free of any Commonwealth Government
debt. And we can in effect begin the next century, the third millennium,
as essentially a debt free nation.
That is the general situation but I am also deeply conscious that
in many parts of rural Australia the scene is starkly different. There
are still areas of massive economic and social difficulty. There are
still many communities which are steadily losing services, there are
many parts of rural Australia where the population drift either to
larger regional centres or to the cities goes on unabated. I am also
most conscious that Australian farmers on world markets are still
being severely disadvantaged by the corrupt trading practices of many
of the major players. And I know how important the upcoming discussions
at a world trade organisation level are to the future of Australian
agriculture and Australian farmers. So as I address you, of course
I talk of the strong national economic conditions but I do recognise
that those strong economic conditions nationally are not universally
shared and are certainly not shared in areas of the Australian bush.
And that we have sought in a sensitive and intelligent way to address
many of those areas of particular disadvantage.
You will be aware that in our first term out of the proceeds of the
privatisation of 30 per cent of Telstra we were able to fund a natural
heritage trust and many of the programmes funded out of the natural
heritage trust are of particular benefit to rural and regional Australia.
You will be pleased to know, of course, that in the recent Federal
Budget we committed $31.8 million over five years to rehabilitate
elements of the great Artesian Basin. And I am delighted to say that
a little way from here in Longreach later today my wife will be capping,
as it is, capping the first bore as part of that programme which over
a period of five years will provide very important support and very
important repair to something that is of tremendous importance and
significance to rural Australia.
Two years ago John Anderson and I announced the $515 million AAA programme
to boost farm businesses provide a new start for many and aid planning
for the future. Out of the most recent budget we have begun to address
what I know and accept and recognise and will continue with my Health
Minister to try and remedy and that is the legitimate complaint of
people in rural Australia about the inadequate number of rural general
practitioners. And we're investing $43.1 million this financial
year for rural GP retention grants. We are going to establish 30 regional
health service centres and we are also going to put over $50 million
into creating more rural apprenticeships and we hope to create up
to 30,000 more of those in rural and regional areas. And if we can
secure through the Senate approval for the sale of another 16 per
cent of Telstra to take it up to just under 50 per cent privatisation
we hope to establish out of that second tranche of the sale of Telstra
500 rural transaction centres which are designed to address the deficiency
of services in many parts of rural and regional Australia.
But, ladies and gentlemen, these are particular issues which are designed
to attack areas of special disadvantage and areas where people have
a right to expect, indeed a right to demand, the maintenance and the
provision of adequate basic services.
I can't, of course, address this gathering and open this conference
today without saying something about the issue of taxation reform.
Last year the National Farmers' Federation gave very strong and
effective support to the Government's policy to reform the Australian
taxation system. You will be aware that we took a detailed policy
to the last election. We didn't fudge anything, we didn't
obfuscate, we didn't hide anything, we didn't deceive about
anything, we put all of it on the table. And in a manner unparalleled
in the experience of any other government since Federation we explained
in great detail what we intended to do with the Australian taxation
system if we were returned to Government. We said that we would sweep
away all the existing indirect taxes such as the wholesales sales
tax and many of those inefficient State taxes, financial institutions
duties, stamp duty on share transfers and other transactions. That
we would get rid of all of those and replace that with a single rate
broad-based indirect tax, a goods and services tax which would be
fully rebatable in relation to business expenses. We also proposed
major initiatives to reduce the cost of fuel. A very critical item
in the operating costs of people on the land in this very vast country
of ours.
Our reforms if they are implemented will reduce general business costs
in Australia by $10.5 billion a year. They will reduce export costs
by $4.5 billion, they will reduce fuel costs by $3.5 billion, they
involve personal income tax cuts of $13 billion and very importantly
they will underwrite for the first time through a growth tax the financial
position of the Australian States.
Now, the Senate was meant in the federation compact to be a States
house. You will all know that the federation compact represented a
compromise between single member constituencies in the House of Representatives
where the predominance would inevitably be held by people elected
from the major population centres of Australia, that is the major
cities such as Sydney and Melbourne. The compromise was that you would
have a Senate with equal representation from the States, the idea
being that the Senate would look to the interest of the States. Over
the years, of course, that has become a joke. The Senate is no longer
a States house, the Senate is even more politicised and even more
partisan in its political poses than in fact the House of Representatives.
Because if the Senate were now a States house the Senate would be
rushing to pass our taxation legislation because the States will benefit
enormously from our taxation reform.
Under our taxation reform after the transitional period, the States
of Australia will be significantly better off and that is why, at
the special Premiers' conference meeting a few weeks ago, all of the
States of Australia were very happy through their Premiers to sign
the agreement carving up the proceeds of the GST, every last dollar
of the GST will go to the states. Every Premier, Beattie, Peter Beattie
or Jeff Kennett, irrespective of their politics they were all very
happy to sign on the dotted line. And so they should be. And instead
of having another Premiers' conference the Premiers should be
convening conferences of Senators from their various States, irrespective
of their party allegiance and telling those people that they ought
to be supporting the Government's taxation package. Because if
this package goes down the best opportunity we have had since World
War II to reform Commonwealth / State financial relations will have
been lost.
I have been involved in probably a dozen or more Premiers' conferences
in the twenty five years that I have been in Parliament. Few of them
have been satisfactory. They are normally forums for grandstanding
by Premiers, attacking Prime Ministers, irrespective of the political
stripe of either. It happened when Malcolm Fraser was Prime Minister
and I was Treasurer. When a Premier from this State, I think his name
was Joh Bjelke-Peterson, used to come along and used to attack us.
I can remember Charlie Court doing exactly the same thing, I can remember
Neville Wran doing it. The script is almost the same, only the names
of the players were altered. And it used to go on year after year.
Now, the last Premiers' Conference we had there was a difference.
And the difference that was, ladies and gentlemen, that every person
participating in that conference knew that we were making a bit of
history. That we were changing the methodology. We were ending the
annual farce of the Premiers' Conference. We were getting rid
of this forum where people played games rather than made serious decisions
about the national interest. And if that opportunity is lost, and
it will be because if this package does not go through, we will go
back to the old nonsense of Peter Beattie, or Bob Carr or Jeff Kennett
doing his doorstop as they walk in and saying, you know, we want more
money otherwise we will have to sack teachers and police and nurses
and we on the other hand will be forced to respond to that and the
Australian peoples estimation and the Australian peoples esteem for
the political processes of this country will go down further.
We have come a long way in this country over the last few years. There
have been reforms undertaken on both sides of politics over the last
few years that have been to the benefit of this country. And over
the last three years because of the way we got the budget back into
order, because of our willingness to tackle industrial relations reform,
because of our willingness to undertake all sorts of other reforms,
we have delivered the Australian economy in general terms to a position
of strength none of us thought possible when we came to office a little
over three years ago. And we did it because we didn't play games
with the country's future. But what we are witnessing at the
moment in relation to taxation is game playing. Everybody who has
had any serious association with politics and public policy in this
nation over the last twenty years knows that we have got to reform
our taxation system. My predecessor, Paul Keating, knew it in the
middle 1980s and he campaigned passionately for it until the rug was
pulled under his feat by his then Prime Minister. Bob Hawke knew it
because he supported Keating's original campaign. Kim Beazley
knows it because he was one of the strongest advocates of option C
when the Cabinet discussed the matter in 1985. Privately, Labor people
will agree with you that taxation reform is necessary. Everybody knows
we can't go on forever with this system, but what are we witnessing
at the moment? We are witnessing game playing. People are fiddling
around with partisan politics while the national interest is being
sacrificed. We are strong at the moment because of reforms we took
earlier. We will be strong in the future because of reforms we take
now. The idea that a country can sit still and automatically reap
the benefit of past reform forever is wrong.
When I became Prime Minister of this country in 1996 I felt Australia
was the anxious outsider in the Asian Pacific region, knocking on
the door seeking admission. In reality over the last three years,
that has all changed. We are seen with new respect and afforded a
new dignity in our region because we have performed well. And we haven't
played games. And those who are frustrating what the people voted
for in October of last year are fiddling and playing with Australia's
economic future and are not looking to the national interest.
Can I go to something that is of very direction interest to you and
that is the question of the place of the commitments we made concerning
fuel in the tax package. We are having some discussions with the Australian
Democrats on Thursday and I want to make it perfectly clear to you
that we are not going to trade away the commitments we have given
to the farm sector. We remain strongly committed to ensuring that
the farm sector is significantly advantaged out of any taxation reform.
And as far as we are concerned the entitlements of the Australian
farm community are not negotiable and you have a perfect right to
expect that we will stand by the commitments we have made. And I want
the Australian people to understand that, I want the people that you
represent to understand that.
We are not in the business of trading away the relative advantages
that you have got out of the taxation package. We will be talking
to the Australian Democrats to see if there is any proper basis for
an agreement consistent with the things that we regard as important.
But people should not make assumptions about automatic compromises
just because a meeting is taking place between myself, the Treasurer
and the Leader of the Australian Democrats.
Ladies and gentlemen, can I just say one or two other things about
the importance of international trade before I formally open this
conference and wish you well in your deliberations. All of your know,
I don't think there is a group of people in Australia who are
more conscious, of the importance of winning greater access to world
markets than are Australian farmers. And can I, at this conference,
pay an absolutely genuine and heart felt tribute to the work of Tim
Fischer as Deputy Prime Minister, Leader of the National Party and
as Trade Minister for Australia over the last three years. I could
not have a had a better Deputy. This country could not have had a
better Trade Minister and the National Party could not have had a
finer leader than Tim Fischer. He has fought for the interests of
Australian farmers. He is respected overseas in a way that I find
constantly impressive in the discussions I have with world leaders.
Today, as I speak, he is in Beijing, talking directly to the Chinese
Government about negotiations for the admission to China to the World
Trade Organisation. He has spent large parts of the last three years
vigorously and successfully promoting the interests of Australia abroad.
And as a result of his interest we have won access to world markets
that we didn't think possible a few years ago.
A key challenge, of course, ahead of us will be to obtain agreement
to a further World Trade Organisation round at the World Trade Organisation
Ministerial Meeting later this year in Seattle. This, of course, as
past experience as taught us, will not be easy. Building momentum
for an ambitious mandate to the WTO agriculture negotiations and a
new World Trade Organisation round will be difficult. We want to work
very closely with the industry to prepare for these important negotiations.
We have appointed trade facilitators for agriculture and for processed
foods and beverages. And we have financially supported Graham Blight's
work as agricultural trade representative of the Australian farming
industry.
And today, I want to announce that the Federal Government will contribute
a further sum of a half a million dollars to ABARE to further promote
the dissemination amongst developing countries of the advantages of
trade liberalisation. And also to further promote the results of research
that we have carried out into trade barriers and trade blockages which
if removed will be of enormous advantage, not only to Australia, but
to other countries which are members of the Cairns Group.
Ladies and gentlemen, we continue to work very hard through the Cairns
Group and through APEC to achieve our goals. And there will be a meeting
of the Cairns Groups of countries on the 27th and 28th
of August in order to prepare for the Ministerial Meeting which will
take place in Seattle.
As Prime Minister, I will go to the APEC meeting which this year is
being held in New Zealand in September and we will maintain at that
APEC meeting the strongest possible push towards the momentum that
was originally behind the formation of APEC and the goal of achieving
within the region free trade by the year 2010 for developed countries
and the year 2020 for developing countries.
Can I conclude, Mr President, by congratulating the National Farmers'
Federation on twenty years of representing the rural community of
Australia. Can I, on behalf of the Coalition Government, thank you
for the very constructive relationship that we have developed over
the last three years. Can I take the opportunity in this forum of
particularly thanking my three Ministers who have interacted so much
with the farming community during that period of time, Tim Fischer,
John Anderson and Mark Vaile. Of course, many others such as Richard
Alston in the area of communications and of course Peter Reith in
the area of industrial relations and as always, because of the importance
of the health of the economy generally, Peter Costello as Treasurer.
But I want to pay a particular tribute to the three Ministers whose
more constant responsibility is to interact with the rural sector
and to thank them for the work they have done.
I declare this conference open, I thank the National Farmers'
Federation for the work it does for Australia and I wish it and all
its members and supporter organisations a very successful next twenty
years.
Thank you.
[ends]