E&OE....................
Well, thank you very much, Mr Deputy Mayor, Des Brown; to David and
Penny Hawker, Joy Howley, the President of Victorian Division; to
my numerous Federal and State Parliamentary colleagues and fellow
Liberals.
I am delighted to have the opportunity to say a few words very directly
to Liberal Party activists and supporters here in the electorate of
Wannon but can I first of all express to you, David and Penny, and
through you to the people of the area, to the people of Wannon, to
the people of the western district of Victoria, my gratitude for the
very warm reception I received this morning.
There are many ways in Australian politics of reaching people. And
one very special way, of course, is to go to country shows. I thought
what I experienced this morning was a country show writ very large,
with a very, very special character. And I can't remember feeling
the ambience of being in the bush, of being in rural Australia and
addressing such a large gathering of people involved in such an important
rural industry. I can't remember having experienced quite the ambience
that I did this morning because the wool industry is very much part
of the history of our country. The wool industry is very much part
of the life and the history of this part of Australia. And I know
that the industry has gone through enormous ups and downs in the years
that I've followed it. And it's going through some hard times at the
moment but like all industries there are some strong areas and some
not so strong areas. There are some efficient areas and not so efficient
areas and there are some opportunities for people that maybe aren't
available to others.
One of the very good things at the present time for the wool industry,
indeed, for all primary industry around Australia is that I can say
without fear of much contradiction that the generic economic conditions
we have at the moment are as good as they have been for more than
three decades. Indeed, in many ways our economy now is stronger than
what it was in the late 1960s. It's more open and competitive. It's
less protected. It's not constructed on an artificial basis which
is subject to likely change in the future. We do have the lowest interest
rates for 30 years, the lowest inflation rate. We have, I'm very proud
to say, the lowest Federal Government, or government debt to GDP ratio
of any of the 24 OECD countries. And that is very important because
farmers know more than most in the community the burden that is carried
if you have too much debt. And one of the many complaints I used to
receive as I went around the bush in the years that we were in Opposition
- and those years seemed to go on forever, they were 13 years of them,
13 years too many - people complained about not only the interest
rate they had to pay on their own debt but they also complained about
the readiness of governments to run up debt. And, of course, the former
government here in Victoria was pretty good at running up debt. And
one of the challenges of the Kennett Government when it was elected
in 1992 was to bring about a reduction of that debt and it's done
it quite magnificently. And, equally, our predecessors were the world's
worst at running up debt and we inherited a Commonwealth Government
debt of about $95 billion when we were elected.
And I'm very pleased to say that if we can get the other 50 per cent
of Telstra sold, by the year 2002 we could be completely free of net
Commonwealth debt. Now, that would be an astonishingly sound basis
on which to effectively commence the next millennium because getting
rid of debt means that people who want to do productive things don't
have to compete with governments in the markets for borrowing money
and that interest rates are more likely to stay down than to go up.
And it's very important that we continue to work hard to get rid of
our debt.
As you know we have just come through a quite historic exercise in
reforming our taxation system. We've succeeded in bringing about the
most beneficial change to our taxation system certainly since World
War II and perhaps any time since Federation. And there are a lot
of benefits in that taxation reform for people in rural Australia.
To start with, fuel is going to be dramatically cheaper. We're not
only going to cut the price of diesel but we're also going to effectively
reduce the cost of other fuel by seven cents a litre when it is used
for business purposes. And the benefits of this, the benefits of this
for the bush are tremendous. I don't think people understand fully
the dimension of the change that is made, has been made in this area.
And it's important to remember that when we went to the election in
October of last year we made certain commitments in relation to diesel
and the cost of fuel in the bush. And it's also important to remember
that when our legislation seemed to hit the wall in the Senate when
a certain Senator from Tasmania said, 'I cannot', I made a promise
to the rural community of Australia at the 20th anniversary
gathering of the National Farmers' Federation at Longreach in Queensland
- which coincided with the first ever meeting of Federal Cabinet in
Longreach - I made a commitment that in the negotiations that we about
to conduct with the Australian Democrats, in the bargaining that went
on we would not in any way bargain away the commitments that we had
made to people in rural Australia. And I can say without any fear
of contradiction that undertaking has been honoured in full. And the
benefits of the lower excise for diesel, the other changes which are
going to be of enormous benefit to farmers and to primary producers,
all of those have been kept and none of them have been affected by
or in any way whittled away. And there is, in fact, an argument suggesting
because we've extended the diesel concession, off-road diesel concession
to rail, there's an argument that, in fact, the new package has significantly
enhanced the benefits of the fuel reductions and the diesel concessions
in particular for people living in rural Australia.
And I want to take the opportunity here at this lunch as I did to
the gathering this morning when I opened the Sheepvention to repeat
a commitment. And that is that when we receive John Ralph's Report
- and that will be in the next few days - and when as a government
we sit down to look at changes to the business taxation system - and
we are going to make changes to business taxation - there will be
changes made to the capital gains tax to make it more attractive for
people to invest. There will be other changes made. I want to make
it very clear that none of the changes we make will disadvantage people
in rural Australia. We haven't decided yet on what the precise changes
are going to be because we haven't got the final report. But we have
decided that there will be a few principles that are going to guide
the making of our decisions and one of those principles will be that
we don't intend to make changes that are going to in any way erode
the competitiveness of farmers or in any way hurt people who live
in rural Australia.
And we're also going to try and make changes that make Australia a
more attractive country in which to invest. I've paid a lot of visits
over the years to the United States and I've paid a lot of visits
over the years to New York which remains undoubtedly the financial
capital of the world. And what is very interesting is that on this
occasion I was paid more regard to and I was listened to with greater
respect and there was a greater universal respect for Australia's
economic performance in New York than I have experienced in any time
over the last 20 years. And what is interesting about the United States
is that many of their business leaders, particularly in the financial
community, have a much greater understanding of our country than do
some of their political leaders. It was disappointing to me to find
that the two senior ranking republican leaders I spoke to, the Speaker
of the House of Representatives and the Majority Leader in the Senate,
that neither of them had visited Australia. And neither of them had
any real understanding, I don't think, of Australia. Yet all of the
leaders of the major banks and financial institutions I met in New
York had all been to Australia on numerous occasions. They have business
operations here, indeed, one of them is a part owner of a very well
known restaurant in Melbourne. And that little sort of anecdote drives
home to me something very important and that is that the way to further
connect with the United States is rather through the business community
and particularly the financial community than sometimes at a political
level. And certainly we are regarded in New York and we are regarded
in the United States as having performed very well economically. And
there is enhanced interest in our country. There is an enhanced willingness
to further invest in Australia and to open up new avenues of investment
that didn't exist before. But it's very important that we understand
that in the hard-headed world of financial decision making investment
goes where profit is most likely to accrue and where competitiveness
is the greater.
I would like to see Australia become a major world financial centre.
And there's no reason why that can't occur. And there's no reason
why, when you look at our generic strength, our low inflation, our
political stability, our economic stability, the fact that we have
very clear rules of corporate governance, we have an incorruptible
legal system, we have the rather obvious enhancement of being able
to speak the English language, although some people suggest on occasions
we mangle it but it's an enormous advantage. And we also have within
our ranks, particularly in the cities, we have a large number of Australians
of Asian descent who can speak the language of that region, the languages
rather, of that region with very great skill and very great dexterity.
When you add all of those things together and you think of our enviable
lifestyle, if we get our decisions right in relation to our business
taxation system this country can become an even more attractive place
in which to invest.
So, it's a good story but amidst that very good story of everything
being very positive at a national level I do recognise, as I said
at the gathering this morning, that the people in the wool industry
have gone through a lot of difficulty. We had Ian McLachlan's report
a few weeks ago. That's now being discussed around the industry and
when we get reaction to that the Government will be addressing the
sort of decisions that need to be taken. Like all industries it's
had to adjust, everybody has to adjust. The world in this globalised,
economic environment imposes adjustment on everybody but it's very
important to remember that we can't reverse the process of globalisation.
We don't have an option. In the 1960s we could get away with having
high tariff barriers, you can't do that any more. And it's in the
long-term interests of this country that we continue to try and open
up the markets of other countries. We got very angry about lamb, and
justifiably so.
The other side of the story is that in 1998 we actually increased
our exports to the United States by 34 per cent. And indeed one of
the reasons why Australia has been able to stare down the Asian economic
downturn is that we were able to switch a lot of our trade which had
been going to the countries of the Asian-Pacific region into North
America and to Europe. And that was partly the result of us having
a very well managed exchange rate and the conduct of our exchange
rate policy by the Reserve Bank has been one of the major economic
strengths that the country has had over the last few years.
And I want to assure you, and particularly your local member David,
who does a terrific job of representing the people of Wannon and the
people of Hamilton in the Federal Parliament, I want to assure you
that we are conscious of the fact that there are particular concerns
in the bush about the run down of services. And one of the things
that we did when we decided that we would try and sell some more of
Telstra was that we establish what we call the social bonus. And that
is that we said that if we could get some more of Telstra sold then
out of the proceeds of that sale we would provide some additional
services.
And one of those proposals at the last election is of direct relevance
to the people of this part of Victoria. And we said that a key initiative
was a $120 million television fund to bring SBS to more regional areas
and to eradicate transmission black spots. And that was to be funded
from the sale of a further 16 per cent of Telstra. And I am delighted
to say today that the communities in Western Victoria will be a priority
area for this new five year fund when the money is finally available
from the sale. And detailed site analysis will commence this month
with final planning, purchase of equipment and installation and commissioning
to follow.
And that on current indications viewers in towns such as Hamilton
and Portland should be watching SBS television by October in the year
2000. And this is, I know, an area that people have been expressing
concerns about for a long time but for the benefit of the scribes
present I am putting out a separate release so you need not take it
down. My staff will be providing a news release. But this is fulfilment
of a particular promise that we made at the time of the last election
and it's an indication that we are not only trying to look after the
concerns of rural people at the macro level, the general state of
the economy level, but we are also trying to address particular concerns.
Because I know that there is a lot of angst in rural Australia about
the disappearance of what are regarded as basic services. And I know
there's a lot of concern about banks. I know there's a lot of concern
about doctors. And I am pleased to say that in relation to doctors
a number of initiatives that have been taken by Michael Wooldridge
and the Government and as a result of a tour that Michael Wooldridge
and John Anderson conducted in many parts of rural Australia a few
months ago and as a result of the announcements that have been made
in the Budget there is a belief, I think, spreading in rural Australia
that at long last a number of specific initiatives are starting to
have an effect and we are starting to address that problem in a more
effective way.
But, David, can I thank you very warmly, you and Penny for inviting
me here today. I am sorry that I had to cancel the earlier visit but
you may remember I had to cancel that visit and a visit to a couple
of the rural electorates because of the need to negotiate with the
Australian Democrats regarding the taxation package. And you were
good enough to understand the need for that and I was delighted that
I was able to renew my commitment and come here.
But it has been extremely enjoyable. I do, as Leader of the parliamentary
Liberal Party, want to thank all of you for your tremendous support,
your contributions to and your loyalty to the Liberal Party over a
long period of time. The Liberal Party is sustained by its branch
membership. We can't achieve anything unless we get candidates elected
into Parliament. The Liberal Party organisation is a voluntary organisation
and it's the efforts and the goodwill and the financial support and
the hard physical work of people like yourselves.
And I certainly agree with Marilyn, your electorate Chairman, I think
it was her who said earlier that there are awards in heaven for people
who hand out how-to-vote cards. I have constantly said that. In the
40-odd years that I have been a branch office bearer I have said that.
And I have heard State Presidents say that and I have heard Federal
Presidents say that and now you are hearing a Prime Minister say that
because it has to be right then if all of those people say it. But
it can be a thankless task but can I say it is not a task and it is
not a performance and it's not something that you do that goes unacknowledged.
I owe everything that I have achieved in public life to the Liberal
Party. Without the Liberal Party I would never have achieved the things
that I have achieved and I have never forgotten that and I never lose
an opportunity of expressing my gratitude to the members of the Liberal
Party wherever I go in Australia for their tremendous loyalty and
support. And I do that again today. I wish you well. The party is
in good shape, in good shape here in Victoria and it's in good shape
nationally. We have got a good story to tell, we have got good members
to support and I look forward, without any sense of complacency I
might add, I look forward to more opportunities to do good things
for the people of Australia. Thank you very much.
[ends]