E&OE...................................................................................................
Well, thank you very much Mr Stewart for those very kind words of
introduction. To my ministerial and parliamentary colleagues, your
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.
It is my pleasure again to address this annual dinner and I hope in
so doing demonstrate in a small way the commitment of the Government
to the resource sector. I must say tonight that I did have a conflict
of interest because as often happens to Prime Ministers and to many
of us in this room we receive competing invitations for the evening.
And I have to say to you that I passed up the opportunity of the Australian
premiere of Star Wars tonight to attend this dinner. But I
am nonetheless delighted to be amongst you and to share a few thoughts
with you not only about the Government's attitude towards your industry
but also the vision we have for the future economic strength and the
economic competitiveness of the Australian nation.
This dinner, of course, takes place on the evening of a day in which
we have for the eighth quarter in a row recorded a year on year growth
rate of more than four per cent. And for the first time in Australia's
economic history I understand we have recorded the sixth consecutive
quarter in which the growth rate has been more than one per cent.
And one does have to go back to the late 1960s a period of which,
of course, which saw some very frenetic activity in the mining industry
to find a period when the general economic growth of the Australian
nation was as robust as it is today.
But I think the growth of today and the growth in this era which Dr
Ross Garnaut, an economic adviser to one of my predecessor's Bob Hawke
whose presence I acknowledge here tonight, I think the economic growth
of the current period which Ross Garnaut said recently at a conference
in Melbourne perhaps represented the third great era of Australian
economic growth since federation.
I think there are some characteristics and some features of the growth
we are now enjoying which make it even stronger and more potentially
durable than that of the late 1960s. It is coming off most importantly
a period of sustained economic reform. It is also occurring in circumstances
where we have reason to believe that we may have come much further
in breaking down that great challenge which has bedevilled the Australian
economy for so long and that is to remove the speed limits on growth.
Because as you rightly said in your introduction, Mr President, the
aim of sustained economic growth is to reduce unemployment to generate
more jobs because of the social contribution that development will
make. And it is true that economic policy and social policy complement
each other.
Economic achievement is not an end in itself, it is a means to producing
a happier, more stable and more cohesive Australian community. The
economic strength of today importantly, as I have said on a number
of occasions and I repeat tonight, is not accidental, it is the product
of economic reform undertaken in preceding years. And just as today's
strength and today's general prosperity is a product of yesterday's
reforms so it is that tomorrow's strength and tomorrow's wealth will
be the product of today's reform. And naturally into that context
I say that if we are to secure a continuation of the growth that we
enjoy today, if we are in five years at an equivalent dinner to be
able to look at a still very strong and stridently growing Australian
economy we will need, as the Chairman exhorted us to do, we will need
today to embrace further fundamental reform.
And that is why the Government has persisted so long and so hard and
so tenaciously in the area of taxation reform. We have needed to reform
the Australian Taxation System for the last 20 or 30 years and every
serious player on the Australian political scene, Labor, Liberal or
indeed any other party has in his or her heart and mind recognised
that reality. And that is why we took taxation reform to the people
at the last election. It is why we persisted in negotiating with the
Australian Democrats when it became apparent that the totality of
our package would not be passed by the Australian Senate. And that
is why I was very pleased to say that a package that delivered 85
per cent of what we put to the Australian people was a huge reform
and a huge improvement on the existing taxation system. Amongst other
things the plans that will, I believe, pass the Australian Parliament
in a few weeks will significantly reduce the cost of Australian exports.
The package will also provide additional benefits through reduced
cost of fuel both on rail, off road and elsewhere of enormous benefit
to the mining industry of Australia.
But importantly the changes will also inject a great deal of additional
incentive into the activities of 80 per cent of Australian taxpayers.
And we should remind ourselves at a dinner of this kind that 80 per
cent of our fellow Australians earn less than $50,000 a year and therefore
if we are to reach out and touch them with reforms that we make we
must bear that statistic in mind.
These reforms will produce the biggest single reduction in the input
costs of business of any reform ever carried out to Australia's taxation
system. The reforms will also fundamentally restructure the architecture
of the Commonwealth/State financial covenant. Something that has needed
reform and change and this also has been recognised on both sides
of politics for a very long period of time. We as a Government are
very committed to serious economic debate and serious economic reform.
We believe that governments are elected to change things for the better.
We believe that on occasions governments are elected to take risks
for the long-term national interests and for the long-term benefit
of the Australian economy. We put down a comprehensive plan, we believe
it to be the best plan on offer for Australia's future. If there is
an alternative plan for the reform of the Australian taxation system
then we'd be happy to have a look at it and to debate it. But it certainly
won't be found inside cans of soup or bags of lettuce.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is not only in the area of taxation reform
but it's also in a number of other very important areas where I believe
the reform agenda has worked very successfully and very effectively
for the national interest. I am very proud of the industrial relations
changes that the Coalition Government has carried out. And I know
that those changes have been very widely applauded in your industry.
Of the many policy debates that I have been involved in over the years
none have I indulged more vigorously and more enthusiastically than
the cause of industrial relations reform. And I believe over the years
the community has begun to see the value of a less centralised industrial
relations system. An industrial relations system that encourages the
making of bargains at an enterprise level. An industrial relations
system of that kind is particularly well suited for large sections
of your industry.
I am also, I think, appropriately noting the importance for the economy
generally and also for your industry of the changes to the Australian
waterfront that were hard fought, were heavily criticised but persisted
in to his very great credit by my Minister, Peter Reith. And those
changes over time will render very significant economic benefits to
the Australian community.
Can I say to you, Mr Chairman, that I do understand that despite the
general strength of the Australian economy and despite the fact that
in generic terms the Australian economy is stronger than it has been
for more than 30 years, I do understand the particular challenges
of your industry. I do understand the depressed state of world commodity
prices. I understand the fierce competition in which your industry
operates. I also understand the ongoing significance and importance
of your industry to wealth generation in this country. And although
it is properly part of the economic goals and objectives of the Government
that I lead that we embrace the importance of new industries, that
we understand the employment contribution that information technology
industries, for example, can make, we will never as a Government lose
sight of the importance to the Australian economy of your industry.
We will never lose sight of the steady contribution that the various
sectors of the minerals industry make to annual wealth generation.
Without your contribution to the export income of this nation we would
not be able to sustain the high standard of living that most Australians
enjoy. And I hope you might agree that in the time that we have been
in Government we have pursued a policy of a very strong commitment
indeed to exploration and generally to the development of the mining
industry. We have thrown away such things as the very outmoded and
foolish three mine uranium policy that we inherited in 1996. We have
continued to propound the view that it is possible to have a vigorous
mining industry which properly cares for and respects the environment
of this country, that it is possible to strike a balance between your
industry and the environment. And I do applaud the willingness of
so many of your members to discharge the social obligations that you
have not only to our environment but also as your Chairman mentioned
the position of the indigenous people of our country. And it is a
fact that some of the best examples of the willingness of Australians
to help the indigenous people of this country are to be found in the
mining industry. And I only wish that some of the good news stories
that can be found in relation to the activity of your members, I only
wish that those good news stories were more widely propounded and
circulated throughout the Australian community.
So can I say to you, Mr Chairman, and ladies and gentlemen, that it
is again a great pleasure to be amongst you. I understand very well
the relative difficulties through which your industry is passing at
the present time. I understand that over the past few years you have
had to grapple not only with depressed commodity prices you have also
had to battle with the uncertainty created by the native title legislation.
That after a very long period of negotiation which directly involved
the leadership of your industry I hope that we have achieved certainly
at a Commonwealth level although much still remains to be done at
a State level, I hope we have enjoyed and brought about and achieved
an arrangement and an understanding that will provide a lasting basis
for a sensible balancing of the rights of development of industry
both mining and pastoral, the environment and the indigenous people.
You are quintessentially risk takers, entrepreneurs and wealth generators.
No country can achieve durable economic strength without having a
large number of its citizens who are prepared to embrace and indulge
those pursuits. On behalf of the Government I thank your industry
for the contribution that it makes to the wealth of our country, to
the strength of our country. The contribution it makes to its exports,
the jobs of the Australians that it provides and I can assure you
that the Coalition will remain a firm and understanding and committed
friend of your industry and will continue to understand and be sympathetic
to your difficulties. Thank you.
[ends]