E&OE.......................................................................................
Can I say to you, Mayor, to Barry Haase to Ron Manners to other distinguished
guests, ladies and gentlemen. It is a great delight to be in Kalgoorlie
for the first time as Prime Minister. Kalgoorlie has a special place
in, not only in Western Australian history, but a special place in
Australian history. It's a very distinctive part of our country.
It boasts a number of things. Kalgoorlie of course is the largest
electorate in the world I think and I often entertain my European
visitors in particular when we start comparing political notes and
I point out that we have an electorate in Australia that is larger
than about two-thirds of the European Union put together.
This of course is the second time that I visited the electorate of
Kalgoorlie in the space of a month because I went to Exmouth only
a short while ago with Barry to see for myself first hand and with
the Premier of Western Australia, Richard Court, to announce some
special assistance to the people of Exmouth who suffered so severely
as a result of the cyclone.
It is not the first time that I've been to this city but it is
certainly the first time as Prime Minister and I want to thank Barry
very warmly for the invitation. It's an opportunity for me to
do what I like to do when Parliament is not sitting and that is as
frequently as possible get away from the larger urban concentrations
of Australia which are, of course, an important part of our national
community, to get around the country to understand first hand through
discussion and listening to people how different life is, how important
life is to the national good in the regional areas of Australia. And
to say to you that I do understand as Prime Minister that there are
special challenges and special difficulties. That I do appreciate
the contribution that the mining industry in particular makes to the
wealth of Australia and to the living standard of Australia.
Only a month or so ago, I opened the Olympic Dam Site in South Australia
which is part of the great Roxby Downs Project. And that project is
making a huge contribution potentially to Australia's export
income. The gold mining industry is the second biggest export earner
amongst the mining industries of Australia and Kalgoorlie is the greatest
gold mining producing area in Australia. And it is a city which is
rich in the history of this country, it is rich in the history of
Western Australia and played, as you all know, a major and decisive
role and part in the decision of Western Australia to join the Federation
in the name of Paddy Hannon is synonymous with the development of
the mining industry and of gold mining in Australia. It incidentally
as I remarked to one of my staff coming here this morning, I think
it's the only federal electorate in Australia whose Member was
once expelled from Federal Parliament for entirely, I think in historical
perspective, inappropriate reasons, for something that would certainly
not happen today.
But most importantly this community is an example of how people work
together and cooperate together in the regional areas of Australia.
And as I moved around here this morning I met people from the local
home nursing organisations, I met the Anglican Priest, I met the Pastors
of other Churches, I've met people involved in Centrelink, I've
met people involved in the Lyons clubs, people involved in all the
different organisations that make a community work. Australians are
very good at working together. And as we approach, in two years time,
the Centenary of the Federation of Australia, we are becoming a lot
more conscious as a nation of what we all have in common and how much
we have achieved over the last one hundred years. And I am particularly
pleased to acknowledge the presence of people from the Indigenous
community of Kalgoorlie and the recognition that all of us as Australians
working together have a common interest and a common investment in
a harmonious and cooperative and caring future together as Australians
as we go into the next century.
Australia has achieved an enormous amount. And it is a huge country,
it varies enormously and I never tire of the opportunity of moving
around our country and meeting people in different circumstances.
And the richest thing about being an Australian is the immense diversity
of this country yet the common humanity of the people of this country.
Although we live in different circumstances, and this community is
a long way away from the settled suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne and
very different from the tropical areas of Far North Queensland and
very different again from some of the mountain areas of the Snowy
Mountains of New South Wales and yet the sense of community and the
sense of cooperation and the national spirit is as deep and strong
in all of those areas as it is in the next. And, although we live
in different areas and we face different challenges, we have so many
things in common particularly the common values we all have as Australians.
I'm very conscious, as Prime Minister of our country, of the
role not only of Australia in a domestic sense but also the role of
Australia in the world community. And like any other nation we have
opportunities and responsibilities. I'm very proud of the fact
that Australia's economic strengths at the present time has enabled
it to stare down the worst of the Asian economic downturn. But in
saying that I'm conscious that not everybody in Australia is
enjoying the benefits and the bounty that come out that come out of
that economic success. And it's the responsibility of the community
to remember at a time of relative national prosperity, that there
remain people within our community who continue to need our help.
But we shouldn't lose sight of what Australia has achieved. We
are performing better than most, we are seen in our region in particular
as being economically very strong and one of the advantages of that
is that we are listened to more carefully and more respectfully. We
speak from a greater position of strength because of our economic
achievements than would otherwise be the case.
I will, next week, meet the Indonesian President, Dr Habibie, to talk
about the concerns I have about what is happening in East Timor. I
will do so as the Leader of a country which has developed a friendly
relationship with Indonesia, not an uncritical friendship. No true
friendship is always uncritical. A true friendship in a personal level
as well as at a national level, is a friendship that is based upon
long and shared common experiences but is also a friendship that enables
you to speak with candour and openness when the circumstances require.
All Australians are concerned about what is happening in East Timor,
all want a just and peaceful solution. We must all remember, of course,
that it is part of Indonesia. And ultimately a proper resolution,
a positive resolution of what is occurring there can only happen through
the involvement, the consent and the support and the active participation
of the Indonesian Government and the armed forces of that country.
But our relationship with Indonesia is important to us. It's
a nation of more than 200 million people, it's our nearest neighbour
and it's within close flying distance, particularly of Western
Australia. But I will go to those talks as the Leader of a country
which has been a good friend but not an uncritical friend and a country
whilst understanding the political and cultural differences of our
neighbour is also a country that is concerned about human rights,
is concerned about justice and is concerned to ensure the fair treatment
and decent future for the people of East Timor.
But, ladies and gentlemen, it's always a special privilege for
a Prime Minister to come to regional Australia, to talk to people,
to listen to them, I hope in a small way to encourage them and, most
importantly, as Barry has done on behalf of the broader community
to express my thanks and my respect for all of those people who work
in such a tireless, unselfish and open hearted way to help those who
need assistance and to make our community work more effectively.
There are many things that make up the matrix of Australian values
and one of those things is our great spirit of volunteerism. And you
find volunteerism and a willingness to help each other, some even
call it mateship, in rural and regional Australia to an even more
pronounced and marked degree than you'd find in other parts of
Australia. And the willingness of everybody to dig in and help and
work together, particularly in adversity, is an instinctive Australian
characteristic. And we really do do it better than any other country
in the world, and it's one of those precious Australian assets
that we must always hang onto and we must always work very hard to
preserve.
Now, as you are aware, the Federal Government out of the Federation
Fund, which is a one billion dollar fund designed to support projects
that will in part honour one hundred years of the Australian nation
and also contribute valuably to the infrastructure of this country,
out of that we have contributed the sum of some five million dollars
for the marvellous enterprise for which Mr Manners is principally
responsible. And the Hall of Fame that will quite rightly and properly
honour the contribution of the mining industry of Australia to this
nation. The mining industry is an integral part of the Australian
economy. The contribution of the mining industry to the wealth of
this country is incalculable. And it will always be part of the policies
of my government and the policies of Coalition Governments generally
at a State and Federal level, to support and to help and to promote
and to defend the mining industry of this country. And that applies
in relation to a whole range of things, many of which have been under
debate recently and continue to be under debate, matters relating
to Native Title and a resolution of that issue is important to the
people of this district because while ever there is uncertainty surrounding
investment there will be less investment. As surely as night follows
day if you have uncertainty about an industry you will get less investment.
And the sooner that that is resolved the better it will be for the
people of Western Australia, for the people of this district and for
the people of the Australian community generally. And it's been
the desire of my Government, and I believe that last year we worked
out an honourable compromise which was fair to the mining industry,
fair to the farmers, fair to the Indigenous people and fair to the
generality of the Australian community. And the translation of that
outcome here in Western Australia is being held up at the moment.
And because it's being held up the mining industry is suffering
and the community is suffering. It ought to be fixed and it ought
to be fixed quickly. Because while it remains held up all of those
groups, the Indigenous groups, the mining industry and the farming
interests of this country which is so very important and the general
community are suffering.
But, ladies and gentlemen, can I say to Barry, who's been in
a short period of six months an extremely energetic representative
of this vast community and this vast and vast electorate of Kalgoorlie
and he is working very hard in Canberra for you. He's certainly
persistent and that's what you want and that's what a community
like this is entitled to have, you're entitled to have somebody
who will speak up for the particular problems and challenges of a
community such as this. I thank Barry very warmly for having me here
today, it's a delight to be amongst you, I wish you well and
to all of you thank you most warmly for the contribution that you
are making to this magnificent community.
Thank you.