E&OE....................
SUBJECTS: Australian economy, communication services, banks, health services,
education facilities, Centenary of Federation.
Mr Chairman, Kay and Bill, ladies and gentlemen.
This is a great occasion for me. I can't think of anything more quintessentially
Australian than to be addressing a gathering in a World War I memorial hall
of people who are the backbone of the Australian bush. It started to rain
after a long period of drought and quite properly the Federal Government
accepts all due praise for that. And the odd flaw in the roofing arrangements
have been exposed but so what. What a delightful way to discover you've
got a leaking roof.
I gather the rain has been very welcome and, of course, it's a reminder
to those Australians like myself who have grown up in the cities of just
how difficult and how precarious and how challenging life in the bush can
really be.
I have followed a deliberate policy as Prime Minister of going on regular
visits to the smaller population centres of the country. It's terribly easy
in this place and this country if you don't live in one of the big cities
it's terribly easy to think that the people who are elected at the time
of Parliament only worry about the big smoke and they ignore the rest of
the country. And I can understand why people feel that way. And on occasions
they have had reasons to feel that way. And I have been extremely conscious
of that and I have set out from day one not to allow that to happen. And
I have meticulously ensured that there's always a fair amount of space in
my calendar for visits of this kind.
And I know that this is a particularly difficult part of the country because
it's gone through long periods with very, very low rainfall and Bill is
right I am constantly reminded of it. We talk regularly, very regularly
and it is always, sort of, starts with [inaudible]. He never misses. And
he does it so very well and I say 'well you had some in Junee' and he says
'oh yeah, that was about three years ago'. [Inaudible] I mean, I was musing
a few minutes ago that if the rains keeps coming and you can persuade the
Russian army to start buying great coats again and a few of those other
things that are needed to provide some extra boost to the wool industry
it would be terrific.
Now, we have tried as a Government to create better economic circumstances
for the whole country and we have. And I am very proud of the fact that
nationally the Australian economy is very strong and the country is in good
shape. But the paradox of all of that is that side by side with the national
prosperity you have a lot of areas of the country that are not fully sharing
that through no fault of their own. And parts of the bush are very much
in that. It's not their fault, it's not your fault. You can't control commodity
prices, you can't control the weather, you can't control the vagaries of
people's purchasing habits.
But we as a Government can make sure that your interest rates are lower
and they are a lot lower now than they used to be. I know you would like
to see them even lower. We can bring in a taxation system which will start
next year that will make diesel fuel cheaper and that's important for the
bush and will take a lot off costs of exports and that's very important
to the bush as well. We can have other measures that provide particular
assistance. And I'd have to say that I was very impressed with Claughton
House that I visited and I know how important that kind of facility is to
the people who live in rural Australia. We take for granted in the city
that you just turn up to the local school at no cost and present yourself
and that's it and then you come home after school's out in the afternoon.
A different world here and I understand that and I know how important facilities
of that kind are to you people.
So today is very much a listening and visiting exercise that I hope the
fact that I have come, I hope the fact that I have brought with me my two
parliamentary colleagues both of whom are doing a terrific job representing
your interests in Canberra. And Kay is a new member and I commend her very
warmly to you. She is a great, a very energetic member. And she is the member
for Riverina I think. I was about to say Eden-Monaro and then I looked [inaudible].
And she is very energetic and that is very important. And she represents
a very diverse electorate and it's not easy representing a big diverse electorate.
And, of course, Bill is an old mate of mine as you all know and he is doing
an absolutely fantastic job representing the entire State and bringing a
particular rural perspective.
So you are in no way forgotten, you loom very large and very importantly
in our concerns. The Australian bush is part and parcel of the Australian
story and the Australian achievement. Without the bush Australia wouldn't
be recognisable as the country that I grew up in and love so very much.
So that's why it's very important not only economically and socially but
also as far as preserving our national [inaudible]. It's so tremendously
important to make sure that your concerns are fully understood and fully
responded to.
Your hospitality here at Booligal as well as the hospitality that I have
received in Hay has been absolutely marvellous and, of course, country people
are renowned for their kindness and their hospitality.
It's very important, the chairman mentioned and mobile phones, it is very
important that as the benefits of information technology flow through they
flow to the entire community and not just the people who live in the big
population centres. And one of the things that we are endeavouring to do
through the progressive sale of bits of Telstra is to make certain that
out of the proceeds of those sales we will provide additional communication
services to people who live in country Australia. Provide them with better
quality mobile phone services or some mobile phone services in those areas,
and this is apparently one of them, where they don't exist. And that's an
important priority of ours. Provide people with faster access to the Internet.
Provide people with regional transaction centres and we are going to start
opening those in different parts of rural Australia over the next few months.
Which aggregate under one roof some basic services that have disappeared
from country towns.
I was asked earlier what I thought was the attitude of the banks towards
closing their country networks. I have to say to you that the banks of Australia
are a lot more sensitive and conscious now of the backlash in the bush about
closure of banks than was the case two or three years ago. I think people
in rural Australia have done a very good job of driving that point home
and can I say on your behalf we've also done a job of doing exactly the
same thing.
I speak to the chief executives of the major banks and the chairmen of major
banks from time to time and on no occasion do I miss an opportunity, appropriately
not overbearingly but appropriately, of reminding them of just how important
it is to the character of our country to preserve essential services in
the bush.
I also know how important doctors are in a small community and I know how
hard it is to get them. Michael Wooldridge and John Anderson went on a rural
tour a few months ago and listened to the concern people had about the lack
of medical services and the lack of doctors in the bush. And I think we
have started to lay the foundations through a number of proposals to turn
that situation around over a period of years. It wont' be easy but I think
we've had a bit of a breakthrough in a number of areas and we are going
to start to see an improvement.
I am also conscious of the difficulties of maintaining education facilities
and you told me of the fact that the school in this district is slated for
closure. And as you rightly mention, Mr Chairman, that is not a direct responsibility
of the Federal Government but that doesn't mean to say we are insensitive
to those sorts of things. We can't guarantee, no government State, federal,
Liberal, Labor, of any political complexion, can guarantee every service
that every person wants in every community in Australia. And I think country
people are entitled to say that things have gone far enough in relation
to many of their basic services and they are entitled to say we want the
drift arrested and we want it turned around and we want [inaudible] in a
number of areas. And we are endeavouring to do that and endeavouring to
respond to it in different ways some of which I have touched on today.
So I hope you can see my visit as that of a Prime Minister who cares about
the Australian bush and the people who live in it. As somebody who hopes
by his presence to engage you and listen to you, to respond to your concerns
where you can and where you can't to say so quite openly. And above all
to remind people all around this country that as we come to celebrate 100
years of federation we have a colossal Australian achievement to be very
proud of. And that the people of rural Australia have made a massive contribution
to how we think of ourselves as Australians and how the rest of the world
sees us as Australians. And that is a very, very important thing for me
as I know it is for both of my colleagues. Thank you very much indeed for
your hospitality, it really has been very nice to be amongst you.
[ends]