E&OE....................
Thank you very much Kevin. To your wife, Margie, to Mr Tom Sweeney, my State
parliamentary colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.
When you started saying that there were similarities between myself and
the founder of our Party, whose name has been given to this electorate,
I allowed my mind to wander for a moment and I thought, well, is he going
to, sort of, draw some sporting analogies. Because I was sitting next to
a former Wallaby I thought to myself, well, to use a rugby analogy I think
the founder would have got into the second row but I am probably 5/8th
or halfback in terms of physical bulk.
But, ladies and gentlemen, it's a great pleasure to be with you tonight
and it's a pleasure to reflect very briefly before I have some other things
to say about contemporary politics, to reflect very briefly about some of
the things that were in that quite remarkable video. We were all struck
by the incredible capacity of Sir Robert with his home movies and that remarkable
footage of war torn Coventry. I remember when it was shown eight or nine
years ago how incredibly impressive it was.
Of course the old gentleman, he was fairly old then, the late Sir John Kramer
who was Army Minister in the Menzies Government was my predecessor in the
seat of Bennelong. He held it between 1949 and 1974 when he retired at the
age of 78 and I took over the seat from him. And he lived to the age of
97 and he towards the end of his life he wrote a memoir about his own political
experiences and he invited me to launch it. And I well remember the occasion.
And I read it in preparation for the launch and there was the odd chapter
here and there that presented a slightly different version of the foundation
of the Liberal Party than the one that I'd been brought up on. And I said
to John when I was watching, I said "this is very interesting",
I said "I thought it occurred in a slightly different fashion but you
seem to have rearranged it a little bit." And he said "My boy,
when you reach my age there's nobody left around to contradict you."
And I was reminded of him. But what was tremendously evocative about what
he said on that video was the emphasis that he placed on the importance
of the individual in our Party. And one of the things that we have always
respected is the fact that as a political movement we do allow our membership
on some issues to be a lot more pluralistic than do our political opponents.
And I think that's a good thing.
And that is why I am not going to, as some of our friends from the media
might expect, I am not going to say anything tonight about the debate which
is going to be resolved on the 6th of November in relation to
our Constitution. Although I will say something in support of a "yes"
vote for the preamble because we have a Government position on that. But
in relation to the other issue I respect the fact that we are allowing a
free vote within the Liberal Party on that issue as we should because of
the special character of it. And part and parcel of respecting that free
vote is that I choose not to use Liberal Party forums to put my own personal
point of view. And it's one of the arrangements that we have entered into
within our parliamentary party for the conduct of the issue.
But it is a great pleasure for me to be in Kevin's electorate. And it's
with great ease and enthusiasm that I commend him to you as a remarkable,
hardworking, articulate and very effective local member. And I commend him
to you as a person of great personal integrity and conscience and dedication.
It is important that we have people in public life who feel very strongly
about certain issues. You may not agree with them on those issues but it's
very important that we have people who still believe in causes and issues
as well as making sure that the continuity of the party's broad philosophy
is continued.
We have a remarkable opportunity in the Liberal Party at present at a national
level to, if we are sensible, to secure more reforms and more beneficial
changes and to really guide this nation of ours into the 21st
Century.
Economically Australia now, in my view, is stronger than it has been at
any time since World War II. In many respects the economy's strength is
more broadly based now than what it even was in the halcyon days of the
Menzies period, strong though the Australian economy was then. Because the
Australian economy now is a lot less protected. There is less artificiality
about some of its strength now than was the case 30 years ago. We have fewer
trade barriers. We have a less regulated economy. We are exporting a greater
variety of products and services and we have tackled over the last few years
some of the basic economic weaknesses that we had. And as a consequence
we have given ourselves the remarkable situation where we have been able
to stare down the worst economic downturn that the Asian-Pacific region
has experienced since World War II.
And if I'd have been talking to you a little over a year ago I would have
said that although I thought the economy was going well and we had achieved
a lot I felt that we were going to be in some way affected by the Asian
economic downturn. And whilst we haven't been completely unscathed by it
we have really achieved a continuing strength that has surprised the Government
and it has certainly surprised all of the commentators and it has won us
a great deal of national economic respect around the world.
I don't want to bore you with statistics but we do have a rate of growth
at present which is above the OECD average. We have a still very low level
of inflation, a bit of a spike today due to the increase in the price of
petrol as a result of the increase in the world price which has now begun
to abate. But the underlying rate is still very low indeed. And we are enjoying
the lowest interest rates for more than 30 years. And we have turned a $10.5
billion budget deficit into a surplus.
We have had a few things come along that we didn't expect including, of
course, the additional defence commitment arising out of our activity in
East Timor and I'll come to that in a moment. But we do have a great economic
strength that has won us a lot of respect. And it's not come by accident
it has come as a result of a lot of hard work in the three and a bit years
that we have been in office. And you make your own luck in politics as in
life. And we worked very hard to give Australia that economic strength and
I hope its paid dividends in terms of better business conditions and a more
benign and beckoning economic climate.
So we do have an opportunity in the years ahead to leave a very decent legacy
for the Australian people of this generation of Australian Liberals. But
having in that sense, I suppose, tried to draw a bit of an analogy with
the Menzies years I think I have to say to you that the world in which we
now live is very different from the world in which Menzies reigned as Prime
Minister. The political climate is a lot more volatile, it's unpredictable.
I don't need to remind a Victorian Liberal audience of that. Very unpredictable.
And the very disappointing and regrettable defeat of the Coalition Government
here in Victoria is a sharp reminder to all of us of how unpredictable is
the political world.
We live in a political world that is less tribal than it used to be. Looking
at that old footage you were reminded of the old divide that was created
by the Cold War between the democratic west and the communist east. And
that defined not only international politics but it also to a large extent
defined domestic politics. That's gone. As a result you no longer have as
many rusted on supporters of the two sides.
I was brought up in politics to believe that 40 per cent of the community
always voted Labor, 40 per cent always voted Liberal and the rest moved
around in the middle. I now feel that it's down to 30 per cent voting Labor,
30 per cent always voting Liberal with 40 per cent moving around in the
middle. And elections are less predictable. You have to look at each election
in its own right as a separate entity. You can't assume anything so much
any more. And that means that electorates have to be constantly understood,
listened to, sympathised with, interpreted and above all respected.
Electorates are not automatically dazzled by everything that you regard
yourself as having achieved. Electorates can appear on occasions to be ungrateful.
We saw a man on the movie again tonight by the name of Churchill who thought
he'd done a bit in winning a war and lost an election immediately the war
was over in 1945. Probably the most spectacular example of the unpredictability
of politics in the 20th Century.
The message therefore out of all of that is that you can't as Liberals ever,
or we can't as Liberals ever take anything for granted. You have to work
everyday to understand and win the respect and the sympathy and support
of the electorate. Electorates expect governments to do good things for
them, that's what they elect them for. You don't get the same measure of
gratitude for the good things you have done as you do their anger and disappointment
for the things that you neglect to do and the mistakes that you make.
I think over the last three and a half years we have given very good Government
to the Australian people. But we have got to keep on doing that and we have
got to understand as Liberals that they expect us to keep on doing it.
Kevin was kind enough to mention my role in relation to what has happened
in East Timor. That has been a very defining moment for Australia on the
international stage. The peacekeeping operation that was assembled in East
Timor was assembled with a speed which surpassed any other peacekeeping
operation in living memory assembled under the auspices of the United Nations.
And in leading the activity that led to the establishment of that peacekeeping
operation Australia was taking a very important stand for not only what
was right but also for what was in Australia's national interest. And the
skill and the professionalism of the men and women of the Australian Defence
Force has been quite remarkable and has very understandably won the respect
and the admiration of our allies and others around the world.
We have unavoidably entered a difficult phase in our relationship with Indonesia.
But I believe that that relationship can and will be rebuilt and there are
already signs to that effect following the election of the new President
and the new Vice-President of that country. And we should pause for a moment
and reflect on what an extraordinary transformation has occurred in that
nation of 211 million people. It is now the third largest democracy in the
world. And over the last year it has gone through the process of converting
itself into a democracy, the first democratically elected President in over
30 years, it has accepted that East Timor is no longer part of the Republic
of Indonesia. And all of this has occurred in this remarkable country to
our north.
Now, we have our differences and clearly the role we played in relation
to East Timor represented a point of difference and a point of strain. But
in the long run we have to accept that we are forever together in this part
of the world and on a basis, a proper basis of mutual respect and understanding
I am sure that we can rebuild that relationship and it will continue, I
think, on a more practical, realistic and open and candid basis than perhaps
has been the situation in the past.
And it will also be important that the new nation of East Timor be part
of that association because whatever the difficulties there may have been
in the past and now and whatever the feelings are between the people of
East Timor and the people of Indonesia it's very necessary that they also
recognise that they have a common future together and a common destiny together.
And the three of us, different sizes, different compositions, different
cultures, different backgrounds but having in common the fact that we exist
and will always exist together in this particular part of the world.
But what Australia was able to do in relation to the events in East Timor
have been very much to the credit and the reputation of our nation. Not
something that one talks about in any boastful terms but realistically and
soberly saying that we are a community that has been willing to take a leadership
role, a community that has been willing sensibly and carefully to defend
what is right and what is in our own long-term interests. But also importantly
a country that had the national political will and the economic capacity
to do it. Economically strong nations are listened to with greater respect
than economically weak nations and economically strong nations have a capacity
to do things that economically weak nations don't have a capacity to do.
And there's a message in that for all of us coming out of what we have been
able to achieve in strengthening the Australian economy over the last three
and half years.
Now, I mentioned, ladies and gentlemen, that I would have something very
briefly to say about the second referendum question and that is the writing
into our Constitution of a new preamble. It hasn't received a great deal
of attention and it's Government policy to advocate a "yes" vote
for that particular question. I would like to see that preamble supported.
I would like to see it go into the Constitution. I think it would be a unifying
thing for the Australian people if the community, irrespective of the different
views it may have on the question of whether we change our other Constitutional
arrangement. I think it would be a very unifying thing if we could put into
our Constitution a statement of the fundamental beliefs and values of the
Australian community. And particularly the reference in that preamble to
the indigenous people would make a valuable contribution to the cause of
reconciliation within the Australian community.
We will inevitably continue to have a variety of views about how best to
assist the indigenous people of the Australian community but it cannot be
denied that as an identifiable group they remain the most disadvantaged
within our society. Nor can it be denied that they have a special place
within the Australian community as the first people of our nation. And it
would make a marvellous unifying symbolic contribution to their place in
the Australian community and the celebration of the Centenary of the Federation
of the Australian Commonwealth if that preamble could be carried and that
preamble could be inserted into the Australian Constitution.
So I quite unapologetically at this gathering invite you to give your sympathetic
support to the cause of an affirmative vote in relation to the preamble.
And can I finish, ladies and gentlemen, in saying how important it is that
gatherings like this occur that people gather around to provide significant
financial and community support for members of Parliament. All of you in
different ways are identified with the Liberal Party cause at a grass roots
level here in the electorate of Menzies.
I often say that everything that I have achieved in public life I owe to
the Liberal Party. I would never have been a member of Parliament without
the endorsement of the Liberal Party. I would never have been its Leader
without its support. I would never have been Prime Minister without the
support of the Liberal Party. And in the time that I have been Prime Minister
I have received the most magnificent loyalty from the rank and file members
of the Liberal Party all around Australia whether it's in New South Wales
or Victoria or Western Australia it's the same.
Liberals are wonderfully supportive. I want you to know that I value that
and I understand it. And I respect immensely the contribution that the rank
and file of the party make to our existence. I came through the party organisation
myself. I know how important it is to have a strong party organisation.
A party organisation that supports the parliamentary party and gives it
public loyalty but a party organisation that also has the capacity on occasions
to say to the parliamentary party, we think you should do this particular
thing in a slightly different fashion and to assert its role and its right
and its prerogative and its authority in relation to those matters that
properly belong to the party organisation.
Now, I know that here in Victoria because of the defeat at a State level
there is a process of stocktaking and introspection and review and assessment
going on. And that is right and proper. I have always found within the party
organisation amongst Liberals around Australia that where there is a willingness
to do that then lessons are learnt, understandings are gained. And here
in Victoria is no different in a sense from the process of introspection
at a State level that has been going on in New South Wales since the defeat
at a State level in New South Wales some months ago.
We have a big challenge ahead of us over the next two years before the next
federal election. We can't take that election for granted. I don't. It will
be a very big challenge. We'll be asking for a third victory in a row. That
is very achievable but it's not something we can assume is going to happen.
And given the sort of climate of which I spoke earlier it will be something
that we, all of us, collectively must ensure is not taken lightly. But if
we continue to give quality Government to the people of Australia, if we
continue to demonstrate a capacity to listen to them, to understand that
there is within rural Australia a very significant feeling of alienation
and disappointment that sections of our country are falling behind the generic
plenty and prosperity of other parts of our community then I think we will
retain and build upon the respect we now have within the Australian community.
But none of us, and it didn't really need the result in the Victorian election
although it's driven it home to us, none of us can ignore the fact that
there are many parts of the Australian community that aren't sharing in
the national economic well-being. We are doing very well as a nation but
there are still pockets of Australia that are not sharing in that. And I
think we all know it's human nature that if you feel that in relative terms
you are missing out in a big way you feel a lot more keenly than if your
disadvantage is, relatively speaking, not quite so profound.
So we do have tremendous challenges in front of us but it's important that
we remember some of the things that we saw on that video tonight. The emphasis
on the individual, the emphasis on the family, the emphasis on a sense of
community and a reminder that the Liberal Party of Australia was built on
commonsense Australian values. Values that do respect the individual liberty
that do respect the right of people to work hard and be properly rewarded
and to keep the fruits of their effort and their commitment and their skill.
And I think you have in Kevin a marvellous representative of that philosophy
and that's why I am delighted to be here tonight. Delighted to commend him
most warmly to you and delighted to congratulate those who put together
the 200 Club. I wish it well, it'll make a magnificent contribution to the
Liberal cause here in the nobly named seat of Menzies. Thank you.
[ends]