E&OE……………………………………………………………………………………
Well thank you very much John. It’s nice of somebody to describe me as a big politician! Can I say to you John and to Julia, and to my many other ministerial and parliamentary colleagues who are here tonight, that this summit and in particular this dinner which is the main social gathering of the summit, is the culmination of an enormous amount of effort to which my very respected and valued Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the National Party, John Anderson, has been principally responsible.
We are very genuine about this summit, and we are very genuine about the concerns and the challenges, and in some areas the threat to the very existence and the very type of life for which our fellow Australians in rural and regional Australia in the Australian bush face. We decided to have this summit not because we believe that it could provide all of the solutions to your challenges. But we saw it as a vehicle for transmitting to you our understanding of signaling to the men and women of Australia who live in the regions that we do understand that life is different. In some areas it is as good or better than it’s been in the past but in many areas it’s not. And that at a time of relative national economic plenty, and relative national economic affluence, the fact that many parts of our community in the regions in particular are doing it harder that that relative disadvantage has understandably bred a feeling of alienation, in some cases a feeling of despair.
We also decided to have the summit because we saw in it a vehicle of optimism and a vehicle of hope. In my political experience I’ve seen three types of summits. I’ve seen summits that are created when there’s really no other way out of a difficult question on talkback radio during an election campaign then to say I’ll solve that problem by holding a summit. I’ve seen summits created where the deal to be announced, the result to be produced has been sewn up well in advance. The other summit of which this is one is a genuine opportunity for the government and the ministers and the members of parliament to listen, to offer some responses, to contribute some ideas, but above all to demonstrate a willingness through personal exchange and structured discussions, to demonstrate an empathy and a sympathy and a concern, and a desire to work in partnership to try and solve some of the problems of a particular part of our community.
Now you’ve heard it said before but it is an important backdrop to this gathering. But at a national level the Australian economy has rarely been stronger, in fact probably stronger than at any time in the last 30 years. Certainly the strongest I’ve known in the 25 years that I’ve been in public life. We’ve successfully stared down the Asian economic downturn. We’ve done better over the last year than frankly I would have said a year ago we were going to do if I had addressed a similar gathering.
We have undertaken a number of major reform challenges. We have seen the successful implementation of some very fundamental changes in our industrial relations system. And the longer and more reflective history of the last few years will I believe in future record that the changes made in industrial relations have contributed a lot more to the higher productivity and the economic strength in this country than is now commonly acknowledged. And I still believe that the contribution that will be made in time by those courageous waterfront reforms that were undertaken more than a year ago now, are part of that pattern.
We’ve also successfully negotiated through the Parliament the biggest change to our taxation system, probably ever, and that contains major benefits for regional and rural Australia, particularly in the area of cheaper fuel. And the reduction in the cost of exports as a result of the abolition of the wholesale sales tax and its replacement with a goods and services tax will also be of direct benefit to rural and regional exporters.
So we’ve been busy and the backdrop of the last three-and-a-half years have been one of a generically strengthening economy, out-performing the best predictions. But nonetheless side by side with that the unfortunate reality that other parts of our nation, particular parts of our nation have not shared in that bounty and that plenty. One of the things that as an Australian who grew up to believe that this was the most egalitarian society in the world, who still remembers his first meeting as Treasurer with Alan Greenspan before Alan became the Chairman to the Federal Reserve some 20 years ago. And I met him when I was Federal Treasurer. And he said – "oh of course Mr Treasurer, you come from Australia. That country has the largest middle class in the world".
And it made a point that was important to the Australia of the 1940s, 1950s and the 1960s, that we all felt more or less a sense of general equality. There was some pretty wealthy people, there were some people who were struggling. But most of us seemed to be in the middle. And that was one of the comforting, endearing, attractive things about been an Australian. And that state has been put under stress and strain over the last 20 years. There are greater gaps in our community now through a combination of reasons, and it’s not my purpose tonight to give an economic dissertation on that. But when your country is doing well generally and doing well at a national level, those who are missing out or not doing as well feel it all the more keenly, and that is very understandable. And I want you to know that as Prime Minister I’m very sensitive to that. And I know that there are long-term structural changes that are occurring over which none of us can exercise control, such as some of the long-term declines in commodity prices and the long-term structured changes in market opportunities for primary production for many of the exporters in our rural sectors.
But I also know as I go around our country that there remains tremendous spirit and tremendous commitment and tremendous hope in the Australian bush. I can’t imagine our country without the contribution that’s been made to its very fabric and essence by rural and regional Australia. It is unimaginable to me and unimaginable to millions of Australians that what we treasure, as a very important part of our Australian heritage should ever lose its very special place within our society. So that is the mindset, that’s, if you like, the sensitivity that we bring to the problems we know that you are facing. Now we haven’t pretended at this summit that we have all of the solutions, and I don’t think any of you expect that we have. We haven’t tried to pretend that out of this we’re going to announce a grand plan that’s going to solve the problems. But out of it we will have learnt a lot more, we will have come to a better understanding of areas where we can make a difference and where we can make a contribution.
We all know the value of having a strong national economic base. All of you know the value of the lower interest rates that we’ve had over the last few years. You know the benefits of the lower inflation, you know the benefits of the fewer industrial disputes. And you also know the benefits of some of the spending that has come out of the National Heritage Trust and tomorrow I’ll be announcing the first of our regional transaction centres, made possible as a result of the sale of the second tranche of the government’s interest in Telstra.
We value very much as a government the notion of what I’ve described as the social coalition. That is something that recognises that in a country such as Australia the government can’t solve every problem. The business community can make a massive contribution but it acting alone can’t solve every problem. Nor can individuals, nor can the great welfare organisations, many of which are represented here tonight, acting alone can they solve those problems. But acting together in coalition or in partnerships we can solve many of the nation’s problems together.
But an excellent example of what I have called the social coalition in our community was the model proposed by the Sidney Myer Fund to assist regional communities in reaching their full potential. The Myer Fund first approached John Anderson with this concept and he immediately saw its worth and became a strong advocate of it within the government. With an emphasis on economic development and job creation the foundation could fulfill its role through innovative approaches to training and business skills, mentoring, seed funding and coordinating with other entities to maximise support. We were very attracted to the proposal. We discussed it a few days ago and I’m pleased to announce that the Government will support the Sidney Myer Fund with a commitment of $14.5 million in direct funding to support its good works in regional Australia. $10.7 million of this will be paid this financial year to provide the impetus needed, and it will build on the $1 million to be provided by the Sidney Myer Fund. We will also grant, give tax-deductible status for private sector contributions to the foundation. This provides a very strong incentive for the private sector to become partners in this foundation to promote new opportunities in regional Australia. And I very strongly commend this initiative to Australia’s private sector and invite them to strongly support the fund.
I did want to say one or two other things and the first of those is about competition policy. I know that competition policy has been much debated in rural and regional Australia. I want to tell you that the Government is sensitive to some of the concerns that have been expressed. We understand them. We see competition policy as serving the interests of the bush, not as some kind of ideology to be imposed on regional Australia. And we are and will remain particularly aware of this. But it is important in the name of a fair understanding of what competition policy has done in our community to remember that for an exporting country like Australia competitive costs are crucial, and the greater competition has yielded benefits such as real gas prices falling by 22%, national rail crates falling by 16% in real terms, STD phone calls falling 25% and more competitive and efficient ports and waterfronts. All of these cost reductions brought about as a result of greater competition within our economy are valuable, and all of them reinforce the economic infrastructure of rural Australia, and make a potential contribution to its prosperity.
The other area I want to touch on is the importance of infrastructure within the Australian community. I think all of us recognise that a geographically large nation such as Australia badly needs the continued appraisal, and where necessary the renewal of its infrastructure. It is a legitimate role of government to provide not only the general economic conditions that bring forth optimum private sector responses, but also to provide and support the provision of basic infrastructure within our community. And we have demonstrated that in recent times in a variety of ways.
One of those has been in the area of rail. And many of the reforms undertaken by this
Government reinforce the current rail provision within our community. And the extension of the diesel concessions, the diesel used in rail, in the negotiations undertaken between us and the Australian Democrats, have made a further contribution to the competitiveness of rail within our community.
We have been for a long time a very strong supporter of modern cost competitive rail networks within our community. And it’s in that context and against the background of our commitment to the provision of proper infrastructure within regional Australia that this afternoon as it happens I saw the Premier of South Australia Mr Olsen and the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Mr Burke. And we discussed something that has been on the drawing boards of regional Australia for decades and that is the construction of the Alice Springs to Darwin railway. Seen for decades by nation builders as a very very important part of the infrastructure of the future of the Australian community. And I’m therefore very pleased to announce at this regional Australian summit, that that project is finally to become a reality next year.
It will give us a railway of course that goes from the south to the north of Australia, from the Southern Ocean to the Timor Sea. Over three years the Commonwealth will cap its contribution at $165 million. Under the agreement reached today all three governments will increase their contribution. The railway will be built with $480 million in government contributions, with $165 million coming from the Commonwealth government and the remainder coming from the governments of South Australia and the Northern Territory.
There will be $750 million contributed in private capital. The construction will take three years. It will provide jobs for 7,000 Australians in the regional parts of our nation. It will provide in particular an enormous economic boost to the city of Whyalla. And it will I believe give hope and encouragement, as well as real economic commitment, to both South Australia and the Northern Territory. But more importantly than the direct economic and employment benefits, the construction will demonstrate to all Australians the importance that the community, the government, places upon infrastructure development within regional Australia.
Through all its existence this country has always believed in large projects in the importance of infrastructure development. I had, I would have to say, one of the most moving weekends of my Prime Ministership recently when Janette and I spent most of the weekend helping those wonderful people who contributed to the project in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the commencement of the construction of the Snowy River Scheme. To walk amongst them, and to listen to their stories, but most importantly to hear the pride with which they spoke of that great nation building enterprise was a very encouraging, indeed uplifting and quite emotional experience.
That particular project of course the most remarkable engineering feat in all of Australia’s history, indeed one of the great engineering feats of the post World War II period. But it touched a nerve, it touched something within the sole of our country. It has something to do with the size of our nation, it has something to do with the belief that we must always look for ways to assimilate the size of our country with the uneven spread of its population. And that those of us who live in the concentrated urban areas must constantly understand the importance and the challenges of distance in the more remote areas. And one of the great dilemmas and contradictions of Australia has always been that it is a vast nation, and it has a rural sector that makes a massive economic contribution, yet it is amongst the most urbanised societies in the world. And perhaps that contradiction and the understanding of it goes some way towards explaining the importance that Australians have always attached to large infrastructure projects.
I have long hoped that it might be possible for the Darwin to Alice Springs railway to come to fruition because I believe it represents the sort of investment in the future of this country, the development of its less populated areas, an understanding of the importance that the contribution that a railway like that can make to the export potential of the Australian nation. And we have been reminded in recent weeks of the critical importance of Darwin being so far as its geographical proximity to our near neighbours is concerned.
So I couldn’t be more delighted ladies and gentlemen to have the opportunity at this summit tonight to make those two announcements. I want to thank Baillieu Myer in particular for the leadership and commitment he’s given to the rural partnerships. I think they are a marvelous demonstration of the philanthropic tradition of so many businesses within the Australian community. And I encourage other businesses represented here tonight to contribute to and support that fund. And I hope that our announcement and the commitment of the Commonwealth government, the commitment of the governments of South Australia and the Northern Territory to the Darwin to Alice Springs railway will be seen as a long term commitment to the future of regional Australia. It will be seen as the government of Australia saying to regional Australia you are part of our community. We understand that you are resourceful independent spirited people, but we also understand that from time to time you need a commitment and an investment from your fellow Australians.
Can I say finally to all of you, I think this has been a great concept this summit. I congratulate John for the tremendous leadership that he’s displayed in bringing it together. Speaking as Prime Minister can I say to all of you who live in regional Australia, the bush as I more commonly call it – perhaps inaccurately but very affectionately – can I say that we do understand that you have problems, that many of you have been hurt economically and socially by bewildering change. We don’t pretend to have all of the solutions but we do understand, we do care. We try to listen and in a practical way we’ll do what we can to help you. Thank you.
[ends]