Subjects: welfare reform; tax reform; employment; achievements of the Howard Government; South Australian Coalition Members
E&OE..................
Thank you John for those very warm words of welcome. Can I join everybody else in wishing happy birthday to Mrs Olsen senior. It';s a wonderful milestone in one';s life and we';re all delighted to share this special occasion with you.
I';d also like to congratulate Rosemary Craddock on her election as the new President of the South Australian Division. The organisational leadership of the party around the country is very important to us in the Federal Parliamentary Party and I know that I and my Federal colleagues will work very closely with her and the South Australian Executive.
And can I also take the opportunity of recording my gratitude to you Cory for the leadership that you've given to the organisation here. I';ve particularly enjoyed the time that we have worked together. You have put a lot of effort into building the organisation here in South Australia and I know that you finish your term as President of the Party here with the very good wishes of all of the members of the rank and file of the Parliamentary Party.
I haven't brought along a PowerPoint presentation. I haven't. And I intended instead to say something about tax reform and particularly something about the predictions that have been made about tax reform by Mr Beazley and the Labor Party. And I was thinking to myself that if I had brought along a PowerPoint presentation. If I had brought along some slides and graphs and I was talking about Mr Beazley';s predictions what would I have had? Well I would have started with a huge dark cloud. Then I would have moved on to a representation of Dante';s Inferno because he said it was going to be hell. It was going to be hell from the 1st of July. Then of course I';d have probably had a representation of Jurassic Park because that was one of the other predictions that he made and I would have ended it up with a representation of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse.
Because he predicted that there would be pestilence and famine and disaster and poverty and disease and all the other things that were going to sweep across Australia with the introduction of the new taxation system. And when I look back on the time that has gone by since I last addressed this State Council and I think of the things that have happened on the national political stage none has more lasting significance than the damage done by the Labor Party leader to himself, and his own credibility. Not by something that we have done but by something he himself did you his own hand.
To predict something that was so outrageous and exaggerated and so preposterous as he did in relation to tax reform and worst still to hope and pray that it was going to happen because he thought it would be to his political advantage and to see that not realised and to see the Australian community embrace tax reform - take to it; warm to it; realise its benefits and to see all the prognostications of doom and disaster fall in a heap has done enormous damaged to the credibility of the leader of the Opposition and to the Australian Labor Party.
And I don';t believe the Australian people will forget that and I don';t believe that we should allow the Australian people to forget the irresponsible predictions made by Labor about tax reform. The extent to which they talk down the capacity of the Australian people to embrace an important reform. It is one of the worst examples of political negativism that I have seen in the 26 years that I have been in public life. And they deserve the criticism and the censure of the people of Australia.
As I look back over the last year we have achieved an enormous amount. On the international stage and I particularly acknowledge the contribution that Alexander Downer has made as Foreign Minister over the last four and a half years. On the international stage it was Australian leadership that liberated the people of East Timor. Australian leadership and Australian initiative.
And it is very much to the international credit of this country that we took the stand that we did and it';s a stand that has been vindicated by the events that have followed and will continue to be seen as very much the high water mark of this country';s determination to stand up for fundamental human rights when they are under threat.
We have seen a continued fall in the level of unemployment. Of all of the promises I made in 1996 none was more important than the promise I made to try and reduce unemployment and particularly youth unemployment. And I can report four and a half years on that that promise has been fulfilled. We now have 810,000 more jobs in Australia than in March of 1996. We have the lowest level of overall unemployment in ten years. We have the lowest level of female unemployment in almost 20 years. We have areas of Australia that for decades had double digit unemployment, now have levels of unemployment below the national average.
Blacktown in the western suburbs of Sydney now has an unemployment rate of 4.3 per cent, which is below the national average. And as you go around the country you can find areas where historically unemployment was very high and it';s now down to levels that we have seen since the late 1960s or early 1970s.
Now that doesn';t mean there';s still not challenges ahead and there is still areas of South Australia and there are areas of Australia where the level of unemployment is still too high but we have delivered the commitments. We';ve kept the faith; we';ve done what we said we would do in relation to unemployment.
We';ve continued to protect the integrity of the budget surplus. We have continued to see strong business growth. We';ve continued to see strong levels of productivity. And importantly we have seen in the last two weeks the highest level of membership of private health insurance seen in this country since the middle 1980s. We have reversed a 15 year old hemorrhaging of the private health insurance system of this country. We have done what Labor would never have done and that is that we have saved private health insurance. Labor would never have done that because Labor hates private health insurance. Labor doesn';t believe in private health insurance and if Labor is given the opportunity Labor will destroy the incentives now available for Australians to join private health insurance. And it is one of the reasons why turning to Labor is an unacceptable risk for the Australian people at the end of next year.
And over the last twelve months of course the most significant development has been the successful introduction of the new taxation system. For 25 years this country has needed a new taxation system. For 25 years governments have for a variety of reasons avoided the ultimate responsibility of putting their political life on the line in order to bring in taxation reform.
And at long last after the election of 1998 we have the opportunity to do what every significant politician on either side of parliament has known for a quarter of a century had to be done and that is to bring in a new taxation system.
We got no help from Labor. At every turn Labor tried to destroy and sabotage through guerilla tactics, scare tactics and downright misrepresentations. The Labor Party sought to intimidate the Australian people out of the act of faith and courage needed to embrace reform. But to their great credit the Australian people became increasingly tired of Labor';s scare campaign.
And so it was that when the new system started on the 1st of July there was already more than a little apprehension in the hearts of the Labor Party members that maybe they had over-played their hand. But maybe they shouldn';t have been so negative and we all in Parliament in the last week before the introduction, we sensed it. They became more nervous and apprehensive and they wondered whether they had done the right thing. And well may they have wondered whether they had done the right thing because they hadn';t.
And in the weeks that have gone by the Australian community has embraced taxation reform. They have recognised it for what it is. It';s the biggest single change to the economic system of this country in 40 or 50 years.
It delivers the biggest personal tax cuts we';ve seen ever. It sweeps away an old fashioned wholesale tax system. It provides tax breaks for our exporters. It reforms the business tax system by cutting the company rate to 30 cents in the dollar in two years time. It halves the capital gains tax. It delivers benefits importantly over time to the States. It provides the greatest underpinning any national government has ever provided to the provision of welfare services in Australia because it will in time guarantee increasing revenues to the States so they can deliver more assets to government schools, public hospitals, police and road services. Something that States have wanted in this country for generations.
And it represents the biggest single of a large number of economic reforms that the government has undertaken over the last four and a half years.
When you add them up, getting the budget back into surplus a year ahead of prediction. Re-writing our industrial relations laws that have helped to deliver higher productivity. Further modernising the structure of our financial system. Making Australia the largest share-owning democracy in the world. Four years ago I said that just as Menzies had made Australia the largest home-owning country in the world, it was my hope that the Government that I led could make Australia the largest share-owning democracy in the world and I';m delighted to report to you that is that promise also has been delivered in full.
But taxation reform is more about the political achievement of the government that brings it in. Taxation reform is also about the national self belief that Australians have in their capacity to embrace necessary reform. When a country embraces and manages to bring in a reform of that kind it gives people great faith that they can embrace other reforms and provided you convince the people that the reform is good for the country, and that it';s fair for all of its citizens, I believe that there is no change or reform which the Australian people will not embrace.
So I speak to you just over half way through the Government';s second time in office knowing that we';ll have another Federal election by the end of next year and knowing as I do that that will be a very hard fight. The third one always is. And politics in Australia today are never predictable and nobody should take that election for granted. Nobody should assume that the policy success that we have had has its automatic reward. It helps; it gives you credibility; it makes you more believable than your opponent. It is remembered by some but it doesn';t carry an automatic political dividend.
It';s also necessary for us to remind the Australian people of the risk in electing a Labor government. We don';t want them to get the idea that there isn';t much of risk involved in electing a Labor government. But let me remind you of some of the risks, particularly to middle Australia, of electing a Labor government.
The first and most important risk of electing a Labor government is the risk it would represent to the income tax cuts delivered only a few weeks ago. We have Mr Crean saying he';s going to have a bigger surplus that we have. To use that famous AFL slogan "I';d like to see that". We have Mr Beazley promising to spend additional dollars, hundreds of millions of additional dollars on health and education. We have him promising to roll back the GST, but quickly promising the states that they won';t have to bear any of cost of the roll back.
I saw him yesterday';s promising to spend a lot more money on defence as well. Well there is certainly nothing with him agreeing with us that more should be spent on defence. But the point of what I';m saying is that he';s busily adding up huge financial commitments and if you are going to spend more on education, if you are going to roll back the GST, but not leave the states worse off and you are going to have an even bigger surplus than we have, the money';s got to come from somewhere and that money, if those commitments are to be delivered, that money can only come from taking away the income tax cuts or some of them that were delivered only a few weeks ago.
And the second danger to middle Australia and it';s a very clear and obvious danger of electing a Labor government is that they will dismantle the incentives we';ve put in place to encourage a record number of people back in to private health insurance.
The Labor Party';s always had an ideological hostility towards private health insurance. Jenny Macklin as the Shadow Health Minister can barely utter the words private health insurance. She despises it. As an advisor to Brian Howe she wrote of its imperfections. She but grudgingly acknowledges that may be in some form it will be retained and her refusal to rule out a means testing of private health insurance if Labor were elected is a reminder of the sorts of things that would be in the gunshot of a newly elected Labor government.
And we shouldn';t imagine that that';s not a possibility. It';s always possible when you have an election that a change of government is going to occur and I think it';s always realistic and sensible when we are talking to each other as members of the Liberal Party, not only to talk about what we have achieved, but also to talk about the threat that is represented by the election of our opponents. And of course the third great danger to middle Australia is that the industrial relations reforms, led by Peter Reith, which have led in very large measures to the higher productivity of Australian businesses over the last four years that those industrial relations reforms would be rolled back and that we would once again give back to the union bosses of Australia, domination of Australia';s industrial relations system. It matters not to Labor that only 20% of the private sector workforce is now a member of a trade union. But when you have 80% or more of your federal parliamentary membership with a union background, it is little wonder that is should still see the industrial relations future of this country in terms of trade union ownership.
And if we turn back the clock on industrial relations in this country, we will strike a blow at the heart of productivity gains of recent years, which have delivered real wage increases to the working men and women of this country, the like of which they never saw in the 13 years that Labor was in power between 1983 and 1996.
So my message to you today, fellow Liberals, is not only does this government and all of us working together have much to be proud of, over the last four and a half years. We have achieved, we have delivered, we';ve kept faith. We';ve done the things and more than we said we would do and we will go on with the programme of reform. You don';t stop, you don';t rest on your laurels, you don';t say that';s enough, let';s consolidate. That is a recipe for stagnation and going backwards. But it is also very necessary that we bear in mind and we communicate to the Australian people the danger of going back to Labor. We don';t want them to get away with the impression that it';s just a slight adjustment to change government. They are different. They have different values, they have different attitudes, they despise many of the reforms that we have introduced and given half an opportunity they will turn back the clock and I have indicated some of the areas in which that will occur.
The last thing that I want to say is a rather more personal thing and that is to pay tribute to all of my colleagues from South Australia in the Federal parliament. In different ways, each of them makes a very special contribution. South Australia has the strongest and largest representation in the Federal government of Australia now than I think it';s ever had since federation. The number in the Ministry, the sensitive important portfolios they hold, the leadership of the government in the Senate and Robert Hill is the longest serving leader of a major political party in the Senate since federation. He is still one of the youngest looking members of the ministry isn';t he?!! The contribution that Alexander makes, I have mentioned. Nick Minchin covering that enormous industry portfolio, the first time ever that a Prime Minister is combined industry science and resources in to the one portfolio. The tremendous job and congratulations to you and to those who work with you Amanda on the tremendous work that';s been done in relation to the drug campaign.
Fantastic job that Trish Worth does as a Parliamentary Secretary and I know that I am not meant to at a political gathering to say anything about the Speaker, so I';ll just leave to you to work out who he is, but he also does an absolutely fantastic job. And to all of the other colleagues which in different ways do such an outstanding job. South Australia is strong and effective as an integral of the federal government to Australia and it';s there, not only in terms of the quality of the representation, but it';s also there in terms of the outcomes that have been achieved on the merits for the benefit the people of South Australia and of course in terms of seats, you hold a record number and we have to fight hard to hold to every last one of them at the next election. We had some great wins here in 96, we had some great retentions here in 98';, we want to hang on to all of them come the end of next year. But ladies and gentlemen, finally to all of you, thank you for the tremendous support you';ve given me. It';s a great pleasure to work with John Olsen as Premier, he takes a national perspective, he fights hard for South Australia, but in the end he';s an Australian beside me in promoting the best interest of this country and I will do everything I can to continue that cooperation which is very important to the Liberal cause here in South Australia.
Thank you.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS AT THE LIBERAL CONVENTION SOUTH AUSTRALIA, 19 AUGUST 2000
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, I would like to congratulate you on your economic reform. You probably get a lot of that when you come to gatherings such as this but I think that the taxation reform has been very brave, particularly announcing before an election in going to it and implementing it as you have done, so I would like to congratulate you on that. But in light of taxation reform, there';s an issue that seems to be slowly creeping up, which is interest rates. It';s just a question in regards to interest rates and it';s an issue that effects a great number of people, particularly self employed, small business and people like myself who are home owners in addition to the state government with our on going debts. I would just like you to outline your perspective on where you see that travelling and whether interest rates might drop a bit after the GST implementation.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Michelle, is it? I can';t speculate about the future movement of interest rates, it';s always not wise for Prime Ministers and Treasurers and people in our sorts of positions to do that. I can point out to you yes, they have gone up a little bit in the last year. They are still for the average home borrower, $220 dollars a month less than what they were in March 1996. The Reserve Bank controls the movement of interest rates, the important thing about interest rates is the contribution movements in them make to the long term stability of the economy. Too often in the past, we';ve had sharp variations in - particularly upwards - which have helped in bringing on recessionary conditions and one of the aims sensible conduct of monetary policy at the present time by the bank is to make certain that we maintain strong growth. The thing that';s most important is to maintain strong growth and we';ve been able to do that over the last four years. I don';t think any body likes to see them going up if you';re a borrower, although I know some self-funded retirees who thought they went down too far and it tends to vary a bit according to what situation you are in but even if you take the worst scenario, which is you know, you just look at the last year they are still significantly below what they were in March of 1996. I am sorry I can';t speculate any further than that, I just don';t think it';s possible for me to do so.
QUESTION:
I';d like to say a word that no body would like to hear and every body seems to be avoiding and it';s called uranium deposits, I';d just like to know what you';d like to tell us about this?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Nick, you want to have a go at that?
SENATOR MINCHIN:
You are not wimping out are you Prime Minister? Well I presume you don';t mean uranium deposits but the disposal of radioactive waste. Uranium mining is one of the great industries of this country and contributes jobs and exports and hundreds of millions of dollars to the economic welfare of this country, but that';s uranium mining which we strongly support and anyone who has a mine that they propose to create, can create it as long as they meet all our stringent Robert Hill applied environmental safeguards.
As to the disposal of radioactive waste, I congratulate the Olsen government on its support for the Keating/Labor government policy which was to establish a national repository for Australia';s low level waste and we are also committed to the establishment of a national store for our intermediate level waste. And the fact is ladies and gentlemen, we have been creating this waste for some 40 years through the beneficial use of nuclear medicine and nuclear science which saves lives every single day in this country.
400,000 Australians benefit every year from nuclear medicine in this country and I get calls every day from families who tell me of the examples in their own cases where their families have suffered cancer and they benefit from nuclear medicine that is available as a result of us having the Lucus Research reactor and its application through 180 nuclear medicine centres in this country and the fine medicine that we practice. But all those beneficial uses create waste and have created waste for 40 years and it is an absolute scandal that in this country it';s been left lying around in university basements and hospital basements and in 50 sites around the country. That is a scandal and we are determined to fix it, to build these national repositories to safely store our radioactive waste and I thank you for your support.
PRIME MINISTER:
Now you know why I asked him to answer the question.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, congratulations on your excellent address today and the achievements of the government, but in addition this month, your commissioned report on welfare reform has been brought to the parliament, to the public and of course the government';s response is still some way away, but I wonder if you would outline where you see the government proceeding with this important and I think potentially publicly popular set of welfare reforms?
PRIME MINISTER:
The report that was written by a committee chaired by Patrick McClure who is the head of Mission Australia, one of the largest welfare groups in the country is a good and balanced report, we have endorsed its broad thrust, it makes a number of major recommendations, one of which is over time to consolidate all welfare payments in to one, to try and provide a greater degree of as it were, personally customised response to individual needs. It endorses the principle of mutual obligation, which has been a cornerstone of our approach. We are looking at the report in detail and we';ll give a government response I hope by the end of the year. There are a lot of things in it that will take years to implement, the important thing is that is brings a very balanced perspective and it';s drawn a lot of general support, even the Labor Party and the Democrats have indicated general support. I take the opportunity of making it very clear that we don';t ever concede the moral high ground of the Labor Party on welfare reform. This idea that welfare and concern for the underprivileged is a Labor issue and that some how or other, the Liberal Party is behind the eight ball on that and that is one of the great modern myths of Australian politics. We have defended the social security safety net in four and a half years. The Labor Party said we were going to destroy it, it tried to run a fear campaign, none of them have worked because their not true and we don';t intend to take benefits away from people who deserve them, we never have and we never will, that';s not part of our way of handling things. We do think if people are able to give something back in return for welfare, then it';s only reasonable that they be asked to do so and the recommendations that McClure has made in relation for example to single parents, to deserted mothers are not draconian, they are not the severe things that were predicted by the Labor Party. They';re measured and sensible and they are really designed to help people re-enter the workforce, they are not designed to penalise people or stigmatise people, we are not going to do that and we never have and we won';t in the future and I think as time goes by one of the great achievements of this government will have been seen to be the reforms that we make in the welfare area and they';ll match, not only our economic goals, but very importantly I think they will match our social goals.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister congratulations again on the reforms the government has led, be they be recent reforms in taxation, industrial relations, health and welfare which we now hear about. Recently the Treasurer announced a formation of a new board of taxation which comprises a number of prominent Australian business people and will drive forward I understand the ongoing process of tax reform in Australia, particularly the so called option two - business tax reform. Prime Minister, I wonder if you';d share with delegates some of the future tax reforms that you see the government embarking upon as we head toward the next election and beyond, baring in mind of course, the success with which we';ve already enjoyed.
PRIME MINSTER:
Well I don';t know that I have a whole lot of new tax reforms to announce this morning. I would like to get current reforms fully bedded down and you mentioned option two, which is very important change to the business tax system. The board, the taxation, it';s not the taxation board of review, it';s the taxation advisory board and that';s a significant difference in nomenclature. It';s not designed to have the primary responsibility for building taxation policy, it';s designed to give the government advice on the operation of the present law and also to give some policy advice. I think what we have to do in tax is to make sure that the changes bought in on the 1st July are well and truly bedded down. We have to give the business community a bit more time to absorb and implement option two and the reason we';ve put off its introduction a little is not that we';re walking away from it, we';re still committed to it very strongly, but we do need to make certain that all the other changes are fully absorbed. You never end the process of tax reform, but so as to avoid falling a victim of the communications clutter, I don';t think I';ll foreshadow any further changes to the tax system this morning and I';ll try to hold my fire on that for at least a few months.
[ends]