Thank you very much Doctor, my parliamentary colleagues Michael Johnson and Gary Hardgrave, ladies and gentlemen.
I'm very pleased to be part of this launch for two reasons. First and foremost, it is a cause, if I can use that perhaps older, more traditional expression, but I still think an expression that resonates well with Australians. It's a cause that deserves your very strong support, but it's also, as demonstrated by your presence, yet another example of an attitude that in a small way in the time I have been Prime Minister, I and the other members of my Government have tried to further build and develop in the Australian community, and that is the notion of a social coalition. A recognition that any complete civilised society, no matter how successful it is and has been, and there are a few societies in the world today that have been as successful and are as successful as Australia, but despite that there are within its midst challenges, a combination of challenges - affluent societies always have people who do not share in the affluence and need assistance. Democratic societies always have within their midst people who do not feel, and for reasons unrelated to their own conduct, not entirely part of the overall common wealth and they need to be reached out to and helped and included. And for different circumstances and in different ways, there are people in our community who need assistance because nature or circumstances did not give them in the full measure all of the faculties that the rest of us have.
And the way in which a civilised society tackles something like that is to recognise that there is a role, and we've always... we Australians have always identified this, there is a role for the Government. There are things that governments can do that nobody else can do. There are things that governments do that you all wish they didn't do. I recognise that. But there are also some things that governments aren't very good at, and my experience has been that the coal faced delivery of human compassion and looking after those in our society who need particular help, that kind of assistance is always best delivered by those who have the motivation and some kind of personal moral commitment to doing that kind of thing.
I have never thought, for example, that the most challenged people in our society - people who are really down on their luck, to use an old Australian expression in every sense of that expression - I've never thought organisations such as the Salvation Army can be bettered, and the Society of St Vincent de Paul can be bettered, in looking after those people. But there is within any civilised society always a group of people who want to give of their time and also, if they can afford it, of their financial resources to help worthy causes, to help those of our fellow Australians who need particular assistance. And I have tried to develop this idea that the best way of tackling society's challenges and areas of society that need help, is to try and get the Government, the motivated individuals and the business community together.
And in a way the Foundation that we're launching today is an illustration of that. It brings together people who are experienced in helping deaf and hearing-impaired people in Australia. The skills that are required to interpret for a profoundly deaf person are just as great, if not greater, than the skills that interpreters of different language bring to their craft. And the dedication of the many people that have been associated with the various deaf societies around Australia, and in the case of Queensland for the last 100 years, they also are very committed people. And as the Chairman said, there is about 3,500 Queenslanders who are either deaf or have a significant hearing impairment. And the purpose of establishing this Foundation is to broaden the funding base and for particular important new initiatives.
For over 100 years the Deaf Society has committed itself to addressing the difficulties that people with a hearing impairment face in striving to live their lives as full and productive members of the Australian community. We all of us I guess at various stages look back and wonder whether in certain areas our society has gone forward, or in some areas may have regressed. I'm an optimist. I think in most areas Australian society is better, more caring, more progressive and more enlightened now than it was 50 years ago. That doesn't mean to say that there aren't some attitudes that have changed for the worse, and some worthy values that might have gone by the board. But I think one of the areas in which our society is so much better now is that we are far more able and willing and anxious to provide to people in our community who may have a hearing impairment and may have profound deafness, may be blind, may have some other kind of profound disability, to provide those people with a full opportunity of participating rather than being treated as people who unfortunately didn't have a full share of luck, and whilst should be looked after and supported, the idea of them participating in full in society is not something that we can really cope with. Now that... to some extent, it was a more prevalent attitude 50 years ago. What has happened over the last 50 years is I think we've continued to have the caring, but we've also developed a view that the best expression of that caring is to help people to participate in full measure in the things that everybody else does, and in that way they live more satisfying and more fulfilled lives.
So I think the Foundation that is being launched today with your very generous and evident participation is an expression of the social coalition that is so important and it's also a further expression of the more enlightened and warm-hearted, practical way in which people with disabilities of different kinds are assisted to play a full part in our society. I can't, of course, let the opportunity go by without reminding you that the Commonwealth Government does provide free hearing services for all young Australians up to the age of 21 years through Australian Hearing Services. About 30,000 Australian children were assisted last year in this way and the Government provides about $150 million a year to Australian Hearing Services to support all of its programs. That is not to say that there aren't other areas in which Governments can help, and you will not be surprised to hear that the active leaders of the Society have taken the opportunity over lunch of reminding me of one or two of those areas. And I understand that, and I respect them very much for their commitment and their energy and their zeal.
It is perhaps a truism for me to say something that we all know to be the case, that we are a very fortunate society. Australia is one of the wealthiest societies in the world. It is still, despite what some of the critics and cynics may say, one of the most egalitarian societies in the world. Some challenge that. There is some evidence that we're perhaps not as egalitarian as we used to be. I think what has perhaps happened in Australia is that the gap may have widened a little, not through those on the lower end of the socio-economic scale falling further down, but rather economic success has perhaps bulked up those in the upper reaches of those wealth projections. But we are still a very affluent, very egalitarian and a very fortunate society.
I don't need to remind you that we're living in a world at present which is challenged by a particularly difficult issue, and that of course is the military action being taken in Iraq, of which Australia is part, in which I believe very strongly and my Government believes very strongly, involves a commitment that is both just and properly based and in the medium and long-term national security interests of this country. But I don't seek to use this forum to dwell at length on that, but you might think it rather odd of me given the circumstances of the time if I didn't make at least some reference. And whatever people's views may be about that issue and about the Government's decision, and we are a great democracy and we respect the fact that there are a range of views on all great issues, I'm certain that whatever views people may hold, that all of our thoughts are united in an expression of hope that the men and women of the Australian Defence Force, performing so magnificently in our nation's name, will return home safely and soon to their homeland and to their families.
Ladies and gentlemen, the business community of Australia is asked to support many causes and that is understandable and that is legitimate. I think there is a very significant role for the business community in an affluent society to make a contribution to the good causes of that affluent society. I often hear people being critical of business. I think sometimes that criticism is unfair when it comes to generosity. I know a lot of men and women in business who are exceedingly generous, and they spread their benefaction very widely and very generously. My mantra, if I can put it that way, is not so much that business should give more, but rather that more businesses should give, that there are some wonderful examples of generosity and what I think we need to see is that generosity being repeated more frequently by their fellows in business.
But ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you on behalf of the Foundation for coming along today. I would like to indicate to you that the Commonwealth Government itself will contribute $50,000 to the Foundation's efforts. Can I also assure Mrs Rodda that I took on board something she raised with me over lunch, and I shall investigate that matter and put her in touch at least with Senator Vanstone who is responsible for those issues. But this is a good cause, in the best sense of that word. It's a good cause for your fellow Australians. It's a good cause within a nation which has had more than a good measure of fortune and luck over the years, and I hope that is something that will induce you to very favourably consider the proper entreaties and requests of this Foundation, which I have very great pleasure in launching.
Thank you.
[ends]