Thank you very much Stuart, Mrs Henry, Mr Mayor, my parliamentary colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. What a magnificent town hall this is. It really is absolutely fantastic. And I'm delighted to be in the electorate of Hasluck and I am more than delighted to speak in support of the Liberal Party candidate for this electorate. He brings to his path, Stuart Henry does, an unrivalled background in something that is very much the heart and soul of the Liberal Party's existence, and that is successful small business. He has an understanding that the generation of wealth in our society is dependent upon a small business sector. He has the experience of working in a competitive business environment and I certainly endorse everything that he says about the way in which over the last eight and a half years the Government has set about creating what I regard as the best economic conditions this country has probably had since World War II.
There was a time in the 1960s when our growth rates were as strong as they are now, but back in those days we were a far more protected and cloistered economy. We had very high tariff protection, we had a fixed exchange rate, we had exchange controls, the monetary (inaudible) pretended that they controlled interest rates, but of course anybody who understands a thing about the operation of monetary policy in that economy knows that in the end nobody can control interest rates. They are a product of the forces of supply and demand. But if you now fast forward to 2004, we have an entirely different environment. We have a floating exchange rate, we have substantially dismantled our tariff protection, we have reformed our taxation system, we have changed our industrial relations system, and we are competing effectively and successfully as part of a globalised world economy.
Stuart mentioned the number of the statistics that illustrate the strength of the Australian economy. I came across another the other day. In March of 1996 when the Government was elected, there were no fewer than 35 electorates in Australia which had double digit unemployment, unemployment of more than 10 per cent. Now eight and a half years later, that number has fallen from 35 to four. There are only four electorates in Australia that now have double digit unemployment. And we have for the first time since 1968 the golden double of unemployment below six per cent and inflation below three per cent.
We have, as Stuart said, paid off about $70 billion of national government debt. And in case somebody thinks that is really a book entry, by paying it off we now have $5.5 billion on average each year additionally available - because of the reduced interest payments on the debt, we have about $5.5 billion additionally available to invest in health, in education, in roads, in defence, and also in family benefits and taxation relief. So it has been a story of very great economic progress and it has not just been a strength of the domestic economy that's been a feature of that period of time, it's all been the way in which Australia has been able to project herself internationally on the international (inaudible). I remember when we were first elected, people said critically that oh the Asian leaders won't deal with this crowd, they'll show him the door. We have of course over the last eight and a half years proved those sorts of foolish predictions completely false.
We have been able to build an ever closer economic and political relationship with the United States, and that has culminated in the negotiation of the Free Trade Agreement. That Free Trade Agreement is a once in a generation opportunity for Australia to lock herself into the strongest economy the world has ever seen. I cannot for the life of me understand how any political leader, caring about the national interest, could possibly hesitate about endorsing the Free Trade Agreement. It contains increased access for our dairy industry, for our beef industry, for our motor car industry, for our horticultural industry, for our tuna industry, and even in a modest way for our wine industry. It (inaudible) a large array of manufacturing tariffs currently imposed by the United States against Australian exports. It will provide access to the giant United States government procurement market. Australian firms for the first time will be able to bid for United States federal government contracts worth about $US200 billion a year, as well as be able to bid for state government contracts in the United States, in 41 Americans states that have now signed up, so the total government procurement market state and federal which is available for bidding by Australian firms if they can match other bids, is just under $US400 billion a year.
We have secured an absolute protection of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Yes, some of the American drug companies did try and get in under the radar on that subject, but we didn't agree. I knew the American drug companies wanted to bring about some changes and I made it very clear in the final stages of the negotiations that we weren't going to agree to that, because the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is very important to Australia. And all we have agreed to is a review mechanism, the results of which cannot alter any decision made by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee or the Federal Government. (inaudible) transparent examination of the merit of the argument of people who claim that they should have had their drug listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits list, and there's nothing wrong with that. But this review mechanism has no deliberative capacity. It can only express a view. And Government and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee has no intention of undermining the operation of this highly successful system - a system incidentally which obviously, in order to remain sustainable as the years go by and our population ages, a system that has to be operated in an economical fashion.
And when it comes to the other issue that has been raised about the Free Trade Agreement, that is the question of cultural independence and the preservation of the local content rules for TV and film and also reservations in relation to new media, I took a very close personal interest in both of those things in the final stages of the negotiation. And the Free Trade Agreement preserves the existing local content rules. It preserves them. It doesn't diminish them. It preserves them. And it also makes it very clear that there has been some expansion of local content in relation to pay TV, and a number of submissions we made to the Americans there have been accepted. And there have been appropriate reservations made about appropriate content concerning new media. Nobody wants Australian voices and Australian stories to be muzzled or diminished in their place in film and television in this country, and that will not occur under the Free Trade Agreement. But I can only say to my opponent, the Leader of the Opposition, as I've said before - it's time to call this for Australia and get behind this Agreement because it's a once in a generation opportunity to lock a very strong Australian economy into the growth and the expansion of the most powerful economy the world has ever seen.
And we have been able to do that without in any way harming our capacity to further expand and develop our economic relationship with the countries of Asia. I've just come from Karratha and Port Hedland. I attended a little ceremony at Woodside yesterday that marked the 15th anniversary of the first LNG shipment from Woodside to Japan. And as you know, I was involved as Prime Minister, along with (inaudible) Richard Court as the then Premier of Western Australia and the current Premier of Western Australia Dr Gallop, in supporting the consortium's successful bid for that giant LNG contract with the Guangdong Province in China. (inaudible) this Government that couldn't do business with Asia, according to our critics, this Government that had taken Australia too close to America for our own comfort, has simultaneously been able to preside over a further deepening of our economic relationship with the economic giants of the Asian Pacific region. Our links economically and politically with Japan and Korea have continued to grow and they are old and trusted and true economic and trade friends of Australia, and particularly trade friends of Western Australia. But over the last eight and a half years, we've more than doubled our exports to China and China has grown in importance and it will continue to grow in importance to this country. And the reason why we won that LNG contract, above everything else, was that the Chinese saw us as a stable, dependable, predictable, reliable, on time supplier. And that, in the end, as you all know in business, counts more than just about anything else.
We have a very good track record. We do deliver on time. We run very safe resource industries in this country. I met a delegation from California who had been sent her by the Governator, I think he calls himself - Arnold Schwarzenegger. And he sent this delegation over to Australia to talk, they came to Western Australia to talk about energy, and they remarked about not only the extraordinary economic success of our industries, but the tremendous safety record of the resource sector. So we have a lot as a nation to be very proud about, and what we have achieved and we've built domestically a strong and vibrant economy and we've expanded our horizons internationally, and there's no reason why that progress can't go on.
But we haven't just been about economic issues, and economic policy is never an end in itself. We don't seek to run a good economy just so we can get some kind of triple star from an international accounting body. We run a strong economy to produce a human dividend. When I think back over the last eight and a half years, I think of the fact that we have that low unemployment rate. We have 1.3 million more Australians in work now than in 1996. I think about the fact that real wages have risen by 14 per cent over the last eight and a half years. They rose by 2.9 per cent over the previous 13 years. I think of the four electorates with double digit unemployment versus 35 eight and a half years. I also think of the more than doubling of the number of people who are in apprenticeships or traineeships. I think of the vastly lower interest rates. And we all know that if people have secure employment and good wages and low interest rates and job opportunities for their children, that makes an enormous contribution to family stability and family happiness. And this idea that you can have a disconnect in the economic health of the nation from the social health of the nation is unreal.
But there are issues beyond both sorts of connections and this morning I released on behalf of the Government the outline of some major changes to the family court system in Australia. And every Australian in different ways is touched by, whether directly or indirectly, by family or relationship breakdown, the impact it can often have of a very serious kind on young children and an impact that can last with them for the rest of their lives. And I think most people regard the present system as too adversarial and too costly and increasingly unreceptive to the warmth and the interests of many people who are touched by these breakdowns. And I outlined today a plan that will bring major changes to that system. It will introduce a nationwide network of family relationship centres that will act as a first shock absorber when people's relationships break down. And it's designed to further to cement the concept that the natural parents of children have, each of them, the mother and the father, have an inalienable right to be involved in the raising of their children, to have a say in their future. It is not the occasion to go into the detail of it, but I mention it to make the point that this is a government that is not only interested in economics and the benefits that flow from good economic prospects, it is a government that is interested in the long term social health of our nation and a government that is interested in assisting people in a sensitive non intrusive way in addressing some of the problems that confront them during their life cycle.
Another issue that the Government is conscious of community concern about acts of crime. And I know in a federation crime is overwhelmingly a state government responsibility. We provide the states with ever growing amounts of money, and let me on that point just diverge for a moment because I occasionally read when I visit Western Australia comments from the Western Australian Government saying they want more money from the Federal Government. Well can I say, they have received more money from the Federal Government, more than they would ever have received under previous arrangements. I wonder how many people in this room know that every last dollar of the GST goes to the states. We don't pocket a single dollar of the GST. And when we introduced the new tax system 1999 and the whole idea was that we were going to give the proceeds of the GST to the states so they could spend it on schools and roads and hospitals and police and all those bread and butter issues that are so important to all of us, they'd been complaining for years that they didn't have access to a growth tax and that, it didn't matter what political colour the state governments were, I mean I have to say that Liberal Premiers of Western Australia over the years have given more eloquent speeches to me about the needs of the state to have access to a growth tax than any Labor Premier's ever had. They did it in great style and with great affection and we miss it and that is why we introduced it. And could I say that (inaudible) have a look at the federal budget papers to verify this, but over the next five years Western Australia will be $1.116 billion better off as a result of the GST than it would have been if the Keating Government's fanatical sharing arrangements had continued. And that over that period of time, 45.1 per cent of all the revenue that Western Australian receives funds from the GST and Commonwealth Government grants, 45.1 per cent. Almost half of the total revenue that the Western Australian Government has comes from the GST and Federal Government grants. Now I'm not complaining about that, we intended it, it's our policy, but I'm pointing it out. And, understandably, when the almost automatic catch cry of some state governments to say well look, you're a Federal Government, give us some more money. That might have been valid when we didn't have a situation where states have access to a growth tax but now that we do have that, it's legitimate of me to point that out.
But could I refer to the issue of crime. Now crime is fundamentally (inaudible) a responsibility of state governments. And there are occasions when top up initiatives from the Federal Government are desirable. One of those that I'm very proud of, of course, is our Tough on Drugs initiative and we've spent about $1 billion over a period of four or five years on that Tough on Drugs initiative and we work very productively with the state governments, with the state police and they do a great job with our federal police and our customs services. Everybody hates drugs and everybody wants to put the drug barons out of business and behind bars, everybody wants to stop kids starting drugs in the first place and everybody wants to rehabilitate people who've got a drugs problem. And there are three elements in that programme - education, law enforcement and rehabilitation. And we've had real success. The deaths from heroin overdoses have fallen by 70 per cent since the initiative was introduced, and I'm not saying all of it is due to that initiative, but it has certainly made a very big contribution. And the diversion programmes whereby people who have first contact with the criminal justice system are given the opportunity of going into rehabilitation as an alternative punishment, that system is also working extremely well.
And in addition, a top up measure on the 7th of May, I announced a new $20 million National Community Crimes Prevention programme to help Australian communities pursue effective, locally organised crime prevention initiatives. Well not surprisingly, it's proved to be very popular and in response to the first grants round we've received 180 applications amounting to almost $40 million in funding requests. And I'm very pleased to announce today the first of the community partnerships grant recipient, that is from the largest of the programmes funding stream and the grant I'm announcing today exemplifies the principles outlined and the successful applicant is the Hills Community Support Group represented here today by the Chief Executive Officer Miss Helen Dullard. And this group will receive $331,000 for an innovative project to build positive skills and self-esteem in young people who are at risk of becoming involved in crime. And today's project involves key supporters such as the Swan Chamber of Commerce, the WA police and the Midland Redevelopment Authority and this builds on other successful partnerships with Midland Brick which was recognised as a state winner in the Prime Minister's 2002 Award for Excellence in Community Business Partnerships.
And Mr Mayor, I heard what you had to say. I will think about what you had to say. You sort of didn't leave me in any doubt as to what you wanted. And can I say in relation to those chesterfields, there are a lot of reasons why Stuart Henry should receive your support. When I was told about those chesterfields, I thought of another one and that is this, that the acquisition of those chesterfields created quite a stir because the design police of Parliament House, the people who were the masters of taste in Parliament House said that the chesterfields were inappropriate and that I should have had something else despite the fact that the chesterfields were cheaper than what I was meant to have. But the (inaudible) significance of all of this is that the Leader of the Labor Party in the Senate promised that one of the first actions of an incoming Federal Labor Government would be to take the chesterfields out and to replace them with something more suitable. I think that would be an affront to the people of Hasluck. And I'm very grateful for that (inaudible) and reason why Stuart should receive your support.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is great to be here. Some time before the end of the year we will make a decision on the future government of this country. I don't take the outcome of that for granted. The one thing I've learnt in my time in public life is that you never take the outcome of political contests for granted. I'll be campaigning for my very life to win re-election and I certainly regard it as a very tough contest. I think we can lay claim for having done a good job on the Australian economy. I think we can lay claim for having responded effectively to the security and defence challenges that I never imagined in March of 1996 that I would face. And a couple of weeks ago, I talked about some of the goals I've had for a fourth term, the goals of building an even more entrepreneurial culture, of balancing the development of the country, return to the environment and making sure that we had a fair and decent society through effective social policies.
But I reminded myself and the audience that the foundation of those things is really economic security and national security. You can have all the goals in the world about education and health and all of those things, but unless you have a strong and growing economy, unless you have a secure and well defended nation those goals can't be realised and they are issues that I hope the Australian people will weigh in the balance and finally can I say in our political system a federal election is an accumulation of 150 individual contests in the electorates around Australia and I couldn't be more delighted with the quality of the Liberal Party standard bearer in this electorate.
As I said earlier he brings the wealth of business experience. He brings a tremendous energy and you'd even forgive me for saying as I've said to other audiences he also plays the game they play in heaven which for a Sydney born man you'll forgive, is an added recommendation, but knows the area well, he knows the business climate in Western Australia. He knows what will happen if we end up with coast to coast, wall to wall Labor Governments after the next federal election because if we lose you won't have a Liberal Government anywhere in Australia. Now, no checks and balances, you'll have nine Labor Governments I think for the first time I think in our history since federation and you can imagine what rooky the unions of this country will make with that opportunity. They'll re-regulate the industrial relations system. You know what's happened here in Western Australia and you have nine Labor Governments right across Australia I think that would be the consequence.
But ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for having me. Please give Stuart your very, very strong support. I think he'll make a wonderful representative and I think he'll make a great contribution to the parliamentary party in Canberra.
Thank you.