Thank you very much Rob Lucas, Rob Kerin the leader of the South Australian Opposition, my state parliamentary colleagues, candidates, ladies and gentlemen. I've come here to express my strong support for the Liberal Party and for Rob Kerin in this campaign for the South Australian election on the 18th of March.
Let me say at the outset that there is, to use a well-worn mantra which is true of Australian politics, there is no such thing as either an unwinnable election or an unlosable election. Once an election starts the whole background in which politics is operated begins to change and especially in these days in state election campaigns the opportunities for both parties will wax and wane during the course of the campaign. I want the Liberals here in South Australia to know that they have my very strong support and of all of my Federal parliamentary colleagues, not just in South Australian, but throughout the country.
Can I make just two brief but pertinent observations about the economic debate in this South Australian election campaign. I have learnt over long years in public life that there's a certain predictability about the reaction of state governments to good and bad economic times. When the economic times are good, the strength of the economy is due to the particular brilliance and consummate economic policies of the individual State Government. When the reverse is the case, it is all the fault of the Federal Government. Well let me declare that neither of those propositions is completely true, but the reality is that the state of the national economy is overwhelmingly the responsibility of the Federal Government and if the Australian economy were now in recession I would have to take responsibility for that along with Peter Costello and my other colleagues and I am quite sure that every Labor Premier and I guess if there were Premiers of another political persuasion around the country, they'd all be saying the same thing. And that is fair enough. Politics is about ultimately being accountable and I'll be accountable for the bad things I've done and from time to time I hope modestly claim some credit for some good things that have been done.
But let me say that the Australian economy now is fundamentally very sound and it's fundamentally very sound because it has been well managed for the last 10 years by the Federal Coalition in Canberra. Some of the things that have made it well managed were in fact passionately opposed by Labor Premiers; the GST for example. The Labor Party fought that tooth and nail and yet South Australia is $400-$500 million better off as a result of the introduction of the GST than it would have been through a continuation of the old revenue sharing arrangements. I saw a pamphlet that Mr Rann released last week talking about blaming federal taxes, saying they were too high and boasting about all the additional expenditure of the State Labor Government here in South Australia. Well can I say to Mr Rann that that additional expenditure was made possible by the flow, the ever-increasing flow of Federal Government revenue to South Australia via the GST and the GST has been a boon to the states. It's given them a guaranteed source of revenue for the essential services, the police, the hospitals, the government schools. And without that flow of revenue South Australia's economic position would have been much weaker. Can I say to all South Australians the low inflation, the low interest rates, the low unemployment are all as a result of national economic policies.
I hear Mr Rann talking about the contract won by the Australian Submarine Corporation. Now I am very pleased for the employees of that company, but can I remind South Australians that that was a decision of the Federal Government. It was a decision that was, might I say, quite properly urged upon the Federal Government by senior Ministers in my Government from this state. And can I say that in terms of influence, the state of South Australia has never exercised the influence, not improper, entirely proper on the merits inside a national government, anywhere near the influence that it now exercises by courtesy until very recently of having Robert Hill, of course, the Leader of the Government in the Senate, now replaced by Nick Minchin, also from South Australia; Alexander Downer, that magnificent long serving Foreign Minister and Amanda Vanstone and all the other people that have worked so magnificently. But that decision was taken by the Federal Government and that decision was essentially because the merits of the bid that were made.
Now of course state and federal governments work together and it's my job as a Liberal Prime Minister to work with state Labor government's while they're in power. But it's also my responsibility as the national leader of the Liberal Party to point out some political realities. Now true it is that the fundamentals are determined by the Federal Government, but state governments can have a significant influence on the relative rate of economic development. And state government policies can result in differential performances within an overall situation of the economy being strong. And that I am sure is quite properly an argument that will be put forward by the Opposition here just as in other states such as in New South Wales, it can be argued that if certain decisions taken by a state Labor government there had not been taken, then on top of the national economic strength of the economy, that state would be doing better. And so is the case in relation to South Australia and the proposition that the current Government could have done more to build on the fundamental economic strength delivered by the Federal Government is an argument that I know will be very prominent during the course of this campaign.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to express my support for Rob Kerin, to express my support for the Liberal Party in this election campaign. It will be tough, it will be hard, we all understand that. But let me remind you as we enter this campaign there is no such thing as an unwinnable, or indeed on the other side, an unlosable election. Interesting things happen in election campaigns and I hope that in a small way, my presence here today may be of assistance to the Liberal Party. I want it to win. I'll support it and I wish it well. Thank you.
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