EMBARGO: 8. OOPM 6 MAY 1974
A. B. C. BROADCAST BY THE PRIME MINISTER, MR E. G. WHITLAM, QC, MP,
MONDAY 6 MAY 1974
Let me remind you of the basic choice you face in this
election. It's a choice between turning back returning to the
past or moving forward forward on a course of progress and
enlightenment. When you elected this government seventeen months ago
you gave us a clear go-ahead to carry out a vast and creative
program of reform.-You said: " We've had enough of run down schools,
of injustice and unequal opportunity, of overcrowded and inefficient
cities, of miserly pensions and sub-standard health services. We're
sick of seeing our-industries and resources falling into foreign
hands. We want change and improvement, a better life for our people
and our children, a greater say in our own destiny." Those were
your instructions. And from the moment you elected us we set about
to fulfil our promises to carry out those instructions. We have
done a great deal in those seventeen months. What we ask of you
now is a fair go a fair go to complete our task, to get on with
the job you elected us to do.
You hear a great deal of scare talk and hysterical propaganda
from our political opponents and the sectional interests they
represent. Let's just look at the facts. The facts are that
Australia has never been more prosperous and its future has never
looked brighter. The first thing we had to do was restore full
employment. We've done it. We have restored full employment. We
have high wages and we ' re well on the way to equal pay for women.
Farm incomes are at record levels. Company profits are at record
levels so are their plans for investment. Our overseas reserves
are immensely strong. The Australian dollar is one of the strongest
currencies in the world. Our economy is vigorous and buoyant.
Along with that prosperity, like every other major country
in the world, we share this difficult problem of inflation. The
causes of inflation are complex, but there were two major causes of
inflation in Australia: the first was a flood of foreign money which
our opponents allowed into Australia when Mr Snedden was Treasurer;
the second was the gross under-valuation of the Australian dollar in
the last year of the Liberal-Country Party government. You'll remember
that just before Christmas 1971 there was a long and bitter wran-gle
between the Liberals and the Country Party about the value of the dollar.
Mr Anthony threatened to resign from the coalition unless the Country
Party got its way. And the Country Party did get its way. The Liberals
caved in, the dollar was devalued, and the seeds of inflation were
sown. When we came to power, inflation was already the worst for
twenty years. We immediately raised the dollar'ls value and closed off
the flood of foreign money which speculators were using to buy up
Australia's resources on the cheap. In the year that followed we
revalued the currency again, we cut tariffs, we exercised flexible
monetary policies, we pruned back unnecessary spending on subsidies
and tax lurks. The result is now that we are winning the battle ./ 2
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against inflation. Our policies are working. The latest consumer
price figures have shown~ a dramatic and encouraging drop in the
inflation rate. Let's keep up the good work. Let's not undo those
policies now now that they're working. Because the Country Party
and the Liberals would undo them. They have promised to remove our
restrictions on the inflow of foreign money. They have promised all
sorts of electoral bribes. They have promised to cut taxes. Imagine
it! Cut taxes to fight inflation! I ask you: where would the extra
goods come from to satisfy the increase in purchasing power? It is
economic nonsense and every responsible financial commentator has
said it is nonsense. Mr Snedden's proposals would reverse all our
hard-won gains. They would create further inflation on a catastrophic
scale. The other great issue before us is this: do we want
Australians to remain in control of our resources, our industries,
our raw materials or do we want them to fall increasingly into
foreign hands? Here's a figure to keep in mind: when we came in,
68% of our energy resources our coal, our oil, our uranium, our
natural gas were in foreign hands. Sixty-eight per cent! You all
remember how Sir John McEwen, when he was Leader of the Country Party,
expressed his concern at the way Australia was being sold out to
foreign interests. I'm afraid it's a different story in the Country
Party today. They no longer care much about the farmer; they have
become the spokesmen and defenders of the foreign mining companies
and speculators who are rushing to buy up Australia's resources.
They make no secret of their intention to lavish incentives and tax
concessions on these companies, to reward them for the privilege of
taking Australia over. They have promised mark this to double
the Australian price of crude oil solely for the benefit of foreign
oil companies. The Country Party would make every motorist, every
farmer, every business pay more, much more, for petrol. That is the
most irresponsible and inflationary promise of all. So never forget
the power and influence of the Country Party on their Liberal
partners. We all know who would be running things if Mr Snedden
were Prime minister. It wouldn't be Mr Snedden. It would be the
Country Party the most sectional and reactionary of the major parties
in Australia. My government has acted with vigour and determination to
keep Australian industries and Australian resources in Australian hands.
We won't allow Australians to be tenants in their own land. We will
defend the right of Australians to control their economic inheritance
for themselves and for their children. In a world where mineral
and energy resources are precious and scarce, there will be no sell-out
of Australia by my government.
So that is the choice before you a united and determined
government, pledged to progress and reform, winning the battle against
inflation, pledged to defend Australian ownership; or a weak and
divided opposition, an opposition that bribes you with inflationary
tax cuts, an opposition that forced this election even before it had
patched its policies together, an opposition dominated by the Country
Party, with muddled and contradictory policies on inflation, an
opposition that tamely accepts the sell-out of Australian assets. You
know our record. I am proud of it. We have given a new deal to our
schools, to the children of Australia. We have restored full employment.
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We have launched our great program to make Australian cities decent
places for our people. We have given Australia a new pride and
standing in the eyes of the world. I don't believe the Australian
people are ready to say: " All that was wasted. Let's put all that
aside and turn back." I don't believe we want the rest of the world
to say: " Australia has lost heart. Australia has lost faith in
her vision, in her future, in herself." I say to my fellow Australians:
Don't put the clock back. Let us get on with the job together.
Good night