BROA. DCAST NO. 1
BROADCAST BY THE PRIME MINISTEIR THE RT. HON. R. G. MENZIES
ON N. :. IONAL STATIONS ._ Ti 7. I P. M.
THURSDAY. 16TH NOVEMBER, lL.
Another Federal Election campaign is on. During the
next few weeks you will no doubt, so long as you can put up with
it, be bombarded with arguments and appeals. Many issues will
be raised and disc-' s-d. Many claims will be made and rejected,
and a good deal of dust will blow about,
So perhaps I should get in early, before you are tired,
with a few broad remarks.
This is an election for the Commonwealth Parliament.
That means an election for every seat in the House of
Representatives, and for the retiring half of the Senate. On
Polling Day, therefore, we vote for individual men or women, but
for the most part we vote for them as the supporters of a Party
with a body of ideas; a Party which hopes to form a Government.
I am a Party man. After many years of experience I
believe that there can be no coherence and stability in
government, and no continuity of policy, unless Ministers have
Party allegiance. Every now and then somebody will ask you to
elect him as an " Independent". Why should you do so? A
Government that was made up of " Independents" ould not last for
a month, for there would be no common policy and no mutual
loyalty. And what becomes of the individual Independent? He
votes as he pleases; nobody can depend upon him from one week
to another; if his vote, because of a near equality in the
Parties is important, no government has any reasonable
expectation of life, nor can it engage in that long term
planning waich a modern and growing country needs.
So, the true question in this election is whether you
want to put my governmert out and put Labour in, or whether you
dontt. There is no middle course.
The business of governrment is the greatest business in
the nation. Some people try to separate business from
government; to set up hostility between them; to treat
politicians as if they were innocent of those economic and
financial matters which affect private citizens.
This is a complete fallacy. A government can, by its
financial and economic measures, create a climate in which
enterprise is encouraged, the resources of the nation developed,
much capital and technical skill invested, and future
employment expanded. A bad goverinment can discourage enterprise,
make the financing of development difficult, frighten off
capital and technical growth, and, by opposing those elements
which create employment opportunity, create the most acute
social problems. Government, in short, is in a basic sense, the
greatest business of all.
What you have to decide at a General Election,
therefore, is the broad business management of our country,
Having set up this test, I want now, quite briefly,
to apply it.
The Commonwealth Governnent has been in office for
twelve years. They have broadly speaking, been twelve years of
remarkable national and Individual progress and prosper! ty, By
reason of good conditions at home and a vigorous policy of
migration from abroad, the population of Australia has grown by
at least a quarter. Production, both primary and secondary has
grown notably. This is important because increased production
is the essential condition of rising living standards. Savings
and investment have increased. The average household has, from
motor cars and refrigerators to radios and television sets, a
degree of equipmeni f. r civilised living which few thought
possible twelve years ago. Employment has been high, and the
degree of ' 9' ustrial peace remarkable. Our international
relations have added to our national security. We have means of
transport which are the envy of most countries in the world. Our
trade has grown so that we are one of the ten loading trading
nations of the world. -e have the most remarkable facilities for
enjoying our earned leisure. , Te are a free country and a happy
one. i. f Australia, as a , ihole, was your business, would you
change the management?
Perhaps you would if you felt reasonably certain that,
under new management, Australia, and you, would do even better.
Let us, therefore, have a look at the proposed new management,
and the new managers.
The new management is that of the Socialist State.
The new managers are the Australian Labour Party, acting under
the binding instructions of the Federal Conference of the
: 2ustralian Labour Party, a small body which y u do not elect at
all. Let me repeat the words of the operative rule; they
deserve to be well known
" The Federal Conference of the Party shall be the supreme
governing authority and policy making body and its
decisions shall be binding upon all State Branches and
affiliates thereto, and upon the Federal and State
Parliamentary Labour Parties and upon the Federal
Executive." The effective new managers who are offering to take
over the national business are, therefore, almost entirely
unknown to you. Those who offer themselves as the ostensible
managers, Mr. Calwell and his Parliamentary colleagues, are
notoriously divided into warring groups, with personal feuds,
with a left-wing so aggressive that the bird finds it difficult
to fly straight! My own government has enjoyed complete cohesion,
internal loyalty and a concerted policy. Our opponents cannot
even pretend to offer you these. They have never been able to
clarify their relationships with the Australian Communist Party,
the faithful local agents of the Communist powers which alone
threaten the world with suicidal war. How can they be trusted
to deal with your affairs?
I referred to the " new management" being that of the
Socialist State. For the Labour Party still stands for
nationalisation and for Constitutional changes to make it
possible. Before you vote for such a reactionary policy, and
abandon the existing management, ask yourselves a few questions.
da 3.
Would the great basic industries of coal, and iron and
steel and copp r, and lead and zinc of engineering production,
of all those things, the recent development of which is one of
the great romances of Australian history, have grown so much or
so fast under Socialist nationalisation? Who . ave provided the
dynamic force in our development? Men and women who, under a
system of free enterprise, have used their skill and capital and
sense of adventure. You are all shareholders in Australia Unlimited. Will
you choose as dire-t: t-s:: people who believe in you in what you
can do given a fair break, and in the free spirit which has
wrought suc'> wonders, or those who believe in the all-powerful
State, in whicih enterprise is discouraged, in which powerful
contributions of capital and skill from overseas are resented
and repelled, and in which the priceless independence of the
individual is to be replaced by a docile dependence upon
Government? These are gre. t basic questions. I hope they will not
be obscured. For your answer to them will determine whether we are,
as a nation, to go on in growth and progress, or fall back into
confusicn and stagnation.
SUPPLEMENT.: RY
The following statements could not, for
reasons of time, be included in a Broadcast Speech
limited to one huar. But they are issued for
publi " tion conjointly , ith the main speech, which in
some respects they amplify and explain.
COMyION JEALTH. AID OE ROADS
In 194+ 9-50 the Comaonwealth paid œ 8,852,000 to the
Stotes for roads. It is estimated that, in the present financial
year, the Commonwealth will pay œ 50 millions!
The present Commonwealth Aid Roads Act was passed in
1959 to give effect to a scheme proposed by the Commonwealth,
under which the Commonwealth undertook to provide over a five
year period a total sun of up to œ 250 million to the States for
roads. Under th". Lrrangement, which forms part of its
developmental policy, the Commonwealth is to pay to the States
during the five year period 1959 to 1964 " basic grants" of œ 220
million and n additional sum of up to œ 30 million which ( subject
to certain annaal limits) is to be payable on the basis of œ 1 for
each œ 1 allocated by the State Governments from their own
resources for expenditure on roads over and above the amounts
they allocated for this purpose in 1958-59. The distribution of
the grants over the five years is as follows:-
Matching
Basic Grant Assistance Total
œ' 000 œ' 000 000
1959-60 40,000 29000 42,000
1960-61 42,000 4,000 46 000
1961-62 44,000 6,000 50 000
1962-63 46,000 8,000 54000
1963-64 48,000 10,000 589000
Total 220,000 30,000 250,000
The amounts being made available by the Commonwealth
will be distributed among the States in each year in the
proportions of 5 per cent of the total for Tasmania and the
balance shared among the other five States on the basis of
one-third according to population as at the last preceding
Census, one-third according to area and one-third according to
vehicles registered at 31st December preceding the year
concerned. The States are required to ensure that not less than
per cent of the funds made available by the Commonwealth in
each year is spent during that year on roads in rural areas,
other than highways, main roads or trunk roads. The States may
among them spend up to œ f1,000,000 of the amount made available
by the Commonwealth in each year on works connected with
transport by road or water, other than the construction,
reconstruction and maintenance of roads. As under the previous
legislation, the States are free to allocate to municipal or
local authorities for roads purposes any part of the moneys
received by them from the Cormmonwealth.
UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS
In 1949, towards the end of the term of the Chifley
Government, there was much temporary unemployment caused by the
Communist-inspired Coal Strike.
In that year the basic wage was
œ 6 9. per week
2. A.
For an unemployed man with a wife and child, the
unemployment benefit ( under tfl Labour Government's legislation
of 1945) was 10. 0 per week
In 1961 the Basic Wage was
œ l4. 8. 0 per week
Under the current legislation of the present
Government, the unt.., pjoyment benefit for an unemployed man, wife
and child, is œ 7. j 10. 0 per week
The improvement is clear!
HEALTH
In health and health services the story of the last
12 years is fantastic. In December 1941 there was no
Commonwealth scheme operating to provide medical benefits.
Today, no less than 7,000,000 people are covered by a
great voluntary and co-operative scheme. The total benefits
being paid out for no less than 35000,000 services is over
œ 22 million, of which the Commonwealth pays neaiy œ 10 million.
Under a greatly improved Hospital Benefits arrangement,
the Commonwealth and the registered organisations between them
are now finding over œ 32 million a year.
The Pensioner Medical Service, pharmaceutical benefits
for pensioners, has proved a godsend to pensioners.
The Pharmaceutic. l Benefits Scheme, as a whole, has
risen from a few pounds to over œ 27 million!
Our great contributions to the treatment of T. 3. and
mental ill-health are no doubt well-known, as is what we have
done in the manufacture and free provision of the Salk vaccine
against poliomyelitis. This is a short, but revolutionary, story. A growing
nation must be a healthy one. Our policy of strength and growth
is all pervasive, and expresses itself in many ways.
N2J GUINEA AND PAPUA
We continue to discharge our great responsibilities
for the advancement and good government of these territories,
The statement made a few weeks ago by my colleague, Mr. Hasluck,
on targets for future social and economic progress, has
attracted favourable interest both in Australia and abroad. oe
are spending more each year, and will continue to do so for a
long time. But our record in helping primitive neighbours in
this way will stand comparison anywhere in the world.
ABORIGINES
Despite some carping criticisms, our record in raising
the standards of the aboriginal peoples is a good one. Not long
ago we solved the problem of providing them with social services
of the normal character. In our oun special area of
responsibility, the Northern Territory, great strides have been
taken in the direction of catering for their hunan and social
needs.
3. A
An all-party Parliamentary Select Committee
appointed on the motion of the Government, has recently brought
down a report on the problem of voting by aborigines. We will
give that report careful study and most sympathetic consideration
in the new Parliament. CO, 0STI TUTIONAL
An all-party committee made a close investigction of
the working of the Commonwealth Constitution, and recommended a
large number of ar-nrnentsø Time has not permitted us to reach
conclusions on such complex matters. I therefore need say no
more in a Policy Speech, than that should we decide to promote
any amendmn-' t or amendments, the constitutional procedures for a
referendum w-ll give the people the right to decide the matter.
We do not propose to have a general election confused by
speculative constitutional arguments which may or may not arise,
and which, if they do arise, will be decided by a quite
independent popular vote. HOUSING
The -rowing nation for which we are working, with
increased pcpulation and rising standards of living, must be
given a proper chance to be . rall-housed. Above all things, we
want a home-owning democracy. Though the problem of housing,
whether by governments or private citizens, is under the
constitutional distribution of powers, primarily one for the
States ( except in Commonwealth Territories), my own Goverilment
can present a remarkable record of voluntary performance, a
record which we would wish to add to in the next Parliament,
working as always, in co-operation with State Governments, who
are fully conscious of the needs.
Since 1950, 907,000 houses and flats have been
constructed in Australia, most of them being for ownership.
Towards this remarkable total, which will more than stand
comparison with any other country, the Commonwealth Government
has found no less than C780m' in * ar Service Homes alone, which
are our special and honourable responsibility we have found
œ 350million, which you may care to compare with a total of
œ 3 million over the previous thirty years of the Scheme, which
began in 1919. RESTRICTIVE Ph ICTICES
We desire, in co-operation with State Governments, to
do something to protect and strengthen free productive and
business enterprise against monopoly or restrictive practices.
The attorney-General has done a great deal of work both here and
in overseas countries, such as Great 3ritain and the U. SOAO,
where special laws exist. The matter is very complex and is in
Australia affected by the division of powers between
Commonwealth and States. It would be most undesirable to have an
elaborate system of government controls which restricted true
development, efficiency, and enterprise. On the other hand, the
public interest must be paramount; exploitation must not occur.
The Attorney-General's investigations and conferences
have not yet reached a point at which Cabinet decisions can be
taken. dhen such decisions are taken and legislation prepared,
we will, having introduced the legislation, allow it to be open
to public examination and criticism for six months so that no
proper consideration will be overlooked.
INDUSTRIAL RBLFATI ONS
All the efforts we may make to secure a favourable
economic climate for investment and development can be largely
frustrated if a great deal of working and producing time is lost
by industrial disputes. Our opponents have regularly asserted
that only they, with their Union contacts, can secure
industrial peace. The facts are that in no year since 1951 has
the number of days lost from industrial disputes been as large
as those lost in any year from 1945 to 1949. There are many
thousands of young uen and women who will vote on December 9th
who were children ii, 1949, and who may be tempted to take for
granted the state of affairs which they have known for twelve
years. I ni them to know thiat such things as industrial peace,
continuity Q. work, do not happen by accident. Our industrial
policies, fitting into our whole conception of national growth,
have been directed to these ends. It is not out of place to
point out that today many thousands of employees are also
shareholders in the enterprises in which they work. This
broadens the co-operative spirit which is essential to success
and to continuity of woak.