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ALP CONFERENCE .  NEW SOUTH’  V7ALES

EXTRACTS FROM SPEECH. BY THE PRIME MINISTER   SYDNEY - SUNDAY 8 JUNE 1986

Mr President, Ministerial and Parliamentary Colleagues,   delegates.

I welcome once again this opportunity to address this annual   conference of the largest branch - the foundation branch -   of the Australian Labor Party.

We meet, delegates, in the most historic public assembly   hall in Australia. For a century it has been the scene of   historic events in the life of this great city and nation. It is a place especially identified with the Australian   Labor Party. And another remarkable chapter in history has   been written this weekend.

Delegates,

I had the opportunity just over a week ago to pay public   tribute to Neville Wran and his Government at an ALP dinner   to celebrate its tenth anniversary.

I pointed out that the Wran Labor Government had provided   New South Wales with a decade of continuous,  comprehensive   and consistent reform unequalled, for duration and depth, by   any State in our Federal history.

I emphasised, delegates, the national significance of the   Wran Government.

And that enduring national significance lies in both the   style and the substance of its achievement, and the pattern   it set for Labor Governments throughout Australia.

There were two key aspects of the Wran Government's   approach, which firmly established a model to reform Labor   governments throughout Australia,

First, they acknowledged that mistakes had been made in the   past - not in the substance of the great reforms which the

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Whitlam Government set out to achieve and did in fact  achieve to a remarkable and enduring extent - but mistakes   in the methods and pace of reform.

This Government in New South Wales demonstrated to all  Australians that Labor was capable of learning from its  mistakes.

Secondly, they demonstrated that, given the right approach,   reform could be achieved even in the face of a hostile   political climate and an unfavourable economic climate. ...

It is too easily forgotten that the first seven years of the   Wran Government coincided with the years of the Fraser   Government, culminating in the worst economic and social   crisis in Australia for fifty years.

And the basis of the approach to reform in New South Wales   was always co-operation - and in particular, co-operation   between business, unions and Government.

And I am always grateful to acknowledge that when, after   March 1983, we were able to set the national agenda for  national reconciliation, national co-operation and national   recovery, the foundation for our approach had been laid in  Australia's largest state.

The national achievement of the past three years - above all   the creation of 670,000 new jobs - could never have been   achieved without New South Wales, without a Labor Government   of New South Wales.

And, delegates, there has been one aspect of the Wran   achievement that can never be stressed too much.

And it becomes even more important as all look ahead.

The ten years since Neville Wran's election have produced,   in our Labor Governments, the most talented and dedicated   leadership in Australia's history.

In the space of a mere decade, a whole new generation of  Labor Parliamentarians has come forward to lead'Labor   Governments, a new generation of Labor men and women who,

collectively and in their separate administrations, in  Sydney, in Melbourne, in Adelaide, in Perth and in Canberra,   form the most talented, the most vigorous and most competent   political leadership this nation has ever had.

And the Wran Government's election ten years ago and its  performance ever since has been a catalyst in helping bring   forward this new generation into the service of our great   party and our great nation.

And that aspect of the Wran achievement takes on an ever   greater significance, not only here in New South Wales, but   for all Australia as we turn to the challenges ahead.

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Delegates, '

We are at a watershed year in the history of our Government,   our party, and our nation.

Our conduct in the challenging weeks and months to come, our  conduct as a Government, as a Party - but, above all, as a  people, the whole Australian community - will be crucial in  shaping Australia's future for the rest of the century and   beyond.

The nature of the task ahead may be different from our task   in the past three years.

But two fundamental things remain absolutely unchanged and   unchangeable.

The first is our supreme objective: the basic objective of our Government and our Party - to build a better,  fairer and   more rewarding future for all Australians and to build a  stronger,  more secure Australia.

And the second thing that remains unalterable is our basic   approach - the achievement of national reconstruction   through national co-operation.

The hallmark of our Government since its election less than   three and a half years ago has been continuity of policy,   consistency of approach and the courage to take tough  decisions vital to the nation's interests and the welfare of

the people.

And those are qualities which stand in such marked contrast   with the actions of our predecessors throughout their seven   disastrous years.

So often, our opponents knew the right thing to do. They   knew the urgent, necessary thing to do. They never had the  courage to do it. They would never front up and take the  tough decisions.

That is why they're in Opposition, that is why they will   stay in Opposition, and that is why they lack any  credibility and why they are without credentials in the eyes   of the Australian people, who know that leadership in times   of national difficulty comes only from Labor.

Delegates,

The Coalition's lack of courage in Government is matched   only by their lack of principle in Opposition.

And I don't believe any aspirant for the highest office in  memory has demonstrated that lack of courage in office and   lack of principle in Opposition as the present incumbent -  Honest John Howard.

As Treasurer,  Howard did the work of looking at the question

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of bringing in foreign banks. He knew it was the right  thing to do - to give the Australian people a more  copetitive banking system. They didn't have the courage to  do it. The same with the de-regulation of the financial

system. The same with the floating of the dollar.

And he certainly knew what was happening to Australia's tax   system.

It was under Howard that tax avoidance and evasion became a  national scandal.and a permanent disgrace to the coalition,  which let it happen. When they had thrown the national   economy into its worst crisis for fifty years, the tax

avoidance industry was the fastest-growing industry in  Australia, as Commissioner Costigan said in his first report   in 1982.

Indeed, by then, with economic growth at zero, it was the  only growth industry in Australia.

Howard knew what had to be done. He moved to do it - and   then buckled under.

He knew that reform of the tax system was urgent. He knew   what was happening. He knew that the average wage earners   were being pushed into the higher marginal tax brackets but   as PAYE taxpayers, they were bearing the burden of tax

avoidance devices available only to the wealthy.

Yet he has opposed and obstructed our tax reforms and, in  particular, the measures which are essential to our  undertaking for significant tax cuts this year.

He now says he would remove the legislation to tax fringe   benefits which of course is just another way of saying that   he is opposed to the tax cuts.

Because, delegates, the tax on fringe benefits cannot be  taken in isolation. It is part of our total package of tax  reform.

But delegates, what did Mr Howard have to say about fringe   benefits in 1985? He invoked his friend, Mr Valder, the  National President of the Liberal Party. Mr Valder had   said: 'of course they are right. Of course Mr Keating is

right to be bringing them in. They have the courage to do   it; it is the right thing to do. We want them to do it and

if, perchance, the Australian people should not see the  merits of this, we will reap the benefit!' He was all-in   favour of it.

And this is what Honest John Howard had to say: 'What Mr Valder said on fringe benefits was not all that different   from what a number of us have said. If you are able to cut   the top marginal rate of personal income tax, then it is

fair in that context, and that context alone, to do  something about fringe benefits.'

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5 - r- - Â·Â»

So that's the Howard record on taxation. But of c o u r s e ,   delegates, his record as Treasurer will never be forgotten   by the Australian p e o p l e .

They will never forget that the Howard years culminated in   Australia's worst economic crisis for fifty y e a r s .

These were the worst of seven bad y e a r s .

D e l e g a t e s ,

Just look at the record: the Fraser y e a r s , the Hawke years;

the Howard y e a r s , the Keating y e a r s .

ECONOMIC GROWTH

Fraser years : annualised growth 2.6% Our years : to March 1985 annualised growth 4.2%

EMPLOYMENT

In the seven Fraser years, 340,000 jobs.

Hawke to April 1986, annualised growth 3.5% per annum.

- 669,400 jobs

Under us, in less than half that time, double the jobs.

INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES

In their y e a r s , the average annual number days lost was 3.02   million.

We have more than halved t h a t , to 1.4 million.

D e l e g a t e s ,

That's the record: That's the contrast.

The Liberal record; The Labor record. Treasurer Howard;   Treasurer Keating.

What a c h o i c e ! What an alternative 1 Yet they now put   forward as their alternative the very policies, the same   approach which produced the disasters of p r e - 1 9 8 3 . .

The economic and social vandalism they espouse would strike ’   at the foundations of all that has been achieved over the   past three y e a r s .

First and last they are the enemies of the Accord - the   Prices and Incomes Accord which, not only through its   machinery and practical application, but, perhaps even m o r e ,   through the spirit of co-operation it r ep re s e n t s , has been

the basis of recovery.

They propose no alternative except a return to the old days

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and to the old ways.

Yet what were the consequences of their approach? Failure   down the line,  even on their own avowed objective of  containing wages.

The wage explosion they produced 1981 led to the worst   unemployment for 50 years.  Average weekly earnings grew at  an average of 11.4 per cent in each of their seven years,  compared with an average of 6 per cent under the Accord. Award wages rose 9.2 per cent, year on year,  compard with

5.4 per cent under the Accord.

And of course those comparisons demonstrate something more   than the success of the Accord and of our approach, and   something more than the plain stupidity of the Liberal   alternative.

They show in a striking way, the degree of restraint which   has been exercised by the union movement and by the parties,   to the Accord, now for three years and more.

It shows how the Labor movement will respond to responsible   leadership.

It shows how the workers of this country are prepared to  sacrifice the shadow of short-term gains to achieve the  substance - to forego the illusion of wage increases which   are destined only to be wiped out almost immediately by new   inflation.

It shows that Australians in employment are prepared to  exercise restraint to help put their fellow Australians back   into employment - and to give their kids a chance for jobs.

And it is on that basis of restraint and responsibility that   we have been able to create 670,000 new jobs in 3 years.

And the two essential elements in that achievement have been   leadership and understanding - leadership for the whole   community, understanding by the whole community. .

It has been achieved through the leadership provided by the  Labor Governments of Australia and the great leadership and   responsibility of the Australian Labor movement.

It has been achieved because the Australian community as a  whole has understood the problems and understood what is at '  stake in solving them.

And now, those qualities - leadership and understanding -  are needed more than ever.

They have been the foundation for the successors of the past   three years. They will be the condition of our success in  the years ahead.

We have shown what can be achieved by this approach - we

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have shown what can be achieved together.

Together,  we won our way out of the worst economic crisis   for 50 years.

Together we created the strongest growing economy in the  industrial west.

Together we created 670,000 new jobs.

Now on the foundations we have laid together, from the .  . . . . .  position of strength we have established, we shall take  Australia and the Australian economy through its present   difficulties.

As a result of the massive decline in the terms of trade, we   have had inflicted on us a reduction in Australia's economic   capcity to sustain standards. No single section of the  community, no one section of the economy, can be asked to

carry the burden alone.

The restraint we now call for is restraint all round. It  must be restraint and responsibility by all sections, by all  governments, by business as well as unions.

And let me emphasise, delegates, that these current  difficulties must be placed in the perspective of the  success and achievements of the past three years.

That is the basis for the confidence we can all have in our  capacity to surmount the problems.

And the most important element in that confidence is the  maturity the Australian community has so amply demonstrated   in those years - the capacity to understand the problems,   the capacity to make a common commitment to their solution,

the capacity to respond to leadership, the capacity for  restraint and responsibility.

And let me emphasise, at this Labor Conference, another   important point - indeed, the fundamental point for us as a  Labor Government, as a Labor Party, and as a Labor movement.

In setting out to achieve, as we have, sustained economic   growth, we have never lost sight of our goals and  objectives.

We have never seen growth as an end in itself, but, always, ’  as the necessary means through which we can achieve our  great social aims in building a better, fairer society.

For us, the creation of jobs has not only been a central   objective of our economic policies, it is central to our  social objectives - our objectives of greater equity, not   only for those able to take part in the productive processes   directly, but for those of our fellow Australians who depend   upon a compassionate society if they are to share equitably

in the fruits of growth.

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And let there be no doubt about the depth and strength of  our continuing commitment to our wider social objectives.

We shall not be diverted from them.

On the contrary, it is precisely to protect the great social   advances of the past three years and to build for further   advance that we are determined to lend all our efforts in  the weeks and months ahead towards the protection of the  Australian economy. .  .

Delegates,

I want to turn briefly to other matters - because it would   be altogether to mistake the nature of our Govenment to  suppose its total pre-occupation was with economic matters,   crucially important as they are.

The Labor Government has restored a proper sense of  independence, self-respect and concerned, constructive   endeavour to the conduct of Australia's foreign policy.

In the time available to me, I will discuss two matters   which illustrate our achievement and our approach.

It is appropriate that, at the end of a week in which the  Foreign Minister, Bill Hayden,introduced into Parliament   legislation designed to give effect to Australia's   obligations as a party to the South Pacific Nuclear Free  Free Zone Treaty, I should refer to the Labor Government's   policies on nuclear issues.

That Treaty itself is one of our major initiatives and  achievements. Under it, Australian associates itself with   the common aspirations of South Pacific countries to prevent   the testing, acquisition, production and stationing of  nuclear weapons and the dumping of nuclear waste in our

region. Our aim now is to achieve the support of the five   nuclear weapons states for this significant arms control   measure which will strengthen security in the South Pacific.

The long-term objective of Labor policies is a world without   nuclear weapons. At present, however, in a world where such   weapons exist, the main concern must be the avoidance of  nuclear war. We are firmly of the view that a stable

deterrent relationship between the United States and the  Soviet Union is the best means currently available of  ensuring nuclear restraint and of providing the necessary   confidence to engage in negotiations to reduce, and  eventually eliminate, the nuclear arsenals. The Government   believes that Australia has an important contribution to  make to the achievement of these objectives. That

contribution is evident in our support for effective stable   deterrence through our hosting of the joint facilities, our   port access policy and other arrangements and in our active   arms control and disarmament policy.

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Our commitment to encouraging effective arms control derives   from the catastrophic potential of war in the nuclear age  and our firm belief that the nuclear weapon states do not   have the exclusive right to determine issues relevant to  arms control and international security. Every nation has

the right and responsibility to be heard on these issues and   the Australian Government is determined to continue to  exercise the right to the full.

The Government has maintained a close and constructive   dialogue with the United States on arms control issues. IÂ·  recently wrote to President Reagan to express Australia's   concern at the announcement by the U.S. Administration of

its intention to breach the arms limitations set out in the   SALT II Treaty.

We attach great importance to compliance with the terms of  the SALT II Treaty by both the United States and the Soviet   Union. Its numerical limits provide an important measure of  predictability as to the strategic nuclear balance. Despite

its imperfections, the existing arms control regime is the  only available basis from which to proceed, if agreements   for significant reductions in the arsenals of the

super-powers are to be negotiated.

Moreover, whatever the basis in fact, the Government sees a  risk of a perception developing in Australia, as a result of   the U.S. decision, that it is Washington rather than Moscow   which is taking the initiative to break out of existing

agreed constraints.

We understand United States concerns about Soviet  compliance. Indeed I had earlier written to General  Secretary Gorbachev, informing him of Australia's view that   the Soviet Union has a case to answer on specific issues of  compliance and urging the USSR in the strongest terms to  demonstrate full compliance with existing agreements and, if  necessary, to go out of its way to do so.

But for the reasons I have outlined above, we would be very   concerned if the United States goes ahead to allow its  forces to exceed the SALT II limits and future decisions   regarding United States strategic forces were made without

reference to the SALT constraints.

Our nuclear policies also attach the highest importance to  the major nuclear arms control treaty in existence, the  Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and its system of  verification, including International Atomic Energy Agency

safeguards.

In a letter to Mr Gorbachev of 13 May, I drew attention to  Australian proposals for international action on nuclear  safety in the wake of the Chernobyl tragedy. These  proposals were essentially for an interim early warning

mechanism, an international convention on information  exchange and mutual assistance in the event of nuclear  incidents, and international efforts to improve nuclear  safety standards.

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On 4 June,  I received a message from the General Secretary   which endorsed in broad terms the Australian proposals   which, in the meantime, had also been the subject of  discussion by the IAEA Board of Governors.

A special meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors on 21 May,  convened to discuss international nuclear safety, adopted a  decision compatible with the main elements of the approach   Australia is promoting.

It is encouraging that the Soviet Union is now playing a.,  constructive role on this issue.

I contrast our record of achievement on these issues with  that of our opponents who, among other things, have  denounced the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone, uncritically  endorsed and promised Australian participation in the

Strategic Defence Initiative and, when last in Government,  broke off all sensible communication with the USSR.

I would also like to refer to the Government's policies on  South Africa, an issue of great importance to our Party and  our country.

The Australian Labor Party will not compromise with  institutionalised racism. We will not take the role of  passive spectators, while a monstrously immoral system is  imposed by an armed and ruthless state apparatus on a

largely defenceless black majority, which continues to be  denied the most elementary human rights.

Make no mistake, the violence which grows worse daily in  South Africa is a direct consequence of the apartheid  system.

The only hope now for a peaceful solution to the problems of  South Africa is for the regime to indicate by actions, not  cleverly calculated, deliberately ambiguous words, that it  is genuinely prepared to dismantle the apartheid system and  to negotiate honestly with the black opposition.

To date, there is absolutely no sign of this. What we have  had, at one level, is a series of so-called reforms which  are clearly designed to delude world opinion that something  significant is occurring while in practice doing nothing to

change the essence of the inhuman apartheid system. At the  other level, we have had the use of naked violence and  police repression against blacks, and those few principled  whites who dare protest against the system and, three weeks

ago, the violation of the sovereignty and territorial  integrity of South Africa'a neighbours by totally  unjustified armed force.

Pretoria has most recently made another outragous attack  outside its borders, this time on Angola, is now planning  stringent measures to prohibit or deal with any  demonstration commemorating the tenth anniversary of the  deaths in Soweto on June 16 and is making irrational, false  attacks on the African National Congress.

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The regime's refusal to permit freedom of expression and   assembly to blacks and liberal whites stands in stark   contrast to its tolerance of the emergent Afrikaner Fascist   movement.

The Labor Government can take pride in the position it has   taken on South Africa. We have toughened the measures taken   by previous Australian Governments.  We have indicated that   we will support comprehensive mandatory economic sanctions

if the world community decides to apply them. We were among   the first to introduce economic measures of our own against   South Africa.

But we have not seen sanctions as an end in themselves.

As Bill Hayden has said,  we have sought to bring the South   African Government to its senses not to its knees.  At the   Commonwealth meeting at Nassau,  it was an Australian   initiative to set up the Eminent Persons Group, whose task   was to find a way to bring the South Africa regime and the

opposition together, to negotiate the end of apartheid   peacefully.

In launching this initiative, we had no illusions about the   difficulty of the task because we knew the nature of the   Botha regime.  We were also aware of the suspicions which   black nationalists in South Africa would naturally feel

about a process which was open to misunderstanding.

In fact,  the Group has performed its task with great   integrity, energy and skill. It succeeded in winning the   confidence of South Africa's black opposition and of the   front-line States.  It established its credibility

internationally and created hope for peaceful change.

I therefore deeply regret that as a result of South African  intransigence the efforts of the Commomwealth Group to  encourage negotiations have failed. In its own words  in a message sent to myself and other Commonwealth leaders,   the Group has made the reluctant but unequivocal judgement  that further talks would not lead anywhere in the .current  circumstances.

The EPG represented a determined effort by the Commonwealth  to seek a basis for peaceful negotiation. The initiative  also represented a conscious decision to test the South  African Government's willingness to pursue genuine change

and to offer it an option other than South Africa being ’  relegated even more to international isolation and 1   opprobrium.

The EPG had discussions with the South African Government  and with all other groups which must be involved in a  solution.  The negotiating concept produced by the EPG was  fair and reasonable.  The South African Government responded  not by indicating support for the concept, but by raising  critical questions about central elements of it.

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In these circumstances it is impossible to avoid the  conclusion that South Africa's response was motivated not by   a genuine commitment to negotiation but rather a desire to  string the exercise out for purely tactical purposes.

It gives us no joy whatsoever to reach the conclusion that   South Africa is basically unwilling to change its internal   or external behaviour. Australian interests,  the interests   of the international community and the interests of all

South Africans would have been served by South Africa .  responding to the EPG initiative to accomplish a real change   of course.

It is still our hope that the South Africa regime will  release unconditionally Nelson Mandela and all other  political prisoners; legalise the African National Congress   and give it and all other political groups the right to  normal political activity; remove the troops from the  African townships,  and negotiate the end of apartheid   without pre-conditions.

But the Labor Government must face the situation as it is.

Accordingly, unless there is dramatic change in the two  months remaining before Heads of Government of EPG countries   meet in London in early August, I expect to be taking into   that meeting the view that additional measures are

necessary. Cabinet will in due course be considering   concrete steps that Australia could take in this regard.

To those who argue against sanctions that they will  allegedly hurt the black community most, I say that I prefer   to believe black South African patriots like Desmond Tutu   when they say that the black community could not suffer more

than it already does under the apartheid system.

The Labor Government has been at the fore-front of the South   African issue. We will continue to be at the fore-front.

Our position on this once again stands in the starkest   contrast to that of our opponents.  Our party has every   reason to reject the divisive, unjust and failed policies of  the 1975-83 era.  But on the issues of South Africa and

racism, Malcolm Fraser's credentials, in Government and  since, are impeccable.  It is a disgraceful indictment of  his successors - first Peacock and even more obviously   Howard - that they have overturned, almost gleefully, one of

the few legacies of integrity of these seven years.

CONCLUSION

Delegates, my friends,

Exactly a year ago, at this conference, I said I had come to  bring a three-fold message.

It was first a message of pride - pride in what we had been   able to achieve together.

It was a message with a challenge - the continuing challenge  of building a society and an economy of greater equity and  efficiency.

It was above all a message of confidence - confidence in the  capacity of our party, our movement, our Government and our  people to meet the challenge.

And my message today is exactly the same: the sense of pride, the acceptance of challenge, the deep confidence..

We have shown over the past three yeas what we can do  together.

We have shown as an Australian community that we can beat  the rest of the world. I believe that with a continuation  of the responses and the approach, which made that  achievement possible, this Party, this Government, and this  great people of Australia will prove worthy of the  challenge.

Given that response,  we can continue the reconstruction  which is the basis for continued growth.

We can continue to create more jobs for Australians.

We can continue to give greater hope to our young.

We can continue to give greater real benefits to those in  our community who depend, through the social welfare system,  on the sense of fairness and justice of the community as a  whole.

Delegates,

I thank you for your contribution since the beginning of  1983 to help your national Labor Government deliver the  goods in a way that was never believed possible by the  sceptics. And I know that in the weeks and the months and

the years of challenge ahead of us, you will play your part,  at the very forefront of the nation, in the common effort we  must all make together,  as once again Labor takes up its  historic task, as we have done in peace and war, to lead

this great nation to an even greater future.

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