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PRIME MINISTER

FOR MEDIA SUNDAY, 10 MAY, 1981

ELECTORATE TALK

Over the last two weeks the Government has taken a number of " - Â·  — decisions designed to set Australia firmly on course for the 19.8 0s and beyond. These decisions relate to the Review of Commonwealth Functions, the new health arrangements, and

the new financial arrangements- with the States determined at the Premiers' Conference last Monday.

The Government is determined that Australia not go the way of  other countries whose prosperity and future have been undermined  by ever-growing bureaucracy and ever higher taxes.

We are at a very important stage of Australia's development.  Australia is a country with great prospects - provided we take  wise and responsible decisions now. This is a time when we  must establish the framework for the economic growth and  development on which Australia's future depends.

Our aim is to see that Australia has a high rate of economic .

growth - which will provide rising standards of living through  higher incomes. We aim to achieve growth through lower inflation  and greatly, expanded job opportunities. This growth will provide  increasing resources to support improved assistance to those in  need, to education, to the arts, to health, to the environment.

It is the pre-condition for so many other of our objectives.

Australia can only achieve these goals if Government is modernised  and streamlined and made more efficient; if bureaucracy and  over-regulation are reduced and if the tax burden can be lightened.  They can only be achieved if we realise as a people that there

is not a limitless supply of money to do. all that we want, all  at once, that we must establish priorities and direct our resources  to the most important needs of the time.

To achieve these objectives it is vitally important that Government  does not take too many of the scarce financial resources which  private enterprise needs in order to develop and create the jobs  we all want to see. By exercising responsible restraint over

Government spending, we free money for other needs of greater  priority. And by rationalising Government functions we open up  new opportunities.

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I mention particularly here our decision to establish a new  institute for energy research which I announced as part of the  Review of Commonwealth Functions.  Energy is a top national  priority for the Government, and a new institute will make a  major contribution.

Our new health arrangements also reflect the philosophy that  Government should concentrate its help on those who really  need help. We do not believe that taxpayers' money should be

used to pay unnecessary subsidies to the well-to-do. Labor's " health scheme proved far too costly, it created unnecessary  centralisation in the administration of health care, and it undermined  the effective provision of medical services. We do not believe

in undermining individual responsibility by centralised f bureaucracy, nor do we believe in schemes which must be paid for'"   by higher taxes, disbursed by officials, rather than by individuals  who know their own needs best.

We believe that where the user" can afford to pay, the user should  pay - and have the influence that comes from paying. We reject  the assumption that Canberra knows best, that officials know best,  and that it is Government, not individuals, who should control

the payment of doctors and hospitals. Our scheme is designed to  encourage a system of voluntary insurance. We are confident  that this scheme will improve the efficiency of our health system  and its responsiveness to individual needs.

If taxes are to be reduced to the greatest extent possible, this  is not a matter for the Federal Government alone. If inflation  is to be reduced to the maximum extent possible, the Federal  Government alone cannot achieve this. Federal Government policies  can provide the conditions for success or lead to failure in the  achievements of these objectives, but their full realisation  depends also on the co-operation of the States and of individuals  around Australia.

At the Premiers' Conference we took the view that the greatest  possible restraint should be followed in the interests of  Australia's taxpayers. The States and local Government are the  final spenders of just over 50% of the tax dollars collected

in Australia. Reducing the tax burden, achieving higher economic  growth, more jobs, and lower inflation requires a high degree of  restraint and forward thinking on the part of all Governments. The Victorian Government has recently established a Ministerial

group of a kind similar to our own Review of Commonwealth Functions  to examine State spending and activities. I know that all  Victorians will welcome this initiative. Likewise the South  Australian Government has established a deregulation unit in

the Premiers' Department. It is very encouraging that other States  are also planning for the future.

The real question is for the Commonwealth and States together to establish the conditions under which there can be a responsible  lightening of the tax burden in Australia as economic growth

picks up. The Commonwealth's policies of restraint and forward  thinking have already set us firmly on that course.

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From the first of July this year the indexation tax cut as  a consequence of our election commitment will give to Australia's  taxpayers some $500 million that would otherwise be absorbed  by Government. The new health arrangements provide for a tax

rebate to those who take out private insurance.  The costs of  these rebates to the Government's revenue will be of a similar  order to that of half tax indexation. These tax concessions .   are possible only because of the policies which the Government  has followed.

The maintenance of these policies over the next few years will  make possible a further lightening of the burden of taxation  in Australia, a further reduction in the size of Government, and  a considerable increase in Australia's economic strength and .  ;C

prosperity. The decisions of the last few weeks have set Australia,  firmly on course to a strong and healthy society. They will help  to secure to Australia a place in the world that we all wish '   her to have.

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