EMBARGO: 7.00 p.m.

PRIM E MINISTER

FOR PRESS 6 NOVEMBER 1977

ELECTORATE TALK

The figures just released by the Commonwealth Employment Service  show that tens of thousands of Australians were put out of  work by the. Victorian power strike. Jobs were lost because  strikes and other disruptive action sent companies bankrupt,

and unable to keep producing.

A  handful of union leaders created conditions that led to  social and economic dislocation throughout Australia.

The most damaging strikes in recent months have been designed  to break wage indexation guidelines, flout the authority of  the Arbitration Commission, and boost the inflationary wage spiral.  The power strike in Victoria was a classic example of this tactic.

More than 450,000 people were laid off in Victoria and other  States, and as the latest unemployment figures show, 37,000  are still registered as unemployed as a direct result of that strike.  Strikes in other areas - the Builders Labourers Federation in  Victoria, Norwich Park, and the Queensland Meat Workers strike -

also caused dislocation and unemployment.

This attempt by some extremist union officials, in a few key unions,  to attack our system of arbitration will be resisted by your  government. We will not wash our hands of this kind of behaviour,  as the Leader of the Opposition does. It is Mr .Whitlam who '

refuses point blank to condemn these extremists in their, attempts  to deny thousands of Australians the right to work. The reason is clear. Those extremists all run unions that are  .affiliated with the Labor Party - unions Â·-ihoSe delegates vote on

Labor Party policy which is binding,--.on all Labor parliamentarians.  They are the so-called industrial wing of Mr Whitlam's own Party. Yet as leader, will he take the responsible course and repudiate  their tactics? No, he remains silent.

My Government has not stood by idly. We have acted firmly and  fairly. We have passed laws that make sure the public interest  is more easily protected in times of industrial disruption, and  that give rank and file unionists a greater say in how their own  union is run.

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Last year we passed laws for secret postal ballots for union  elections. Our. Industrial Relations Bureau is now working to  make sure that the law is observed. We have provided  for breaches.of industrial law, and we have created the conditions  where - for the first time - effective action can be taken under

the Conciliation and Arbitration Act to deal with demarcation ^ disputes. We have also established the circumstances in which " trade unions must report to their own members about their financial  affairs.

What did'the men of the Labor Party - the self-styled guardians  of the. working man - do when we introduced our industrial legislation!  They condemned, it, they opposed it, they tried to stop it  becoming law. They were running scared behind their so-called

industrial wing. The Labor Party h a s .condemned every piece of > industrial legislation we have introduced. They have opposed ” secret ballots which are designed to give union members a real  say in the running of their union. They opposed legislation which  will protect the right to work. They opposed it - not because

they thought it would not work - but because it is official  Labor Party policy to place trade unions above the law. Mr Whitlam is bound by that policy. When Mr Hayden or even  Mr Uren.-takes over, they will be bound by that policy.

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And that is why, a year ago Mr Whitlam defended political  strikes by trade unions. That is why a few days ago he refused  to say what a Labor government would do if a union refused to  accept an/Arbitration- .^Commission decision. He claimed that no  government e ^ r ~  sodved "an industrial dispute. That is nonsense -  and he knows it.

It was the Commonwealth Government that brought the crippling  air controllers strike to an end, and. that ended the ,

postal dispute at Redfern. It was the strong stand of both the  Victorian and Commonwealth Governments that led to the ending  of the Victorian power dispute. The Western Australian Government

has recently ended a damaging dispute in that State.

Labor failed to control the extremist unions when it was in  government. Given another chance, it would still surrender. Mr Whitlam claims concern for the unemployed, Yet he was the  man who has refused to disown the extraordinary statement of his ,  Shadow.Minister for Industrial Relations, when he publicly  supported.the 2,000 Victorian power workers who held the State  to_ ransom^.. andT"caused massive "additional unemployment".

Mr Whitlam rs record- shows "he "knows nothing about creating ~  jobs i. - * His government produced a record rise in unemployment - 157% in one year. He'll never get a chance to do that again. because I don't believe Australians will ever again want him

in a position of authority. # Â·

