Five years ago we committed Australia to a new sense of direction and national purpose We have fulfilled that commitment. Five years ago we pledged ourselves to recharge the nation's capacity. We have fulfilled that pledge. And let us never forget that five years ago the confidence and optimism of Australians had been shattered. Today, a new spirit, a new enthusiasm, a new dynamism, is at work in Australia. In an often troubled and dangerous world, here we are at the gateway of a new decade much better placed than many overseas countries.  - A new confidence is alive in Australia's men and women.  - Our financial position is the envy of many industrialised countries.  - Business expectations are high.  - The optimism of overseas investors has been restored.  - Manufacturing exports are growing strongly.  - Last year rural exports were the highest for the decade.  - Last year, our balance of trade was the best result for the decade.  - This year we achieved the best employment growth for ten years.  - And under the Fraser-Anthony Government, Australia has won a respected place in world affairs.  And while achieving all this, we have enhanced the dignity and self-esteem of those in need. Australia is the best place in the world to bring up a family. And we are going to keep it that way. But what has taken us five years to build can easily be destroyed. Do we want our dreams of the future to be turned into another Labor nightmare? Can we trust our hard-won victories to the Labor Party?  CHALLENGES.  Tonight, I want to talk to you about the challenges and opportunities that lie before us.  First, we must maintain responsibility in economic affairs because, without that, all else fails. Second, we must harness this nation's resources in a co-ordinated and responsible programme of national development. Third, we must see that from the prosperity we generate, we provide adequately for those in need. Fourth, as individuals and as a nation, we must encourage ability and cultivate excellence. And finally, in a world where there is conflict, division and illusion, we must guide Australia safely through the difficulties and the dangers.  FIRST CHALLENGE: RESPONSIBLE ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT.  The first challenge facing Government in the 80s is the pursuit of responsible economic management. Responsible economic management may sometimes sound far-away from our everyday lives. But responsible economic management has brought our inflation rate to:  - much less than it was in 1975.  - much less than the inflation rate of Britain.  - below that of the United States.  - and below the average of advanced industrialised countries.  But there is more to be done. Continued economic responsibility demands restraint in Government expenditure. And last year, we achieved the largest ever recorded reduction in the Budget deficit - $1.5 billion. And now, this financial year, the domestic deficit will be wiped out altogether.  TAXATION.  We earlier committed ourselves to reform the tax scales. We have fulfilled that commitment absolutely.  Under the Hayden/Labor scales:  - from $7.000, you paid 35 cents in the dollar.  - from $10,000 you paid 45 cents in the dollar.  - from $15,000 you paid 55 cents in the dollar.  Under our scales, you are on the standard rate of 32 cents in the dollar, right up to $17.239. And on the first of July this year, taxes were cut by over $600 million - of particular benefit to single income families. Under our present policy of half tax indexation there will be a further tax cut of around $ 500 million from July the first next year. Of course, we would have preferred to go further. But any tax cut purchased at the cost of higher inflation would be no tax cut at all And we will continue to fight inflation.  No wonder British investors recently said that their confidence in the Australian economy was "Conditional upon the continuation of a Liberal Government." And we plan to keep it that way.  SECOND CHALLENGE: DEVELOPMENT.  And so I come to the second challenge - the need for a broad based and responsible programme of national development. In my Policy Speech in 1977, I said Australia could look forward to $6000 million of development. Some amazement was expressed at this even disbelief. Because the Labor Party had stopped development dead in its tracks  Yet in the two years after that, more than $6000 million was invested in mining and manufacturing. And now, prospective investment is $29000 million. This development promises to be as important to Australia and individual Australians as anything in the last 35 years. Already, new aluminium smelters and mines are being established in Australia along with the associated new towns, railways, roads and port facilities. The benefits of this will be felt nation-wide. We are not talking about development just for development's sake. We are talking about development because of what it means to people:  - and it means jobs, prosperity and security for Australian working men and women.  To achieve all this, we have had to trim our sails once or twice. For the world is a harsher place than anyone expected five years ago. But responsible management means placing Australia first; not once, or twice, but always.  UNIONS.  Placing Australia first is the responsibility of management, labour and trade unions just as much as it is of Government. Responsibility to Australia means:  - achieving greater rank and file influence within unions and  - giving rank and file trade unionists, confronted with the demand to join a strike, the option of a secret ballot.  But, above all, it means:  - rejection of 35 hour weeks.  - rejection of unrealistic wage claims, and  - rejection of extremist union leaders.  And that rejection is the duty of us all. Let me give you another measure of what is happening in Australia. The increase in electricity generation through the 80s will be almost equal to that which occurred over the last thirty years. We are going to do in ten years what previous generations took thirty years to accomplish. Modern new industries are coming on stream with modern plant and equipment involving the most advanced technology. These new developments will give Australia in the 80s a much stronger international base. New markets are opening up for Australian industries. None of this has happened by accident.  We have introduced:  - firm anti-inflationary policies.  - policies which encourage and support new Australian initiatives.  - policies which reflect a responsible and reasonable attitude to overseas investment, and  - policies which protect the Australian environment. What is happening is the result of our policies.  PARITY PRICING.  And our oil parity pricing policy is an important part of the overall plan. We want Australia to be as energy self-sufficient as possible in future years. We do not want Australia to be a beggar for fuel on the international market. We want to attract investment in alternatives to oil. And we are succeeding. The giant Rundle shale oil project in Queensland is likely to be the largest ever undertaken in Australia, and one of the largest in the world. That would not have occurred without parity pricing.  We are not just concerned for next year or the year after. We are building Australia for the next decade and beyond. To do otherwise, would be a betrayal of you and your children. Against the dangers and the difficulties of the current war in Iran and Iraq, does anyone dare tell us that we should alter our policies?  OIL REVENUE.  It is fair enough to ask where the oil revenues are going. Every cent is being returned to Australians.  For example, this year:  - more than $600 million in tax cuts.  - more than $500 million on defence, and  - over $460 million to further reduce the Budget deficit.  The growth and confidence in Australian industry is broad based. Industries generally are looking to the future, encouraged by incentives for investment, for innovation, for research, and for export. These policies will continue.  SMALL BUSINESS.  The tax laws will be altered again to make it easier for small businesses to build up their reserves.  TOURISM.  We will provide additional incentives for the tourist industry; amongst these, many of our airports are being remodelled and rebuilt. We have built on our programmes for Tasmania; and with New Zealand approval, the Hobart to Christchurch air link will soon begin. And we have decided to proceed with the Alice Springs-Darwin railway.  FARMERS.  Five years ago, it was an unhappy business travelling around the Australian countryside Many farmers were bankrupt, prices had collapsed. Farmers did not know whether to encourage their sons to stay on the land, or to desert their farms. Now, all that has changed. Our rural industries are doing much better. Our fight against inflation; our policies in support of rural industries; our effective trade offensive overseas; these have played a major role in rural recovery. We understand rural industries. We assist them through troubled years and variable prices. And new initiatives will be taken in the coming Parliament.  DROUGHT.  I know that, as I speak tonight, there is severe drought in many parts of Australia. We will continue to co-operate with the States to see if there is more we can do to assist.  LABOR TAXES.  Would anyone exchange our programmes of assistance for the threat of Labor's death duties? Would anyone exchange our current industrial and rural strength for the certainty of Labor's wealth tax? Would anyone trade their present position for the policies of the Whitlam years and the introduction of a capital gains tax?  EMPLOYMENT.  As a result of rural recovery, last year, for the first time in 30 years, farm employment grew. Indeed, in the 12 months to August this year, total employment in Australia grew by over 200000. What are the Labor Party doing? They are promising to provide half that number of jobs - but they are going to charge you a thousand million dollars to do it  Our dedication to strengthening the economy is the only way to create more jobs. I know it is difficult for some people who leave school. Some move smoothly into a job; others have difficulty. Because of this, we have established a range of manpower and training programmes to improve the skills, the versatility and the mobility of those looking for work. These programmes will benefit this year more than 236000 Australians. And last year, the number of apprentices in training was an all-time record of 136000.  We will do more by extending counselling services and introducing a new allowance providing much greater encouragement to the young unemployed to take advantage of new and expanded training opportunities.  LABOR.  I am not going to say much about the Labor Party tonight. Mostly, they speak for themselves. Their essential policy is a massive programme of additional spending. In only six areas they promise to spend an additional $2500 million of taxpayers' money. These programmes have been costed by Government Departments, and by the Department of Finance. The figure of $2500 million is a figure that would have to go into any Labor Budget. If this amount were to be paid out of taxes, it would represent an average of over $8 a week - more than $400 a year - for every Australian taxpayer. Are Labor's policies worth that to you? Would you allow any of Labor's three leaders to spend your money in this way? And they have the nerve to suggest that they could lower taxes.  But there are more than 250 other programmes to which the Labor Party is committed and which have not been costed. Well, I say to Bill Hayden and the Labor Party stand up and be costed. Stand up and tell us that these promises would be funded through higher taxation or by printing money. Stand up and tell us that these measures will fuel inflation, promote unemployment, and kill off economic growth. Labor in the 80s is merely the Whitlam years recycled. There is not a word in what Labor say or do, that will encourage investment, promote growth, increase productivity or contain the unions. And they try to kid people that they are raising the standards. The Fraser-Anthony Government is the only option for the 80s. It is only Liberal-National Country Party Government that can provide sustainable economic growth.  THIRD CHALLENGE: FAMILIES.  Only economic growth enables us to meet our third challenge - the provision of assistance to those in need. It is our belief that the strength of Australia depends upon the strength of Australian families. That is why we are spending almost one billion dollars a year on family allowances. That is why we have increased the tax rebate for single income families. Our programmes of family support will continue:  - we will establish crisis accommodation for families in distress.  - we will initiate a new building programme for homeless persons to help, in particular, homeless youths.  And, with the States and voluntary organisations, we will establish a national children's foundation to help tackle the problems of child abuse.  HOUSING.  In 1977, we introduced a new and improved Homes Savings Grants Scheme.  Now, we are going to lift the home value limits up to a maximum of $ 70000. And, for an eligible family with children, the maximum grant will be increased to $3000.  EDUCATION.  Our progress as a nation can be no faster than our progress in education.  We will continue our extensive support for education with increased emphasis on vocational and technical training. We will provide increased capital and recurrent funds to non-government schools. And we will provide further assistance to isolated children.  AGED AND HANDICAPPED.  A measure of our compassion as a society is the extent to which we provide for dignity in old age, and for the realisation of the potential of handicapped people.  The Government meets these objectives in many ways. For example, over the next three years, we will fund over 800 projects for the aged, the disabled and our senior citizens.  MIGRANTS.  Our commitment to migrants will continue. Post-arrival services for new citizens have been greatly expanded. Ethnic television is being introduced. And we will provide support for ethnic community schools with an open admissions policy.  ABORIGINALS.  Our policies for Aboriginal people are designed to assist them to achieve a greater management and determination of their own affairs. We have established the Aboriginal Development Commission whose responsibility will be widened to include the disbursement of Commonwealth funds for Aboriginal housing. And we will work with the States to improve the environmental health of Aboriginals.  DRUGS.  One of the great issues confronting modern society is the drug problem. We are. working actively with the States to combat the damage and danger of drugs, especially in relation to young people.  WELFARE SUMMARY.  These and many other initiatives represent a proud record of compassion and concern. They demonstrate our determination to see that all Australians receive the opportunity to share in the nation's increasing resources.  FOURTH CHALLENGE: EXCELLENCE.  An important and often ignored challenge facing us all is the pursuit of excellence.  For a continuing feature of our national development is the rich, artistic and cultural talent which complements our national character The world of film, science, literature, theatre, opera, dance and sport has produced great Australians. Australia's record at home and abroad is a catalogue of excellence That excellence will be fostered. We have provided greatly increased funds for medical research and, with the Government of Victoria, we will rebuild the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. We have increased funds for marine research in Townsville. We will fully fund the rebuilding, in Sydney, of the National Institute of Dramatic Art and the Australian Film and Television School.  Australian film-makers and actors are winning international acclaim. We will provide special and additional incentives to induce further investment in the film industry. And we will make funds available for the support of Research Centres of Excellence in Australia's universities. We have established a National Sports Institute in Canberra. And we will develop international standard sports facilities in the States and the Territories.  The Government will continue to support Australians of ability; to allow them, with their imagination and their capacities, to advance Australia.  FINAL CHALLENGE: NATIONAL SECURITY.  But finally, over-riding all these considerations, is the challenge to safeguard our national security. We must lead Australia safely through a world of increasing tension and difficulty; an increasingly dangerous world, a world of Afghanistan, Kampuchea, Iran and Iraq. That is why:  - we must contribute to the strength of the western alliance.  - we must co-operate and consult within our region.]  - we must seize the opportunities provided by membership of the Commonwealth, and  - we must strengthen our links with other middle-sized powers, all of whom have an important role to play. That is why we are expanding our defence forces. That is why we are building up our reserves.  But the defence of Australia is more than men and destroyers; patrol boats and tactical fighters. The defence of Australia is the courage to speak up for Australia. We are only 14 million people on a large continent. That is why we need to cooperate with our friends and allies. We are revitalising the 5-power defence treaty with Singapore. Malaysia, New Zealand and Britain. We have contributed:  - to the settlement of racial problems in Zimbabwe.  - to the establishment now, on a permanent basis of a new regional grouping of the Commonwealth.  - to a new sense of concern and participation in the Pacific region.  - to a new phase of co-operation with ASEAN.  And there is closer co-operation with the United States today than there has been for a long time. With the world as it is. we need that co-operation. The last five years have seen a progressive strengthening of Australia's place in the world. Is this the time to be lukewarm to the cause of freedom? Is this the time to be uncritical of socialism or communism? This is the time for responsibility, not apology. This is the time for commitment, not compromise.  CONCLUSION.  Undeniably, the challenges we face together are great; but our potential as a nation is even greater. We are entitled to be confident of our capacity to march through the decade ahead at a better pace than almost any other nation. We are entitled to be  optimistic about our future. A future in which Liberal Government will seek power and authority, not for its own ends, but for the service of all Australian people, their freedom and their dignity. This is the future I seek for all Australians. Let us work together to achieve it. Above all, let us be proud of our country; where it stands in the world; what it means to the world. We owe this much to the Australian men and women who have given:  - their talents and their dedication.  - their courage and their hard work.  - even their lives, for almost 200 years to bring us the Australia we now enjoy.  Let us be enthusiastic about the tasks ahead. Let us communicate this enthusiasm to one another. Let us unite in a full-blooded commitment to a progressive, free and independent Australia.  GOVERNMENT IN ACTION.  GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES SINCE JULY 1980.  INCLUDING: THE 1980/81 BUDGET AND THE LIBERAL PARTY POLICY SPEECH 1980.  A summary attachment to be read in conjunction with the Policy Speech of the Prime Minister. The Rt. Hon. Malcolm Fraser, CH, MP, Melbourne, 30 September 1980.  RESPONSIBLE ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT.  Only in a thriving economy with government spending, taxes and inflation kept down can private enterprise generate the wealth which alone can create real jobs and lasting security for all Australians and their families. Since July 1980 the Government has implemented or announced:  - a reduction in the overall Budget deficit of 23 % in 1980/81.  - a domestic Budget surplus of about $39m. for 1980/81.  - 50 % tax indexation from 1 July 1980.  - an increase in the dependent spouse rebate to $800 from 1 July 1980.  - a rise in the sole parent rebate to $559.  - an 11 % increase in payments to the States, NT and local government.  - an increase in local government tax sharing entitlements of 36% to $302m (2 % of personal income tax collections).  - an inquiry into zone allowances.  - further legislation to tighten up on tax avoidance.  - an increase in interest rates payable on IEDs from 5% to 7 %.  Building on these initiatives, in the Policy Speech the Government has announced:  • Under our present policy of half tax indexation there will be a further tax cut of around $ 500 million from 1 July next year.  Industrial Relations.  Since July 1980 the Government has implemented or announced:  - the extension of secret ballot provisions to enable individual employees to apply for a secret ballot to express their views on strike action.  - legislation to facilitate the amalgamation of unions where there is "a community of interest".  - a joint Commonwealth/State review of the arbitration system.  Employment and Youth Affairs.  Since July 1980 the Government has implemented or announced:  - a 22% boost to manpower, training and youth support programmes.  - increased funds for training programmes to assist 236,000 people.  - continued funding of the School-to-Work Transition programme.  - a Commonwealth Work Experience Programme for secondary school students.  - new initiatives for trade training.  - a 34% increase in the Australian Public Service intake of apprentices in 1980/81.  - extra support for the Occupational Information Programme.  - a campaign for work and training opportunities for disabled people in support of the International Year of the Disabled.  - International Youth Exchange Programme with South Pacific countries.  - a $500,000 programme of assistance to youth organisations.  Building on these initiatives, in the Policy Speech the Government has announced:  - a transition allowance to encourage young people to undertake fulltime training; a higher subsidy for young unemployed for training under SYETP; development of special counselling services for young unemployed ($25 million in a full year).  - expansion of the Australian Volunteers Abroad Programme.  HARNESSING OUR RESOURCES.  A balanced programme that develops our resources - minerals, energy reserves and farmlands - will not only create the maximum opportunities for Australians now, but will also conserve those resources and our environment for the future.  National Development and Energy.  Since July 1980 the Government has implemented or announced:  - a 50% increase in funding for alternative energy research.  - a $52m increase in the petroleum products freight subsidy to assist rural areas.  - commitment to funding construction of the Burdekin Dam in Queensland.  Building on these initiatives, in the Policy Speech the Government has announced:  - taxation concessions to encourage the storage of liquid fuel ($10 million in 1981/82).  - the extension of the $ 80 per tonne LPG subsidy for household use to traditional users in decentralised industries ($8-10 million per year).  - that it will encourage the States to give special assistance to local government authorities in remote areas which generate electricity from diesel fuel.  - $3 million for the States in 1981/82 for soil conservation purposes.  - additional funds through the Commonwealth Extension Services Grants Scheme to improve access to information on fuel saving technology and equipment.  Industry and Commerce.  Since July 1980 the Government has implemented or announced:  - a 27% increase in Government assistance to manufacturing industry.  - a 20% loading to existing depreciation rates for plant.  - a 55% increase in industrial research and development funding.  - increased funds for export assistance.  - self-employed superannuation up to $1,200 per annum to be tax deductible.  - legislation to protect licensee and lessee petrol retailers.  - a PJT Inquiry into petrol product prices.  - a commitment to protecting jobs in textiles, clothing and footwear industries and a new programme of assistance including bounties, duties, quotas and tariffs.  - a National Tourism Outlook Conference to be held in 1981.  Building on these initiatives, in the Policy Speech the Government has announced:  - extension of the private company retention allowance during the life of the next Parliament.  - removal of the present specific exclusion from the investment allowance of plant for use in connection with amusement or recreation ($5 million).  Primary Industry.  In the Policy Speech the Government has announced:  - tax concessions for capital costs involved in connecting mains electricity in rural and remote areas ($5 million).  - three year funding of the Primary Industry Bank's operations.  - tax concessions to compensate for the cost of private electricity generation in country areas (up to $5 million).  - special depreciation allowance for new machinery used in agricultural, pastoral and forestry operations - also to apply to the purchase of new vessels in the fishing industry ($ 7 million).  - Government financial support for wool promotion on a three year basis.  - full tax deductibility of capital expenditure on soil conservation by a primary producer ($1 million).  - maintaining concessions for farmers for full write-off of the cost of providing bores, dams and reticulation facilities.  - withdrawals from IEDs can be made up to 31 August.  Transport.  Since July 1980 the Government has implemented or announced:  - signature of a new Two Airline Agreement encouraging greater competition between TAA/Ansett and allowing regional airlines to operate over sections of domestic trunk routes.  - an inquiry into domestic airfares.  - a $145 million major airport development programme.  - a Hobart/Christchurch airlink by Ansett/TAA (awaiting New Zealand Government approval).  - the introduction of international air services from Townsville to Honolulu, Los Angeles and New Zealand.  - signature of an agreement with South Australia to enable the Adelaide/Crystal Brook railway standardisation project to commence.  - an allocation of $3,650 million to the States, the Northern Territory and local government over the next five years for roads.  - $30 million for Tasmanian Freight Equalisation in 1980/81.  Building on these initiatives, in the Policy Speech the Government has announced:  - a firm commitment of $ 10 million for the first stage of the construction of the Alice Springs/Darwin railway and the provision of funds to complete the railway within ten years.  Post and Telecommunications.  Since July 1980 the Government has implemented or announced:  - a commitment to cable and subscription TV.  - increased funds for the ABC in 1980/81.  - commencement of multicultural TV services in Sydney and Melbourne.  - continuing reductions in a range of telephone call charges.  - tendering for the domestic satellite.  Science and Environment.  Since July 1980 the Government has implemented or announced:  - approval for a $52 million rebuilding programme in the Antarctic over 10 years.  - the nomination of the Great Barrier Reef for the World Heritage list.  - initial allocation for construction of oceanographic vessel.  - $16 million for Australian scientific research.  - development of a National Conservation Strategy in co-operation with the States and the Northern Territory.  POLICIES FOR PEOPLE.  Helping people to become home owners, improving the standards of our children's education, and concentrating health and welfare services on the effective support of those most in need is the best way to support family life in Australia.  Education.  Since July 1980 the Government has implemented or announced:  - a 3.2% increase in real terms in spending on schools in 1981.  - a 20% increase in major allowances under the Secondary Allowance and Assistance for Isolated Children Schemes.  - $23 million for the Disadvantaged Schools Programme to improve standards.  - a 10% increase in Tertiary Education Allowances.  Building on these initiatives, in the Policy Speech the Government has announced:  - increased emphasis on vocational and technical education.  - additional capital grants of $25 million over three years (1981-83) for nongovernment schools in the States and NT for the provision of new places.  - compression of the existing six levels of non-government schools to three levels in the life of the next Parliament ($ 5.8 million over three years).  - an increase in the per capita grants to Level 6 non-government schools to 40 % of overall government schools standard running costs in the life of the next Parliament ($44.8 million a year by the third year).  - an additional $ 2 million a year for the Schools Commission from 1981 to develop educational programmes for severely handicapped children.  - commencement of a $4 million, three year pilot programme, to provide on loan video facilities to isolated students in areas without regular television services, commencing with School of the Air students.  - an increase in the basic boarding allowance under the Assistance to Isolated Children Scheme to $780 a year from 1981 ($2.7 million in a full year).  - a per capita grant of $ 30 a pupil a year for two years to non-profit making ethnic part-time schools, provided they have an open entry policy ($3 million).  - $ 1 million for the establishment of Research Centres of Excellence in a number of universities in 1981, and allocation of a further $15 million during the 1982-84 triennium.  - additional funds for the Tertiary Education Commission to support the establishment of courses in community languages in universities end/or CAEs.  Housing.  Since July 1980 the Government has implemented or announced:  - a major forward commitment for welfare housing with the States involving a Commonwealth guarantee of a base funding level of $200 million a year for five years from July 1981.  - a significant increase in home value limits under the Home Savings Grants Scheme.  Building on these initiatives, in the Policy Speech the Government has announced:  Further improvements to the Home Savings Grants Scheme, involving a full year cost of $25 million and to apply from 1 October 1980, include:  - a family bonus of $500 for families with one dependent child and $ 1,000 for families with two or more dependent children. This would increase the maximum grant to $ 2,500 for families with one child and to $3,000 for families with two or more children.  - an increase in the value of homes on which the maximum grant is obtainable to $60,000 reducing to nil grant at a value of $ 70,000.  - widening of the forms of savings acceptable for the grant.  Full tax deductibility of home insulation costs for a person's first home where that home was purchased or where construction commenced after I October 1980 ($5 million in a full year).  Health.  Since July 1980 the Government has implemented or announced:  a 30% rise in funds for Medical Research.  an additional $75m for the Hospital Benefits Reinsurance Fund.  an increase in the Domiciliary Nursing Care Benefit from $2 to $3 a day.  a new programme of "aids for daily living" for the disabled.  improvements to the Isolated Patients Travel and Accommodation Assistance Scheme.  Building on these initiatives, in the Policy Speech the Government has announced:  - that it will join with the Victorian Government in the construction of a new building for the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (Commonwealth share: $11.25 million).  - an additional $ 500,000 for continuation of the national development of the "help yourself" health promotion campaign  - an additional $ 200,000 support for alcohol and drug abuse rehabilitation.  - in line with a previous commitment, benefits will be increased from the first pension pay day in November to cover the cost of fees for 70% of patients in non-Government nursing homes.  Welfare.  Since July 1980 the Government has implemented or announced:  - an increase in spending to $9.9 billion in 1980/81.  - $52.5 million in 1980/81 as part of a three year $225 million programme for aged persons accommodation.  - $4 million in 1980/81 as part of a three year $12 million programme for senior citizens centres.  - commitment of $155 million over three years for handicapped persons facilities commencing 1 July 1980.  - an increase in pensions in November 1980 of $3.05 ($5.10 married).  - a substantial increase in income limits for unemployment and sickness benefits.  - from November 1980 a $2 a week increase in unemployment benefits for those 18 and over without dependents.  - from November 1980 extension of the supporting parents' benefit to cover the first six months of sole parenthood.  - increased allowances for children of pensioners and beneficiaries.  - increased allowances for handicapped children to assist an estimated 27,000 children by June 1981.  - support for the International Year of Disabled Persons 1981.  - rights of appeal for pensioners and beneficiaries to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.  Building on these initiatives, in the Policy Speech the Government has announced:  - $10 million for a three year homeless persons assistance programme, with special priority for homeless young people.  - an increase in the personal care subsidy for residents in hostels for the aged and disabled from $15 per week to $ 20 per week ($ 5.8 million per year).  - expansion of the Family Support Services Scheme (S 10 million over three years).  - Crisis accommodation for families in distress (in consultation with the States).  - establishment of a National Children's Foundation (in consultation with the States and voluntary organisations).  Veterans' Affairs.  Since July 1980 the Government has implemented or announced:  - a rise in repatriation and other benefits from November 1980.  - consideration of only half the disability pension in determining eligibility for fringe benefits.  - an increase in the maximum loan for Defence Service Homes to $25.000 and a reduced waiting period of 10 months.  - establishment of an advisory committee on the Commonwealth Institute of Health study into the possible effects on veterans and their children of herbicides and defoliants including Agent Orange.  COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT.  Safeguarding individual rights, promoting equality of opportunity and encouraging the pursuit of excellence in the arts are essential elements for a strong and vital community.  Attorney-General.  Since July 1980 the Government has implemented or announced:  - $32 million for legal aid (in 1980/81).  - ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  - establishment of the Human Rights Bureau.  - implementation of legislation to reform procedures for judicial review of administrative action.  - the creation of an Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence.  - special judicial inquiry into drug related organised crime.  - the opening of the Institute of Family Studies.  Building on these initiatives, in the Policy Speech the Government has announced:  - reintroduction of legislation on both the Human Rights Commission and Freedom of Information.  - introduction of legislation on Complaints against the Police.  Aboriginal Affairs.  Since July 1980 the Government has implemented or announced:  - a 19 % increase in direct spending by the Department of Aboriginal Affairs.  - the establishment of the Aboriginal Development Commission from 1 July 1980 with funds of $23,8m in 1980/81.  - $59.9 million for Aboriginal housing and health.  Building on these initiatives, in the Policy Speech the Government has announced:  - responsibility for Aboriginal housing to be transferred from the Department of Aboriginal Affairs to the Aboriginal Development Commission.  - $50 million for environmental health improvement over five years.  Immigration and Ethnic Affairs.  Since July 1980 the Government has implemented or announced:  - $28 million for adult migrant and refugee education programme.  - commencement of multicultural TV services in Sydney and Melbourne.  - further expansion of the telephone interpreter service.  - the introduction of a system of nomination of overseas relatives and friends of Australian residents.  Building on these initiatives, in the Policy Speech the Government has announced:  - upgrading of adult migrant education.  - further expansion of the telephone interpreter service.  - a public awareness programme to encourage migrants to obtain citizenship.  - the expansion of the Bilingual Information Officer system.  - a review of NUMAS.  - an extension of the refugee programme.  Home Affairs.  Since July 1980 the Government has Since July 1980 the Government has implemented or announced:  - increased funding for culture and the arts.  - $7.1m for National Gallery acquisitions.  - a 45 % rise in funds for the Sports Development Programme.  - preparation of a Plan of Action on combatting discrimination following the UN Mid Decade for Women Conference in Copenhagen.  Building on these initiatives, in the Policy Speech the Government has announced:  - tax concessions to encourage investment in the production of Australian films ($2 million).  - establishment of permanent homes for both the Film and TV School ($9 million over five years) and the National Institute of Dramatic Art ($3 million).  - further development of the National Library.  - $25 million, on a dollar for dollar basis, with the States and Territories, over three years, for the development of international standard sports facilities.  - support for the Australian National Games and the National Athlete Award Scheme ($350,000).  - special assistance for the development of sport and recreation for the disabled.  A STRONG AND SECURE AUSTRALIA.  Unless we secure and defend our freedom today, there will be no free tomorrow.  Foreign Affairs and Defence.  Since July 1980 the Government has implemented or announced:  - $547m for foreign aid.  - a 7% real growth in defence spending this year and in following years as part of the five year $17.6 billion programme.  - a record $2,000 million peacetime naval construction programme.  - a replacement for HMAS Melbourne.  - commitment to build two new FFG-type destroyers at Williamstown.  - funds for accelerated increases in defence manpower in regular and reserve forces.  - payment of certain assurance premiums for reservists.  - Darwin to be long term base for a Tactical Fighter Force Squadron.  - tenders for 940 trucks for the Army.  - potential of $800 million of defence work for Australian industry.  Liberal policies are designed to enable all Australians to live free and independent lives in a secure nation. They are policies to promote the enterprise and initiative which will enable people to secure their own future through the rewards of their own efforts. They are also policies of compassion and concern for those in need.  Lead on, Liberal.  Note: Costings. The programme initiatives announced in the Policy Speech will cost approximately $185 million in a full year. The taxation measures announced in the Policy Speech involve a foregoing of revenue of approximately $40 million in a full year (not including continuation of our present policy of half tax indexation).  1980 POLICY SPEECH.  SUPPLEMENTARY STATEMENTS.  RESPONSIBLE ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT.  HARNESSING OUR RESOURCES.  POLICIES FOR PEOPLE.  A STRONG AND SECURE AUSTRALIA.  To be read in conjunction with the Policy Speech of the Prime Minister. The Rt. Hon. Malcolm Fraser, CH, MP, Melbourne, 30 September 1980  SUPPLEMENTARY STATEMENTS.  RESPONSIBLE ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT.  The fight against inflation will go on. The central objective of the Government's economic policy is to reduce inflation and thereby promote real economic growth and employment. Our policies will continue to be directed to:  - maintaining the environment for economic growth and increased employment.  - underpinning the development of our vast mineral and energy resources.  - encouraging our rural and manufacturing industries to grow and prosper. A strong private sector is essential for economic success. It should be encouraged, not fettered, by government. This is the only way to:  - raise our living standards.  - create new jobs.  - provide the capacity to help the disadvantaged.  INFLATION.  The Government's policy has already brought Australia's inflation rate down from a record 17.6% under the Labor Government to 10.7%. This is 2-3 percentage points below the industrial world's average. This achievement is the result of five years of consistent economic policies designed to counter inflation. The Government's own house is in order. While maintaining a strong commitment to revenue sharing with the States and local government, overall Federal spending is on a very tight rein. Since 1976 spending has increased in real terms on average by only slightly above 1 % a year - by far the lowest rate of increase for a long time. The Government has wiped out the domestic Budget deficit and, for this financial year, estimated a domestic surplus of some $39 million - the first surplus in seven years. This has reduced the pressure on interest rates and lessened the impact on Australia of increases in those rates overseas. The individual buying a home, the investor creating jobs, the producer and the consumer, all benefit. This reflects the stability and consistency in the Government's economic management. The results are impressive:  - the highest employment increase for 10 years - in the year to July 1980.  - a considerable improvement in Australia's competitive position.  - the value of exports up by one third in 1979/80.  - foreign investment at record levels.  - the best prospects for business in years.  - an encouraging lift in expenditure on personal consumption.  - huge new investments in industry and resource development.  We are now going in the right direction but we must try to reduce inflation further to create more jobs and protect people on fixed incomes. To a large extent success will depend on moderation in wage demands, a reduction in industrial disputes and continuing tight control on government spending at all levels.  TAXATION.  The Government will maintain its declared taxation objectives:  - to keep taxes at the lowest level possible compatible with responsible economic management and community needs.  - to distribute the tax burden as fairly as possible, with particular concern for low income families.  - to provide incentives for initiative and enterprise.  Personal.  Taxation scales have been reduced and simplified during our term of office We have introduced new concessions and incentives. We are clamping down on tax avoidance. Today most individual taxpayers pay tax at the standard rate of 32c in the dollar. The first $4,041 is tax free-$6,542 for a man with a dependent wife. Tax indexation at 50% and the increase in a wife's allowance from 1 July this year means that a wage earner on standard rate with dependent wife now pays $4.76 a week less tax. Under our present policy of half tax indexation there will be a further tax cut of around $500 million from 1 July next year. The top marginal tax rate has been reduced from 65c in the dollar to 60c. This is the lowest top rate since 1942. By reducing the number of steps in the tax rate scale from 7 to 3, taxpayers no longer move into higher tax brackets as quickly as before. Hard work, overtime and promotion are worthwhile once again. We have restored the rewards for enterprise and achievement. We have also made adjustments in the tax system to strengthen our commitment to the family and those with special needs:  - we have doubled the dependent wife's allowance to $800.  - we have increased the sole-parent's rebate by 180 % to $559.  - we have helped lower income earners by increasing the tax free threshold from - $2,579 in 1975/76 to $4,041.  - we have introduced a special tax concession for self employed persons and those not covered by employer superannuation to assist them in providing for retirement.  - we have announced an inquiry into zone allowances for those living in remote areas.  - we have abolished all Commonwealth estate and gift duties.  The contrast with Labor's period of office is dramatic. In those three years personal tax collections rose by 125% as men and women from all walks of life were dragged into paying higher taxes. If Labor's 1975 tax scales had remained, a taxpayer on average weekly earnings today with a dependent wife and child would be paying an extra $22.55 a week more tax.  Business.  We believe fair rewards for business are just as important as fair rewards for people. Only a healthy, profitable private sector can provide real, lasting, secure jobs. Concessions to our primary and secondary industries have been designed to foster profitability and reinvestment of profits. We have, amongst other measures  - reintroduced the investment allowance.  - allowed accelerated depreciation to assist business with technological change.  - raised the Private Company Retention Allowance from 50 % to 70 %, which is a benefit of $60 million in a full year.  - introduced income equalisation deposits for primary producers.  - abolished previous income limits on the tax averaging scheme for primary producers.  - stimulated resource development, oil exploration and energy conservation through special tax concessions.  Overall, we have created a fair, balanced tax system. That is why we are taking a hard line on tax avoidance. We are committed to continuing our restraint on public expenditure and ensuring we get value for money so that we can continue to keep taxes down. Unlike Labor, we know that governments have no money of their own to spend only taxpayers' money.  INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS.  The Government's principal objectives are to:  - work to improve the industrial relations climate.  - protect the rights of individuals and the public interest.  - emphasise the responsibility of all parties to meet their obligations.  - improve conciliation and arbitration procedures.  The Government is concerned that almost four million working days were lost through industrial diputes last year. This is an improvement on the record of over six million working days lost under the Labor Government in 1974. But the figure is still too high and far too costly for individual employers, employees and their families, and the community as a whole. There are Constitutional limits on the Government's industrial relations powers. Nevertheless, we have already acted within those powers to protect the public interest. We have legislated to:  - establish the National Labour Consultative Council and ensure regular consultation at national level.  - provide secret postal ballots for elections in Federal employer and employee organisations.  - require industrial organisations to produce audited annual financial accounts to members.  - protect genuine conscientious objectors to union membership.  - improve the procedures of the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission.  - extend grounds for deregistration of organisations acting to damage the interests of the community.  - strengthen the Commission's powers to deal with demarcation disputes.  - establish the Industrial Relations Bureau to secure observance of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act, Regulations and Awards. The task is a continuing one. For the future, the Government proposes to:  - extend the secret ballot provisions to enable individual employees to apply for a secret ballot to express their views on strike action.  - legislate to facilitate the amalgamation of unions where there is a "community of interest".  - in consultation with industry, initiate a major campaign of advice and assistance to all levels of management on the conduct and practice of industrial relations.  The Government remains firmly committed to the principle of conciliation and arbitration.  EMPLOYMENT.  We have made substantial progress in creating more jobs. 205,200 more people joined the work force in the year to August 1980. Unemployment is still high, but Australia is making better progress than many other developed countries. Through the Commonwealth Employment Service alone half a million jobs were filled last year. Those placed included 9.000 disabled people. Three out of four jobs in Australia are in the private sector. That is why the Government is strongly committed to encouraging its growth. Over the next few years resource and manufacturing development projects will create at least 60,000 new jobs directly and thousands more indirectly throughout industry and commerce. In our five years in Government more than 570,000 Australians have received specific help through our manpower and training programmes. We have given special emphasis in these programmes to job and apprenticeship training for young people. All our programmes have been reviewed to meet the challenge of technological change and the special needs of the nation's new development projects We will spend $139 million on manpower, training programmes and youth support to assist another 236,000 Australians this year. New features of job programmes will include reform of the trade training system to increase the supply of tradesmen trained in Australia. This will include shortened indentures for those with appropriate qualifications and experience and renewal of the $1,000 bonus scheme for apprentices in short supply. Australia is now training an all time high number of apprentices and a record level of first year apprentices. To complement this scheme and the School-to-Work Transition Policy, the Government will also provide further assistance to young people who find difficulty in obtaining regular work. This will provide for:  - a transition allowance (unemployment benefit plus $6) for young people unemployed four months or more who undertake a transition course, and a similar allowance for those unemployed for eight months or more who take up any full time training course in Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutions likely to lead to employment.  - a higher subsidy (up to $ 80 a week) for the training under the Special Youth Employment Training Programme (SYETP) of those unemployed 18 to 24 year olds who have been out of work for eight out of twelve months.  - automatic eligibility to SYETP for those who successfully complete a transition course and need further on-the-job training.  - development of special counselling services for young unemployed registered with the Commonwealth Employment Service for eight months or more.  This new programme is a further expression of the Government's commitment to assisting young people.  HARNESSING OUR RESOURCES.  RESOURCES.  The Government is firmly committed to the development of Australia's abundant natural resources - one of the great tasks for the 80s - for the benefit of the Australian people. Its objective is to ensure that Australia takes full advantage of its unique combination of natural resources, competitively priced energy, improving cost competitiveness and proximity to major growth markets. The Government has already acted - and will continue to act to:  - stimulate increased exploration and development.  - encourage more processing of raw materials in Australia.  - attract overseas investment, with due regard for Australian participation in resource projects and the assertion of our national interests.  - assist development through support for essential infrastructure.  This has led to an estimated $29 billion investment in major mining and manufacturing projects, either committed or under final study. Three-quarters of this expenditure should be on goods and services bought in Australia. Around 60,000 jobs will be created directly and thousands more will be created indirectly in supply and service industries. In support of this development the Government has already approved a total investment of $4.7 billion in infrastructure programmes, e.g. railway electrification; electricity generation; and coal export facilities.  ENERGY.  Our aim is to ensure adequate energy supplies for Australia for the long term future and to help energy hungry countries whose living standards are threatened.  Our national energy policies are based on four goals:  - to conserve petroleum fuels to the maximum.  - to convert from oil to other energy sources (e.g. gas, electricity, coal).  - to explore vigorously for oil and gas.  - to develop the production of synthetic fuels (e.g. oil from coal and shale, ethanol from biomass. methanol and fuels from renewable sources).  The world is consuming oil at twice the rate it is finding it and the price of oil must reflect its scarcity value. Most of the world is energy-hungry, with few or no local substitutes for oil. Australia is energy-rich in coal and uranium and has significant resources of natural gas. Therefore we must accept and develop our responsibility as a major international supplier of energy. We can, and must, be a major energy exporter, consistent with our own domestic needs.  Oil.  Australia's local oil reserves are diminishing rapidly. Without further major oil discoveries our current 67 % self-sufficiency will fall to 50% in 1985. 40% in 1990 and to as low as 10% by the turn of the century. The key to achieving our goals is the import parity pricing of oil (i.e. reflecting its world scarcity value). The high cost synthetic fuel industry depends for its competitive survival upon the maintenance of import parity pricing. It cannot compete if oil prices are held down artificially. Yet, without synthetics Australia would be energy hungry and perilously dependent on the uncertainty of high cost oil imports. The Rundle shale oil development and other large synthetic enterprises like it are vital to ensure energy for the years ahead.  Gas.  The Government will support the development of LPG as a premium fuel with top priority for automotive use. A clear price differential between LPG and petrol will be maintained. The $ 80 a tonne subsidy paid to domestic consumers will be extended to traditional users of LPG in decentralised industries. Where practical natural gas pipelines will be extended in country areas.  Electricity.  We will continue to co-operate with the States in infrastructure financing for the increased development of electricity generation capacity to meet heavier demands. Growth in power generation in this decade will be greater than in any two previous decades. The concept of an electric power grid for south-eastern Australia is now under intensive study.  Uranium.  The Government recognises that many countries will be compelled to develop nuclear power generation in order to meet their energy needs. Australia will supply uranium for peaceful purposes under the strictest safeguards, including the monitoring of materials and the disposal of radioactive wastes.  Research and Development.  The Government will continue to expand energy research and development through existing agencies particularly in the field of renewable energy sources.  Water, Soil and Decentralisation.  The Government will also:  - expand the Water Resources programme in partnership with the States.  - allocate $3 million to the States in 1981/82 for soil conservation purposes.  - continue to aid regional development programmes with the advice of the Decentralisation Advisory Board.  MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY.  A vigorous and profitable manufacturing industry is fundamental to real economic growth and new jobs. The Government is committed to the development of efficient, outward-looking Australian industries. Tariff reviews, sensitively approached, have a role to play in facilitating desirable changes in industry structure and in encouraging greater specialisation. In the longer term, the Government considers that Australia will be best served by an industry structure placing less reliance on protective measures than at present. However, movement toward this goal must necessarily be gradual and appropriately timed. Where reductions are appropriate we will give industry advance warning and time to adapt to change. The record of industry in the past year reflects its own enterprise and the Government's success in fighting inflation:  - internationally, the competitiveness of Australian industry is at its highest level for many years.  - employment in manufacturing rose by 41,000.  - factory production expanded by 7 % in real terms.  - manufacturing investment increased significantly.  - the volume of exports reached a record level  Incentives.  The Government has provided significant assistance and incentives for the private sector. It has:  - greatly increased direct financial assistance to manufacturing industry over the past five years to a record $416 million in 1980/81.  - provided $540 million over the five years to June 1981 for modernisation assistance through the reintroduction of the investment allowance.  - increased depreciation rates on plant and equipment by 20 % in the last Budget.  - lifted industrial research and development grants by 180% over five years to $54 million.  - increased export development incentives by 225 % over five years to $260 million.  - ensured Australian firms can participate in the current upgrading of Australia's defence force with business worth in excess of $800 million this year.  The Government will continue to take positive action to encourage the development of an outward-looking, specialised and innovative manufacturing  sector. The Government will continue its strong support for export incentives beyond 1982. Industrial research and development grants and export incentives will continue to be essential elements of our industrial policy. We will avoid over regulation of business, which stultifies initiative and enterprise and imposes costs that must ultimately be borne by the public.  SMALL BUSINESS.  There are half a million small businesses in Australia, about 90% of Australian businesses, providing 40% of total private employment. They are a central feature of the Australian free enterprise system. The most important assistance the Government has given to small business has been to lessen the burden of inflation. We have also helped small business to help itself. We have eased its taxation burden by $60 million a year by increasing' the Division 7 retention allowance from 50% to 70%. During the life of the next Parliament this allowance will be extended further. We have also:  - given a special tax concession to self employed persons and employees not covered by employer superannuation arrangements to encourage them to make a proper provision for their retirement.  - assisted with finance by relaxing constraints on the Commonwealth Development Bank's powers to lend to all small firms.  - abolished all estate and gift duties.  TOURISM.  Tourism is an important Australian industry and has outstanding prospects for further growth. In 1979 tourism earned around $650 million in foreign exchange and between 1973/74 and 1985 it should have created some 60,000 new jobs. The Government's policy is to promote Australia's tourist attractions and encourage a vigorous, competitive industry.  We are assisting the industry by:  - funding a threefold increase in the Australian Tourist Commission's overseas promotion.  - upgrading airports at Brisbane, Coolangatta, Perth, Canberra, Townsville, Darwin and Norfolk Island.  - including the industry's overseas tourism promotion in the Export Market Development Grants Scheme.  - introducing lower international airfares.  - encouraging investment in new accommodation by a 2.5% depreciation allowance for hotel/motel buildings  - allocating funds to the Northern Territory for a tourist resort village at Ayers Rock.  In addition the Government will remove the present specific exclusion from the investment allowance of plant for use in connection with amusement or recreation.  PRIMARY INDUSTRY.  The Government has always recognised the importance of Australia's primary industries to the national economy. We are committed to ensuring a strong, viable and  efficient rural sector. We have always stood ready to assist rural industries. where and when such assistance has been necessary. We will continue to do so. As a result of our policies:  - our overseas markets for agricultural products have expanded and consolidated.  - orderly marketing of commodities has been established.  - facilities and allowances for people living in country areas have been improved.  Stability.  During the next three years, the Government will continue to build on its record of achievement to ensure that primary industries remain strong and viable.  Major stabilisation programmes are already in place for wheat, wool and sugar. We have abolished Federal estate and gift duties, greatly improved tax averaging provisions and introduced Income Equalisation Deposits (IEDs). To assist further those primary producers who take advantage of the IEDs the Government will now provide for withdrawals to be made up to 31 August each year for the previous year. We will maintain the wool reserve price scheme and guarantee that the floor in the 1981/82 season will not fall below this season's reserve price. A new Dairy Industry Stabilisation arrangement will be negotiated with the industry, with the object of establishing a long term scheme. New underwriting arrangements will be introduced for the apple and pear industry and proposals are being developed for new support arrangements for the dried vine fruits industry. We will continue to fund the development of a beef carcass classification system and to encourage sheepmeat exports, both through the important live sheep trade and the carcass trade.  New Measures.  To assist the long term stability of rural industries:  - Capital costs incurred by consumers on rural properties and people living in remote areas in connecting to mains electricity supply will be fully deductible in the year of expenditure.  - The Government's continuing support for the Primary Industry Bank of Australia will be extended by the provision of a three year funding commitment for the Bank's operations.  - The Commonwealth will seek the cooperation of the States to request States Grants Commissions to give special consideration to the needs of local government authorities in remote areas that have to generate electricity from diesel fuel because there is no alternative fuel supply.  - Assistance will be provided through the taxation system to help compensate for the cost of private electricity generation at the principal place of residence or business in country areas where mains supply is not available.  - The current $80 per tonne LPG subsidy for household use will be extended to traditional users of LPG in decentralised industries.  - A special depreciation allowance of 20% a year on a prime cost basis over five years applicable to new machinery used wholly and exclusively in agricultural, pastoral and forestry operations will be introduced. The allowance will also apply to the purchase of new vessels in the fishing industry.  - Government financial support for wool promotion will be placed on a three year basis.  - Full deductibility of capital expenditure by a primary producer on soil conservation will be introduced.  - $ 3 million will be allocated to the States in the 1981/82 financial year for soil conservation purposes.  - In consultation with the States, additional funds will be provided through the Commonwealth Extension Services Grants Scheme to improve access by farmers to information on fuel saving technology and equipment.  - To encourage the storage of fuel the Government will make expenditure on the purchase and installation of storage facilities for liquid and gaseous fuel to be used in carrying on a business fully deductible in the year the expenditure is incurred.  - The Government will maintain the concession allowing farmers to write off in full in the year of expenditure the cost of providing bores, dams and reticulation facilities on their properties.  ENVIRONMENT AND CONSERVATION.  The Government's policy is to maintain a responsible balance between development and conservation Wide-ranging measures have already been introduced to protect our physical environment and our unique flora and fauna. These are being strengthened in co-operation with the State and Territory governments, specifically through Ministerial Councils. Under a Constitutional settlement the States, the Northern Territory and the Commonwealth now share powers and resources in the seas surrounding Australia.  The Barrier Reef and the Kakadu National Park have been nominated by the. Government for the World Heritage List. The Commonwealth's Register of the National Estate already includes several thousand other places in the natural and physical environment. The Government supported international action to protect whales and has banned whaling in Australian waters.  Strategy.  The Government has already recognised the World Conservation Strategy and will develop an Australian Strategy in cooperation with the States and the Northern Territory.  For the future, the Government reaffirms its decision not to allow drilling on the Barrier Reef or any drilling or mining that could damage the Reef. In co-operation with the Queensland Government the Federal Government is developing a plan for an extension of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The Government has provided substantial funds for:  - protection of the Alligator Rivers region from the effects of uranium mining.  - continuation of the Biological Resources Study of Australian flora and fauna.  - conservation of Antarctic flora and fauna.  - the Australian Institute of Marine Science.  - the National Parks and Wildlife Service.  - voluntary conservation organisations  TRANSPORT.  The Government's transport policy aims to develop and maintain an energy-efficient, safe and socially acceptable transport system.  Aviation.  We will encourage healthy competition between the domestic airlines and continue to support the extension of innovative fares and cheap advance purchase fares. Overall, in real terms domestic economy airfares and freight rates are today at the same level as in 1968, while the cheapest airfare between Perth and Sydney is lower today than it was three years ago. The Government has established an inquiry into the structure of domestic airfares. Following the introduction of new cheaper international airfares in 1979, tourist visitors to Australia have increased by over 25%. The International Civil Aviation Policy will be reviewed in 1981 as previously announced. A number of matters will be considered, including the question of Qantas' rights as Australia's sole international flag carrier; the desirability of international charter flights and Laker's proposed Sky Train; and the servicing of international regional routes. The Government will legislate to ratify the recently signed Two Airlines Agreement which will enhance competition between Ansett and TAA. Under the Agreement air freight will no longer be restricted to Ansett and TAA, and regional airlines will be able to operate over sections of the domestic trunk routes. Conditions on the type of aircraft imported by regional airlines and air freight operators will be liberalised and the development of commuter services will be encouraged by the introduction of a supplementary airline licence. The Government will retain TAA as a competitive, commercially oriented airline. We will continue to provide special subsidies for aviation services to remote centres. New or expanded facilities will be provided at Adelaide. Brisbane, Cairns, Canberra, Coolangatta, Darwin, Perth, Townsville and Norfolk Island at an estimated cost of $400 million over five years.  Railways.  A major project is the construction of a railway from Alice Springs to Darwin. This will link Darwin into the national railway network, boost the development of the Northern Territory and be a significant addition to defence facilities. The Government has firmly committed $10 million to the first stage and will provide funds needed to complete the railway within ten years. The new $140 million railway line from Tarcoola to Alice Springs has already been completed and, with the standardisation of the Adelaide/Crystal Brook line over the next three years, Adelaide and Darwin will be ultimately linked by a standard gauge railway. The continent will then be spanned by a mainline railway system from north to south and east to west. In association with the States the Government will continue overall mainline upgrading programmes. These programmes include electrification of important sections and links to ports and major resource developments.  Roads.  The Government will provide $3.650 million to the States, Northern Territory and local government over the next five years to assist in the development of our road network. It will proceed vigorously with the national highway programme and will ensure that future national road construction is undertaken under the tender and contract system. The Government will encourage the further development of the road transport industry and pay particular attention to the role of the owner driver. The 1978 Urban Transport Assistance Act provides assistance to the States for improving urban public transport facilities and increased emphasis will be given to the introduction of energy-efficient systems.  Shipping.  Sea transport plays an important role in the movement of freight and bulk commodities.  The Government has co-operated with the States to develop uniform shipping laws making it easier for Australian ship owners to exploit developing opportunities for coastal shipping. The first four of a new generation of coal fired ships have recently been ordered by ship owners The Government has established a special committee to provide a focus through which the sea-going unions and the ship owners can work together to revitalise sea transport. We will give special attention to the need to develop commercial and competitive opportunities for Australian flag vessels in overseas liner and bulk trades.  Special attention is being given to civil coastal surveillance in Australian waters for health, immigration and customs purposes. Effective protection is essential for off shore installations in Bass Strait and on the North West Shelf.  POST AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS.  The Government's policy is to:  - ensure all Australians get the best possible communications services at the lowest cost.  - promote a real element of choice in the broadcasting system.  - support the ABC to develop and continue high quality broadcasting services  - develop multicultural and ethnic broadcasting services.  The introduction of Community Access 80 has assisted many people Basic tariffs for telephone charges have not been increased since 1975 and there have been major reductions in charges for long distance telephone calls in daytime, off peak, evening and lunchtime periods: telex calls: and international telecommunication calls. Some long distance telephone charges will be reduced further from Easter 1981. By 1985 all but 10,000 subscribers will be connected to automatic exchanges. and the remainder by 1990. A system to provide subscribers with full details on their accounts of long distance calls will be introduced. Increases in the cost of basic postal charges have been held back to less than the rise in the CPI. A major review of the administration and regulation of citizens band radio services is in progress. There have been significant reductions in the licence fees for the use of radio communication services and the establishment of a differential for private and non-private users. Major developments in broadcasting have included:  - a complete review of the role and activities of the ABC and an increase in its funds  - introduction of multicultural broadcasting.  - establishment of commercial FM radio.  - a decision in principle to introduce cable and subscription TV.  - development of proposals to bring a much wider diversity of broadcasting services to regional areas.  The Government has decided to establish a domestic communications satellite system. A Request for Tender is to be issued by 30 October this year, and will close on 1 March 1981. In the interim the system will be owned and managed by the Overseas Telecommunications Commission. Further consideration will be given to the possibility of private enterprise involvement in the satellite system. The Government has also used an international communications satellite INTELSAT to extend ABC television to remote areas.  POLICIES FOR PEOPLE.  THE FAMILY.  The family is the focus of Australian life. That is why the Government is extending its social security and welfare policies for families, especially those most in need. These policies also cover sole parents and disabled people of all ages. The assistance for these groups is identified in the Government's education, housing, health, social security and other welfare programmes. The Commonwealth shares the responsibility for these programmes, with State and Territory Governments. The financial commitment is large and this year the Government has allocated increased funds to ensure that the real level of these services is maintained.  EDUCATION.  The Government will spend $2,867 million on education in 1980/81.  Its objectives in education are to:  - promote freedom of choice and equality of opportunity in schooling.  - achieve standards of excellence at all levels.  - help the disadvantaged in the community.  The Government will direct more of its resources to vocational and technical education. Its priority is to provide more help for students to make the transition from school to work. The Commonwealth reaffirms its commitment to provide $150 million over five years for the School-to-Work Transition programme. The Commonwealth meets virtually the entire cost of Universities and Colleges of Advanced Education, approximately $1,280 million a year. The Government reintroduced triennium funding arrangements for these institutions in 1979 and this provides them with a greater capacity for forward planning. Grants to the States for Government schools in 1981 will be maintained at the same real levels as in 1980. Declining school enrolments mean this is an effective increase in expenditure on a per student basis by the Commonwealth. The government will maintain its policy of @ grants to non-government schools. @ movements in the average cost of educating a student in a government school. The programmes of aid for disadvantaged schools and disadvantaged country areas will be continued. These programmes have helped 400,000 students in 1350 schools throughout Australia this  year. Special provision has also been made to  - assist Aboriginal children in their schooling.  - provide multicultural education and help non-English speaking migrant children improve their English language skills.  - assist refugee and handicapped children.  New Commitments.  New commitments include:  - an increase in the per capita grant to Level 6 non-government schools to 40% of average government schools standard running costs during the life of the next Parliament.  - compression of the existing six levels of non-government schools (as defined by the Schools Commission) to three levels in the life of the next Parliament.  - additional capital grants of $ 25 million over three years, 1981-83, for new places in non-government schools.  - a special allocation of $2 million a year from 1981 to develop education programmes for severely handicapped children.  - a per capita grant of $ 30 a year for two years to non-profit, part-time ethnic schools providing supplementary community language and cultural programmes.  - funds to establish new courses in community languages in universities and/or colleges of advanced education.  - funds for the establishment of Research Centres of Excellence in a number of universities at a cost of $ 1 million in 1981 and a further $ 15 million during the 1982-84 triennium.  - a three year pilot programme to provide on loan video facilities for isolated students in remote areas, beginning with students of the School of the Air.  - for those who qualify, an increase in 1981 to $ 780 a year for the basic boarding allowance under the Assistance to Isolated Children Scheme.  HOUSING.  Today, 73% of Australians own or are purchasing their homes The Government strongly supports home ownership and will continue to give a high priority to the availability of housing finance. Over a million home seekers have been helped to get housing loans in the last five years. Housing loan approvals were at a record level last year.  Home Savings Grants.  The Government has progressively developed the Home Savings Grants Scheme to assist first home buyers. We will now go further and:  - provide from 1 October 1980 a new Home Savings Grant Family Bonus of $ 500 for families with one dependent child and $1,000 for families with two or more dependent children. The respective maximum grants, therefore, will increase to $2,500 and $3,000.  - increase the value limit for which a maximum grant is payable to $60,000, reducing to nil at $70,000.  - widen the form of acceptable savings.  - allow full tax deductibility of home insulation costs for a person's first home where that home was purchased or where construction commenced after 1 October this year.  Funding for welfare housing was increased in the last Budget. The Commonwealth/State Housing Agreement has been changed to give low and moderate income earners increased opportunities to own their own homes. The Government has announced a major forward commitment for welfare housing with the States. This provides a guarantee by the Commonwealth of a base funding level of $200 million a year for five years from July 1981, with specific arrangements for concessional interest rates and grants for rental housing assistance, interest subsidies and leasing.  HEALTH.  The Government is determined that all Australians should have access to high quality health care. It recognises the important part the private hospitals have in our health services. It is totally committed to ensuring the viability and preservation of private hospitals, especially the non-profit component. We established the first ever inquiry into Australia's hospitals seeking recommendations on how waste could be reduced and efficiency increased. The Inquiry's report will be considered as a matter of urgency.  The provision of health services involves substantial cost and this needs to be contained within a responsible economic policy. This year the total is over $3,000 million. We have increased assistance to help the aged, chronically ill and disadvantaged. In line with a previous commitment, benefits will be increased from the first pension pay day in November to cover the cost of fees for 70% of patients in nongovernment nursing homes.  The Government this year has increased its financial support for medical research by 30% and has decided to:  - fund on a $ for $ basis with the Victorian Government a new building for the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research at an estimated cost to the Commonwealth of $ 11.25 million.  - significantly increase funds for alcohol and drug rehabilitation programmes. In addition, more funds will be allocated to continuing the national development of the "Help Yourself" health promotion campaign.  SOCIAL SECURITY AND WELFARE.  Historically, many of the major advances in social security and welfare have been introduced by Liberal Governments. In the past five years, the Government has directed more resources to assist the aged, the disabled and other disadvantaged groups than any previous government since Federation. Total spending on social security and welfare expenditure has risen from $5 billion in 1975/76 to almost $10 billion in 1980/81. Major reforms have included:  - replacement of the means test on pensions by a simple income test and introduction of automatic indexation of pensions.  - cash assistance direct to mothers under the Family Allowance Scheme.  - introduction of a supporting parents benefit.  - expansion of home-care services for the aged and welfare services for special need groups, e.g. Aboriginals, migrants and disabled people.  - programmes to assist families and children.  The recent Budget increased most rates of unemployment benefit and subsidies for "meals on wheels" for aged people. Allowances for the children of pensioners and beneficiaries were also increased. A high priority has been given to increased assistance to disabled people. The amount has more than doubled in five years to $1,060 million in 1980/81 The fixed rate income-test-free pension for those 70 and over was maintained.  There are to be further advances in social security and welfare. The Government has decided to:  - allocate $10 million for a three year capital programme for homeless persons with special provisions for homeless young people.  - in consultation with the States, establish crisis accommodation for families in distress.  - establish in conjunction with the States and voluntary organisations a National Children's Foundation to create greater public awareness of child abuse and to encourage support from voluntary organisations in this field.  - commit more funds over the next three years for an expanded Family Support Services Scheme.  The Government will also increase the personal care subsidy for residents in hostels for aged and disabled people from $15 to $20 a week.  VETERANS' AFFAIRS.  The Government has kept the needs of wartime ex-servicemen and women and their dependents under constant review. In its term of office it has made significant increases in veterans' allowances and benefits:  - major pensions have been indexed.  - extra help has been provided for the more seriously disabled.  - access to fringe benefits has been increased by liberalising eligibility for the Pensioner Health Benefit Card.  - service pensions have been made available for Allied Veterans of all wars.  The Government has continued to support and upgrade the major Repatriation Hospital in each State and many other veterans' medical institutions, It has increased the Defence Service Homes loan to $25,000 and reduced by four months the waiting time for houses being built. Loans for house construction are immediate.  HUMAN RIGHTS.  The Government is actively committed to the protection of human rights. The procedures it has already introduced within Australia are working effectively. It has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The procedures for appeals by citizens against decisions of tribunals within Commonwealth jurisdiction on Security, Administration and Repatriation matters have been strengthened and a Human Rights Bureau established. Further action to protect the rights of individuals will include:  - establishment of a Human Rights Commission.  - freedom of information legislation to give greater public access to Government policy and decision making.  - new procedures to investigate complaints about police conduct.  Family Law Courts are now in operation and emphasis is being placed on conciliation and agreement between parties in matters of custody and property.  LAW ENFORCEMENT AND DRUGS.  The Government has accepted the recommendations of the report of the Royal Commission on Drugs and Law Enforcement. As a result it has given to the Australian Federal Police the responsibility of enforcing Commonwealth law against imported drugs. Other proposals arising from the report include:  - a Joint Commonwealth/State Bureau of Criminal Intelligence.  - international law enforcement arrangements.  - forensic science services.  The Government is also seeking the cooperation of the New South Wales, Victorian and Queensland Governments for a judicial inquiry into drug related organised crime and corruption in law enforcement agencies.  ABORIGINALS.  The Government's principal objectives are to enable Aboriginals to be as free as other Australians to enjoy a lifestyle of their own choosing, to manage their own affairs and to ensure that their rights are protected. Assistance for housing, health, education and employment are high priorities. The new Aboriginal Development Commission of ten Aboriginal members began work this year. The Commission will acquire land for Aboriginal communities and groups, lend money to Aboriginals and finance business enterprises. It has a budget of almost $24 million, of which $10 million is the Government's first contribution for investment purposes.  Self-management.  Further responsibilities will be passed by the Government to the Commission. In future, the annual grants for Aboriginal housing, other than those to the States, will be placed under the responsibility of the Commission.  The Government's special programmes to assist Aboriginals include:  - thirteen new projects this year in community health, alcohol rehabilitation, health. education and nutrition.  - $22 million for welfare rental accommodation in addition to nearly $50 million through the Department's other programmes.  - increased accommodation in Aboriginal hostels.  - subsidised job training and new community development projects.  - special projects with local government agencies, the private sector and Aboriginal organisations to provide more jobs.  The Government will commit $50 million over five years for environmental health improvement. This year over 7,000 young Aboriginals are receiving post-school training.  The Government is consulting with Aboriginals, mining companies and State Governments to establish practical means of resolving problems where there may be a conflict between Aboriginal and development interests. The National Aboriginal Conference, a 35-member all-Aboriginal elected body and the Aboriginal Development Commission, an appointed 10-member all-Aboriginal body, have continued to be sources of valuable advice to the Government. The Conference recommended - following the electoral education campaign conducted by the Electoral Office - that voluntary electoral enrolment for Aboriginals should be changed to compulsory enrolment. This would put them in the same position as all other Australians, The Government will legislate to do this.  ETHNIC AFFAIRS.  The Government's innovations and assistance programmes for migrants have done much to increase their self reliance and integration within the Australian community. These will continue on an increased scale. Most of the specific recommendations of the Galbally report on migrant and ethnic problems have been carried out or are well advanced. More than $25 million has been provided this year to carry on this work A further $28 million has been allocated for the extension of the adult migrant education programme; an increase of 23 to accommodate 115.000 enrolments this year, The Government will upgrade migrant education in such areas as the Home Tutor Scheme. The Government is introducing new programmes to give impetus to the development of our multicultural society. It has accepted a recommendation of the newly established Institute of Multicultural Affairs to provide per capita grants to non-profit making ethnic part-time schools providing supplementary community language and cultural programmes.  More Migrant Centres.  Migrant Resource Centres are being increased throughout Australia. More than 130 bilingual information officers have been recruited to work among migrants. In the future officers will cover more geographical areas and more languages. More orientation courses are being conducted. This year 17,000 adults will be assisted compared with 3.000 two years ago. Ethnic radio has continued to flourish and the Government remains committed to multicultural television. The telephone interpreter service is to be expanded, especially in remote areas like the Pilbara, the Riverina and Mt Isa. The Government will mount a public awareness programme to encourage migrants to obtain Australian citizenship. A new system of nominations of relatives and friends of Australian residents has been developed. The Government will undertake a review of the Numerical Migrant Assessment System (NUMAS) to see if it continues to reflect adequately the extent to which Australian residents can assist in settlement of their relatives. The refugee programme will be extended to include provision for migrant entry of people from a diverse range of minority groups having connections with Australia.  WOMEN AND YOUTH.  The Government remains deeply committed to equality of opportunity for women and is active within the limits of its Constititional authority to achieve this. The National Women's Advisory Council, established by the Government in 1978, continues to be active in an advisory and research role. The Government will introduce legislation in the Australian Capital Territory to:  - proscribe discrimination on grounds of sex in areas such as employment, land, housing, accommodation and the provision of goods and services.  - establish procedures for the confidential conciliation of all complaints about discrimination and provide for civil proceedings if conciliation fails.  Outside the ACT anti-discrimination legislation is largely a matter for the States. The Government will maintain its commitment to youth and the National Youth Advisory Group, which it established, will continue to advise on the aspirations and needs of our young men and women. Support for the work of national youth organisations has been increased to $500.000 this year. A programme of international youth exchanges between Australia and South Pacific countries has been initiated and funded by the Government.  THE ARTS.  The Government's objective is to promote excellence in the creative and performing arts.  Through the Australia Council and other statutory bodies, including the International Cultural Corporation it has funded national and international cultural activities on an increasing scale. This year the Australia Council has had its grant increased to $29.4 million. Artbank was established this year and funds totalling $650,000 have been provided to date to buy works of Australian artists and, through the display of these works, encourage a wider public appreciation of Australian art. Tax deductions for gifts of works of art and cultural properties will now be permanent. The Government legislated this year for a Museum of Australia. and will continue its support for the construction of the National Gallery and the expansion of National Library services, including the application of new technology to its services. The Australian Film industry, which has already established a reputation for quality and enterprise, will be given a new tax incentive. The Government will, in future, allow 150 % of capital expenditure in the acquisition of the initial copyright in new Australian films to be eligible for write-off in the first year of expenditure and an exemption of an amount of net earnings by an investor in such a film up to 50% of his investment. Appropriate safeguards will be incorporated to prevent abuse of this concession. The scheme will be reviewed prospectively after three years. Other initiatives will include funds for permanent homes for the Film and Television School ($9 million) and for the National Institute of Dramatic Art ($ 3 million).  SPORT.  Australia is a sporting nation. The Government will continue to support its athletes and their organisations in the pursuit of excellence. It has established an Australian Institute of Sport to help promising. athletes, Mr Don Talbot, the distinguished swimming coach is returning from America to be its Director. The Government has assisted in the development of programmes of national sporting associations, the education of sports administrators and the provision of facilities of international standard. This year the Government has allocated almost $13 million for the extension of these programmes. A major initiative, in co-operation with the States, will be to provide funds for the holding of National Games beginning in 1983. Next year, as a forerunner to the National Games, the Government will provide $200,000 for special games at Brisbane using facilities being constructed for the Commonwealth Games in 1982. A sum of $150,000 will be provided in 1981 under the National Athlete Award Scheme to assist our world-ranked athletes with training and competition. The Government will also continue to provide funds for pre-event training for the 1982 Commonwealth Games and the 1984 Olympic Games.  Facilities.  Over the next three years the Government will provide $25 million, on a dollar for dollar basis with the States and Territories, for the further development of international facilities. The Federal Government will identify facilities and priorities in consultation with State and Territory governments. Facilities contemplated include; New South Wales - a multi-purpose indoor sports hall. Victoria - an equestrian centre and hockey field. Queensland-a shooting complex. South Australia - an indoor aquatic centre. Western Australia - a ballistics complex. Tasmania - a rowing and canoeing course. Northern Territory - a multi-purpose indoor sports hall. The Government will also provide funds to help establish an international standard motor racing circuit in the Australian Capital Territory. Special funds will also be provided for sport and recreation programmes for mentally and physically handicapped people and will be administered by a new body of representatives from major voluntary national organisations. The Government will provide assistance for Australian teams of disabled athletes to attend the next Paraplegic Olympics  A STRONG AND SECURE AUSTRALIA.  FOREIGN AFFAIRS.  The Government's foreign policy objectives are to:  - safeguard the independence and security of Australia.  - support our friends and allies in a practical way.  - play a responsible role in our own region and the wider world.  - adhere to the principles and practice of the United Nations Charter.  - seek to promote dialogue to bridge the gap between rich and poor countries.  - respond realistically to changes in the strategic international and regional environment.  The Government has taken initiatives in alerting the nation to the emerging realities of Soviet power and supported international moves to limit its threat to world peace. We condemned the Soviet backed Vietnamese invasion of Kampuchea and were the first nation to offer humanitarian assistance. We have pledged more than $14 million to relief programmes. The Government has continued to seek, in conjunction with ASEAN, a settlement in Kampuchea premised on the withdrawal of Vietnamese troops and free elections by the Kampuchean people. We have condemned the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and supported the United States in protest measures. We supported international protests to Iran on the hostages issue. The Government is closely examining the means of enhancing defence co-operation with the United States to facilitate American Indian Ocean operations.  Global.  Our foreign policy is global and will continue to be so. We played a major role in achieving acceptance of the proposals for constitutional settlement in Zimbabwe and independence for that nation. Australia has continued to contribute to the global dialogue aimed at bridging the gap between North and South. In this regard the Committee on Australia's relations with the Third World presented its report to the Government in 1979.  The scope and implementation of Australia's aid programme has been further developed Aid expenditure has been increased to approximately $547 million in 1980/81. The Government decided to permit tax deductibility of donations to eligible non-government organisations involved in the provision of overseas aid. The Government will provide additional support for the programme of the Australian Volunteers Abroad.  Throughout. its term of office the Government has been strengthening Australia's relations with major friendly powers and regional groups by:  - reaffirmation of the ANZUS Treaty in Canberra in 1979 and in Washington in 1980.  - initiatives within the Commonwealth of Nations and its regional members which developed the concept of regular regional meetings now known as Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting (CHOGRM).  - consolidating our relations with Great Britain and the other countries of Western Europe.  - new arrangements for closer links and regular consultations with Japan.  - a steady consolidation of our relations with China.  Regional.  In the region we have:  - increased consultation and formal links at Government and private sector level with ASEAN member countries.  - announced an enlarged three year rolling aid programme to the South Pacific.  - given unequivocal support for the independence and territorial integrity of Vanuatu.  - sponsored a study of the concept of a Pacific Community arrangement.  - taken initiatives for the development of our traditional relationship with New Zealand.  - completed the Torres Strait Treaty fixing the sea boundary between Australia and Papua New Guinea.  - negotiated maritime delimitation agreements with Australia's neighbours and proclaimed a 200 mile Australian fishing zone.  Australia has been elected to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and  continues to take an active part in the work of United Nations agencies. Australia has played a leading role in the development of a Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. As a result Hobart has been selected as the site of the headquarters of the international commission. The Government proposes to build on this record in pursuing the declared objectives of its foreign policy and will:  - strengthen our regional relationships.  - work constructively for a better balance between the rich nations and the poor.  Much has been done. There is still much we can do, having established a credible foreign policy and proved to be a reliable ally after the unease and uncertainty of the Labor Party's term of Government.  DEFENCE.  The Government is bringing Australia's defence forces up to a new level of strength and preparedness. The object is to:  - maintain the security of the nation.  - enable us to fulfil our commitments to friends and allies.  - contribute to the stability of our region.  We cannot ignore recent events in the Middle East, Afghanistan and South-East Asia. They have given an increased strategic significance to the Indian Ocean and to bases in Northern and Western Australia This has been recognised in our planning and the Government is closely examining means of enhancing defence co-operation with the United States in Indian Ocean operations.  Expansion.  The defence expansion will include:  - a record peace time naval construction programme estimated to cost $2,000 million.  - a reorganisation of the tactical roles of the permanent Army.  - a substantial increase in the Army Reserve and the acquisition of new equipment to provide increased mobility and firepower.  - a new Tactical Fighter Force and new capabilities and technologies for the RAAF.  - new bases in the north and west of the continent.  - high level defence co-operation with regional neighbours.  The current Five Year Defence Plan provides for a sustained growth in expenditure totalling some $17,600 million by 1985. In that period the permanent defence force will reach 76,600. Reserve forces are set to reach 30.000 by mid-1981. The Government will pay certain assurance premiums for Reservists who voluntarily take out an assurance cover to provide compensation for themselves and their families higher than that provided under the Compensation Act for injuries while on part-time service. The Government has not contemplated and does not intend to contemplate conscription for the armed forces in peacetime.  New Bases.  The current and proposed defence facilities in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory, will ring the top half of the continent. New patrol boat bases are being built in Cairns and Darwin and sites are being examined in the NorthWest. A new airfield will be sited at Derby and the Learmonth base is being upgraded. The Darwin airfield will be equipped as a base for one of the three new Fighter Squadrons. The Government will spend $1,400 million on defence equipment, stores and facilities this year. This will provide large business opportunities for Australian industry and should help to foster greater self-reliance in industry support for the defence forces. The whole thrust of Government defence policy, in both its civil and military aspects, is towards greater self-reliance. This is in the Nation's best security interests. Liberal policies are designed to enable all Australians to live free and independent lives in a secure nation. They are policies to promote the enterprise and initiative which will enable people to secure their own future through the rewards of their own efforts. They are also policies of compassion and concern for those in need. National Country Party of Australia.  Policy Speech by Rt Hon. J. D. Anthony, M. P. Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Trade and Resources and Leader of the National Country Party of Australia.  Keeping Australia strong.  The challenge to Australians as we go into the last twenty years of the century is to keep Australia strong. Only a strong Australia is a safe Australia. Only a strong Australia can give its people a good and satisfying life.  Australia needs to be strong…  - strong in defence, in security  - economically  - industrially  - technologically  - educationally  - morally  - strong in development, in trade  - speaking with a strong voice in world affairs. And the key to all these things is strong leadership ...  - stable leadership in times of crisis  - leadership with the courage and resolution to stick to policies that are right  - the fight against the inflation that eats into the family budget.  - the attack on unemployment.  - the creation of new, permanent jobs - over 200,000 of them last year.  - building strong growing industry- and employing more people - safeguarding our energy and fuel security.  We do live in an uncertain world, a tense world. There’s conflict in the Middle East in Asia: a threat to oil supplies. The Soviet Union seeks to expand its influence wherever it can. These things are important. They do concern us. We can't put them aside and say they don’t matter, because they do matter. In this vital question of security, and in all the other important issues, you must ask yourself which policy, which party, which Government, which man is more likely to give Australia the strong leadership it needs.  Persons and Family Security.  But ifs not just national security that's important. Personal security, family security -they’re important too. And the personal security and help that many Australians need can come only from a strong and growing economy. We’re providing a lot of help for Australian families, for pensioners, for the handicapped, for those in need. Half the budget, in fact, is spent on social security, education, health, housing and other ordinary, everyday needs of the Australian people. We can do it because this is a productive, growing, strong country. Our living standards are high. They can be improved, and more jobs created, only by a strong, productive, growing nation. We must keep Australia strong. There’s no other way.  Fuel Supply Security.  And one of the areas in which we must be strong is in security of fuel supplies. You'll hear a lot about fuel prices in the weeks to come. No one likes paying more for fuel, yet ours is amongst the cheapest in the developed world. In New Zealand, costs 64% more than it does in Australia. In Germany, it costs 79% more. In Britain 88% more. In Japan 109% more. In France 121 % more. And in Italy, at 77 cents a litre, petrol costs 133% more than it does in Australia. But the real issue isn’t price – it’s supply. The Labor Party never mentions that. The fact is, if we don't pay a realistic price now, we just don’t have enough fuel. That would make Australia a beggar for fuel- scrambling for oil and paying through the neck for it. Realistic prices are saving fuel. Fuel use is changing, exploration expanding, more being got out of the ground - all became of price. But that's not enough. It’s absolutely vital that we develop new fuels. We can get oil from coal. We can get oil out of our shale. You need a lot of it and it costs big money. You can get fuel from sugar cane, and other crops. In fact, we could make ourselves independent of foreign oil supplies. But none of this will happen without a realistic oil price. And without these alternative fuels, we’re in real trouble.  There is no Cheap Fuel.  Labor wants you to believe it would really cut petrol Prices, abandon import parity. It’s own policy says so. Labor members of he Senate National Resources Committee unanimously supported import parity pricing only a couple of weeks no. So don't be fooled by Labors propaganda. There's no cheap fuel. There’s no cheap way to get guaranteed supply. Anyone can promise you cheap fuel. But if they do that, they can't say you'll have fuel when you need it. And I for one don't want you coming to me in five years time saying, "Why didn't you do something to safeguard our fuel supplies?'  NEW HELP FOR RURAL AUSTRALIA.  One practical step we can take immediately to increase fuel supply security is to put more storage capacity on farms, in country towns and generally throughout the country. To encourage this, we will make fully tax deductible expenditure on the purchase and installation of storage facilities for fuel to be used in carrying on a business. This concession will be available to farmers, small businessmen, transport operators - in fact to anyone who needs security of fuel supply. It is important that we build up the nation’s fuel storage, and that we have storage capacity widely spread throughout the country. This measure will help achieve that objective. Additionally, it means that where people can arrange direct supply by an oil company, they will have the chance to negotiate with the company on bulk delivery prices. As a fuel and cost saving measure, we will assist conversion from diesel-powered electricity generation mains supply. We will make fully tax deductible the capital costs incurred by consumers on rural properties in connecting to mains electricity supply. Further we will seek the co-operation of the States in requesting States Grants Commissions to give special consideration to the needs of local government authorities in remote areas that have to generate electricity from diesel fuel because there is no alternative fuel supply. And in a further measure to help farmers, we will provide, in consultation with the States, additional extension grants funds to improve the availability of information on fuel-saying equipment and technology. The National Country Party has always had a special concern for country people and their problems - problems that are often unique and certainly different horn those experienced by other Australians.  Promises made- and kept!  At the last election, in 1977, we undertook to do a number of things, and we've done them. Probate and gift duty.. we abolished them. The primary Industry Bank.. it’s in business. The fuel freight subsidy ... $123 million this year. Local government ... 2% of income tax, $300 million this year. Country industry development .. $27 million so far. Better telephones and television services, the two-year wool floor price, dairy underwriting, help for isolated children, and a lot of other things ... they've all been done. So much for broken promises! Now, in line with our general approach of responding to areas of greatest need, we will introduce some further measures. Our first priority is, and must remain, control of inflation - and that will continue to require responsible restraints on spending. But there are areas in which we believe it is necessary to act, in a responsible way, and we will act.  Relief from drought. Large parts of Australia tonight are ravaged by drought. There is already in operation a long-standing system of drought relief provided by the Commonwealth and State and Territory Governments for natural disasters such as this. To help ease the effects of drought we introduced this year a full tax write-off of the cost of water supplies and the equipping of bores, wells and earth tanks. The investment allowance also to eligible items. A few days ago we called urgent meetings with State and Territory Governments to review existing drought relief, to see if it's adequate, and whether more should and can be done. No one should under-estimate the seriousness of this drought---no its effects not only on those farmers directly involved, but on country towns and, indeed, on city consumers. This is a national problem, and the nation must respond to it.  Help with farm costs. The National Country Party, and the Government, are very much aware of the impact of higher fuel prices on farmers. It would be unwise and irresponsible to try to delay the adjustments that must be made as fuel prices rise - but we want to do what we can to help farmers cope with generally rising costs. Therefore we will introduce a special depreciation allowance of 20% a year on a prime cost basis over five years, applicable to new machinery used wholly and exclusively in agricultural, pastoral and forest operations, and to new commercial fishing vessels. In country areas where mains supply is not available, we will provide assistance through the tax system to help compensate for the cost of private electricity generation, at the principal place of residence or business. Full tax deductibility will be applied to capital expenditure by primary producers on soil conservation. And as a first step towards a national soil conservation program, we will provide an initial sum of $2 million in 1981/82. We will extend to traditional users of LPG in decentralised industry the subsidy already available to household consumers. In all these measures, we are trying to help country people cope with rising costs -costs which they have to near themselves without, like so many other people, being able to pass them on to others.  Aid for Isolated children.  To-further help people in remote areas, we recently decided to increase the basic boarding allowance for isolated children from $500 to $600 from 1981. We have now decided, at the request of parents that this allowance should rise to $780. To help isolated students with their education, we will set up a pilot program to lend video units and tapes to students in areas without regular television.  Better communications.  In communications, we promised better telephone and television services, and cheaper call charges. We’ve done better than we promised. We’ve accelerated conversion to automatic service, we’ve cut call charges by up to 60%, and we’ve given every telephone subscriber access to the nearest service town at no more than the local call fee for three minutes. We're providing 56 TV transmitters in remote areas by the end of this financial year, with 20 more approved. And now we’re embarking on an exciting new program to put a communications satellite in the sky to ensure that all Australians have a good telephone service, good television, mid a good radio service of all kinds.  New funding basis for wool, PIBA.  To provide a better operational and planning basis, we will introduce three-year funding arrangements for wool promotion and for the Primary Industry Bank of Australia. We will maintain the wool reserve price scheme and guarantee that the floor price in 1981/82 season will not fall below this season's reserve price. To further assist primary producers to take advantage of income Equalisation Deposits we will provide for withdrawals from IEDs to be made up to 31 August each year for the previous financial year.  Industry stabilisation. New dairy industry stabilisation arrangements will be negotiated with the industry, with a view to introducing a long-term scheme. The new arrangements will provide dairy farmers with security against sharp falls in world prices and will enable them to plan their future operations with confidence. New underwriting arrangements will be introduced for the apple and pear industry. Proposals are being developed for new support arrangements for the dried vine fruits industry.  Meat industry. We will continue our commitment to fund the development of a beef carcass classification system. We will continue to encourage the development of sheepmeat exports, both through the important live sheep trade and the carcass trade. The Government will continue its active programs of pest and disease control. Additionally, we will initiate a co-ordinated program with the States to eradicate feral pigs. Country people of course will benefit from many of the more general policy measures already announced by the Prime Minister:  - the increased home savings grant and the higher house values under the scheme.  - a new measure which will not only help first-home buyers, but also contribute to energy-conservation - full tax write-off of the cost of insulating a first home.  - expanded training programs for young people to better equip them to find employment.  - an increase in the personal care subsidy for people in hostels for the aged.  - expanded help for families in special need.  - an expanded environmental health program for aboriginal people.  - an additional $25 million in 1981-83 for provision of new places in non-government schools.  - additional funds to bring Level 6 schools to 40% of government school costs over the life of the next Parliament.  - more funds for the education of severely handicapped children.  - an increase in nursing home benefits to maintain 70% coverage in 1981.  Small business aid.  Small business in the country has already benefited from our efforts to improve the availability of finance trough the Development Bank counseling services and so on. The easing of the private company retention allowance has also helped, and we will ease it further during the life of the next Parliament.  Secret ballot on strikes  A matter of continuing concern to Australians is the economic damage caused by irresponsible union action. At the last election we promised to introduce secret ballots for union elections and we have done that. We will now bring in a new provision under which union members themselves can ask the court to allow them to vote in secret on whether or not they believe a strike should take place.  National transport system. We undertook in 1977 to begin upgrading the national rail network, and that's happening. The new standard-gauge rail link from Adelaide to Alice Springs has been completed, and regular services will operate in December. To complete the north-south continental railway link, we will undertake construction of the Alice Springs-Darwin line. I see this as a great national project of immense importance. Just as the Indian-Pacific line has brought the two sides of our continent closer together, a north-south link will open up great new prospects and opportunities for Australians. The development potential of the Northern Territory is enormous: a quarter of the world's uranium is there, huge amounts of bauxite, manganese, copper, gold, lead and zinc. There are large reserves of oil and gas. The pastoral industries need and will benefit from better transport. The Northern Territory has some of Australia’s most exciting tourist attractions, and the tourist industry must grow. And of course a good rail link is an part of the development of a strong defence capability. As the world oil situation worsens and fuel becomes dearer, we must rely increasingly on public transport to move people around his large continent. Completion of the north-south rail link will make an important contribution to that objective. We must of course, maintain our commitment to continuous improvement of the nation’s road system, both in national and local terms. We will be providing $628 million for roads this year, and $3,650 million over five years. This five-year guaranteed contribution by the Commonwealth to the States and local government will help with the overall upgrading of the national roads system. We will be giving special consideration to the local government roads and to remote area development roads that are so vital to the people of the outback. We will be pressing ahead vigorously with the national highways program.  Export incentives. Our export incentives program has been a very important factor in achieving an outstanding export performance. We will continue the export incentives program beyond its currently-scheduled expiry date to allow time for it to be reviewed, for consultation with industry and for any necessary legislative action that might be required. We understand the need for exporters and potential exporters to know what the government’s policy will be well in advance.  Water resources. One of the things we talked about last election was a program to develop Australia's water resources. We’ve committed $76 million to it so far, and we'll meet the full cost of the Burdekin Dam in North Queensland. But frankly, I'm disappointed that we haven't been able to go a lot further in the first three years of this five-year program. Our first priority has had to be inflation control, and that's meant very tight control of spending. But this bad drought reminds us again how dry this country is, and how vital water is. The Burdekin Dam - a national project - symbolises the way we must think about water. A significant water development program is absolutely essential if we’re going to give this country some security against drought, and reach our full production potential. You'll never, of course, be able to give complete protection against drought. But a lot can be done, and must be done. It will be my objective, and my party’s objective to see that it is.  Australia - an envied land. We live in a country that's envied by people all around the world. People envy us for our way of life.  - for our prosperity.  - our economic and political stability.  - our great natural resources.  - our vast reserves of energy.  - our relatively low inflation.  - our cheap petrol - and it is cheap by world standards, very cheap, people envy us for the fuel security our policy is bringing.  We’re envied for our high standard of living, for the way we’re creating new jobs - more last year than in any of the last 10 years. And we’re certainly envied for the tremendous development prospects that lie ahead of us. Australia goes into the eighties in better shape, and with better prospects, than any country in the world  • inflation checked  • employmwt growing  • investment at record levels  • development gathering momentum  • exports soaring.  Our primary industries, despite cost and drought problems, have better markets and prices than they've had for years. Our energy and minerals are eagerly sought by the world. The world, in fact, is giving Australia a massive vote of confidence.  Questions that must be answered. Now you have to vote.  And I want you to ask yourself these questions:  Which party is most likely to provide sound and responsible economic management?  - to have the strongest commitment to controlling inflation?  - keep the tax burden lowest by keeping spending down?  - Protect your real standard of living?  - give you secure fuel supplies?  Which approach to unemployment makes more sense: creating real, permanent jobs - or artificial, temporary ones? Which party is most willing to work, with our allies, to keep Australia safe for you and your children? People on the land, in the country towns and cities - look back to the last Labor Government and ask yourselves who best understands and responds to your needs. And finally look at the party leadership, at the people who must take the tough decisions, who must face up to the hard questions and the challenges with firmness and resolution. Ask yourself those questions, and answer them honestly, and there’ll be no doubt about your response.  The decision to be made. I ask you to make sure that a Coalition Government, our Government, is re-elected, and decisively re-elected, in the House of Representatives and in the Senate - to keep Australia strong!  Authorised by B. G. Osmond, Federal Director, National  Country Party of Australia, Canberra. Printed by Pirie Printers Pty Limited, Canberra, A.C.T. Policy speech  Federal Election Campaign Launch.  Sydney Opera House Opera Theatre  16 February, 1983.  My Fellow Australians,  Today we set out together on a task much greater than winning an election.  The task is to win the future for Australia and all Australians.  The real fight - the fight for Australia - is not just between competing Parties or competing policies - important as they are. Much less is it a contest between personalities .  There are tremendous issues involved in this historic election on the fifth of March - first and foremost, the right of all Australians to a job; and whether the disastrous economic policies, the political opportunism and the divisive leadership which together have produced Australia's present catastrophic unemployment are to be changed.  For the sake of the one million and more Australians who face unemployment unless there is a change, those policies must be changed, and will be changed - by the Australian Labor Government, after 5 March.  But above all, this is a fight for the future of Australia, for the true heart and soul of Australia.  For we are asking, on the fifth of March, for a decision from the Australian people which will declare to the world that the politics of division, the politics of confrontation the deliberate setting of Australian against Australian - which have debased the national leadership and disfigured the national life for so long, have no part in the true Australian way.  And the first pledge I now make, a commitment which embraces every other undertaking, is that everything we do as a Government will have the one great goal - to reunite this great community of ours, to bring out the best we are truly capable of, together, as a nation, and bring Australia together to win our way through the crisis into which the policies of the past and the men of the past have plunged our country.  For the facts are there - stark and grim - for every Australian to see. Seven years of Fraserism have produced:  - The highest number of Australians thrown out of work in our history; and the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression fifty years ago.  - One in ten Australians out of work - a figure no Australian would believed possible a few years ago, and which the Australian Government should ever be forgiven for creating.  - One in four young Australians looking for work being unable to find work.  Their policies have produced the highest level of sustained inflation in Australian history; the highest personal taxation levels; the highest interest rates; the highest number of business bankruptcies on record.  For the first time since World War 11, the percentage of Australians owning or buying their own home is falling - and falling drastically.  For the first time in living memory, Australian living standards - the real buying power of wages and salaries - are falling.  And for the first time in more than thirty years, the Australian economy has stopped growing. Growth has gone into reverse.  In the Fraser years of government, the average growth of income per head has been 1.6 per cent compared with, the average of 2.3 per cent in the industrialised West. There's no question of not waiting for the rest of the world - the rest of the world has left us behind!  This is the record - just the bare facts of the record - of the men who now ask you to take them on trust - to trust them on their record, trust them for their experience.  Trust!  Trust the promises of the man whose public career, in seven years of government, is one unbroken trail of broken promises?  Trust, in this grave national crisis, a government whose record of instability, Cabinet turmoil and enforced resignations in the wake of public scandal, is without parallel in the history of Australia?  Trust them for a fourth term, when the very circumstances of the calling of this panic election reek of fraud and deception?  There are simple questions to be asked and answered.  Why was this election called eight months before time?  Why were writs for this election issued and the electoral rolls closed within an hour of the Parliament being dissolved?  Why have 400,000 of our fellow Australians been deprived of the right to vote - most of them the young people who have suffered most from the policies of the Fraser Government?  Underlying everything - the statistics of economic disaster, the roll call of broken promises, the scandals, the 18 Ministers who have resigned, retired early, been suspended or dismissed - is the politics of division, the politics of confrontation, which threaten to poison the very well-springs of the national life, the true, decent, Australian way of life.  My fellow Australians.  Let me from the very beginning of this campaign and to the end of this campaign, sound a note of caution and realism.  We offer no miracles. We offer no overnight solutions for the immediate problems we face or the deep-seated problems we must face together.  I believe the Australian people have had enough of election promises made only to be broken. I offer no fistful of dollars to be snatched back after the election.  What I do offer is a program to produce growth and expansion in the economy, achievable goals for the rebuilding and reconstruction of this nation.  What we have to do is, break out of the vicious cycle of confrontation imposed by seven long years of the Fraser Government. That will involve significant new expenditure, significant new investment from both the public and private sectors. It will also involve putting in place mechanisms to ensure that the new growth does not simply disappear in a new round of inflation - that is what our prices and incomes policy is all about.  This is not a time for grandiose spending proposals of the kind Mr. Fraser has drummed up in recent weeks - $6,000 million worth in the space of just three weeks in January.  But it is a time for controlled, responsible, stimulation of the Australian economy. We will not be able to just spend our way out of the mess: we must work our way out of it, work our way out of it together.  The new path for Australia after the fifth of March 1983, will be national reconciliation, national recovery, national reconstruction.  For let there be no mistake - there can be no economic recovery, there cannot be a beginning towards recovery, until there is a national effort towards national reconciliation. And that effort must begin with the national leadership and the national Government.  The problems we face together are now deep-seated, complex and challenging. They cannot be solved by election gimmicks. And just let me give you one measure of the size of the problem. More than 130,000 jobs have to be found each year just to absorb new people coming onto the work-force - that is, just for unemployment levels to mark time.  So Australia needs long term national solutions; and above all, we need a genuine cooperative approach between governments, business and unions.    NATIONAL SUMMIT    That is why we undertake, immediately on assuming office, to convene a national economic summit conference, fully representative of Australian industry, the Australian work-force-and the Australian people through their elected governments.  Let me stress that the proposal for a national economic summit - as I have stressed all along - is not a substitute for our positive policies.  Its purpose is to create a climate for common understanding of the scale and scope of Australia’s present crisis, to explore the policy options, and to ensure that the relevant parties, governments, business and the unions - clearly appreciate the role that each of them will have to play in pulling the country out of its present economic mess.  our call for a national summit is the same call made for months past by the leading industry groups of Australia, by the A.C.T.U., the Cardinal-Archbishop of Sydney, church leaders throughout Australia and by most of the State Premiers - the first act in the process of rational reconciliation.  We of the Labor Party have already - well before the election, and well before the proposed summit - established the firmest possible basis for the necessary three-sided cooperation between governments, business and unions.  We have already established the basis for firm cooperation with leading industry groups and representatives.    PRICES AND INCOMES POLICY    As a result of the months of painstaking consultation, discussion and work, we, the representatives of the incoming Labor Government, have reached an historic accord with the trade union movement which will form the basis for a firm, genuine and workable prices and incomes policy for this nation.  The whole thrust of our policy is to attack the twin evils of unemployment and inflation together - to get growth back into the economy while ensuring that Australian living standards no longer continue to be eroded by inflation.  And the purpose of our prices and incomes policy is to ensure that the benefits of recovery, the benefits of growth, are not wasted by inflation through another bout of the wage-price spiral, or the erosion of our international competitiveness.  All involved in the far-reaching accord are in absolute agreement that our long-term goal for Australia must be the restoration of genuine full employment, and the maintenance of real living standards in Australia.  Let there be no mistake - our opponents stand for the exact opposite. The inevitable result of their policy is an increase in unemployment and a continued reduction in the living standards of every Australian. The wage freeze itself was explicitly designed to cut ordinary family income and ordinary Australian living standards by ten percent.  But the agreement which will form the basis of our prices and incomes policy equally recognises that these great goals cannot be achieved overnight, or without real equality of sacrifice.  It would be unrealistic to pretend otherwise; and it would be dishonest for me to promise otherwise.  And in these great matters, as in everything else in this campaign and beyond, I am not in the business, and the Labor Party is not in the business, of making promises that cannot be fulfilled.  To underpin an effective prices and incomes policy, we will:  - establish, after full consultation with industry, a streamlined pricing surveillance authority to assess price rises sought by the strategic price setters and public authorities within the national jurisdiction.  - strengthen the trade practices legislation to promote more effective competition.  - restore a centralised system of wage fixation.  - establish, after consultation and in cooperation with the States, direct and indirect mechanisms to ensure that the same restraint expected of wage and salary earners is exercised by other non-wage income earners.  In short, in this hour of Australia’s worst economic crisis for fifty years, we shall ask all sections of the Australian community to show the common restraint and share the common burden for the common national purpose.  The process of co-operation and consultation must be a continuing one. The momentum of the mood for national reconciliation, national recovery and national reconstruction generated by the national economic summit must be maintained. The prices and incomes policy itself will require for its success mechanisms by which consultation and co-operation can become as normal and readily accepted a part of the Australian way and the Australian system as confrontation and division have become under the impact of Fraserism.  Further, there is an urgent need to replace the existing chaos and unpredictability in economic policy-making with orderly, rational and consistent. economic planning to promote the achievement of agreed national goals.  Accordingly, a Labor Government will establish an Economic Planning Advisory Council, representing all governments, business, union, farmers and consumers.  A tripartite group of government, employer and union representatives from within the Economic Planning Advisory Council will have responsibility for advising on the prices and incomes policy. This group will monitor implementation, and help solve problems as or before they arise.   RECOVERY AND GROWTH   Important and historic as the establishment of a national prices and incomes policy is, it is itself only one element in the program for national reconciliation, recovery and reconstruction.  The overwhelming need for Australia in its present crisis is for a government with policies to make a combined attack on unemployment and inflation.  The aim of the incoming Labor Government is to restore growth to the Australian economy.  Recovery can only be achieved and sustained by a change to national economic policies which lift and sustain demand. There can be no lift in profits or a lift in growth unless there is a lift in demand.  And that cannot be done by taking money out of the weekly pay packet or the pensioner's cheque.  And it certainly can't be done by squeezing the public sector even further. The Fraser Government has relentlessly cut public investment - that is, the investment we make as a nation in our nation's future - in our children at school, in housing, health, transport and all the essential community services fundamental to the living standards of a modern society. A massive squeeze has been put on the finances and resources of the States in pursuit of the present Prime minister's ultimate obsession to get his own way - to force the States to impose a second income tax.  Under the Labor Government, increased growth will be restored by:  - building desperately needed public capital works and services.  - tax reductions for low and middle income earners.  - widening of opportunities for borrowing by business, farmers and homebuyers.  - providing support for private sector investment.  The process of recovery and reconstruction will involve an accelerated capital works program.  In close consultation with the States, and local government, we shall embark upon a range of projects carefully selected to provide the maximum quick boost to employment, the maximum benefit to the private sector and the maximum value for the long term advantage to this nation for the money spent.  It is vital that we act now to get our young people off the dole queue - to give our young men and women an alternative.  To improve community facilities and services, as well as to increase employment opportunities, Labor will start a Community Works Program.  This program will be designed to reach to the local community level. The criteria for projects under the program will be that they would provide community facilities or services otherwise unlikely to be available; that they are labour intensive; and that they would provide training opportunities better to enable participants to enter the normal workforce.  An estimated 70,000 new full-time jobs will be created for an average duration of six months. The Community Works Program will particularly benefit those most disadvantaged in the labour market who will be least affected by a general improvement in employment opportunities.  We shall also introduce a private sector assistance program which will provide a real incentive to employers to provide actual new jobs for young people, in contrast with the existing Special Youth Employment Training Program (SYTEP).  We shall establish a "Jobs on Roads" Program under which additional money would be granted to local government bodies for construction and maintenance of local roads. Proposed allocation of $70 million in 1983/84 will create a total of nearly 8,000 jobs.   TAX RELIEF AND TAX REFORM  Labor's program of tax relief and tax reform is a crucial element in our program for recovery. The present economic crisis cannot be separated from the operation of the tax system under the Fraser Government. As a foremost expert on taxation and Australian public finances, Professor Russell Mathews has pointed out, the system has become a major instrument for redistributing income from wages and salaries to other incomes, a major cause of budgetary problems, and a source of growing social, business and economic instability.  Labor's tax reform program will have these objectives:  - to increase the real value of the pay packet and stimulate demand in the economy.  - to restore equity to the tax system.  - to redress the tax burden, on the principle of ability to pay.  - to prevent the erosion of after-tax income by inflation, and so support the prices and incomes policy.  - to end the loss of untold millions of dollars through the tax evasion and avoidance industry.  We will wipe out the tax evasion and avoidance industry it this country.  Under the Fraser Government it has become Australia's main growth industry. To quote the Costigan Report:  "This industry has developed in Australia, particularly over the last five years, at a rate far in excess of any other industry and has brought with it profits comparable only to the heady days of the Victorian gold rush."  And the blame lies not so much with individuals, but with the Government that allowed it to happen - the Fraser Government.  Our Government's total income tax package is being released concurrently with this speech.  Its key elements include immediate reductions in income tax for almost six million Australian taxpayers, with the greatest tax cuts going to those on the lowest incomes who have suffered most under Mr. Fraser's policies. A taxpayer without dependents earning $225 a week, for example, will get a tax cut of $4.76 a week.  The major points of Labor's tax reform will be:  - a new six step tax scale to restore the progressive nature of the tax system.  - a lift in the tax threshold to $5,000 which will free tens of thousands of low income earners from all tax.  - a lift in the tax threshold for pensioners of $465 to $5893.  - increases in the spouse rebate and sole parent rebate, resulting in additional tax cuts of $2.00 a week to families.  - increases in zone allowances by 25 percent for taxpayers in remote areas.  We propose a major new concession to the small businesses of this nation which have been among the worst victims of the Fraser recession and which provide such a high proportion of the jobs for our people.  We shall legislate to allow up to 100 percent retention of profits by small business where these funds are to be used for genuine business operations.  And here let me make one point so that even our opponents can understand it; and let me make it beyond all their powers of misrepresentation and distortion.  There will be no new capital gains tax.  But we will not be deterred - and no Australian Government worthy of the name should ever have been deterred - from upholding and using the existing laws of the Commonwealth of Australia, interpreted in the spirit in which those laws are now being interpreted by the High Court, to tax speculative gains and prevent tax evasion and tax avoidance.  All that is needed is a government with the will and determination to apply the law.  And one last point on taxation matters, which goes to the very heart of our principles of equity and equality. The present Prime Minister secured consent to this election on the grounds that the Senate one year ago rejected legislation of crucial importance to the economic policies of his Government. Those rejected policies would have imposed a 2,5 percent tax on the necessities of life in this country. Mr. Fraser now seeks your mandate to impose sales taxes across the board. Either that - or he has procured this election by constitutional and political fraud.   PETROL PRICES  As part of Labor's anti-inflation package and in recognition of the burden of extra taxation levied by the Government on people afflicted by the wage freeze, Labor will reduce the price of petrol by cancelling the January 1 oil price increase of $3.23 per barrel. This will have the effect of reducing the price of petrol by the order of 3c a litre. It will also reduce the Consumer Price Index by half of one point.   HOUSING  We will call upon the housing and construction industry to make a major contribution to the recovery program.  Our target is to increase housing commencements by 18,000 in our first year and to bring total commencements to 160,000 within three years.  To provide a stable and adequate flow of funds for housing at affordable interest rates, the Labor Government will:  - maintain interest rate controls on bank mortgage interest rates and extend those controls to building societies.  - require the savings banks and building societies to lend a set proportion of their funds for housing.  - establish an Australian Housing Fund in the Reserve Bank made up of deposits by non-bank financial institutions and channelled through the banks and building societies.  We will assist first homebuyers to bridge the deposit gap which prohibits many moderate income earners from obtaining home ownership. A grant of $5,000 will be paid to eligible buyers in such a way that they can obtain an extra $14,000 loan.  Labor will assist people renting their homes by extending supplementary rent assistance of up to $10 a week to all social security beneficiaries, including the unemployed.  THE PRIVATE SECTOR   The role of private industry - which employs nearly eighty percent of the Australian workforce - will be of paramount importance, both for the immediate recovery, and the long term reconstruction of our economy.  The Labor approach is based on a recognition of the interdependence between the private and the public sectors. The health of one requires the health of the other. Private industry stands to benefit most from increased activity in capital works and infrastructure.  The Fraser Government has presided over the disintegration of Australia’s manufacturing industry. Over 100,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost.  We cannot satisfactorily rebuild our workforce unless at the same time we rebuild our manufacturing base.  This requires both measures to deal with the immediate crisis, and measures for long-term reconstruction.  Until this crisis is overcome there will be no reduction of existing protection levels.  We recognise the current crisis facing many industries where import competition is threatening their very survival.  We will immediately review the need for additional short term assistance in selected industries to provide a necessary breathing space until steady growth is restored.  The Industries Assistance Commission will be required to play more positive role in preparing for growth, rather than managing the decline of manufacturing.  It is unthinkable that Australia should abandon its steel producing capacity - yet every day of delay makes that outcome more likely. Australia has al the necessary raw materials, the workforce, the expertise and the basic infrastructure for an efficient and healthy steel industry.  It is incomprehensible, not only in terms of Australia's economy but in terms of Australia's defence and security, that this nation is on the verge of being the only significant industrialised nation in the world without a steel industry.  The Labor Government gives an unequivocal commitment to the maintenance of a viable and efficient steel industry in this country.  We shall maintain the current long term plans for the footwear, clothing and textile industries.  We shall retain current plans for the motor vehicle industry but we shall restrict the export credit scheme to seven and a half percent.  We will encourage those many small industries 3n the producer goods sector which have good prospects for replacing imports and expanding exports.  We will select new intermediate and high technology industries in which Australia has special skills and opportunities, and support their establishment.  The new Australian Industry Development Bank will provide new sources for finance for our industry reconstruction plans.  The Commonwealth Development Bank will be given a wider charter to finance small business investments.  The current accelerated depreciation allowance will be retained to promote private investment.  Grants for research and development will be increased and made tax free.   TOURISM  Recognising the importance of tourism to the Australian economy and the prospects of employment it can offer to the young, semiskilled and unskilled, the Labor Government will double the current expenditure on tourism, tourist promotion and low cost tourist accommodation.   COMMUNICATIONS   Communications has grown into a major area of government responsibility, but under the Fraser Government developments have been wholly uncoordinated. The Australian Labor Party has clear priorities and will develop our communications system with paramount regard to the public interest.  We will:  - immediately plan for a second ABC regional network, to be installed by the third year of government, to provide additional choice to the four million Australian living outside capital cities.  - increase ABC funding by 5 percent to enable a further development of Australian programming.  - establish an independent Foundation to assist financing of public broadcasting stations.  - proceed with the extension of multi-cultural and ethnic broadcasting throughout Australia, but insist on greater ethnic community involvement in the management of this service.  Labor rejects the recommendations of the Davidson Report on the Australian Telecommunications system. That system will remain in the hands of Telecom, and will continue to provide a service which takes into account the public interest in the determination of charges for all Australians.  There will be no fragmentation of the system by the admission of private networks, and Telecom will continue to cross-subsidise country and suburban services.  Telecom will be permitted to raise adequate capital for expansion, and will be the base provider for all new information systems.  It will continue as a major supporter of the Australian electronics industry, and of employment in that industry.  Telecom's "Buy Australian" policy will be maintained.   RURAL POLICY   No Australian resource is more important than our land. No sector of Australian industry is more important than our great primary industries, which still provide fifty percent of Australia's export income in normal circumstances .  Labor's program to provide relief for the drought-stricken areas of Australia will be outlined when I deliver our rural policy speech in Griffith on Sunday - the most comprehensive set of policies ever put together by any party for Australia's agricultural and fishing industries.  EDUCATION  Australia will be unable to meet the challenges ahead unless we develop the most important resource of all - our children.  Our young people need to be better prepared for their own future and for the future of the country.  We cannot continue to waste the talents and destroy the hopes of our young people in the dole queues. We cannot afford to lose so many able students from our high schools, colleges and universities.  The learning gap between Australia and the rest of the world is widening.  Our proposals to reverse this disturbing trend in the longer term include:  - an increase in full time enrolments in secondary schools and in the TAFE sector of a total of 30,000 in three years.  - an increase in enrolments in universities and CAE's of 25, 000 by 1990.  The importance of doing this is three fold:  - Australia-has a low retention rate of young people in the 15 to 19 year old age group in education.  - Too many young, unskilled Australians are looking for jobs and by doing so are increasing the size of the workforce when insufficient jobs are available.  - Australia must improve its educational and training standards if it is to compete in a world of rapidly changing technology.  As the Australian Education Council has pointed out: "The problem of youth unemployment in Australia is extremely serious, and undoubtedly getting worse. In December 1982 there were 175,200 unemployed people in the 15-19 year old age group (which is an unemployment rate of 26.3 per cent.). In addition (when compared with the OECD countries) Australia has one of the lowest retention rates for later year school students."  In dealing with the general question of unemployment in the longer term, we will have to face up to reducing the length of the working life of the average Australian.  A substantial impact will be made on this problem by policies designed to encourage young people to remain in education longer, and by offering them a comprehensive youth policy which offers the alternative of education, or a range of employment outside the conventional labour-force, providing opportunities for constructive community work, training and experience.  We will, in consultation with the State Governments which are already developing constructive programs in this area, seek to develop a comprehensive youth policy which till have short term benefits for the young unemployed, and long term benefits for the Australian workforce.  Labor will institute a new program for primary schools to provide special help to children suffering difficulties in their basic- learning. The full year cost of this new program will be $9 million.  We will provide, as we promised some weeks ago, $24 million over three years to equip secondary schools with computers. All government schools and needy non-government schools will benefit from a grant of up to $20,000 for this equipment.  Labor's objective is to provide equal educational opportunities for all Australian children. In addition we shall encourage reasonable diversity in education both within the government sector and by facilitating a healthy private sector.  Above all, we will restore the confidence of the Australian community by showing that our national government is concerned about the educational opportunities available to all children in all schools.  If all Australian children are to enjoy equal educational opportunities - the funding of all schools - government and non-government - must be based on fairness and need.  We believe that the Australian Schools Commission is right when it says that the so-called state aid debate is a distraction from the far more important concerns which many Australians have about schools.  In addition to a contribution of $37 million to government schools, we shall provide a further $16 million to the most needy non-government schools in the first year. Consistent with funding according to needs in a time of limited financial resources, we will reduce by 5 per cent per year the direct Commonwealth grant going to a very small number of wealthy private schools endowed with resources far above those of any other schools.  I say frankly and unequivocally that under these proposals 98 per cent of children in the Catholic education system will be better off in terms of Commonwealth assistance, and in saying that I am mindful that the Catholic, and the government systems cater for children from all ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.  I will ask our Education Minister to confer immediately with the Schools Commission, and with representatives of the various  sectors, with a view to establishing a common understanding of the resources claims of all types of schools.   SOCIAL SECURITY  Together with the unemployed, the main victims of Fraserism are those who depend for their income on social welfare payments - the aged, the handicapped, the invalid, the bereaved, the single parents.  It is unforgivable that after seven years of Fraserism a million and a half people on social security are admitted by the Government itself to be living in poverty.  Half of the three million Australians who depend on Government welfare assistance - our aged, our disabled, our invalids, widows and single parents - are on payments below the poverty line.  No Labor Government can tolerate that situation.  We are committed to raising over a three-year period tree basic pension rate from 22 per cent of average male earnings to which it has fallen under Fraser to 25 per cent. Once we reach that goal we will maintain that 25 per cent proportion by indexation until it is possible to take the pension higher.  Pensions will be adjusted on the basis of the immediately prior six month CPI movement to cut the present lag of four months to one month.  Pensioner fringe benefit levels will be indexed.  Zone allowances will be paid to social security beneficiaries living in remote areas where costs are high.  Unemployment benefits will be progressively increased until adult beneficiaries reach equality with single pensioners.  Young unemployed will be paid an additional $5.00 a week and given greater access to training.  All adult unemployed will be eligible for a $10.00 week rental assistance after six weeks on benefit. Junior beneficiaries will also be eligible if they are living away from home.  While Labor is committed to the maintenance of family allowances, our first priority must be to low income families.  The most immediate need here is for reform of the absurdly restrictive family income supplement proposed in the last Budget. This will be done by relaxing the income test so that the supplement is reduced by only 25 cents for each extra dollar of family income, rather than the present 50 cents. This will ensure that eligibility is extended into a much wider range of lower and middle incomes.  Our Children’s Services program will provide for the varying needs of children, and is essential to enable parents to play a fuller part in society.  Labor would allocate $20m extra for child care in its first Budget, equivalent to $30m in a full year. These funds, which will finance 400 new child care projects, will be directed into areas of pressing need.  HEALTH  One of the big factors in the decline of the living standards of Australian families over the last seven years has sprung from one of the most notorious of the Fraser broken promises – the promise to maintain the universal health care system. There have been five confused and confusing schemes put in its place. It has reduced health care standards and directly raised inflation. Further, the Fraser Government has placed intolerable burdens on the hospital systems of the States.  The Labor Government will return to the basic principle of the right of all Australians to health services according to their medical needs.  Labor's new Medicare program involves simply the replacement of the present crippling health fund contributions by an income-related levy of one per cent of taxable income. It will mean that nine out of ten Australians will pay less for the health needs of themselves and heir families.  The change in Labor's health funding arrangements is also an important element of Labor's anti-inflation package. It will have the effect of reducing the Consumer Price Index by 2 percentage points.  The last thing the Labor Government wants to do is to create more unnecessary bureaucracy, in the health field or anywhere else. One piece of wholly unnecessary red tape which we shall abolish immediately on coming to Government is the pharmaceutical declaration form which has been imposed by the Fraser Government on pharmacists, pensioners and the poor.   SPORT  It is not only through our Medicare plan that a Labor Government will contribute to the health and fitness of Australians.  We will ensure, through substantial funding increases, that sport, physical fitness and recreation facilities will be available to all Australians seeking to enjoy them whatever their wealth, ability or level of aspiration.  Particular priorities for increased funding will be the National Institute of Sport, sports education in schools, the building of family leisure centres in or near schools, and surf life-saving associations.  A long overdue system of tax-averaging will be introduced for sportsmen with short careers in high body contact sports.   ARTS  Australia's prowess in sport is matched by her excellence in the arts.  We of the Australian Labor party have a commitment to the development of the arts in Australia, both as are expression of our national identity, and as a means of increasing the access of all Australians to their own culture.  Our main priorities in Government will be to:  - restore over our term in office spending on all arts programs to the level achieved in 1975-76.  - provide low-interest development aid to independent Australian publishers.  - abolish admission fees to the new National Gallery.  - proceed with construction or the Museum of Australia.  - closely monitor, and adjust where necessary, film industry tax incentives to ensure the stability and expansion of quality Australian film production.      THE ENVIRONMENT   Environmental issues have become more prominent in this campaign than in any previous election, through the bitter and divisive controversy over the proposed Gordon-below-Franklin dam, the building of which will irreversibly damage a key part of Australia's and the world's natural and cultural heritage.  A Labor Government will use all the powers at our disposal to ensure that the dam is not proceeded with, but at the same time ensure that Tasmania is not economically disadvantaged in any way.  It's not a matter of having to choose between environment and development. With sensible policies, and a willingness to resolve problems through negotiation and consensus, Australia can have both.  Other Labor environment priorities are:  - the preservation of Moreton Island by prohibition of mineral sand exports.  - the declaration of the whole of the Great Barrier Reef area as a marine park.  - developing with the States a massive national reafforestation and tree regeneration campaign, especially in catchment areas.  Environmental issues are pre-eminently about values -competing values to some extent, but above all the values we share.  Labor believes that one of the most important tasks Australia today is to restore values to Australian politics.  We need to think through the kinds of shared values that are necessarily involved in building a firm foundation for Australia's future.  And one of the most fundamental tasks of all in this respect is to think again about some of the values built into the Constitution under which we have as a nation lived and worked for over 80 years.   CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM  A widespread consensus is emerging that while the basic structure of the Australian Constitution may still be sound, a good deal of it needs major renovation.  The 1988 Bicentennial year is an ideal target date to work towards for really major, systematic review. Labor will seek to put in place machinery - involving the establishment of the Australian Constitutional Convention on a more regular and professional basis, and the direct election by the people of a proportion of its delegates - to make that review process a reality.  Labor recognises that, because of the realities of the referendum process, there is little point in seeking constitutional change in matters which have no significant support across regional and political lines. We do not see constitutional amendments as an occasion for political stunting or grandstanding; we will be adopting, a consensus-seeking approach in all our endeavours in this area.  Our most immediate constitutional reform priority is the achievement of fixed term four-year parliaments.  This will stabilise the election cycle, make possible rational business planning and public administration, and rule out the kind of cynical opportunism that has forced Australians to the polls six times in the last twelve years.  The concept of fixed term parliaments has received widespread support on both sides of politics, and we believe it will be warmly welcomed by the great majority of Australians.   ELECTORAL REFORM   We will update the Electoral Act with proposals recommended by the Electoral Office but shelved for years by the Fraser Government.  Voting will be made simpler to reduce informal wasted votes. Voters will not find they have been taken off the rolls and disenfranchised whenever they move home or go overseas.  Labor will also establish an independent, public and permanent Electoral Commission to oversee the whole electoral process.  We will seek the support of Parliament for the public funding of election campaigns, the disclosure of donations to political parties and for the regulation of unfair political advertising.   LAW AND JUSTICE   Labor has a comprehensive program of law reform, based on the principles of equal access to the law, the protection and promotion of fundamental rights and liberties, and the speedier and more sensitive reaction of the law to social change.  Among the measures we will vigorously pursue are:  - Additional and more cost-effective legal aid funding.  - A national Bill of Rights and major improvements to the law of discrimination and criminal investigation.  - Upgrading of the role and effectiveness of the Human Rights Commission.  - Rewriting of the Freedom of Information Act to implement fully the principles of open government.  - Progressive establishment, in cooperation with States, of a national no-fault accident compensation scheme.  - Updating of the Family Law Act to ensure that it, operates in the best interests of all the parties involved, especially children.  - Creation of a National Law Reform Advisory Council (with representatives from law reform agencies and both sides of politics in every parliament) to coordinate uniform law reform developments.      WOMEN  Labor has a comprehensive women's affairs policy, developed in recognition of the fact that Australian women do not yet experience total equality with men, or enjoy full participation in all aspects of our society.  We are particularly concerned at the implications of the evidence from all relevant overseas countries that women in the workforce are most susceptible to the adverse effects of rapid technological change.  Our most immediate priority will be the enactment of Commonwealth Sex Discrimination legislation covering employment, education, the provision of goods and services, accommodation, land and clubs, and establishing a program of affirmative action in public and private employment.   ABORIGINES  Another area of unresolved conflict involves the Aboriginal people of this country - the first Australians. As a group, they continue to experience the worst conditions - the worst health, housing, employment, education, and the greatest poverty and despair. While this situation persists, we can never truly bring this country together.  Central to this question is the issue of land rights.  A Labor Government will not hesitate to use, where necessary, the constitutional powers of the Commonwealth to provide the Aboriginal people to own the land which has for years been set aside for them.  Through the Aboriginal Development Commission, we will assist communities to develop enterprises, build schools, and operate health services in a way which implements to the full the common ambition of self determination within a framework of national unity.   BUSINESS LAW  Labor in government will approach business regulation issue according to clearly stated principles. We will maintain and promote business regulation only where its social or economic objectives are clearly identified and where the benefit to the community outweighs the cost of the regulations.  Priority activity will include:  - Strengthening the Trade Practices Act in relation to mergers, price discrimination and abuses of market power designed to prevent proper competition.  - Ensuring genuine reform of company and securities law and better resources for the National Companies and Securities Commission.  - Enactment of legislation in relation to insurance agents and brokers, and insurance contracts, of the kind recommended by the Australian Law Reform Commission.  - Review of the structure and operation of the Petroleum Products Pricing Authority to ensure adequate Commonwealth supervision of petroleum pricing and that the Authority operates as an effective pricing body or the industry.      CONSUMER PROTECTION  There are presently in force in the Commonwealth and States more than 200 laws relating to consumer protection, many of them - particularly in the areas of weights, measures, packing and assembling - dealing with exactly the same subject matter.  Labor in Government will aim to replace, following consultation with the States, overlapping laws with single common codes -to the undoubted benefit not only of consumers but the business community.  We will support education programs to advise consumers, particular members of ethnic groups, of their rights as consumers, and establish joint industrial-consumer councils to advise the Government on consumer policies.   FOREIGN POLICY  Even in times of an economic crisis of such proportions as the present, the defence and security needs of Australia must remain paramount. The foundations laid after 1972 established for Australia a more independent and self-respecting international role than ever before. The essential elements of Australian defence and foreign policy have taken on a quality of bipartisanship inconceivable before then. The great questions of Australia's relationship with the United States, with the People's Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the European Economic Community, Indonesia, our special relationships with the Commonwealth of nations, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Japan, and our conduct on Southern African questions now possess a continuity, consistency and consensus.  We will maintain Australia's commitment to the ANZUS Treaty. Australia should never forget that the American Alliance was forged by an Australian Labor Government, the Curtin Government at a time when the conservatives of Australia had failed to meet the challenge of our greatest crisis.  We will seek even closer relations with our ASEAN neighbours and, in particular, seek to widen trade opportunities in this region - the fastest growing economic region in the world.  DEFENCE  Labor is committed to the re-establishment and maintenance of a well-equipped, highly trained and mobile Defence force to ensure the security of Australia's sovereign territory, particularly in the vulnerable North and West, its economic zones and its areas of vital interest.  We will continue programs now under way, but will review the. five year Defence plan and adjust priorities when this becomes necessary. We will not squander 1.4 billion dollars of resources on the purchase and equipment of an aircraft carrier which will make no credible improvement to our strategic position, will divert resources from much more cost-effective equipment purchases, and is not wanted by most of the Defence establishment.  Nor will we prejudice Defence effectiveness by ill-conceives short term enlistment programs which will not make a significant contribution to youth unemployment, not result, in any effective craft training in the time available, which are not wanted by Defence professions, and which will divert funds from badly needed equipment purchases.  Labor will immediately cancel projected retrenchments in Government Defence industries and carry out a full examination of current programs to ensure full employment of the present workforce, or retraining where required.   QUALITY OF GOVERNMENT   The Labor team will come to office with a deep commitment to restoring the quality of Australian Government and better prepared than we have ever been to do so.  The extraordinary series of scandals which broke last year -relating to Bottom of the Habour tax evasion, Medi Fraud and the Asia Dairy scandal, the Meat Substitution racket and all the rest - demonstrated just how deep the malaise now runs in Australia’s Public Administration and how much of it has been due to failure of Ministerial leadership and performance at the top.  Labor in office will be committed to restoring probity in Government, cutting away extravagance and self-indulgence in Public Office, and establishing clear-cut decision-making procedures.  Labor in office will work within the existing Public Service structure, developing new procedures to make it more efficient, flexible and accountable, but not by/passing or undermining it in any way.  Labor in office will stay deeply committed to the democratic conduct of the Parliamentary system, and in particular to the constructive and creative Committee processes which have operated so successfully in the Senate in recent years.  And Labor in office will, as I have already said, put to a Referendum within our first months of Government a Constitutional Amendment proposal for fixed-term Parliament which will do more than anything else to introduce stability and predicability into our political process.   CONCLUSION  My fellow Australians, I said at the outset that this election was not a contest between personalities.  And let me emphasise that I come before you as the Leader of a team -- a team of men and women with a quality, experience, dedication and vigour which makes me deeply proud to lead them.  But your choice on the fifth of March goes even deeper. It is nothing less than a judgement about the very nature of Australia - the kind of Australia you want for yourselves and the children of Australia.  And ultimately this transcends even the question of economic crisis.  For there is no way Australia can surmount this crisis if we allow our country to slide deeper and deeper into the national divisiveness which has marked most of the past decade. The need for national reconciliation, the need for Australians to be brought together and to work together, is something I have held as fundamental throughout my public career.  More than seven years ago, I said this:  "The challenges and responsibilities confronting us in the coming years are profound - let us ensure that by acting constructively together we discharge those responsibilities in a way that will secure full. employment and a better standard of living for all people."  And now, as my colleagues and I come before you, seeking the greatest honour of all in your service and in the service of Australia, I say it again, with absolute conviction.  I deeply believe that this is the way for Australia.  More than that, I deeply believe it is the true Australian way if we are true to ourselves as Australians.  Just forty years ago this year, in a time of Australia's gravest crisis when our very existence as a nation was at stake, the people of Australia gave the Australian Labor Government, under John Curtin, their overwhelming support to take Australia through to final victory. John Curtin lead Australia through the crisis to triumph, by bringing Australia together.  In very different times, in a very different kind of crisis, the task and the challenge remain the same - to bring Australians together in a united effort until victory is won.  APPENDIX 1  FIRST YEAR COST OF AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY'S NATIONAL RECOVERY AND RECONSTRUCTION PLAN  $ MILLION  GENERAL PUBLIC WORKS 400  TAX CUTS (REVENUE FOREGONE) 630  CUT IN OIL PRICES ( REVENUE FOREGONE) 360  SOCIAL SECURITY 420  EMPLOYMENT  COMMUNITY WORKS PROGRAM 320  PRIVATE SECTOR ASSISTANCE PROGRAM 80  HOUSING 235  EDUCATION 110  OTHER 195  -----------  TOTAL $2750  FINANCING  REVENUE SAVED OR RECOUPED FROM  ANTI-TAX AVOIDANCE AND EVASION  MEASURES 750  -----------  $2000  CLAWBACK FROM INCREASED TAX RECEIPTS  AND REDUCED UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT  PAYMENTS 500  --------------  INCREASE IN THE BUDGET DEFICIT $1500  APPENDIX II   INCOME TAX  The new tax scales, to be introduced in Labor's first Budget will be:   INCOME (SPA) TAX  0 - 5,000 Nil  5,000 - 11,500 Nil + 28~ in every $ over $5,000  11,500 - 19,750 $1,820 + 32c in every $ over $11,500  19,750 - 35,000 $4,460 + 46c in every $ over $19,750  35,000 - 60,000 $L1,475 + 60c in every $ over $35,000  60,000 + $26,475 + 65c in every $ over $60,000   REBATES  Spouse/Housekeeper/Daughter-housekeeper: $1134 with dependent children  $830 otherwise  Sole Parent: $884  Pensioners: $250  Zone Rebates: Zone A $270 + 50% of dependant’s rebates  Zone B $45 + 25% of dependant' s rebates  The scales will apply to weekly tax instalments from November 1 this year.  These scales have the following advantages:  - the tax free income threshold will be increased by $405 to $5,000 for taxpayers without dependants, and $1022 to $9050 for taxpayers with a dependant spouse and children.  - the increase in the tax free threshold will free tens of thousands of low income earners from any tax whatsoever.  - the tax free threshold for pensioners will rise by $465 to $5893.