1987 FEDERAL ELECTION POLICY SPEECH BY IAN SINCLAIR, FEDERAL LEADER, NATIONAL PARTY 0F AUSTRALIA : CESSNOCK TOWN HALL, JUNE 21, 1987  My friends.  This day 200 years ago those hardy and unwilling souls who were to be Australia's first European settlers were braving the tempestuous Atlantic as they pitched and rolled towards the uncertainties and hazards of their new home.  Ashore, the original Australians with their elemental culture faced an even bleaker future.  Today under the Hawke Government we who are their successors can be no more confident of what lies ahead for us.  Like the passengers in a boat on a mighty river our course is set by the helmsmen.  When the weather was fine and the water clear and calm the task was easy. As the water have grown darker and deeper and rougher the vessel's progress has almost stopped. Ahead we can sense the rumbling and the roar of a mighty waterfall.  If we steer on the same economic course, we are headed for disaster.  We cannot just trim our course a degree or two - that will only delay the inevitable.  We roust make a decisive change - and now.  It takes courage to make that change, determination to carry it through, and understanding to know what the course must be.  Our present helmsmen say our economic course has been good enough: stick with it, they argue; and the threat of that ominous precipice will go away.  But the rush of the economic flow, accelerated by the indulgences of the past, is such that decisive change is vital.  This premature July 11 election gives you the chance to make that change.  When you vote, you will be doing much more than giving a political party the right to govern for the next three years.  You will be given the choice to change the future of Australia, and most vitally, that of your family and yourself.  We've had over four years of hard Labor.  And I ask you are you better off today?  What has four years of Labor done?  - It's given us the biggest-taxing Government in peacetime history;  - It's given us the biggest-spending Government in peacetime history;  - It's driven the dollar lower and interest rates higher than they've ever been;  - It's tripled our foreign debt to $105 billion gross or over $80 billion net;  - It's pushed inflation to four times the level of our overseas competitors;  - It's given us new taxes like the capital gains and fringe benefits taxes;  - It's given us a health System which pushes costs out of control and creates massive queues for treatment at our public hospitals;  - It's allowed education standards to slip and opportunities for tertiary education to decline;  - It's cut family living standards by over $31 a week;  - It's pushed bankruptcies particularly among small businesses to new record levels;  - It's pushed farmers off the land and put thousands more on the edge of disaster;  - It's left more than 23% of young people and 8.2% of the total workforce unemployed;  - And it’s let the union bosses virtually control the country as this week's seatbelt dispute affecting the whole motor vehicle industry so clearly demonstrates.  I could go on but it would take all day. Labor's policies have been tried. They have failed.  Lahor has pursued tired old socialist rhetoric perhaps more subtly under Hawke but equally as comprehensively as under Whiblam.  It has allowed a burgeoning bureaucracy to stifle individual initiative. Big government and big unions have flourished. Ordinary Australians have been forgotten.  On July 11, you have a choice  You can follow Labor to economic disaster, to a future of high interest rates, high taxes, high inflation and massive debt, where the Banana Republic prophecies of the Treasurer are confirmed.  You can follow a party that jumps to the strings of its union maskers, scorns the flag and the family, destroys our health System, poisons our education System and refuses to accept its responsibility for national security.  But you have a choice - a real choice.  In the Senate and the House of Representatives on July 11 you will be given a chance to alter the course of this nation and restore hope once more for your family, your friends and yourself.  Your living standards are the issue of this election. To get living standards up again for ordinary Australians, decisive steps must be taken, and now.  We have to get government spending down, the budget deficit down, interest rates down, and taxes down.  THE ECONOHY  To improve living standards net after tax profits and net fake home pay for the individual Australian must increase.  Greater productivity will mean more jobs and greater personal reward. To achieve this we need lower government spending and tax cuts.  The size of the Government's take under Labor has been a real disincentive. Keating's four deficits have left a national shortfall of nearly $27 billion over four budget years.  These deficits, the explosion of Australia's overseas debt, and our uncertain industrial record, have led to the loss of our Triple A credit rating and a real threat to our international competitiveness.  To restore interest rates to continuing comparability to those of our overseas competitors, Government deficits must be cut.  The National Party will seek a balanced budget by 1989/90 and urge State Governments to do the same.  Expenditure cuts will be achieved by the termination of some federal functions, reduction of others and wherever possible the elimination of overlapping responsibilities with the States.  Amendments will be made to the Audit Act to facilitate financial delegation and enhanced awareness of the costs and savings possible by more effective financial management within the public sector.  Further personal and corporate tax reductions should then be pursued so that the maximum rate of tax would be no more than 25 cents in the dollar.  The "bonus for working" concept involving the introduction of a flat 23% tax rate for increases in taxable income from one year to the next should be carefully assessed and if achievable PAYE scales amended accordingly.  Fuel is a major cost item for all Australians. Automatic fuel indexation should be terminated as soon as possible.  For farmers, fishermen and the forestry industries there will be a full rebate of excise on petrol and diesel used off-road.  An exemption of sales tax on lubricants used in these industries will be provided.  For most taxpayers in primary industry the cyclic effect of variable incomes has meant large tax payments and penal provisional tax rates in a year of drought or other financial exigency.  The National Party, therefore, will seek once more the re-introduction of full tax deductibility for Income Equalisation Deposit Bonds, in the year of deposit with tax payable in the year of withdrawal. Interest rates on IEDs will be at lower than market rates.  Australians for too long have been encouraged to be a nation of spenders, not savers.  The National party recognises the worth of achieving greater Personal savings. If a scheme could be developed to allow for all taxpayers a deduction for up to the first $5,000 of interest earned it would increase enormously the domestic funds available for investment in this country.  Were this possible without facilitating tax evasion and within deficit priorities it would have the strong support of the National Party.  THE FAMILY  Over the past four years it is not just the individual but the traditional Australian family that has suffered.  Our tax policy is designed to give significant assistance to single income families with children.  Existing family allowances will be maintained and the dependent spouse rebate kept at $1,000 a year.  We will seek to make child care expenses incurred by working parents treated as a business related expense in the tax System.  Bodies such as the Constitutional Commission, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, the Commission for the Future the National Health and Occupational Safety Commission, the Prices Surveillance Authority, the Coal Industry Tribunal, the Advisory Council on Prices and Incomes, the Economic Planning Advisory Council, and the Schools Commission, to name but a few, will go.  Redundant public sector assets will be sold. These funds, however, will be used predominantly to reduce our national debt.  Significant cuts in public spending have now been separately identified by the National Priorities Project, by the Liberal Party and by the Queensland National Party Senate candidate and former Secretary of the Treasury, Mr John Stone.  Some of these proposals are acceptable, others may not be. Even Treasurer Keating with the immense resources of government behind him has been unable to accurately assess the yield from his capital gains and fringe benefits taxes.  I accept, therefore, that with any detailed list of cuts in Opposition, complete precision may prove difficult. Suffice to say after careful examination I am convinced that necessary cuts and tax changes can now be legislated simultaneously in our first budget.  Experience shows that tax reform without simultaneous legislation to implement related expenditure cuts could lead to rejection of the latter and a deficit blow-out.  This, of course, would be totally unacceptable.  Accordingly, as a first step to major tax reform and in light of the consideration given to National Party concerns in the tax policy of the Leader of the Liberal Party, Mr John Howard, the National Party will support his program, both for expenditure savings and immediate tax reform.  Above all the capital gains tax and the fringe benefits tax introduced by Hr Keating will go in legislation introduced in the first session of the new Parliament.  Labor's negative gearing measures will be repealed.  Bona fide entertainment expenses met in the course of doing business again will be tax deductible.  However, the Party does not see this as the end of tax reform nor of expenditure cuts.  Labor's lump sum superannuation tax scales will be modified to be taxed at 25%.  We will seek further changes in due course. The corporate rate must be reduced to the maximum personal rate.  The Family Law Act will be changed to ensure that parents meet their maintenance payments and to take into greater account the needs of children.  Our Government will work with the States to introduce laws to give the police and the courts power to deal with offensive anti-family or anti-social behaviour.  The party will seek a national inquiry into all forms of child abuse. Children are our future and they must be protected.  AIDS AND DRUGS  The money currently spent on sensationalised advertising campaigns on AIDS and drugs will be diverted to work on cures and real assistance to sufferers.  The emphasis in our drugs campaign will be on penalising drug pushers and helping drug users to kick the habit.  EDUCATION  We will commence a nationwide "basic skills" program for children to lift minimum levels of reading, writing and arithmetic.  Technical education at school and at TAFE colleges is essential to developing the work skills necessary for personal satisfaction and job generation.  The Nationals will place particular emphasis in working with the States to encourage opportunities for young people in these fields and to ease the present restraints imposed by the existing apprenticeship scheme.  The number and value of AUSTUDY scholarships will be maintained to ensure access to tertiary education on ability but without penalising the financially disadvantaged.  Post-graduate scholarships, particularly at a doctorate level, have declined in relative value in recent years. In conjunction with private enterprise initiatives will be taken to maintain adequate opportunities for students to qualify for senior degrees so that basic and applied research and innovative design and conceptual thinking may be enhanced.    EHPLOYMENT   The Commonweatth Employment Service is administratively top-heavy and too often it has failed in its task to match employer demands with employment needs.  The CES, together with the Community Youth Support Scheme, will be overhauled and where possible responsibilities transferred to the private sector. Encouragement will be given to occupational training to better prepare the unemployed for jobs.  We have to he imaginative enough in our planning and brave enough in our commitment to diversity in education to give young Australians a real chance to gain skills and get jobs.  SOCIAL SERVICES  Work for the community or approved job training will be required for those receiving unemployment benefits.  The work test will be strengthened.  Unemployment benefits will no longer be paid to under 18 year olds although in cases of financial need a special benefit will be maintained.  For those leaving non-seasonal jobs voluntarily a 26 week qualification period will be required.  Entitlement for supporting parents benefit will be revised. Payment will be restricted to those with children up to the age of 16 unable to support themselves and their children nor obtain support from the other parent. Those who apply for the benefit must prove they have tried to obtain maintenance. Maintenance dodgers will be pursued through a maintenance collection agency.  The administration of the Social Services Department will be tightened to minimise social welfare fraud.  THE ELDERLY  Labor's Assets Test has been yet another anti-family measure for so many in small business and in the rural sector.  The transfer of ownership for family enterprises between generations inevitably leaves sortie assets in parents' hands.  In today's adverse circumstances those assets are earning insufficient income to sustain even a reasonable standard of living, yet the Assets Test denies the owners access to any pension.  The Assets Test will go.  The National Party will also work for the extension of present earnings permissible while maintaining the right to a full pension.    HEALTH   Medicare is a shambles.  It has meant high costs and impossible public hospital queues.  Australians deserve better.  Pensioners, the disadvantaged, and the chronically ill will pay nothing as at present.  All Australians again will have the right to choose their own insurance arrangements.  Basic health care will be available from a nominated private health fund. The cost will be covered by your Medicare levy.  Those Australians who can afford to will pay the first $250 of their hospital and medical costs in any one year. Voluntary health funds may offer additional insurance to cover this payment, the additional 15% you are required to pay for medical expenses under the existing Medicare plan and the cost of private hospital and other health care.  A special program will be introduced to give immediate access to private hospitals for existing complaints for those thousands of Australians who are unable under Labor's Medicare to gain access to public hospitals for elective surgery.  That 100,000 Australians today are denied access for such operations in the public hospital System is itself an indictment of the Labor Government. That a delay of two years is not uncommon compounds the offence.  We will negotiate with the States to relieve the acute shortage of nurses by allowing the registration of nurses following in-hospital training, as in the past, as well as through the recently introduced tertiary courses.  INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS  Under Labor Australia has been living through an industrial nightmare.  The wages accord was a disaster. The superannuation loading was a con.  A few weeks ago Labor did another deal with the unions and introduced yet more industrial legislation into the Parliament.  Had they proceeded with it, unions would have been put even further above the law. If there were to be another Hawke Government, that unwanted legislation can be expected to return.  The National Party believes in responsible unionism. But more than that, we believe that workers are more important than union bosses. If workers want to opt out of a union they will be allowed to.  If a business and its employees want to enter into a voluntary agreement on the terms and conditions of employment and register these with award status they will be allowed to.  Those agreements could cover penalty rates and the hours to be worked before overtime or penalty rates are incurred. Importantly, union bosses will be subject to the same reporting and financial obligations as directors of public companies.  Income other than union fees of all industrial organisations will be subject to tax.  INDUSTRY  Our economic and social policies are designed to encourage the individual and foster opportunities for employment and economic growth.  These cannot succeed unless Australian industry is once more allowed to function in an environment as free as possible from government regulation and control.  Under the Nationals Labor's anti-business taxes will go. Under the Nationals Government regulations will be reduced.  Under the Nationals investment will be encouraged in an environment where inflation and interest rates will go down.  SHALL BUSINESS  Industrial relations changes will enhance job prospects in small business.  The National Party will ensure the Government meets its trading debts within 30 days. Greater contracting out to the private sector will be required.  Small businesses will gain access to Australia's postal services through new Post Office franchises similar to those now applicable to newsagents.  A special industrial advocate will be briefed as required to represent small business before the Arbitration Commission and to help in court cases involving the secondary boycott provisions of the Trade Practices Act.  PRIMARY INDUSTRY  Separately my colleague, the Deputy Leader of the National Party, Ralph Hunt, has issued a full and detailed policy statement outlining the party's intentions to revive the family farm and restore the viability of our major rural commodities. However, no policy speech of the National Party would be complete without particular reference to our concern that Government constraints such as export inspection charges will be lifted.  Water and soil conservation too are major concerns.  Labor terminated our Bicentennial Water Resources Program.  Now assistance will be given not only for on-farm conservation but to the States to help provide water for regional city and town supplies.  Subject to discussion with the Queensland Government, a special grant will be made to complete the pipeline from the Burdekin Dam to the City of Townsville.  Greening Australia, a major non-Government program to increase tree stocks, has our full support.  We will negotiate with the States for more effective assistance for natural disaster relief, provide dollar for dollar Commonwealth assistance for the duration of drought and extend drought assistance to small business in drought declared areas where those businesses depend on farm businesses.  MINING AND RESOURCES  Another great export industry that has suffered under Labor has been the mining industry.  Commonwealth mineral export controls will go. So too will the coal export levy.  Resource Rent tax will be abolished as will any coal marketing authority.  Coal industry workers will be made subject to the same laws of conciliation and arbitration as other workers within our Industrial Relations policy.  We will progressively deregulate the Australian oil industry to give incentive for exploration. Australian crude oil will be sold at word prices and we will move towards a free market for oil sales. Transitional arrangements will be made to ensure a market for small producers.  Labor's policy on uranium has made Australia the laughing stock of the world.  There is so-called "good" uranium from South Australia which we can export but "bad" uranium in the Northern Territory which we cannot.  Nuclear energy is year by year more vital to meet the world's electricity requirements. Australia has a responsibility to ensure its resources are used safely and wisely to meet that demand.  We will resume development of the Australian uranium industry under guidelines that maintain our stringent safeguard requirements and nuclear non-proliferation arrangements.  FOREIGN AFFAIRS  Recent events in Fiji and Vanuatu and differences between the United States and Australia at this weekend's ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting in Singapore reflect the changing strategic situation in our region and the progressive estrangement of the Hawke Government from the United States.  The National Party will co-operate with the United States to protect our joint interests in the Pacific and pursue to the maximum diplomatic efforts to restore New Zealand's participation in ANZUS.  We will re-establish close tics with Papua New Guinea and play a positive role as an active member of the regional community.  We will support multi-lateral disarmament and play a responsible role within the Western Alliance.  Present international trade disputes, particularly those affecting agricultural commodities, are of great concern and positive efforts will be made to lift tariff and non-tariff barriers to our exports.  The National Party rejects apartheid. However, we oppose economic sanctions against South Africa and would seek the restoration of air links between our two countries.  We will terminate Government support for the African National Congress and other terrorist organisations and prohibit any group supporting or involved in terrorism from establishing an official presence in Australia.  DEPENCE  Increasing Soviet military strength in the Pacific, coupled with Soviet attempts at economic penetration and the adventurism of Libya, pose a serious threat to the continuation of a regional stability which had been almost taken for granted.  In these circumstances a well-trained and well-armed Australian Defence Force IS essential.  The disastrous reduction in defence personnel under Labor must be halted.  We will give to the Defence Force Remuneration Tribunal a comprehensive reference to ensure comparability of Service pay and conditions to those in the public service and the private sector.  Defence housing will be improved through a special vote from the defence budget.  Administrative regulations will be changed to allow financial delegation to Base Commanders to' permit the transfer of funds between divisions of expenditure and a carry-over of up to 20% of funds from one financial year to another.  Permissible training days and personnel ceilings for the Reserves will be lifted.  School cadets for young men and women will be re-established.  TRANSPORT  In a sparsely populated and vast continent like Australia transport remains a priority for government.  The National Party seeks the allocation of six cents a litre of fuel excise to upgrade the nation's roads. The two cents a litre bicentennial levy will be maintained until 1990.  We will amend the Australian Flag Act to enable foreign vessels to compete in the Australian coastal shipping trade, across the Tasman and in the supply of rock phosphate to Australia.  We will terminate the Two Airlines Agreement.  Australian Airlines and QANTAS will be reconstituted into public companies and a percentage of shares offered to employees and the public.  We will provide a parallel north-south runway at Sydney's Kingsford Smith airport.  COMMUNICATIONS  Telecom will maintain its responsibility for the telephone network. Progressively, line construction and maintenance, the wiring of premises and value added services will be transferred to licensed teletricians in the private sector.  We will ensure the continuation of the rural and remote area telephone program, and give all Australians access to untimed local phone calls.  Australia Post's monopoly on standard letter carriage will be retained, but we will encourage more flexible administrative arrangements to maximise services in rural and remote areas.  The politicisation of the ABC has generated concern as to its ability to function in its traditional way. Its directorate and management will be replaced to re-establish its independence and its structure reviewed to reduce the inefficiencies of its administrative hierarchy.  ARTS  Australian creativity in music, theatre and the arts is particularly significant at this time of increased awareness of our cultural diversity and abundant natural talent.  In changes affecting the operation of the Australia Council, recognition will be given to the need to encourage Australian artists, authors and composers as well as our musicians and performers.  In conjunction with the States, efforts will be made to ensure music, arts and the theatre are available through regional centres.  NORTHERN TERRITORY  The National Party believes that Aboriginal land rights is a matter for the States and rejects uniform federal land rights legislation.  Responsibility for Aboriginal land and national parks in the Territory will be transferred to the Territory Government.  Full powers of self-government will be granted to the Territory as soon as possible.  SUHHARY  Today I have covered the major policies the National Party is offering in the election on 11 July.  Details of all our policies are set out in a policy summary also being released today.  Over the last few months divisions among those who share our beliefs in the urgent need for a new national direction for Australia have gained a lot of media attention.  That these differences have been public rather than private does not affect the essential strength of the National Party around Australia.  The Party has always been a loose federation of strong State organisations.  However, the majority of these Senators and Members elected on July 11 alone will determine our Parliamentary attitude in government.  To do otherwise opens the path to corruption, abuse, and ultimately, tyranny.  Much too was made of the split in the Coalition but already, John Howard and I have had preliminary discussions about the formation of the next Liberal and National Party Government.  The National Party approaches the election with a firm commitment to form once more a strong united and effective conservative partnership.  Since 1950 the National and Liberal parties consistently have worked together as separate parties but in coalition in government.  Our parties led this nation through its greatest age of prosperity - then rebuilt it after the disaster of the Whitlam years brought it almost to its knees.  We are ready now to rebuild it again.  The policies of the Labor Party are the policies of the pasfc.  They have failed.  The National Party gives you a real choice on 11 July.  You owe it to your family, your children and Australia to think of the future when you vote.  Think of Australia, think of how much better off you should be and then vote for the Nationals.