Protect your future.  This election is about the future. It's about protecting the future. Protecting your future. And we can look to the future with a lot more confidence now than we could a couple of years ago. The signs are good. They're pointing the right way. Even for people who've been having a bad time -like those in the beef industry - there's a bit more light ahead. What are the signs? Inflation. Coming down. And it'll keep coming down. Up to 19,5% under the Whitlam Government - we've got it back down to just over 9%. Interest rates. Coming down. And they'll keep coming down. Wage increases. Moderating, although still keeping a lot of people out of work. Investment. Picking up strongly - and that's the way to get things moving again - to get more jobs. New projects. Getting under way again, especially in the mining and energy industries. The one big problem still with us is unemployment. We all know it's bad - bad for the country, but specially bad far the people who need jobs, who want jobs, but can't get them. The thing is - how do we fix it? Not temporarily. Not a patch-up solution. But permanently. To give our young people the chance they deserve. If we look at how it happened in the first place, we might understand how to solve it - and how to avoid it in future. And that's our whole purpose. To protect your future. For 20 years - right through the fifties and sixties, we had virtually full employment. A job far everyone who wanted one. Thousands of new jobs, year after year. What went wrong? Why did we suddenly find, in 1973 and 1974, that we had a big unemployment problem? And remember: two-thirds of the increase in unemployment since 1972 came under the Whitlam Government. Why? Well, let's look at inflation. For 15 years or so, inflation stayed well under five per cent. Then, under Labor, up it went - to a peak of 19,5%. Interest rates. You used to be able to borrow money to build a house at 6 or 7 per cent. Why did it get up to 11,5% under Labor? Let's look at Government spending. Because this is where we'll find the answer. The Whitlam Government spent money - your money - at a very fast rate. In one year, they spent 46% more than they'd spent the year before! The Whitlam Government, in the end, was spending 25% more than it was taking in. They ran up an enormous deficit. Every one of you knows - whether you're running a business or a factory or a farm, or keeping house, you just can't go on spending more than you earn. But that's what happened. And as spending rose, so did inflation and so did unemployment. Every time Mr. Whitlam signed a cheque, he put more people out of work. He deliberately created unemployment by indiscriminate tariff cuts. Now, Mr. Whitlam says he will fix, unemployment by spending a lot of money to create jobs. But that's how he caused unemployment in the first place - by spending to much money. Surely we don't want to go through all that again? You can't permanently solve unemployment that way. Only one way. Creating temporary jobs helps people, sure, but it doesn't fix the problem. The only way to fix it is to get all the other things right -get inflation down, get interest rates down, get investment going again, get development on the move. That's what we're doing. That's how you get people back to work – back into permanent, productive jobs. It's not the easy way, the popular way. It means keeping a pretty firm rein on government spending. But it's the only way it can be done. It's the only way we can protect your future. The farmer needs help. Inflation has many victims. Some are more defenceless than others. The farmer more than most. Most pay packets are protected. They never contain less. But drought, fire, flood, disease, pests, low prices, tough markets, rising costs - especially rising costs - these hurt the farmer. They hurt the farmer in ways not understood by the worker whose pay packet never contains less. Farmers need help. None needs it more today than the farmer who produces meat for the tables of Australia and the world. In spite of record sales of beef, in spite of a doubling of the price of cattle in the last two years, he is fighting for survival. These bad times won't last. The signs are good. In other countries beef production is falling. Demand is rising. Markets will improve. New ones will be found. But while that's happening, the producer must be helped. What we've done. He has been helped. He is being helped. The search for markets has been vigorously pursued. My visits to the Soviet Union and other countries have helped open major opportunities for Australian beef producers. As promised at the last election, we acted on special credit for beef producers, household support money, meat export charges. We're putting millions into disease eradication. There's up to 6 million for classification as a step towards a stabilisation scheme. Carry-on loans, and household support - more funds for those. Special help for Brigalow producers. We're working with the States on weight-and-grade selling. To give producers cash, there's $10 a head for disease control procedures - up to $2,000 for each producer in Australia. These are special efforts to help a major industry in real need. But as well, we have taken many other steps to assist primary producers and all country people. An abbreviated list of these measures appears at the end of this speech. There've, been major tax reforms - the biggest in our history. The new standard tax rates will make every taxpayer better off next year than he would have been under the old rates. There's indexation. That means inflation-proofing. We did it in our first year - not over three years as promised. There's the family allowance - a real help to all families. For primary producers, tax averaging has been improved. The limit has been abolished. So has the property test for pensions -a major advance, especially for farmers. All this has been done in two years. All this - compared with three devastating years of attacks by the Whitlam Government on Australia's farmers. And above all else - two years of resolute effort, successful effort, against the farmer's worst enemy -inflation. Our Traditional concern. The traditional concern of my party has been overwhelmingly directed to the needs of people outside Australia's major capital cities. Our policies and our efforts are designed in very large measure to help the country Australian: the people in the provincial cities and towns, the farmer, the man in business and industry, the miner - he's a primary producer too, all the people who live outside the major cities. This is our special emphasis. And this emphasis is needed. Country Australians do have special needs. They have problems of transport, of communications, of distance and remoteness. This is our special emphasis. And this emphasis is needed. One historic expression of this emphasis has been the provision since federation of a maximum 20% tolerance in enrolments between compact city and vast country electorates. The Whitlam Government reduced this tolerance to 10%, weakening the country political voice. We believe the fair, just and necessary 20% tolerance should be brought back, and we will pursue our efforts to see that it is, in the interests of real equality of political representation. Country Australians do have special needs. They have problems of transport, of communications, of distance and remoteness. They must meet costs - high costs - for things that are vital to them, but which other people get much more cheaply, and take for granted. That's why I'm glad to say that the policies presented last night by the Prime Minister, and which I'm enlarging on today and tonight, represent one of the strongest and most concerted attacks ever made on country problems. The policies of the Fraser/Anthony Government, of course, are directed to all Australians. But they have special relevance to country Australians. The fight against inflation, against rising costs -absolutely vital for country Australians.  - Lower interest rates.  - A better tax deal.  - The family allowance.  - The pension test.  - Greatly improved finance for local government.  - The investment allowance.  - Better industrial laws.  These help all Australians. I've spoken of the wide range of assistance we're providing for the rural industries - especially the beef industry, where the going's very hard. But now we're launching a new attack on the special problems of the country. Major new initiatives.  OUR PROGRAM FOR COUNTRY AUSTRALIA.  Water Resources. There will be a new National Water Resources Program. We will take far-reaching initiatives to implement a national approach to the assessment, planning, development and management of Australia's valuable water resources. This approach has the endorsement of the Australian Water Resources Council. The development and proper use of Australia's water resources is of fundamental importance, not only to country people, but to the nation as a whole. The commitment of the Fraser/Anthony Government to this task will continue the strong support of previous Governments in which we've been partners. In the five years to 1973, we committed $100 million in grants for 15 water resources projects. Over the next five years, we will provide up to $200 million. This new national program will be carried out in full cooperation with the States, and we would hope that they would contribute equally to the program. We will ask the States to nominate projects and priorities. Projects will cover water conservation and supply, flood mitigation, water quality management, resources assessment and research. We have decided to take part in a new flood mitigation program on the coastal rivers of New South Wales. In the past 12 years, the Federal Government has provided $17 million for flood mitigation, and our support will continue on the same basis. We will participate, with New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, in a co-ordinated attack on salinity and drainage problems in the Murray Valley - problems of national significance. In 1977/78 we will provide $1,5 million for completion of the channel from Monduran Dam in Queensland to the Burnett River. Future Commonwealth involvement in this project will be looked at under the National Water Resources Program. We have also pledged our support far action to control water hyacinth in northern N.S.W. is reduce a serious potential threat to the irrigation areas. We will continue our support for water resources assessment and research. This new national program will ensure that proper attention is given to a wider range of water resources matters in the interests of all Australians. Fuel costs to come down. The high cost of fuel in country areas imposes a very heavy cost burden. Last year, I took action which reduced the cost of gas in country areas. But the high cost of other fuels remains a problem. Country people feel this burden when they run their cars, their utilities, their four-wheel-drives, their trucks, their tractors, their farm machinery, their pumps. Twelve years ago, a Liberal/Country Party Government said it would make sure no-one in Australia paid more than 3,3 cents a gallon more than the capital city price. And we did just that. Four years ago, the Whitlam Labor Government raised the price of petrol to country people. A year later the Whitlam Government abolished the program altogether - just as it abolished so many other things that helped country people. We will now act to ensure that no one in Australia will pay more than four cents a gallon, or a little under one cent a litre, above normal city prices. Over the next three years, we will reduce the margin until it is no more than two cents a gallon, or a little under half a cent a litre. We will do this by reactivating the scheme which Labor abolished, by subsidising freight outside metropolitan areas on motor spirit, aviation fuel, automotive distillate and power kerosene. Better Railways. On another aspect of transport, country people will share in the benefits of the new five-year program on which we will embark to upgrade the national railway network. Probate to be abolished. For many years, my party has worked to reduce the burden of estate duty. Our policy has been the progressive reduction of probate, with a view to its ultimate abolition. Over the years there have been reforms which have reduced the impact of this tax - a tax which in many cases has caused real hardship, the breaking-up of properties and family distress. Effective immediately, all deceased estates passing between husband and wife or parent and child, will be exempt from federal estate and gift duty. Probate in these cases, has now been abolished. This is the first step in a program in which we will abolish all estate duties in the life of the next Parliament. This major reform, for which country people have fought for so long, will be of real significance to them. The Beef Industry. A lot of work has been done in recent years in an attempt to devise a sound and practical means of stabilising meat prices to producers. The present extended crisis in the beef industry has led to an intensification of this work, especially by my colleague Ian Sinclair. In preparation for the possible introduction of a stabilisation scheme, the Government has assisted in commercial trials of carcass classification equipment. Recently we offered to provide up to $6 million towards the cost of implementing such a system. Now, we will hold urgent discussions with the industry and the States on the introduction of a buffer fund marketing scheme. In further recognition of the continuing difficulties of beef producers, we will seek the agreement of the States on a number of extensions to assistance already being provided.  We will propose:  - An extension to three years of carry-on assistance to beef producers.  - An increase in loans from $30,000 to $45,000 in the pastoral zone and from $20,000 to $30,000 elsewhere.  - That the administering authorities have discretion in the amount to be lent in any one year, within the three-year maximum amount.  - That State reconstruction authorities have discretion to extend the term of individual loans beyond the existing maximum repayment term of seven years.  - An extension of the repayment holiday for carry-on loans to three years.  - An increase in the lump sum payment for household support from $3,000 to $5,000.  - An extension to one year of the period in which household support assistance is normally converted to a grant, with State authorities having discretion to extend support for two more years.  We will also add $600,000 to the 1977/78 Budget allocation for beef carry-on focus in the Northern Territory.  Drought Relief. A system of drought relief already exists, and the Government provides substantial aid to producers who suffer the impact of drought and other natural disasters. Should the present serious drought become worse - as seems likely - we will be ready to sympathetically examine the need for further action to help producers cope with their difficulties. Wool Marketing. Many improvements have been made in wool marketing in Australia in the last seven or eight years. The reserve price system we introduced as far back as 1970, and strongly supported - and progressively strengthened - has been of enormous benefit to growers. A Liberal-Country Party Government, in 1971, took the first action that put a fixed floor in the wool market. In the last two years, we have raised the floor on a whole clip average basis from 208 cents per kilo clean to 284 cents. We will maintain the reserve price scheme, and give assurances for two years ahead. We want to further improve wool marketing, and will work with the industry to do so - especially in relation to export standards and protection of the reserve price system.  Dairying. Underwriting for the dairy industry will be extended after the end of this financial year to ensure new marketing arrangements for the industry are concluded without major disruption to the income of dairy farmers. Australian Rural Bank. To help primary producers, including fishermen, obtain finance on longer farms, the Australian Rural Bank will be set up as quickly as possible. The legislation has been passed, and we expect that the bank will be in operation in the first half of next year. Finance will be provided for periods up to 30 years.  Small Business The commercial base of country cities and towns is built largely on small business. The small businessman is the foundation stone of free-enterprise. Small businessmen, collectively, employ a lot of people. Control of inflation, which we're achieving, and tower interest rates, are vital to them. Tax cuts are helping, as are the tax concessions on trading stock valuations. To further help the small businessman we are giving him access to Development Bank finance, and will provide for participation in small business ventures by the Australian Industries Development Corporation. With the States, we will set up a counselling service to supplement the information and training programs already provided. Local Government. A further move of special importance to country people will come in the form of increased funds for local government. We have already given local government the capacity to hold down rate increases. We did this by giving local government a fixed share of personal income tax revenue. Now we will work towards increasing that share to two per cent over the next three years. In addition, we will work to increase the tax rebate far local government rates - as well as for life insurance premiums and education expenses.  Decentralisation. My party has long been dedicated to the decentralisation of industry and population. In government we saw the launching of the growth-centre concept. But while this is the way to large-scale development, there's a need we've always recognized for a broader approach to encourage industry and population growth in other areas as well. As part of its new major effort for country Australia, the Government will provide capital funds to encourage sound industrial development in centres other than designated growth centres. This will complement the work already being done by State Governments and local government. Centres chosen in consultation with the States will need to show sound long-term growth prospects. The criteria for selection will include established population growth rates, demonstrable growth prospects, long term employment - generating prospects, suitability for industrial development, and the extent of local commitment to self-help. Projects will be chosen for assistance in consultation with State Governments, and on the advice of a Decentralisation Advisory Board. Assistance will be available for industrial development projects sponsored by the community and by individual firms. The assistance will generally be by way of loans, but grants may be considered in exceptional circumstances. This widening of the Governments decentralisation program will be a useful factor in achieving a better balance of development in Australia.  Homes for the Aged. Government funds to help church and other groups build homes for the aged has helped meet a very important social and human need. This help will continue. But now, because we know building costs are higher in remote country areas, we will provide larger grants for homes in those areas where building costs are more than 15% above city costs.  Sick and Aged Care. Many families prefer to care for sick and aged members within the home. For people in remote areas, this is often the only way. Country people, therefore, will specially welcome the expansion and improvement of the home care nursing benefit which we will introduce.  Medical Treatment. Because we recognize the heavy burden which people in remote areas must pay to obtain the specialist medical treatment which is available only in the larger centres, we will help them with the cost of transport to those centres, and accommodation.  Isolated Children. To further help parents of children in isolated areas in educating their children, we will provide additional assistance. The means test will be liberalised, and for children in the pastoral zone boarding away from home, an extra grant of $100, without means test, will be made for 1978.  Aboriginals. To further help the aboriginal people, there will be new programs to improve facilities and services, especially for the young people.  Communications. One of the most obvious disadvantages suffered by country people, especially in the remoter areas, is the difficulty of securing adequate communications. We will make special new efforts to ease this difficulty. The provision of free telephone line plant, which we previously extended to 12 kilometres, and which Labor reduced to eight kilometres, will now be extended to 16 kilometres. We plan substantial reductions in off-peak telephone call charges, with the objective in due course of a 60% reduction. A comprehensive programme to bring television to remote rural areas over the next three years will be introduced. Work will begin immediately on specifications and land and equipment purchases. Thirty-six new repeater stations and twenty translator stations will be installed in the three years beginning 1978/79. Another 20 translator stations will be built in the fourth year. Taken together, all these new initiatives mark the launching of one of the most significant efforts ever made by an Australian Government to help country Australians cope with their special difficulties. And when these undertakings are given by the Fraser/ Anthony Government, country people know they will be honoured.  Export Incentives. Australia's ability to export is of fundamental importance to the health and stability of our economy. We have decided on new initiatives to help expand our already strong export drive, and to increase the value of our exports. We will augment the existing Export Market Development Grants Scheme, which encourages exporters to develop overseas markets. Exporters will now be eligible to receive cash grants based on improvements in their export performance. The grants will be calculated on the basis of the increase in export sales during the grant year compared with average annual exports during the preceding three-year period. Basically this expanded program is a return to the type of two-pronged export incentive scheme which was dismembered by the labor Government. The Government expects that the expanded program, by rewarding improved performance on export markets, will boost production and will lead to improved prospects for employment particularly in the manufacturing sector.  Processing. We will strongly promote, where feasible, the focal processing of basic raw materials, notably large-scale minerals processing, which will both strengthen and diversify our economy and provide additional and move diversified employment opportunities. While the task is challenging, our highly-favourable resource position will provide us with undeniable opportunities to share in the futures growth of demand for processed raw materials - opportunities which must not be lost. To this end, early discussions will be sought with the States, industry and overseas countries to establish machinery for regular consultations and specialised studies an future processing in Australia and to ensure the views of all parties are considered in the formulation of detailed policies in this area of major prospective national development. It is our firm policy to encourage processing of raw materials in Australia to the greatest extent possible.  Overseas Projects. Australian firms frequently seek assistance from the Government in competing for large-scale development projects in the Middle East and other new markets. In response to these requests, the Government has decided to establish an Australian Overseas Projects Corporation. This will be a statutory corporation which will assist Australian firms, acting in consortia, to compete against Government-supported overseas interests. The Corporation will have a small specialist staff and will provide its services on a commercial basis at the request of Australian firms. It will be responsible to a Board of Directors drawn principally from the private sector, and who will report to the Minister for Overseas Trade. The Government will provide initial working capital of $2 million to enable the Corporation to commence operations during 1978.  Mining and Energy. Nowhere was the damage caused by the Whitlam Government so starkly clear as in the mining and energy industries. Nowhere is the gulf between the Labor Party and the Government parties so strongly demonstrated as in this area. The growth of the mining and energy industries is vital to Australia's prosperity and the well-being of our people. The primary industries - farming and mining - provide the backbone of Australia's economic stability through their large-scale exports. When either is neglected, Australia is the weaker. Yet for three years - not only years of neglect, but of outright antagonism - the mining industries were held back by Labor's interference and obstruction. Not one major project got under way in those three years. Exploration collapsed. Thousands of jobs were denied Australians. Now, after two years of sensible government, there is real, forward movement again. Investment in mining will be two-thirds higher this half-year than in the first half. In the next two years, mining investment is forecast to rise 165% on 1976-77. There is real progress. And why? Because we know mining's needs. We know mining's worth. We know what mining requires:  - proper policies.  - reasonable and practical foreign investment rules.  - sensible government oversight.  - appropriate taxation arrangements.  - effective incentives.  - good trading relationships.  - a well-managed economy.  And what have these policies done? They've re-started exploration. They've revived development. They've restored confidence. They've renewed trust. Today there are 17 new mining projects under way. They'll cost $1,450 million to develop. Three big coal projects are about to start. They'll cost $550 million dollars. Five ether major developments are on the drawing boards. They include the North-West Shelf gas project - the biggest in Australia's history. It alone will cost $2,500 million or more. Exploration for oil and gas is getting back into full swing.  Massive New Development. Mining and energy developments already under way, or being planned, or contemplated for the next few years, on present estimates will cost more than $14,000 million. This is how you cure Australia's ills. This is how you get Australia working again. Australia is an energy-rich nation. Apart from oil, we're very well supplied. We are implementing a National Energy Policy. We must aim for the greatest possible self-sufficiency in oil. Encourage the search for oil. Encourage the fullest recovery of oil we have or find. We're doing these things. Exploration, encouraged by our policies is under way again. Energy is one of man's most precious resources. It must not be wasted. We will apply an energy conservation program. And Australia will play its part - a major part - in meeting the world's energy needs. We will increase research in the energy field to achieve the best use of our exhaustible resources, and to develop the use of renewable sources. This is how we will protect your future! Australia on course. Australia is right on course for renewed security and growth. Whatever we do, we mustn't turn back. We mustn't go back to the government that destroyed the worth of wages and savings. We mustn't go back to the policies that took the jobs of hundreds of thousands of Australians. Two years of firm sensible management have repaired much of the damage. Don't throw that progress away.  Unions and the Community. One of the impediments to economic recovery is industrial action. Action by a few extreme unionists - often they are communists - causes damage that extends far beyond the immediately involved area. The Victorian power strike was a serious setback to recovery. It showed that objectives pursued in war - to paralyse essential services - can also be achieved in time of peace. And while the power workers still have their jobs, the repercussions of their actions will continue to be seen in the businesses, that went to the wall, and in thousands of homes where breadwinners were added to the unemployment list. The Government has acted on its promises to improve the industrial laws. We brought in the secret postal ballot for the election of union officials. We've acted to ensure that vital public services provided by the Government itself will not be excessively disrupted by industrial action. We've given more weight to the Industrial Relations Bureau. We've amended the law so that unions which prevent, hinder or interfere with overseas trade and commerce, or public services, can - as a last resort - be deregistered. We've acted to protect the basic rights of individuals: the right to strike, or not to strike, the right to dissent, as well as to agree, the right to join, or stay out of a union, the right to meet not only union obligations, but obligations to employer and family. There is something seriously wrong when acts which would land most people in court, and even in gaol, can be carried out by a group of unionists, in the name of industrial rights, without penalty or redress. Obstructing another person, depriving another of his livelihood, halting the transport system, paralysing industry -these are things individuals can't do and get away with it, yet unions can. You have to decide whether that's good enough. And we all have to recognise the need for responsibility in our actions. That's something no Government can do by passing laws - make people act responsibly. Every union member must look to himself to see how he measures up.  The Two Choices. In the last 20 years, the people of Australia have been able to compare, from practical experience, the two main competing political philosophies in this country -free enterprise and socialism. Under free enterprise they saw for many years a healthy, growing economy. They saw virtually full employment. They saw law inflation, low interest rates, strong investment and development. Under socialism, they saw Australia slow down. Unemployment hit us. High inflation, high interest rates. Investment fell away. Growth stopped. You've seen how Australia grew and prospered under free enterprise. You've seen how it was hurt by socialism. Much of that damage has now been repaired. The conditions have been established for renewed growth. For new jobs. For fresh opportunities. Inflation is coming down. Interest rates are coming down. Government spending is under control. The tax burden has been eased. Investment is picking up. Development is getting under way again. The destruction of earnings and savings is being halted. Confidence is coming back: Incentive is being re-established. Don't throw it all away again. Don't put the big spenders back in office. Don't give the inflation-makers another chance. Don't let the job-destroyers do it again. Keep Australia safe this time.  Vote for the Fraser/Anthony team to PROTECT YOUR FUTURE.  Some of our actions for country Australia over the last two years.  - New beef markets found - USSR, Eastern Europe. Middle East.  - More beef into Japan, United States.  - $28 million for beef carry-on loans over two years.  - Household support scheme.  - Meat export charge suspended - producers will save $28m. this year.  - $22 million in two years for disease eradication.  - Adequate funds available for drought relief.  - Up to $6 million for beef classification (needed for any stabilisation scheme).  - Meat Board reconstituted into Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation.  - Special help for Brigalow producers in conjunction with Queensland - two year average loan moratorium, plus seven-year extension of loans.  - PJT meat prices inquiry proposed.  - Weight-and-grade selling study.  - $10 a head for disease control and spaying - up to $2,000 for each producer - costing up to $125 million.  - $5.44 for new beef cattle research laboratory, Rockhampton.  - Superphosphate bounty brought back - $40 million this year.  - Nitrogenous fertiliser subsidy extended - $12 million this year.  - $400,000 for Plague Locust Commission.  - Tractor bounty - about $5 million this year.  - Wool floor price lifted - now 284 cents kg/clean.  - $53.4 million in two years for wool research and promotion.  - $7 million quarantine station on Cocos Island planned.  - New International Sugar Agreement @, saving industry from disaster.  - Domestic sugar prices raised in 1976 and 1977.  - New Marketing arrangements and underwriting for dairying.  - Support and protection for the fruit industries.  - $230,000 for Oriental fruit fly eradication this year.  - $10 million for agricultural extension services this year.  - Probate eased.  - Wheat first advance raised to $1.80 bushel.  - Free telephone line distance increased from 8 to 12 kilometres.  - New radio-telephone service in remote areas.  - $260,000 for off-shore fisheries development.  - 40% investment allowance for new vessels purchased by full-time fishermen.  - $7.5 million for Dartmouth Dam and Namoi Rives Weirs this year.  - $6.7 million for water resources assessment this year.  - New commitment to assist flood mitigation.  - Unemployment benefits introduced far farmers.  - $291 million added to term and farm development loan funds.  - Australian Rural Bank now law.  - New standard tax rates.  - Tax indexation (inflation-proofing).  - Tax averaging for primary producers improved.  - Family allowances introduced.  - Income Equalisation Deposits for primary producers.  - New Rural Adjustment Scheme (carry-on loans, debt reconstruction, farm build-up, farm improvement, household support, rehabilitation) will cast $55 milion this year.  - New 40% investment allowance for plant, equipment, improvements.  - Big lift in funds for local government.  - Large rise in rural road funds.