Replace communist officials with unionists chosen. The DLP policy in detail.  The Democratic Labor Party policy speech was delivered last night by Senate candidate Mr. Jim Brosnan. These are edited highlights in the speech: Industrial unrest. The industrial unrest that has plagued Australia for the past five years, will never be reduced except through the application of the following programme by active trade unionists, supported by the Government of the day. Replacement of communist of officials’ unionists by genuine unionists acting through court-control ballots. Encouragement for them to do so through changes to union rules by government legislation. Enforcement of THC and ACTU rules to ensure that all disputes come under proper control.  Productivity wage. Wages must be related to economic capacity of the country and the logical course is to establish a scientific measurement of productivity as the basis of wage fixation. This would ensure, for skilled and unskilled workers, their due share of increasing real wealth. The objective of a Federal wage policy should be the preservation and growth of the real wage, in accordance with productivity increases. A productivity wage would sever the present link between price rises and wage rises and establish a direct link between the money wage and productivity changes. The effects of the productivity wage will be: wages will be linked with productivity directly through adjustments according to a productivity index. Wage adjustments may be made more frequently than the periodical hearings of the Arbitration Courts. The excessive cost of Arbitration Court proceedings will be reduced. Court hearings will be necessarily only to consider alterations to the principles of wage fixing or anomalies or changed circumstances of work.  Work-leisure. The D.L.P wants a policy which would allow additional pay for annual leave, substantially increased long service leave and increased leisure for workers in the latter part of their working life. It would be financed out of levy on industry and include the option of an early retirement without economic loss.  Job participation. Boards of directors of large private and public companies normally elected by and from a company's shareholders, should be expanded to include elected representatives from the company's employees, preferably through the medium of works councils. Further, when companies engage in the production of goods affecting public safety, health and welfare, its board of directors should be again expanded to include a representative of the appropriate consumer organisation. All factories and places of employment employing more than 20 employees should be encouraged to set up works councils.  Technology. Employers ought to he required by State and Commonwealth legislation to give notice of proposals to introduce technological changes. Such legislation should provide that no substantial changes affecting the economy of any geographical area and number of workers can be introduced without government approval.  Retrenchment. The D.L.P calls on each state to establish a retrenchment redundancy fund. The fund would be administered by a board of trustees, composed of equal representation from employer groups, trade unions/ associations and State Parliament. The trustees would be elected from each group under a system of proportional representation for a term of five years. Companies would contribute annually by instalment, an amount determined by the board for each employee on their payroll. Payments to retrenched would be based on a formula decided upon by the trustees but would not be less than two weeks’ pay equivalent to the average award earnings for the previous quarter, for each year of service.  Uranium. The D.L.P supports the decision by the Fraser Government on uranium, for reasons outlined in our many published statements.  Solar energy. Full-scale research and development of solar power should be undertaken as this energy source is abundant in Australia and provides clean energy. The DLP would substantially increase the funds in this area with the aim of making solar power our major energy source- initially for low-grade heat and transportation and in the long term for the production of electricity.  Defence. Although it is not possible to fix a precise percentage of GNP for defence spending which must be adhered to for all time, the extent of Australia’s lag is such that we should aim to quickly move to at least five per cent of GNP and maintain that level until the backlog of neglect is eliminated.  Pacific alliance. The DLP strongly advocates a regional alliance of non-communist nations known as the Pacific Confederation. A Pacific Confederation is the political entity through which social, economic and military aid to the nations of the area can be challenged.  Refugees. The DLP is concerned that the Government has failed to honor its expressed intention to establish an ongoing refugee resettlement programme. We call on the Federal Government to take immediate steps to implement such a programme.  Inflation. Prices rises will be controlled by outlawing price increases which flow from consent agreements entered into by employers, establishing a fair prices commission and reviewing tariff assistance to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of economy through sensible tariff levels.  Education. The DLP calls for a Royal Commission, into all aspects of education in Australia, with a view of the establishment of a national standard of teaching instruction and training that will enable our children throughout the nation to emerge from our schools ready for life as well as for livelihood.  Environment. The DLP calls on the Federal Government Commission to appoint an Australian Environment Commission to oversee and co-ordinate research and action of the preservation of resources and the protection of the environment.  Media. The DLP aims to introduce cable TV for everyone via the Telecommunications Statutory Corporation. It would not be restricted to conventional TV programmes. However, decentralised areas and areas marked for accelerated growth will receive priority. Vigorous action should be taken to raise the standards of children television.  Aborigines. The DLP supports the integration of the Aboriginal people into the total community and the improvement of their social and economic conditions. Suitable programmes of Aboriginal advancement, including the appropriate form of land tenure, will be stepped up in co-operation with the States.  Rural policy. The Australian Meat Board should be restructured as a Federal Meat Marketing Authority and smash any collusion that exists between stock agents, processors and unions. Wool growers should be protected from currency fluctuations by the Wool Board adjusting the returns of the growers to a maximum average rate. Fraser: reject Labor’s recipe for disaster.  This is the full transcript of the policy speech delivered by the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, at Midtown Town Hall, last night. Our nation is on the move. We are ready to ... into a new area of prosperity and development. We have broken through in the fight against inflation. Under Labor, inflation reached 19 per cent. We have halved that, inflation in 9 per cent and falling. We have reduced ..., revived incentive and ... fair ... for achievement. Under Labor, taxes doubled. We have ended the big tax rip-off. Now Mr Whitlam wants to start it again. Business is being revitalised, profits are up, interest rates have begun to fall- and they will keep on falling. We’ve been ... the job we were elected to do. We have been able to reduce inflation, reform the tax system, revive business and ... start ... because we have brought government spending under control, because we have halved Labor’s four and a half million dollar deficit. We have given Australia ... and responsible ... government- all ... to Philip Lynch ... has uphold the highest traditions of the Westminster system. Our policies have given people the confidence and incentive to invest in Australia’s future. Australia is ready to go with $6000 million of development in ..., ... ... petroleum and nickel. And in the coming three years we can look to other vast developments.  - The three billion dollar North-West ... project, bigger than the Snowy Mountains Scheme.  - The development of our oil and gas reserves.  - And using our immense uranium deposits for peaceful purposes under the world’s ... safeguards.  All these massive projects will create jobs, stimulate growth, employment and prosperity. They will bring wealth and work to our country. We all know what the real answer to employment is: it’s generating growth and development. It’s industry providing new jobs. It’s ... people to fill new jobs, and keep them. We have ... of thousands of Australian jobs because we gave Australian industry the production we .... Unlike Mr Whitlam, we have not exported thousands of jobs through across-the-board tariff .... Because of our policies, new jobs are being created. Our training and job assistance scheme are getting the ... into real jobs, productive jobs, jobs that they can keep. We are spreading more than $100 million on training and job assistance schemes which especially help young people learn new skills. Already well over 120000 people have been, or are being helped, by our schemes, and we are constantly improving them. We are determined that our children will have job skills, skills that the education system often fails to teach. We will expand the education program for unemployed youth, which gives young people the chance to acquire the basic skills and motivation they need to ... a job. We will spend a further $50 million over the above existing commitments on replacing the ... technical schools in our inner city areas and country .... In the past two years, the Commonwealth Employment Service has placed 900000 people in jobs. We are upgrading the ... of the ... to help more people ... more jobs more quickly. Because of our job assistance strategy, because of the growth and development our policies have made possible, unemployment will fall from February and keep falling. Ladies and gentlemen, above all ... this election will decide whether we will build on the achievements of the last two years, or whether we will let Labor throw it all away. Labor is committed to reserving the policies that have given Australians confidence. Labor is the party of extravagance of inflation, of high ... of industrial .... It is Labor that is the party of unemployment. Labor today are still peddling the same policies which is one year increased unemployment by 157 per cent. That’s 192000 more Australians out of work. Why doesn’t Mr Whitlam tell us how many grand final crowds that would make. When they were in government, they stopped growth and development. The only thing that went ahead were inflation and unemployment, Mr Whitlam now wants to do it all over again. There has rarely been an election giving the Australian people a cleaner choice. The choice is between this government, which has restored sanity to government spending, giving the Australian people the greatest tax reforms in our history, and the Labor Opposition, which would ... government spending and immediately impose higher taxes. Labor has itself admitted that it would increase spending by an extra $300 million and this is only a small part of their plans. Just six of their other promises would cost more than $3000 million per year. And on top of al this, they would spend a further $ 1700 million to abolish payroll tax. To pay for this Labor would pass a law taking $6 a week out of the average wage earner’s pocket. At one blow, Labor would increase Australia’s personal tax burden by $1700 million. Labor would ... the reward for initiative and achievement which is the basis for economic recovery, the basis for creating new jobs. I have no doubt at all that the working men and women of Australia will reject this recipe for disaster. Mr ... has said he wanted tax cuts. Mr Dunstan has said he wanted tax cuts. Mr Hawke has said he wanted tax cuts. These men must now deplore Mr Whitlam’s policy of taking money away from Australia’s workers and putting it in the pockets of large companies. We would all pay higher taxes for Labor’s extravagance- and we would pay in higher interest rates, higher inflation, higher unemployment. Labor’s policies would stop investment in Australia and stop growth. They would ... Australians the right to work. They would dishonour contracts. In 1975, Mr Whitlam signed this document- this memorandum of understanding- to develop Australia’s uranium. Now he says he never signed anything, now they say uranium should be left in the ground. The Labor Party is trying to obstruct Australia’s development. They are partners in obstruction with extremist union leaders. The extremist-led unions are all affiliated with the Labor Party, they all pay money to the Labor Party. They all help decide official Labor policy. And this is policy that binds Mr Whitlam, Mr Hayden and Mr Hawke. That’s why it is Labor’s official policy to put unions above the law. That’s why Labor endorsed the Victorian power strike. They endorsed a strike which threw 36000 people completely out of a job. We have shown that the public can be protected. That a fair and resolute stand can work. It worked in the air controllers’ strike. In the postal workers dispute, it worked against the ACTU’s uranium moratorium- they backed down. And in the Victorian power dispute, it was our move to ... the unions involved that led to the strikers returning to work. We have been the first government to pass laws protecting individual unionists and give responsible rank and file unionists the chance to maker their voices heard. Secret postal ballots for union elections are now compulsory. We have ... up the Industrial Relations Bureau to protect the public interest and also to act as an industrial ombudsman. Unions are now required to tell their members how union dues are spent. We are protecting individuals against being forced to join unions against their will. Responsible unionists have welcomed these laws. Only the extremists and the Labor Party have fought against them. These laws will not change things overnight. Bot over time they will have a major impact. At last, responsible unionists have a change. Labor would take it from them. Labor would back down on all these laws. We won’t back down on any of our responsibilities. Let’s look at some of the reforms we have brought in since coming to office, and how we will be building on these reforms in the years ahead. We will be further developing our existing programs which are working ... and in some cases initiating new programs. The total cost of these new programs is an additional $20 million this financial year- no more- and $250 million in 1978-79.  Taxation reform. This government has brought in the largest and fairest reforms ever made to Australia’s tax system. Tax indexation saves every Australian taxpayer more money each year. From February 1, further tax cuts will come in for every Australian wage and salary earner. This year alone, the person on average earnings will be saving $ 6 a week from these two reforms. From February 1, more than 225000 low income earners will cease to pay any tax at all. And because we have reduced the marginal rate of tax, it’s now worth working overtime again. We have provided business with essential tax incentives to invest, explore and develop. Quite apart from our tax concessions to business in two years our personal tax reforms have already saved taxpayers $3300 million. The Australian people will not accept a return to high taxes. The government will bring taxes down further- not increase them. Estate duty has caused distress and hardship to thousands of Australian families, to small business to farmers. Thus, all deceased estates and gifts passing between husband and wife, parent and child, will be exempt from Federal estate and gift duty from this day. Over the life of the next parliament, estate and gift duty will both be entirely abolished. We have cut down increases in your rates by giving local government a fixed share of all personal income-tax receipts. This year it was 1,52 per cent, over the next three years, we will increase that share to 2 per cent.  Business. Private enterprise is the source of most Australia’s jobs. We will take further steps to ... business so that new jobs can be created. Times have been difficult for Australia’s thousands of small businessmen. We have helped small business with our tax concessions on trading stock, with the investment allowance and our personal tax cuts, and we will make more finance available to small business through the Commonwealth Development Bank and the AIDC. Unlike Labor, this government has bought Australian wherever possible and we will continue to buy Australian. We will introduce a new ... of export incentives ... apply to increases in ... this year and will ... from July 1, 1978. We will act to increase the processing in Australia of our raw materials.  Rural it is of fundamental importance to Australia that our rural community is strong. We have ended Labor’s savage bias against the rural community. Our many programs are helping the rural community through the present difficult period. We will do more. The Australia Rural Bank will open in 1978. Petrol prices in country areas will be reduced to within a cent per litre of the normal city retail price, without any increase in city prices as a result. Over the next three years, we will reduce the price margin to less than half a cent per litre. We will, in consultation with the industries concerned, act to improve beef and wool marketing arrangements. There are other measures supporting rural industry set out in the supplementary statements issues tonight and the Deputy Prime Minister will elaborate on these tomorrow evening.  Social security and health. Our social reforms have helped families and individuals and widened freedom of choice. Our family allowance is the most important innovation in welfare for decades. The Medibank reforms give Australians choice in health insurance. The old harsh means test has been placed by a simple income test. We have taken policies out of pension increases by linking them automatically with the Consumer Price Index. We have brought in a pension for all sole parents- another major reform. Now, so that more homes and centres for the aged and handicapped can be built, we will extend the present three-year funding program for a further year. We will provide larger grants to homes for the aged in remote areas, and subsidies the added costs people in remote areas must pay to obtain specialist medical treatment. We will encourage families to care for their sick and aged by increasing and expanding the domiciliary nursing care benefit ... on needs, are designed to provide equality of opportunity for all Australians. We have given the handicapped a new deal and we will maintain our expanded child care program.  Education. The government has given education high priority. We have established the new tertiary education commission and appointed the Williams Committee of inquiry into education and training. Government schools in all States have substantially exceeded school’s commission targets. We are conscious of the disadvantage of many non-government schools and our policies which place .... A major initiative will be undertaken to end a long-standing social injustice. For far too long governments have accepted the responsibility to provide free education for normal children, but made parents of handicapped children pay hundreds of dollars more for their child’s education and sport. This injustice will cease. Under this government they will no longer have to do so. We are going to give these children an equal chance.  Housing. Our home savings grant scheme has helped, and is helping, ... of thousands of people to buy their first homes. We will co-operate with the States and financial institutions to set up an insurance scheme, protecting savings deposited with building societies.  Capital works and government services. In 1978/79 we will expand existing programs to provide a total of $60 million annually for the next five years to improve urban public transport. We will also undertake a five-year program to upgrade critical sections of the national railway network. We will make a start in giving Brisbane the international airport it deserves. We will improve city and country water supplies with a five-year $200 million national water resources program. We have maintained and improved post and telephone services without any increase in basic rates for the last two years. Now we will move to cut off-peak telephone charges to about 40 per cent of the normal rate.  Energy. Under our comprehensive national energy policy we will step up research and development of new energy resources, especially coal and solar energy.  Aborigines. We are acting to end the offensive paternalism of past policies towards Aborigines. We will continue to encourage self-management of Aboriginal programs and make them masters of their own affairs. In addition to the many programs we now have, we will start new programs designed to improve facilities and services for young Aborigines, provide training and management and other skills, and let Aborigines participate more fully in preventive health care projects.  Ethnic affairs. Australia is a multi-national society. The government is concerned for our ethnic communities. In the next three years we shall concentrate on overcoming the language barriers in our society. Our measures will include:  - the teaching of English to migrants and in co-operation with the States expand the teaching of ethnic languages and culture in our schools.  - The provision of ethnic liaison officers in government departments.  - More interpreters, translators and migrant welfare officers.  - More migrant resource centres.  For the first time, the age service pension will be paid to non-British former members of the allied forces. We have put ethnic broadcasting on a permanent basis, and we will establish ethnic television.  Individual rights. We have protected individual rights and reformed outdated laws. The Ombudsman and Administrative Appals Tribunal protect basic civil liberties. We will establish a human rights commission to extend that protection further and we will bring in freedom of information laws. We will establish a permanent women’s body to advise government on women affairs. We have provided increased financial assistance and tax incentives to the arts, reformed the Australia Council, and now we will help our film industry by allowing film production costs to be written off over years instead of 25. We have vigilantly protected the environment. We are establishing Kakadu, the world’s largest national park, and an independent inquiry to examine the most effective ways of conserving and protecting all species of whales. We are helping the World Wildlife Fund to set up a branch in Australia.  Security and foreign policy. Australia’s security and foreign policy is always a high priority for a Liberal-National Country Party Government. The Royal Commission on Security and Intelligence concluded that we face serious threats of espionage and subversion, and we are implementing the Royal Commission’s recommendation. We are strengthening all areas of the defence forces. For example, this program includes the construction of 14 fast patrol boats built by a great North Queensland shipbuilder at Cairns, the construction at Newcastle of a cargo ship for the defence forces and the ordering of a third guided missile frigate. We have restored close relations with our friends and allies and extended the vital Fine Gap agreement with the United States, for a further 10 years. We have improved our relations with all our nearest neighbours. Ladies and gentlemen, the new initiatives I have outlined tonight, and further policies which are set out in the supplementary statements, are a creative, responsible and balances program. Since coming to office, we have faced the difficult choices. The tough decisions have been made. We’ve been doing the job we were elected to do. Now the great issue before every one of us is whether we will build on these hard-won foundations, whether we will grasp the opportunity to make Australia the great country we all know it can be:  - An Australia where people have the freedom to achieve to build the kind of life they want- where there are rewards for initiative and incentives for enterprise.  - An Australia which is strong and secure, which cares for those in need, where all people can live and work together in self respect.  There are still problems to be faced, there is still hard work to be done. But Australia is ready to make the breakthrough into a new period of real prosperity. A vote for the Liberal Party is a vote an exciting and rewarding future for Australia. With your support this government is determined to build on what we have already achieved- to make Australia a society which can set a standard for the world.  The following are extracts from supplementary statements issued to be read in conjunction with the policy speech.  Employment and Industrial Relations. The Government is introducing new measures and improving those already in operation with unemployment and create job opportunities, particularly for young people. The basic program is: national Employment and Training Scheme (NEAT). The existing scheme is for on-the-job training in which the government subsidies employers and pays allowances to persons under training, subject to a means test applied to family income. It is estimated that more than 80,000 persons will be trained this financial year. The cost is estimated to be $50 million. The government will continue the scheme and will:  - pay revised subsidies to employers for new trainees taken on after January 1, 1978, equal to 37,5 per cent of the scale average adult award rate for trainees on adult rates of pay and 27,5 per cent for trainees on junior rates of pay. At current rates these would be $54 a week for adults and $39,5 a week for juniors.  - Adjust the means test to allow more scope for trainees to supplement their allowance by their own and spouse’s part-time earnings.  The government will also apply NEAT funds to support the development of special manpower training courses by compensating the training organisation for the cost per trainee of each course. Supporting NEAT, there are now six other programs. Special Youth Employment and Training Program (SYETP). This program is a new initiative as part of NEAT and subsidies employers who give young unemployed a job requiring a skill. Already 22000 young unemployed have been assisted and 68 per cent have remained in full-time employment. The Government will now seek the co-operation of the states in providing training in technical schools and colleges for young people seeking on-the-job training for whom no vacancies are available. Education Program for Unemployed Youth (EPUY): This programs begun as a pilot scheme for one year for unemployed youth under 21. Its object was to increase their changes of getting a job by improving their basic education. Some 800 were enrolled on 57 courses in 30 schools. The program has been significantly enlarged to provide courses for all young people under 21 seeking enrolment, and eligibility will be extended to include unemployed youth in the 21 to 24 age group. Those who complete courses under these schemes will also be eligible for specialists training in technical schools and colleges when vacancies for on-the-job training in specific skills are not available. (Estimated cost 1977-78 $500000, 1978-79 $2,5 million).  Special youth employment task forces. The Government is setting up special task forces in all States to encourage employers to provide more jobs for young people from the beginning of 1978. The State directors of the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations will lead the task forces which will be made up of representatives of State Governments, employers and trade unions. A special Youth Employment Bureau will be set up in each regional office of the department to back-up the campaign and to make a detailed study of the short and long term problems of youth employment.  Commonwealth Rebate for Apprenticeship Full-time Training (CRAFT): under this scheme employers are reimbursed for allowing apprentices to take full-time training courses. This will continue.  Community Youth Support scheme (CYSS): government funds are provided in this scheme to help community based groups which exist to give counsel and assistance to young people to find work.  Relocation Assistance Scheme: the existing scheme which provides financial aid to unemployed workers registered with the Commonwealth Employment Service, and their families, to move to other locations to get work, applies to those who lose their jobs through no fault of their own. It was introduced on a trial basis for one year in 1976 and covers help with fares, removal expenses, re-establishment allowance, legal and agents’ fees or rental allowance. This scheme will be continued and the amount of assistance and eligibility will be widened as follows:  - The maximum reimbursement of removal costs will increase from $500 to $750.  - The maximum reimbursement of legal and agents’ fees will increase from $500 to $1000.  - Workers who give up their jobs voluntarily for reasons acceptable to the Commonwealth Employment Service will now be admitted immediately.  - Workers who give up their jobs voluntarily for reasons not acceptable to the CES will be eligible three months after registering with the CES.  Estate and gift duties: the government will abolish forth with estate and gift duties on possessions passing between spouses and between parents and their children at a cost of $2,4 million, revenue foregone in 1977/78 and $33 million in 1978/79. This will be the first step in a program for the abolition of all estate and gift duties within the life of the next parliament. (Estimated full year cost of total abolition, in revenue forgone, would be $98 million).  Local government: A further increase in united grants to local councils is planned for the benefit of local ratepayers. The government’s objective is to move towards an allocation of up to 2 per cent of personal income tax collections for local government over a 3-year period. (Estimated full year cost around $50 million).  Trade and Industry. Expert Incentives: the government will reintroduce, as part of its continuing aim to expand all exports, a two-pronged type of export incentive to encourage manufacturers to promote and sell their goods overseas. Minerals and certain bulk primary products will be excluded. At present incentives, as reduced by the Whitlam government, are confined to grants made according to the amount spent on market development overseas. (Export Market Development Grants Act 1974). This scheme will be retained with minor amendments, and extended for a further period. To it will be added a new incentive scheme for improved export performance. This new incentive will provide taxable cash grants based on a formula which provides bigger incentives (15 cents in the $) at the initial stages of increased exports and falling (to 2,5 cents in the $) for increased exports in excess of $1 million a year. Both schemes will be current for 5 years from July 1, 1977, and the first grants payment will be made in 1978-79. (Estimated cost 1978-79 will be $30 million). A new corporation- the Australian Overseas Projects Corporation- will also be established to help firms compete for large-scale development projects overseas and to encourage export initiatives. It will begin in 1978. (Estimated cost 1978/79 $2 million).  Processing of Raw Materialists: the government will take attention to encourage more processing in Australia of basic raw materials where this is economically feasible and consistent with sound industrial development.  Small Business Support: the government will now take steps to make access to finance easier for small business by:  - An extension of the charter of the Commonwealth Development Bank to enable it to lend to all kinds of business, including equity finance for small business.  - An extension of the Australian Industries Corporation’s activities in small business, including possibly joint ventures with States and private sector institutions, in the provision of finance.  ... Services: the government will also, in co-operation with the States establish a national management consulting service of retired executives and professional consultants to assist managers and owners of small business. (Estimated cost 1978/79, $500000).  Rural. New measures and an extension of existing programs in rural areas, with particular application to those suffering special hardship, will be given a high priority.  Petrol prices: the government will take action to equalise the price of petroleum products between city and country by subsidising freight cost outside the metropolitan area on motor spirit, aviation fuel, automotive distillate and power kerosene. The scheme will bring country prices down initially to less than half a cent per litre (2 cents per gallon) in the life of the new parliament. (Estimated cost 1977/78 around $10 million, 1978/79 $31 million and in the three years around $50 million).  Rural bank: the new Australian Rural Bank for which legislation was passed in the last parliament will be established without delay.  - The principal function will be to refinance loans made by banks (including the Commonwealth Development Bank) other financial institutions and other lenders to rural producers and fishermen.  - It will provide, in conjunction with the banks and other lenders, long-term credit to viable borrowers for up to 30 years at concessional rates of interest. The board of the bank will include two rural representatives.  Beef and wool: the government will seek the agreement of the States for:  - An extension to three years of carry-on assistance to beef producers.  - An increase in loans from $30000 to $45000 in the pastoral zone and from $20000 to $30000 elsewhere.  - The administering authorities to have discretion in the amount to be lent in any one year, but not in excess of the three-year maximum limit.  - State reconstruction authorities to 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 $3000 to $5000.  - 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.  The Government will also add $600000 to the 1977/78 Budget allocation for beef carryon loans in the Northern Territory. (Estimated cost 1977/78, $600000 1978179. $1 million). The Government has already suspended the beef export charge and made substantial grants for disease control and eradication. It is also providing funds towards the capital cost of carcass classification in the beef meat industry. It now proposes to hold early discussions with the industry and the states to improve greatly the marketing of meat. For the woolgrowers, the government will not only maintain the wool price Reserve Support Scheme, giving assurances for two years ahead, but will co-operate with the Australian Wool Corporation and the Australian Wool Industry Conference in giving special attention to the quality to the Australian clip and the preservation of the intergity of the Reserve Price system.  Television for Rural Areas: a comprehensive program to bring television to remote rural areas in Australia over teh next three years will be introduced. Work will begin immediately on specifications and land and equipemnt purchases. Thirty-six new repeater stations and 20 translators stations will be erected in the three years beginning 1978/79 at a cost of $8,8 million. Another 20 translator stations will be built in the fourth year. (Estimated cost $1978/79, $1,4 million). Other measures to assist people in remote areas will include:  - a scheme to assist patients in remote areas to meet the high cost of tarvel and accomodation when referred for specialist treatment at distant locations.  - Extension of the limit for the provision of free telephone line plant from 12 kilometres to 16 kilometres.  Community Development. The government has completed plans to assist the States in major areas vital to the community. These include improvements to various community services and help for the Arts and the environment. They include: Transport: Interstate railways. A contribution of about $70 million over five years, beginning 1978/79, will be made to a joint Commonwealth-state Program for upgrading State railways which are part of the national mainline system. This will double the fast goods capicity between Sydney and Melbourne and almost treble the capacity between Melbourne and Adelaide.  Urban transport: a non-repayable grant of $60 million a year over the next five years will be made to the states for a new program to begin in 1978/79.  The arts. Despite the economic restraints, the government increased grants for the arts by 10 per cent and established a Community Arts board to encourage arts activities throughout the wider community and in remote areas. Two new initiativea are to be taken. They are:  - A tax reform to encourage greater community investment in the film industry by by reducing the period to for depreciation allowance from 25 years to 23 years. This will tie depreciation realistically to the life of a film.  - Consultation with the States: an art bank is to be developed to bring Australian art out of the galeries into the community.  Off-peak Telephone Charges: A substantial reduction in off-peak telephone charges is planned. The objective will be to achieve in ... course a 60 per cent reduction to apply during off-peak periods.  Nursing: the age limit for domiciliary nursing care will be reduced from 65 years to 16 years and the daily rate of benefit increased.  Handicapped children: we will provide additional funds to ensure yaht teh cost of parents of educating handicapped children should be no greater than the cost of parents whose children are educated in the normal government school system. The program will include increased assistance for capital projects and the co-operation of State authorities will be sought for them to assume responsibility for non-government schools for the handicapped which wish to participate. (Estimated cost 1977/78 $800000, 1978/79 $5 million).  ... children under the scheme of assistance for isolated children where there are ... school ... in a family, the rate at which the level of allowance ... will be half what it is under the present ... and even more ... for larger families. We will also introduce a supplemenatry grant for 1978 of $100 without ... for each children boarding ... from house ... and similarly where the family maintain a second home. Benefits received under the scheme will not be counted as income when determining amounts of ... for zone A and B allowances. In the Northern Territory, we will pay a supplemntary allowance of up to $150 a year for children eligible for the basic boarding allowance for ... children and a supplement of $50 for those Territory children who qualify for the basic correspondance allowance. In addition, the number of ... air forces avaiable each year for egigible Northern Territory children who attend school in other parts of Australia will be increased from two to three. (Estimated cost 1977/78 $260000, 1978/79 $... million).  Education. The goevrnment will add to the total Technical and Further Education Program (TAFE) an extra 50 million over and above the present level of funding for capital facilities in the states in the three years 1979 to 1981. The schools commission will continueto have full freedom to investigate and to report without restrictions and to respond to specific requests from the minister. The government will encourage the widening of curriculs to teach appriopate language and cultures. Special education facilities will be expanded for both child and adult migrants.  Aborigines. The government will:  - help Aborigines participate more fully in preventive health projects specially designed to most their needs.  - Improve recreation facilities and family support service for young Aborigines.  - Allocate more resources to helping Aborigines in the prevention and control of alcoholic abuse.  Initiate a program to provide training in management and other skills to equip them to manage their own affairs. (Estimated cost 1977/78 around $750000 (mostly on alcohol problems), 1978/79 $7 million).  Foreign affairs. The government has decided to establish a high level task force to conduct a comprehensive examination of Australia’s future relations with Third World countries.  Defence. A further five-year defence program has been approved by the government. This program will give priority to new equipment purchases. New .... A third modern guided missile frigate (FFG) has been ordered in the United States. Tenders have also been let for 15 new patrol boats. The first will be built in the United Kingdom and 14 in australia. They will give the navy a greater capability for coastal surveilance. The local government is being awarded to North Queensland Engineers and Agents Pty Ltd, it will provide employment for an additional, mostly trademen. A 600 tonne amphibious heavy lift ship for the Army and the Navy will also be built in Australia. The contract has been let to the New South Wales shipbuilding firm, Carrington Shipways Pty Ltd of Newcastle. It will be able to move land tanks and heavy plant and will have a helicopter platform, a landing craft base and other facilities including water .... It will have the heaviest lift capability of any Australian-owned ship.  Veterans: a vocational training scheme will be introduced for regular servicemen who have been honourably discharged after 15 years service or who have been invalided out. These ex-servicemen can retain under this scheme or the National Employmenty and Training scheme (NEAT) but not both. Entitlements are, for 15 to 20 years service, 2 year full-time or 4 years part-time, more than 20 years service, 3 years full-time or 4 years part-time. Allowances are subject to means test. The estimated cost of new proposals in these statements, including those items for which no specific amounts are given is around $20 million for the current financial year and $250 million for 1978/79.  People tired of being promised the world.  Canberra. The Australian public was tired of politians at election time promising the world, the new Treasurer, Mr Howard last last night.  He was debating the Prime Minister’s policy speech with the ... leader of the Opposition, Mr Uren, on the program monday conference immediately after Mr Fraser delivered his speech. Responding to a suggestion that the speech was low-key, he said it did not matter whether a policy speech was high or low-keyed, what mattered was the content. No political party could deliver the world to the electorate. One of the many things that the Fraser government has done since it gained power, is to get out of policies to a very large extent the idea that you can bribe people with extravagant promises at election time, he said. Mr Howard was asked whether, since the Labor party proposed to abolish pay roll tax, the government supported its retention. Mr Howard: I am in favour of taxation reform which is designed to give the greatest possible incentive to the greatest number of people. Mr Uren was esked whether the abolition of the tax could be guaranteed since the proposal appeared to be contrary to the Labor’s party self-proclaimed socialism. Mr Uren: yes, although it is a socialist party, and I am proud of that situation, we also represent the small business people and the small farmer. We will always look after the little people. On the pecuniary interests of parliamentarians, Mr Howard was asked whether he would push in future for the full adoption of a 1975 parliamentary report which held that all politicians be compelled to disclose publicy their financial interests. Mr Howard said the matters related to ministerial respondsability and as mich were for the Prime Minister to decide. However, he understood that the matter was under consideration by an interdepartmental committee and he would make no further comment. Both speakers were asked what effect Mr Lynch’s resignation would have on the election campaign. Mr Howard said: I believe that the Australian people will see the matter in its proper prosepective. They will recognise the decency and the intergrity of Mr Lynch action. He was maintained the Westminster tradition, he was deffered his own personal interests to what he sees to be as the broader interests of his own party and the government he served so well in the past two years. Mr Uren said he thought Mr Lynch’s role in land speculation was despicable. A Treasurer is supposed to be responsible for inflation and there has been no greater component of inflation than urban land. The other deplorable thing is that the Treasurer of this nation uses a family trust or a nominee company to evade taxation. I think that agian is deplorable. He said it placed the whole government in question. Now that the new Treasurer has made the statement the throws the onus on the whole cabinet again. Therefore as far as I am concerned, I don’t only hold Mr Lynch guilty but I hold the Fraser Cabinet guilty of such form.  Labor tax plans assailed.  Canberra. Labor’s taxation proposals would hit the poorest taxpayers the hardest, the Minister for the Capital Territory, Mr Staley said yesterday. The Liberal Government’s tax changes mean that a quarter of a million people now paying tax will not be paying any tax after Febraury 1, 1978, he said. As aanounced in the last Federal Budget, the tax-treshold will be raised from $3154 to $3751 from next year and no one with an income below $3751 will pay tax. Speaking in his Victorian electorate, Mr Staley said it was extraordinary that Labor’s taxation proposals indicated taht the party has abandoned the idea of assisting the poorest tax payers with tax reform.  Whitlam gets more Mileage with laughs.  Brisbane. - The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Whitlam, in a buoyant mood over the Lynch affair, has found an effective way of getting more mileage out of it - humour. In a rally here yesterday he siad the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser had been forced to re-write large parts of his policy speech- al those references to what a wonderful Treasurer Mr Lynch was, how he trusted him and how the people of Australia could trust him. And so tonight, we are going to here the new version, the sanitised version of the Fraser policy speech: deleted, deloused and de-Lynched. The phrase brough an uprorsious response from the audience. With the help of speech writer Graham Freudenberg. Mr Whitlam used a string of quips to ridicule the government. It is a pattern he has been following eversinceMr Lynch resignation on Friday andf has met with a good response. Mr Whitlam told the rally yesterday that Mr Lynch was a friend of two land developers who were prominent witnesses before the Royal Commission: Mr Leake- a good Treasury name- and Mr Cooke- and good name for accountants and their books. Of Mr Eric Robinson, the minister assisting the Treasurer, whom Mr Fraser overlooked when choosing Mr Lynch succesor, Mr Whitlam said: he has the best possible adress for a Liberal Treasurer. He lives right on the ... of Capri on the Gold Coast. Eric and Phil are virtually neighbours. What’s more, Eric Robinson is ... Mr McMahon’s bosom buddy. Bill McMahon, as everyone remembers, has been Australia’s greatest Treasurer; he constanly sais so himself. Alas poor Eric, I knew him well. And of the man who did get the job, Mr Whitlam said: what a decline in two years, from Hayden to Howard, an unknown Sydney sollicitor with absolutely unknwon economic qualifications.  Faltered. This style of campaiging is well suited to mr Whitlam’s theatrical talents. He has been less at home when discussing economic policy. In Cairns over the weekend, he faltered over the details of Labor’s already annouced policy to support full tax indexation. He initially said that the tax changes the government intended to introduce next february would be postponed by a Labor administration. Later, he explained to journalists that he had meant to say that the tax indexation would be postponed. Embarrased Labor officials then had to correct this comment, saying that the party would stick by its policy of full income tax indexation.  Early postal votes advised.  Electors who want to vote by post in the Federal elections should do so early, because of the busy state of mails near Christmas, the chief general manager of Australia Post, Mr D. McQuitty, said yesterday. He siad electors wanting a postal vote should post their applications early enough to ensure they received their voting papers before polling day. Ballot papers had to be back with divisional returning officer by December, 20, when Australia Post would already ne handling a huge daily inflow of mail.  Democrats fail to nominate in 3 seats.  Brisbane. The Amtralian Democrats have blamed the party's infancy and its lack of electoral knowledge for its failure to nominate candidates for the FederaL seats of Ryan, Darling Downs and Dawson. The party’s Queensland campaign director, Mr Graham Maskiell, said yesterday that human error was responsible for the failure to nominate for the three seats. We are so young, so few and our money is so short we had our backs to the wall, he said. It is most unfortunate and we are very disappoited at missing the three seats, but it will be part of our growth. We will learn from it. The biggest lost to the Democrats will be in Ryan, the home of Brisbane’s trendies. In the November 12 State election the party polled 19 per cent of the vote in the Liveral seat of Toowong, and the whole of Toowong is within the boundaries of Ryan. Mr Maskiell said the State campainging committee had been exhausted after fighting for Toowong. The committee had to change overnight, to a Federal campaign committee and in the rush the nomibation of Mrs Gillruth Rees was overlooked. Mr Maskiell said the party had only three branch members in Dawson, who had contested the State seat of Whitsunday and decided to stand because there was no one. He nominating arrived too late and we missed there too, Mr Maskiell said. In Darling Downs are candidate, Mr Gordon Brown, thought he had to nominate in Brisbane and when he got to the city and found out he had made a mistake it was too late for him to return to Warwick. 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.