The Age, 14 October 1069  Senator Gair outlines party's poll platform  DOUBLE DEFENSE SPENDING - DLP  The leader of the Democratic Labor Party (Senator Gair) last night pledged to double Australia's defense expenditure over the next ten years.  He said present spending on defense was "pitifully small and totally inadequate" compared with that of other countries, especially in the light of Britain's planned Far East troop withdrawal and the "scaling down" of the U.S. commitments in South Vietnam.  Defense occupied the major part of the DLP policy speech made last night at South Brisbane, but Senator Gair also pledged a wide range of domestic benefits, including increased pensions, child endowments, interest-free marriage loans to young couples, and a review of the Commonwealth Constitutions aimed at improving Federal-State financial relations.  Senator Gair said:  The DLP will continue to pursue its defense proposals until they're carried out. These proposals are based on a defense expenditure of six to seven per cent. of our gross national product - this expenditure would, in turn, finance:  1) An adequate system of national service.  2) The acquisition of at least one aircraft carrier and a complete up-dating of our destroyer and submarine requirements.  3) The rapid development of a completely independent capacity to manufacture our own military aircraft. This is possible, and we must gear ourselves to be in a position to export aircraft to South-East Asian countries by the late 1870s when the Mirges and F-llls start to phase out.  4) It will finance the rapid development of our own nuclear power - firstly, for peaceful purposes and secondly as a basis of a deterrent should all attempts at nuclear disarmament fail.  Our defense preparedness is totally inadequate.  INADEQUATE  We find that the United States spends 9.8 per cent. of its gross national products, France 5.3 per cent., Russia 9.6 per cent., China 9.2 per cent., Israel 13.8 per cent., Sweden 6 per cent. and the United Kingdom 7.1 per cent.  Where does Australia stand - just 3.5 per cent - that's the average taken over the past ten years.  This is pitifully small and totally inadequate. So, whether we like it or not, the first thing we must do is to increase our spending on defense.  But what does Mr Gorton do? Instead of recognizing the problem, he cuts the defense budget by 5 per cent. In fact, its an even greater cut, when you take into account the increased rates of pay for the armed services.  We are conscious of the fact that our major defense policies and our domestic policies cannot be presented in theoretical isolation but must rest upon the foundations of a healthy economy.  For what reason, I desire to outline several measures which, within the framework of a policy of full employment, would greatly contribute to price stability:  - The use of monetary, fiscal and other measures open to the Government to prevent the 'overheating' of the economy through excess demand.  - Taxation measures to encourage extra saving.  - A drive for increased exports.  - Productivity wage increases based on a productivity index.  A soundly based economy and. a high rate of economic growth, without inflation, are essential for the type of defense and domestic program which the UP regards as necessary.  PENSIONERS  A further area of neglect is the pensioner and retired person.  The real solution is the introduction of a contributory national insurance scheme to cover old age, retirement, sickness and death of a breadwinner.  But such a scheme would take several years to examine and introduce. In the interim, the UP believes there would be value in commencing to progressively phase out the operation of the means test on certain age groups.  We also believe that pensions warrant an immediate increase to an amount of not less than half the basic wage and that all social service payments, pending the introduction of the DLP's contributory national insurance scheme, should be determined by an independent tribunal of experts.  The time has come for a review of the working of the constitution and this must be undertaken as a matter of urgency.  DECENTRALIZE  It can be done in predetermined stages, the first by the establishment of an industries in a position of fiscal and economic position of the States and the desirability of the establishment of a fiscal equalization committee. State sovereignty must be given a new reality.  The DLP would reduce income and company tax and institute a decentralization tax, to be levied at a flat rate on industrial sites.  This decentralization tax would place the provincial industries in a position of taxation advantage which would compensate for the disadvantages of higher transport costs, &c.  In addition, the DLP proposes that the Commonwealth Bank make available long-term loans at nominal interest rates to finance the moving of existing industrial equipment.  $100 MILLION  Both independent and Government schools require additional financial assistance if we are to preserve the dual system in Australia, and the only real source is the Federal Government.  First, we believe that an immediate additional grant of $100 million be made to the States, for particular use in secondary and tertiary education. In utilizing this grant, priorities should be given to (1) teacher training and salaries, (b) education research, and (c) buildings and equipment.  Second, we reaffirm our support for the payment of an allowance to independent schools for each child in primary and secondary schools, the amount to be equivalent to the average cost of educating a child in a corresponding Government school.  In the social welfare field we believe that greater attention should first be given to the family-man, especially the breadwinner who has a large family but receives a low income.  We advocate:  - Doubling of existing child endowment payments for all children after the second.  - The capitalization of child endowment payments for purposes of housing improvements or additions, as has operated successfully in New Zealand for the past 10 years.  - Restoration of the real value of maternity allowances which have not been increased since 1943.  - Introduction of an interest-free marriage loan of $1000 for all young couples, for a period of 10 years, $200 of the loan to be liquidated on the birth of each child.  Australia needs a permanent secretariat, consisting of State and Federal officials, ready to anticipate and study natural disasters, evolve contingency plans, and act as the coordinating body when asked to.  Developing chaos in the wheat industry must be stopped and this is the DLP program:  - Australia's deliveries to the Wheat Board should be restricted to 30 million bushels annually until the market position improves.  - Any controls necessary to achieve this result should protect the traditional family wheat grower.  - Wheat farmers should be encouraged to diversify their production as much as possible and service facilities should be expanded to enable handling of the alternative produce.  The DLP proposes a further commission to inquire into the whole wool industry of the same kind as the Philp Commission some years ago.  The purpose of the commission would be to plot the course of the industry to the end of the century and in the modern world of new markets and new fiber’s. The establishment of an industry body should be one of the prime matters for investigation.  Bridging finance should be made available in appropriate amounts and in an equitable manner to the industry until a thoroughly researched and accepted plan is devised and adopted.  RETARDATION  The DLP advocates that a fully representative national committee of inquiry be established to investigate the problem of mental retardation in Australia covering:  - the complexity of the problem.  - the intensity of the problem.  - the qualitative extent of the problem.  The DLP will support those university administrations who take necessary action - including the suspension, expulsion or dismissal of student or academic disrupters - to preserve the university as a center of learning.  The DLP proposes that 5 per cent of Australia's total area be declared national parks and scenic areas, which is the minimum area recommended by the United Nations for any country.  We believe that no drilling operations should be permitted on the Great Barrier Reef until it is known without doubt that such work can be carried out without any damage to any part of the reef or any island contiguous to the reef.  ISOLATION IS NO SECURITY: FRASER  The Australian Labor Party's defense and foreign policies would be disastrous for Australia and Asia, the Minister for Education and Science (Mr Fraser) said last night.  Mr Fraser, speaking at an election meeting in Hamilton, warned that Labor's policies would lead Australia into selfish isolation.  They would also encourage isolationism in the United States.  Labor policies would not only convince South-East Asia that Australia was not interested in Asia, but would weaken the ANZUS Treaty, the ultimate shield of Australian security.  Mr Fraser said that the Government's defense policy was based on three elements:  - Increasing strength of our forces inside Australia.  - A determination to cooperate with other countries in the region because there is no security in isolation.  - The belief that other small countries could ultimately need the support of a major power - hence the ANZUS alliance.  Mr Fraser said the Labor Party's policies would make it impossible to pursue these objectives.  "While we look to the day when all Australian troops can be withdrawn, this depends on the progress at the Paris peace talks, on the increasing ability of the South Vietnamese to defend themselves and on the scale of enemy activities in Vietnam.”  "To suggest that all our forces could be withdrawn now because some of the half million Americans have been withdrawn is not realistic.”  "It would involve deserting our allies in Vietnam and the United States without regard to the overall consequences. PROGRESSIVE RISE IN DEFENCE BUDGET PLEDGED.  The Prime Minister Mr Gorton, said last night that the Federal Government would progressively increase the sums spent on defence in the years ahead, continue to improve social welfare and make necessary reforms to the national health scheme. Making his policy speech for the October 25 elections, he said that under the Liberal Country Party coalition Australia had progressed at a rate before ... of. It now enjoyed that strong, growing and balanced economy so vital to the achievement of our national destiny. Mr Gorton declared: our task is to protect Australians against inflation and increased burdens of income tax. Our task is to continue immigration, to continue the inflow of development capital, to continue full employment, to ensure that we do not try to do more than we have the men and resources to accomplish. This must and will be overriding. Others may make glittering and irresponsible promises for which you will, in one way or another, pay: we will not. Mr Gorton said: a little less than 20 years ago the Australian people dismissed a Labor government and installed a Liberal-Country Party coalition. They were tired of controls, for the sake of controls. They were dismayed by unemployment and general strikes. They were frightened of the doctrinaire socialist approach of a Labor Party strongly influenced by Communist unions. They were sick of stagnation. So they turned to us, who believe the individual is the basis of the state and the state will best progress if the individual is given the greatest possible amount of freedom and of opportunity to take risks and to reap rewards. Since that time Australia has progressed at a rate before ... of: in the last 10 years alone our exports have doubled. Our work force has grown from under four to over five million and they are fully employed. There has been and there continues to be a spectacular rate of growth due to a high rate of capital inflow, yet inflation has been kept in check. A little less than two years ago, I became the Leader of Liberal Country Party coalition, at a time when Australia was faced with new problems and changing situations at home and abroad. And I report to you that, in less than two years, we have done much: we have decided thin even though Britain withdraws from our north we shall keep ground, sea and air forces there as a visible expression of our continuing interest in helping to preserve that region against possible external attack. For we believe that to meet our needs at home we must be prepared to accept, insofar as our power allows, our responsibilities abroad. We cannot choose one, and reject the other. We must try to meet both our responsibilities or we may meet neither. In 1968-69 our economic growth, at 8,7 per cent at constant prices, has been greater than at any previous period in our history. Last year dwelling construction reached an all time record- with 138000 commencements and 130000 completions. More migrants were brought to Australia than in any previous year. We have removed remove the financial fear of those faced with long-term illnesses in hospitals. We have increased the basic rates of all social welfare pensions by unparalleled amounts. We have introduced a tapered means test and provided taxation concessions as an incentive to saving and to thrift. We have provided greatly increased sums for education and have broken through the cobwebbed barrier which previously prevented us helping the running costs of independent schools. We have made known the terms and conditions which we expect overseas investors to observe when contemplating new ventures in the development of Australia. We have sought to protect Australian-owned companies from unfair take-over offers. We have established an overseas shipping line so that Australian produce can begin to be carried in Australian ships and so that we will know what are fair freights to charge Australian producers. We have added half a billion dollars to funds available for loads and ensured that much of this money will go to alleviate the urban traffic problems which have been clogging our cities. I have given a necessarily brief and incomplete account of our stewardship over the past 20 months. And I am proud that we have achieved what we have. As a result: we find ourselves, with the respect of the United States, and of Britain, for not reneging on our responsibilities to stand ready to counter the threat of Communist expansion through the use of force. At home we enjoy that strong, growing and balanced economy so vital to the achievement of our national destiny. But the jobs, the development, the growing material strength essential as a basis for defence and for social welfare - all of these depend on an economy most delicately balanced, on an economy in which we must take care that the demand for labour and pressure on resources does not exceed present pressures. For, if this happens as a result of irresponsible promises being made and accepted, then all these things will be in jeopardy. We cannot get something for nothing.  DO NOT PUT IT IN JEOPARDY. And the result of the Opposition’s promises would be either a great increase which will hit the wage earner and the pensioner most severely- or an increase in taxation which would hit all Australians. In the result we would have gained nothing and paid a great price for it. You see around you the results of what we have done, and the increasing opportunities for greatness because we have done it- or rather because you have done it under the conditions of Government we have provided. Do not risk this. Do not put it all in jeopardy turning to an Opposition which still believes in nationalisation, in direction for direction's sake, which is strongly influenced in at least one State by Communist influenced which makes promises they cannot keep. I believe there is too much at stake for Australia to risk a Labor Government- still controlled by non-elected outside bodies- a government which would make us falter in our steps towards greatness. I turn now to the specific policies we shall follow if you re-elect us as a Government. But, I repeat, we must apply these policies against the background of that responsible economic management of which I have spoken and against a background not only of our needs as a Government but also of the needs of the States as Governments. Our task is to protect Australians against inflation and increased burdens of income tax. Our task is to continue immigration, to continue the inflow of development capital, to continue full employment, to ensure that we do not try to do more than we have the men and resources to accomplish. This must and will be overriding. Others may make glittering and irresponsible promises for which you will, in one way or another, pay. We will not.  Defence: Adequate defence is the rock on which national security stands. Without it, debate on internal matters could be academic. Over the years ahead we shall maintain and increase our defence capacity. There are more Australians under arms today than ever before in our history except in time of major war. They are better equipped and they have greater mobility. We shall keep the Army up to at least its present strength of nine battalions. We shall retain National Service training in order to do it. For it will not otherwise be done. We shall improve the capacity of the Air Force, in fighter, reconnaissance, and strike that aircraft and shall see that aircraft provided for Australians to fight in are the best obtainable in the world. We shall strengthen the Navy with the types of ship the Navy advise us that they most require - including the new light destroyers and the fast combat support ships asked for by that Service. We shall progressively increase the sums spent on defence in the years ahead, for to do less would weaken our own security and invite the suspicion of our allies both within the region and without. We have already announced that Learmonth Airfield, in Western Australia, is to be upgraded to an operational base on the Indian Ocean. We believe that broad consideration of Australia’s geo-political position and national development point to the conclusion that naval support facilities in Western Australia will also be required in the future. Our fleet numbers will increase and we will have to take an increasing interest in the Indian Ocean as, the British withdraw. Therefore we have decided that we should begin the planned development of a naval base at Cockburn Sound in Western Australia. The first step as recommended in the study made by our consultants, is the construction of a causeway linking Garden Island (Garden Island, Western Australia) to the mainland. We shall at once proceed to the detailed design of this causeway and will begin construction next financial year. Thereafter the naval facilities will be progressively installed over a period. Our alliance with the United States under the ANZUS Pact is vital to our defence. It requires that we should be true allies, that we should be prepared to give, as well as expect to receive, assistance. Therefore we shall continue to co-operate with the United States in the construction of bases, for our joint defence. Bases of value to us both in Australia. We shall not sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty until we are sure that it is an effective treaty that it provides real protection to its signatories, and that Australia’s security in the future is not endangered.  Vietnam: On Vietnam we believe that we were right to help the people of South Vietnam resist aggression. And we believe we are right to continue to do so. The immorality in the Vietnam war lies in the aggression of the North against the South. We do not seek the conquest of North Vietnam, nor domination of North Vietnam. What we seek is an opportunity for the people of South Vietnam to choose the kind of government under which they wish to live. We believe this to be a proper aim and that to leave Vietnam before the South Vietnamese people are assured of this right would be a tragedy in itself and would hold the seeds of future tragedy. Should there be developments which result in plants for continuing reduction of United States forces over a period then we would expect to be phased in to that program and would see that we are. But we will not unilaterally withdraw. To do so would be to abandon an objective, to betray our allies and I believe to imperil our future security.  Malaysia- Singapore: Australia cannot fail to be affected by what happens in the nations in the region to our north. What affects their security can ultimately affect our security. We will therefore adhere to our decision to maintain in the region of Malaysia-Singapore forces of all arms and will maintain in Australia a capacity for swift additional assistance. We will continue to support the concept of a regional security pact in that region in which we will participate. But we will exert all the influence at our command to prevent participation by Russia in such an arrangement. We believe that our security would be threatened by the establishment of any Russian naval or military bases in that area. We believe that any military alliance or arrangement between Russia and a country in that region would pose a threat to ourselves. For we cannot forget Czechoslovakia and Hungary and other occupied nations, and we believe that Russian Communism still has as its objective the spreading of its system throughout the world.  Taxation reform: I turn now to a subject that is of great concern to the average man. That is, income-tax. In recent years many changes have been made to meet specific needs. These include increases in wives and dependants allowances, deductions for education, larger deductions for lift insurance and so on. But with rapidly rising incomes the existing taxation structure needs to be reformed. The operation of the present progressive-rate scale has shifted a growing proportion of the weight of taxation on to personal in income-tax payers, especially wage and salary earners. A large number of taxpayers in the lower and middle income group, with incomes ranging from modest levels up to those earned at executive, administrative and professional levels - are involved. To correct this will be a major task of great complexity. We have and are still studying this problem so that, beginning in the next Budget, we can bring forward specific proposals aimed at improving the system and correcting the inequities which have developed. As a responsible government we must proceed within the limits of what is ... at any given .... But our aim will be so to reduce personal income-tax, over the three year period beginning with the next Budget, that at the end of that time we will be providing relief to lower and middle income earners, of the order of $200m as compared with the amounts which would be payable by them under the present income tax structure.  National development: we shall adopt new specific proposals for national development. Because lack of ... is one of the greatest limitations on Australia’s growth, we shall set aside $100m over the next five years, to be spent in co-operation with the states under the national water ... development program. This water will be available for water conservation, including conservation in small ..., for food prevention and mitigation and for carrying out surveys of underground water resources. We shall, during the next parliament take Australia into the atomic age by beginning the construction of an atomic planet at ..., to generate electricity. We believe that Australia will make increasing use of atomic power in the years ahead and that the time for this nation to enter the atomic age has now arrived. We will embark on developing the port of Darwin at a cost which is ..., together with ancillary service, at some $16m. We shall build the port ... railway at an .... We shall build the Port Pirie-Adelaide Railway at an estimated cost of $30m to $50m over two years.  Education: Our direct assistance to education throughout Australia is great and growing. We are providing science blocks and libraries for all schools. We are providing $10m a year for secondary technical schools. We allocated $10m a year for State-controlled teacher training colleges and we are now engaged in a co-operative study with State Education Departments into the future needs of education at the school level and this survey covers both State and independent schools. When that survey is completed the States and ourselves will discuss the assistance, we should each provide to promote the further development of education in all schools. And the survey will include the provision of in-service training for Australia’s primary and secondary teachers. There is also a clear need for more educational research, a need for greater co-operation and co-ordination of effort in particular fields, and we shall provide $250000 a year, beginning in the next Budget for this purpose. We shall introduce under the control of the Department of Labour and National Service, vocational training schemes for married women and single women who have been restricted by domestic responsibilities but who have now reached a stage where they may wish to enter employment. And we shall set us a scheme to give vocational training to workers displaced by technological change who may need training to convert their existing skills into skills required for alternate service. And in recent years the government has greatly supported scientific activity at all levels. We now intend a new significant step. We are an island continent and we need a much greater knowledge and understanding of the biological and psychical resources in and beneath the sea around us. We shall therefore establish an institute of Marine Science at Townsville. The institute will have an independent directorate and research in the area of the Great Barrier Reef will be one of the first priorities of the new institute. The capital cost is estimated to be of the order of $3m and we expect that it will become a centre of excellence that will give Australia the world reputation in marine science which she already enjoys in the field of astronomy.  Social welfare: I do not believe that there has ever been, in such a concentrated period, so much done to improve social welfare as has been done by my Government.  We promised and have matched performance to that promise. We shall continue general improvement in social welfare as and when we can responsibly do so, without causing inflation or increasing tax burden. And we regard increasing the help given to poor families as of greater importance than abolishing a means test so pensioners can be paid to rich families. During the next parliament we shall pay special attention to the needs of the young family; to the positive rehabilitation of the handicapped and invalid so that they may return to normal life; to a fruitful partnership with voluntary bodies including both Church and lay bodies, who serve the old, the sick, and the needy. We shall pay pensions at standard rates instead of at married rates to aged couples who lose the economics of living together by reason of failing health, for example of one or both of them is in nursing home. We shall give capital assistance on a two-for-one basis approved institutions which give training for the various kinds of handicapped children - the blind, the deaf, the spastic, the crippled and the mentally retarded. The results already achieved through the aged persons homes and sheltered workshops encourages us to expand our policy of partnership with voluntary bodies.  The Meals on Wheals organisation is one of the worthiest such bodies m the community. In the next Budget we will make available to each separate organisation in the Meals on Wheels organisation $1 subsidy for every 10 meals served in the past year, such money to be used for the expansion o their activities, or to be donated to another Meals on wheels organisation of their choice.  Health: In health, the removal of financial hardship arising from illness has had a high priority with us. Today we not only describe our objectives, we can point to our achievements. Full hospital benefits for hospital patients who are chronically ill. Supplementary nursing home benefits for patients needing and receiving intensive nursing care. Special benefits for handicapped children under 16. Medical and hospital benefits, without payment of contribution, for persons receiving unemployment or sickness benefit, or for families with incomes below $39 a week and for migrants during their first two months in Australia. Special financial assistance to the states for the development of co-ordinated programs of home care to strengthen home nursing and home care services, particularly for the frail aged. All this has bees done. It has gone far to eliminate financial hardship for people with special needs. Only one problem of any significant size remains in relation to people with lengthy illnesses. Some people, after paying health insurance contributions for many years, find that they are obliged to spend long periods under intensive care in nursing homes as distinct from hospitals. We shall negotiate with the health insurance funds to arrange for payment of increased benefits, properly related to reasonable nursing home fees, for persons who have been regular contributors to health insurance funds and who need intensive nursing home care. At the same time we have been moving to bring in improvements in the national health scheme is that it will operate more efficiently, more economically and more satisfactorily for the community as a whole. We have the Nimmo Committee report which defines the area where reforms are needed- for example, more economical management by some of the health funds and a reasonable, orderly policy in the allocation of reserves. We shall attack and overcome these problems and will bring about the reforms that are necessary. We are well advanced in negotiations with the medical profession and the health insurance funds so that all patients will be assured of medical benefits more closely relative to doctor’s charges. Commonwealth medical benefits and fund benefits will be increased so that the difference between the benefit entitlements and the common fee charged by doctors will not at any time exceed $5 even for the most complicated and costly ... procedures. For simpler procedures which are less expensive, the difference between the benefits and doctor’s common fee will be very much less. This is estimated to cost the Commonwealth some $16m. The successful introduction of these proposals will mean that no action of the community which in prepared to insure itself need fear hardship from the cost of medical services.  Housing: the Home savings Grant Scheme had already benefited some 153000 young couples. Hitherto the grant was only payable if the value of the home, including land, did not exceed $15000. We shall increase the limit and the grant will now be payable for houses, which including the cost of land, do not exceed in the value of $17500. This amendment will apply to people who contract to buy or build their houses on or after Monday, October 27, 1969.  Immigration: The factor which prevents Australia doing all that we, and the State Governments wish to do is not primarily lack of money or indeed pressure on materials. It is that we do not have all the manpower we need. Bringing increasing numbers of migrants to this country, and providing conditions which ... them to stay here, and to become Australians, is therefore one of our fundamental tasks. Two hundred and eighty thousand settlers have come to Australia since I took office in January 1968, and in this last year a record 175000 arrived. We shall in the next three years intensify our efforts in this field. And internally, we shall take new initiatives. Because of the importance of the English language to migrants the Commonwealth, recognising its obligations, is prepared to take the initiative in promoting and to accept responsibility for financing:  1. The expansion of existing facilities for the instruction of adult migrants.  2. The provision of intensive full-time English language courses for those who must know English in order to follow occupations for which they have been trained.  3. And special classes in existing schools for migrant children of all ages to ensure that they achieve the education to which their intelligence and natural skills entitle them. Further, within our community there are people in need and unaware of information which could relieve them from .... Their own knowledge of the ... of benefits, services and ... available to them is inadequate and we will propose to the states that grants be made through the ... authorities to ... the employment of ... people who ... provide the information and the guidance which these migrants need.  Arts: we believe a nation not only expresses itself through its material achievements, but also through its participation in and its development of the arts. The late Prime Minister established the Australian Council for Arts and this year we increased by 70 per cent the money available to foster the development of music, ballet and theatre in Australia. We established an interim council to investigate and report on the establishment of a National Plan and Television Training School. We believe that it is time Australia developed its own film industry and we shall, in our next period of government, establish an Australian Plan and Television Development Corporation to administer a film and television fund which will invest in, and make loans to, film and television producers for the making of quality films and programs in Australia with a significant Australian content, and otherwise to encourage the production and distribution overseas of Australian-made film of high quality. An amount of $1m will be provided as the initial capital for the corporation and supplementary grants will be provided during the early years of its operation so that the corporation will have available, at the beginning of each financial year, $1m- and amounts repaid from its investments or advances will be retained by the corporation for further development.  Trade: Australia has begun to emerge as an industrial nation. More and more we look to the continued healthy growth of our manufacturing industries for our strength and our security. The Government believes it is essential to ensure that its policies adequately reflects the important role manufacturing industry plays in the nation’s economy. Industry can not be expected to achieve the full development of its efficiencies and skills alone. In today’s world, industry needs the support of effective Government policies. In the life of the next Parliament, we will re-examine present Government activities and policies in this important area with a view to strengthening the Government’s program of assistance to Australian industrial creativity and efficiency. But the development of manufacturing industry ultimately depends on the protection given to industry in the Australian maker against import competition. Australia must have continued industrial growth to create each year the new jobs required to sustain a growing population and a dynamic immigration program. The government regards its tariff policy as a vital factor in providing a firm basis for this industrial growth. The traditional policy that reasonable and adequate protection should be given in economic and efficient Australian industries has served this country well and will nor be changed. The Government retains full responsibility for Australian tariff policy. The government recognises that in cases involving relatively high protection the benefits have to be weighed very carefully against the possible effects on other industries and the community generally. But the government does not accept any pre-determined upper limit to the level of protection which might be accorded. The decision in each case must be determined by the Government and by the Government alone in the light of all circumstances of any particular case.  Primary industry. The department of Prime Industry, which will issue a supplementary statement, is continuing its intensive study of the long-term problems of rural industries. The government has recently had before it special reports on these questions and in the recent Budget speech announced a number of measures to assist primary producers. The policy of providing compensation in the case of primary industries that suffered from British devaluation, in cases were loss is unavoidable and demonstrable, will be continued in 1970 on the same basis as it was in this year. The apple and pear industry has submitted a proposal for a stabilisation scheme; and the Government will give full consideration to these plans.  Shipping and transport: in the past, the Commonwealth Government has encouraged several forward looking transport policies, for example railway standardisation, the development of beef cattle roads and container shipping. It will continue to implement measures which will lead to the reduction of internal transport costs. The problem of traffic ... in the cities is one of great urgency. We have made a significant ... to ... that ... problem through our allocations for urban ... and .... But there is a great deal more to be done, especially in improving public transport systems. The population of the major ... are growing so that by ... Sydney could have a population of 3,3m, and with this prospect, it is vital that public transport services do not decline. We will direct attention to this and to shipping and to port problems. In recent years, the shipping industry has undergone major changes- the introduction of roll-on, roll-off ships, specialised bulk carriers and container ships. It is important that the trend towards more modern ships should be continued because it means lower freights. The changes in shipping technology have in many cases made existing port facilities .... There is therefore and urgent need for an ... study of port needs and for putting work in hand which will provide what we need over the next 10 years. We shall do this and we shall set up a Bureau of Transport Economics, to analyse the costs and economics of transport in Australia, and, in co-operation with the States, where necessary, will seek to take measure to reduce such costs. On October 25 you will make your choice. You will choose which defence policy you prefer. You will choose which foreign affairs approach you prefer. You will decide whether to continue with that responsible economic management which has brought us such prosperity, growth and employment opportunity- or whether to accept irresponsible promises for which you will, in one way or another, pay. You will choose between growth with stability and our opponent’s proposals designed to bring inflation. You will decide whether our record on social welfare and health is such that you believe we will make further advances as soon as possible. You will choose between our proposal to lighten income-tax on the family man and proposals which must prevent such a lightening and are likely to lead an increase. The future is in our hands. I ask you to consider your choice very carefully. For Australia’s sake I ask you not to put all our present achievements at risk- not to put all great possibilities for the future and present at risk. For Australia’s sake I ask you to support the Government on October 25.  AID FOR ABORIGINES.  In a separate statement issued with the text of his speech, Mr Gorton announced a plan to foster social and economic equality for Aborigines. The plan calls for: Abolition of all discriminatory legalisation at both Federal and State levels within the lift of next parliament (normally three years). Development of State Aboriginal reserves under Aboriginal ownership by special Commonwealth loans. Involvement of Aboriginal communities in their own local government and in the maintenance of law and order among themselves to the greatest possible extent and more money for Aboriginal housing in the States and in the Northern Territory. Mr Gorton said Aboriginal-owned enterprises run on a regional basis would be expected from Arnhem Land to other areas in the Territory and to the States. He said the government would expand its Aboriginal health and education programs. Federal grants to the states for Aboriginal housing, education, health and employment totalled $3,5m last year and would rise to $5,4m this year. Mr Gorton said: Our basic aim is to give our Aborigines the opportunity to be self-supporting and to end the mentality of the handout. We want them to choose for themselves their own future and to regain their initiative and independence. We do not intend to take the easy way of deciding everything for the Aborigines and telling them what they are to do and what they are to be. Instead, we will take the slower and better way of consulting them and working out plans in accordance with their real wishes. In a second supplementary statement, Mr Gorton said the government was aware that cost pressures coupled with low or declining prices had caused considerable difficulty to many primary industries. He said the government would continue to introduce measures designed to stabilise and strengthen these industries. The statement concentrated on measures already taken or announced. Mr Gorton said: in addition to the many established methods of off-setting these special difficulties such as production subsidies, stabilisation scheme, bounties on fertilisers, equalisation of petrol prices, tax concessions, building of beef roads and establishment of water conservation projects. The government has recently introduced significant new measure designed to further lighten the cost burden falling on primary producers. One of the most important of these, he said, was in the area of estate duty where for the first time, the Commonwealth had moved to give special concessions on the estates of primary producers by raising the existing statutory exemption by 20 per cent. Also, it had reduced the amount of estate duty payable in proportion to the part of the duty attributable in the value of ... such as land, live stock, plant and machinery. Tax concessions for primary producers has been extended to allow the cost of all structural improvements for conserving of water or fodder to be fully tax deductible in the year in which the expenditure was incurred.  BACKWARD-LOOKING, SAYS WHITLAM  Warragul, Wednesday. Mr Gorton’s policy speech was the most backward-looking and the vaguest ever given by a person asking the people to elect him as their Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr E.G. Whitlam, said tonight. He said: "I think most Australians will be as disappointed as I was with Mr Gorton’s policy speech. I am disappointed because I had at least expected a clear statement of his principles and proposals against which our own could be measured. I had thought we might hear a reasoned explanation of why the Liberals believe that the hopes of our people should be deferred and denied for yet another three years. Not one of his string of unrelated promises- most of them ... delayed for years- bore any relation to a set of principles or a consistent, comprehensive approach by which a nation like ours should be governed. On Vietnam, he produced a pale and stale imitations of Liberal Justifications of 1965, 1966 and 1967. But this happens to be 1969. On health he has produced a proposal which leaves completely untouched the basic questions. Mr Whitlam said these basic questions were the high and growing costs of contributions, the inability of hundreds of thousands of Australians to pay for an insurance cover at all the inadequacy of cover for most medical and hospital treatment, the multiplicity of funds and the way the different funds spent the money they received. The deputy of the DLP, Senator F.P.McManus, said in Melbourne that the main principle of Mr Gorton’s statements on defence and foreign policy were almost identical with those of the D.L.P. therefore on these issues Mr Gorton policies are more acceptable to the D.L.P., while Mr Whitlam’s are entirely unacceptable, he said. The parliamentary leader of the Australia Party, Senator R. J. D. Turnbull, said it was not good enough for the Government to stand on its record, especially when it consisted of unimaginative half-measures claimed as achievements. FARMERS WILL GET CONTINUED AID.   Australia was now selling her fair share of wheat under the International Grains Arrangement, the deputy Prime Minister (Mr. McEwen) said last night. In his official Country Party policy speech for the October 25 election, Mr. McEwen, made only one promise of assistance: he said compensation would again be paid to the diary industry for devaluation losses. Compensation, designed to offset lower primary industry prices on the British market, has cost the Commonwealth $86 million since the United Kingdom devalued the £... in November 1967. He also promised country Party support for pools and other amenities in country areas and assistance for students who have to live away from home. Mr. McEwen said efforts would continue to be made to widen Australia’s overseas trading agreements. The Commonwealth now owned some of the most modern cargo ships in the world, the container vessels. The Commonwealth itself will be right inside the great shipping conferences trading to Britain and Europe, to Japan and to North America. Our purpose is to know and understand every single relevant fact, which may bear on what is a reasonable freight rate. However with all this done, there is still a problem of rising local costs. World prices have moved downward for most farm products. The farmer is really caught in a cost-price squeeze. The Country Party had devised and will continue to devise unique policies to offset the costs of the exporting rural industries.  Wheat crisis. Mr. McEwen said there had developed a crisis in wheat: a world oversupply. But the Commonwealth had tackled this and had not let things drift. The new international Grains has been put under tremendous pressure by record crops and by the selling policies of non-member exporters. I have battled hard to hold the agreement together, with the active support of the industry. Our efforts have been worthwhile. International orderly marketing has been preserved. On my latest information, Australia is selling her fair share of the market and our prices are something less than 5 cents a bushel below the IGA minimum. The crisis in wheat has been handled. Mr. McEwen said that compensation for the diary industry would be paid on the same basis in the current production year as previously. He said that since the UK devalued, $27 million had been paid to dairymen in compensation.  Water storage. The Country Party will always stand by this great industry, he said. Mr. McEwen said that the $100 million which the Prime Minister (Mr. Gorton) had announced would be given for water storage and flood mitigation work over the next five years meant that a total of $... million had been committed by the Commonwealth in this field. The Country Party wanted to make it attractive for manufacturing industry to establish in country centres. The Country Party wishes to have a special source of finance earmarked to help to establish industry in the country, he said. We want the advantage of moderate interest and lower freights. It is now a policy objective of the Country Party that Commonwealth funds should be made available through the state Governments as a contribution to the costs in the smaller centres of population of such amenities as swimming pools, child-care centres and showgrounds, playing fields and the like. The party also wished to ease the burden on the farmer of municipal rates.  Students. On education, Mr McEwen said many country children were denied access to education above primary level because parents could not afford the cost of keeping them away from home. The Country Party therefore sets an important objective of policy: a government allowance to students who must live away from home to receive their education and also a provision to cover their cost of travel. This it an important policy objective towards equalising the circumstances of life in the country compared to the bigger centres. Our policy to continue to innovate new provisions for country living and industry. It is the Country Party’s role to help the farming industry to survive in the otherwise impossible situation of producing in the environment of high and growing costs while selling in the world environment of low and falling prices. Mr McEwen said growth and development policies necessary for the nation had produced strong cost pressure on primary industry. The farm sector was losing out. Farmers costs had more than doubled while export prices had mostly declined. All other sectors could go to arbitration or the Tariff Board and increase their charges and so live with rising costs.  Fair play. It is not the Australian concept of fair play that one sector should be in increasing trouble while all other sectors grow better off, he said. It is farm products which earn the foreign funds which are essential to our continued growth. Mr McEwen said the Country Party offered help to the farmers with no apology. This is not a matter of handouts for the farmer, he said. No single thing is more national in character than to help farm industries, the earnings of which sustain employment in Australian factories. Without full employment there can be no migration. 'The Country Party has devised and will continue to devise unique policies to offset the costs of the exporting rural industries. Mr McEwen described the Japanese Trade Treaty for which he ... largely responsible, as almost the foundation of our wool trade today. He said that in the recent Budget the government had proposed to halve contributions of woolgrowers to promotion and research and accept an annual government liability of $27 million. The Government had also offered substantial financial assistance in support of new wool marketing arrangements.  Better presentation. The new arrangements, based on a wool board proposal, would bring an improved presentation of the clip on the action floor. He said the sugar industry had gained a fair price on the home market. The International Sugar Agreement achieved after seven years’ hard negotiations, was a very satisfactory basis for the free world price. The beef industry has had unceasing attention, he said. We negotiated access to the United States, now by far the biggest and most profitable market in the world, 225000 tons this year, worth about $200 million. Through negotiations, Japan will take about 15000 tons of Australian beef this year. Mr McEwen said there had been unique tax concessions designed to increase farms productive capacity and reduce costs. Additions in the recent budget included an allowance for deductibility on bores, water tanks, hay sheds, silos and subdivisional fencing. A system of drought bonds had also been introduced. This innovation of Country Party policy will enable arid area pastoralists to meet the inevitable drought, Mr McEwen said. The Country Party had also recently sponsored substantial estate duty concessions on rural estates. Farming has always been largely a family matter, Mr McEwen said. When the head of the family dies there are far and far too many instances of necessity to sell an important part of it in order to meet the probate duty. On foreign policy, Mr McEwen ... Government and Country Party determination to ... Australia’s ANZUS ... particularly with America. He said ... put of the Vietnam war, when the time came, would be planned after ... with our friends and with full regard to the safety of our troops. He said national service could not be taken as a policy in which it was simple to have a view. At rock bottom the issue of national service concern whether we can discharge the obligation of a treaty of national defence. We were unable to ..., voluntary, ... in Vietnam so we had to introduce national servicemen. The Labor Party's defence policy is quite deadly to our national interest.  Our alliance with the United States is an Alliance of mutual defence. Under Labor's Policy we would be a country which refused to raise men for national service and refused to raise troops for use outside the country. This would leave us completely unable to contribute to a policy or mutual defence. The alliance would be gone, Australia would left alone, a rich prize and an easy prey.  Build our defences. McMahon  Australia must be prepared to shoulder greater defence responsibilities, the Federal Treasurer (Mr McMahon) said on ABC radio last night. He described Labor's defence policy as isolationist and even cowardly. We must not be beguiled into thinking that crash efforts can be quickly and effectively mounted, he warned. The British were leaving South-East Asia and the United States Administration was having difficulties sustaining its present policies for the defence of South Vietnam and to retain a military presence on the Asian mainland. We have the small but unwelcome Russian intrusion into the Indian Ocean, he said. Against this background, it is of critical importance to us that we sustain our friendly relations with Singapore and Malaysia. We must to all in our power to strengthen the bonds of trust and mutual co-operation between the US and ourselves.