26th January 2000
Mr Shire President, Councillors, distinguished guests, ladies and gerntlemen -
Thank you for the honour of being invited to give this address. The fact that this is the third time I have been asked to do so suggests that you are either a very tolerant audience - or else have concerns not adequately expressed in the customary Australia Day celebrations.
The year 2000 is of obvious significance. Australia has successfully negotiated a century of unparalleled worldwide conflict. Apart from the two world wars and the Great Depression, the world has seen the conflicts of Korea, Malaya, Vietnam, Iraq and East Timor, in all of which Australians served.
It has seen the growth of communism from its revolutionary birth in 1917 to its ignominious, and we hope final, demise in 1992. During its 75 years of existence it spanned one-third of the world and was directly responsible for the deaths of 150 million people. We might occasionally ponder on the fact that the most densely-populated country on earth still calls itself communist - although hardly recognisable in terms of the bolshevist movement of Lenin and Trotsky.
While these titanic events unfolded, Australia grew without revolution or bloodshed from a nation of 3.7 million at the turn of the century to 19 million at its conclusion. We have maintained a constitutional democracy under the Crown which has at times been tattered but never torn. We are a nation blessed beyond belief - estimated by the World Bank, no less, to be the richest nation per capita in the World. Our heritage is a fine one, and the achievements of our forefathers magnificent. By the time we became a nation and endorsed our present Constitution, Australia had been transformed from the wilderness which met the First Fleet to the country with the highest standard of living in the world.
Since then we have achieved much. Not only is our history studded with great sports men and women, but we have produced artists and poets, architects and engineers, scientists and philosophers. We have inspired generations of Australians with simple love of country. Above all, we have, for much of the century just closed, progressed, in the words of the Constitution, "humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God".
It would be nice to say that this spirit is intact. Our Prime Minister gave his views as the year 2000 opened. He said:
"As we prepare to enter a new century we do so as a country that has remained true to its spirit. Australia has always been blessed with opportunity in abundance; with a commitment to hard work and achievement; to enduring family life; and to the ANZAC spirit of mateship and a fair go for all .…" (The Weekend Australian, 1-2/1/00)
Without any disrespect to the first of Her Majesty's ministers, I must take issue with Mr Howard's remarks. We now face a number of issues of such moment as to threaten the whole fabric of Australian society. I can only deal briefly with some of these:
The archipelago to our immediate north - which covers, among other things, one of the most important shipping routes in the world --is in unprecedented turmoil. East Timor apart, there is conflict and bloodshed in Aceh, Ambon and the eastern end of Java. Millions are on the edge of starvation.
One result, apart from others, was the arrival during 1999 of over 70 boatloads of illegal immigrants - more than one a week and escalating. We don't know how many were undetected.
47 of the boats contained illegal immigrants from the Middle East - mainly Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which are subject to economic sanctions by the UN or the US.
Despite huffing and puffing, Australia so far has shown itself incapable of handling this danger. Detected or not, illegal immigrants have an almost-guaranteed three-year stay in Australia. With our detention centres overflowing, at a cost of $345,000 per day, illegal immigrants are now being given limited visas to any part of Australia outside Sydney and Melbourne. Each will receive $653 per month, plus rent assistance, plus Medicare, plus employment assistance.
This is a form of national suicide. With an estimated 30 million refugees on the move in the world, Australia's current policies are not a deterrent but a welcome mat.
The second danger we face is the very big overseas domination of our economy. This is a threat not only to the economic wellbeing of our citizens, but the democratic process itself. Ninety per cent of corporate Australia is now overseas controlled. In the first seven years of the 'nineties, $180.6 billion went overseas in the form of interest and dividends. If we owned our own economy, that money would have stayed here.
With the loss of Australian-owned enterprises, we have been living for a considerable time on imports, which exceed our exports by an average $2 million an hour. Each quarter our Current Account Deficit breaks the record. As a result, Australia's foreign debt is approaching a quarter-of-a-TRILLION dollars, with no sign of slowing down.
The dangers of this enormous foreign control in Australia is spilling over into the taxation system, the media and the political process. A foreign-dominated media can swing elections. The huge corporate funding of political parties has all but eliminated local representation.
Thirdly, we are shutting down rural Australia. Recent figures show that the cost of a loaf of bread will buy less wheat than in the wheat crisis of the Great Depression. Beset by high costs, low returns, unmanageable debt and interest, good farmers are leaving the land in droves, as they have been during the last 30 years. With them go schools, hospitals, businesses and finally the banks themselves.
Time and again history has shown us that civilisations which destroy their small farmers ultimately destroy themselves. In the process, large-scale factory farming driven solely by economies of scale and the search for profit destroys the ecology and fertility of the soil.
Following the protection by the US against Australian lamb exports, the December breakdown of the multilateral trade negotiations at the World Trade Organisation talks in Seattle were a heavy blow to Australia's hopes that free trade would open markets for our agricultural products. Unlike Australia, both the US and Europe have decided to protect their farmers. By contrast, we are deliberately sacrificing ours. With this in mind, the remarks of the Federal Member for Groom in 1992, made before he entered Parliament, are of moment. Mr McFarlane said:
"The seriousness of the situation now faced by Australia's primary producers cannot be overstated. By basing our entire trade strategy on a successful outcome to GATT, our leaders in Canberra have left Australia's primary producers naked and defenceless to the trade holocaust that may now be unleashed.
"It's surely time to rid ourselves of the idealism that has dominated the trade debate in Australia for more than a decade. During that period we have seen rural Australia lose almost all basic assistance and protection.
"In return what have Australians gained from the long-term example we have set for the rest of the world? Local industry, particularly clothing, footware and motor vehicles still enjoy high levels of tariff protection, international trade has continued to be subsidised while Australia has become the dumping ground for the world's primary products (some of which have been shown to be sub-standard). And still our exports face trade barriers from countries like the U.S.A. and Japan. It's time Australia looked after its own back yard first. It's time we admitted that we've gone down the wrong track by relying too heavily on GATT …." (The Queensland Graingrower, 28/10/92)
Yet the government in which Mr McFarlane now serves still continues to allow the destruction of rural Australia. We need to ask ourselves what Australia will be like in ten years if we don't change direction now?
The result is that we now have two separate economies in Australia. At the top end of town the multinational-dominated corporate world is making hay while the sun shines. At the bottom end of town the poverty and breakdown has engulfed a third of the nation. The overall statistics don't show the human side of what is happening.
It would be sad to end an Australia Day address on such a note. It would be equally wrong to pretend that all is rosy. We have much to be thankful for in this beautiful country. We have huge challenges in front of us - as daunting as those that faced Australia's pioneers. We need to gird ourselves for the future, and rekindle the spiritual faith in God which guaranteed our best endeavors in the past. It is my conviction we still have the qualities for such a challenge.
Thank you very much.