30th Parliament · 1st Session
The PRESIDENT (Senator the Hon. Condor Laucke) took the chair at 2.30 p.m., and read prayers.
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– by leave- Mr President, I inform the Senate that on 8 July His Excellency the Governor-General determined the appointment of Senator Ivor Greenwood, Q.C., as Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development and accepted the resignation of Mr Kevin Newman as Minister for Repatriation. On the same day His Excellency directed and appointed Mr Kevin Newman and Senator Peter Durack to hold the offices of Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development and Minister for Repatriation respectively. The Prime Minister has indicated that he recommended withdrawal of Senator Greenwood’s commission with deep regret and only after full consideration of medical advice. I am sure that all honourable senators look forward to the time when Senator Greenwood’s health will be sufficiently improved to enable him to lead an active life and that they join with me in expressing our best wishes.
As a result of these changes, the following representational arrangements will operate in the Senate: Senator Carrick will represent the Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development and Senator Durack will represent the Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations, the Attorney-General and the Minister for Business and Consumer Affairs.
On 23 June His Excellency the GovernorGeneral agreed to a change in the Administrative Arrangements Order which placed the responsibilities for child care matters under the Minister for Social Security, Senator Margaret Guilfoyle.
I also inform the Senate that the Prime Minister has appointed Mr A. A. Street to assist him in women ‘s affairs matters and Mr A. A. Staley to assist him in matters concerning the arts.
I further inform the Senate that the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr J. D. Anthony, left Australia on 6 August to visit Iran and Europe where he will be having talks on trade and economic matters. He is expected to return on 24 August. In his absence Senator Robert Cotton will act as Minister for Overseas Trade and Mr P. J. Nixon will act as Minister for National Resources.
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- Mr President, it is with deep regret that I inform the Senate of the death during the recess of the Right Honourable Lord Casey, a former member of the House of Representatives and GovernorGeneral of the Commonwealth of Australia. I seek leave to move a motion of condolence.
-Is leave granted? There being no objection, leave is granted.
-I move:
That the Senate expresses its deep regret at the death of the Right Honourable Lord Casey, Baron of Berwick, Victoria and of the City of Westminster, England, K.G., P.C., G.C.M.G., C.H., D.S.O., M.C., K.St.J., a former GovernorGeneral of the Commonwealth of Australia from 1963 to 1969, a member of the House of Representatives from 193 1 to 1940 and from 1949 to 1960, and Minister of the Crown from 1935 to 1940 and from 1949 to 1960, places on record its appreciation of his long and meritorious public service and tenders its profound sympathy to his widow and family in their bereavement
In the history of our country few men have attracted, or earned, the respect due and paid to the late Lord Casey. Not only was his public contribution one of great distinction and lasting value, but also he was a man of integrity and enormous common sense. He was the kind of man who imparted stature to the institutions he served. The Australian people can count themselves immensely fortunate to have had him as a servant over such a long period.
It is generally recognised that one of Lord Casey’s most impressive characteristics was his immense capacity for work. His industry was remarkable and it was this extraordinary application that enabled him to undertake so many careers in the course of his lifetime. He was at one time or another a soldier, an administrator, a politician, a diplomat and a vice-regal personage. In all of these careers he served with conspicuous success.
In 1914 he volunteered for the Australian Imperial Force and served with distinction at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. He was mentioned in dispatches and for his valour he won the Distinguished Service Order and a Military Cross. He was discharged in 1919. From 1924 to 1931 he served his country in the External Affairs Department as Australian Political Liaison Officer in London.
His political career commenced in 1931 when he became a member of the House of Representatives for the seat of Corio, a seat he held until his first resignation from the Parliament in 1 940. During the period of the Great Depression he served in several portfolios. He was Assistant Federal Treasurer from 1933 to 1935 and Federal Treasurer from 1935 to 1939. As Treasurer he took an active role in the development of a national insurance scheme which, for reasons beyond his control, was never implemented. He was also at this time Minister in charge of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, an association he continued after the War and throughout his retirement- an association of great and lasting benefit to that Organisation and to the nation.
Lord Casey was a liberal in the full sense- a man of progressive instincts, not fearful of change. He welcomed the challenge of a new circumstance, a new job. He was often ahead of his time and keen to play a part in defining a new role for his country. He represented Australia to the world in a critical period of our history.
In 1940, Lord Casey resigned from the Parliament to become the first Australian Minister to Washington. He expended great energy in ensuring that Australia ‘s position was well known to the American Administration and to the President of that time, Mr Roosevelt. In 1942, at the request of the then British Prime Minister, the late Sir Winston Churchill, Lord Casey assumed the position of Minister for State for the Middle East and had the rank of Cabinet Minister in the British War Cabinet.
Speaking in the early part of this decade about the controversy that surrounded his acceptance of such a post, he remarked that such an appointment in the Middle East was far more important than the post he had left in Washington. He appreciated the need for Australia to recognise that its security depended on events in a number of areas in the world. In 1943 he took up his first vice-regal position as Governor of Bengal. During his time there, from 1943 to 1946, he experienced at first hand contacts with leaders of the Indian nation which would stand him in good stead when he assumed responsibility for Australia’s foreign policy.
In 1949- in that vital election for Australia’s future- Casey returned to active politics as the representative for the seat of La Trobe. He held the seat until his retirement from politics in 1 960. In 2 tasks he undertook following the 1 949 election he showed again the importance he placed on looking to the future and his concern that Australia should develop into a strong outward looking and tolerant nation. Immediately after the election he became Minister for Works and Housing and he continued his involvement with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organisation, being Minister in charge from 1950 to 1960. In 1951 he became Minister for External Affairs and he held the post until his retirement. Looking ahead, as always, he worked hard to establish a new set of relationships with countries of our region. His Permanent Head at the time has recently stated that Lord Casey’s statements during his visit to Japan in 1951 marked the first real movement from enmity to close co-operation between Australia and Japan’.
Lord Casey appreciated the great significance of Australia’s location close to the new states emerging in Asia and moved rapidly to expand our representation in the region. Earlier than most, he foresaw the importance of bringing China into the international community. He was always a realist about the world and never feared to see facts as they were. His advice was wise and his judgment sound. Lord Casey’s career showed that deep patriotism could be combined with an outward looking and humane international perspective.
In 1965, he assumed a post for which he was uniquely suited- the Governor-Generalship. He had much of value to say. He used the position to dignify Australia and to symbolise the standards of public and private behaviour that we should all strive to achieve. In his life he was assisted at all times by his wife, Lady Casey- a remarkable woman in her own right. She was to him in all of his careers a great comfort and point of courage. This was exemplified by her devoted action of daily attendance at his hospital bed after Lord Casey’s serious motor accident in 1 974.
Richard Gardiner Casey upheld the highest standards of public life and, in his private life, was unfailingly generous and kindly. What he achieved, he earned by his industry, his courage, his integrity and his humanity. He loved Australia and because of his life we have a better sense of ourselves and what we can become. Mr President, I am sure that all honourable senators will join me in extending on behalf of the Government our sympathy to Lady Casey and to her son and daughter at the loss of a husband and a father. Australia has lost a devoted servant.
– The Opposition supports Senator Withers in his tribute to the late Lord Casey. Richard Gardiner Casey enjoyed a rich, full life as a scientist, soldier, diplomat, politician, writer and, it should not be forgotten, amateur aviator. The nation will best remember him as the highly able Governor of Bengal, a competent Cabinet
Minister and an influential and well liked Governor-General. While those 3 phases of his long career stand out, he filled many other posts with distinction. He was, for instance, Treasurer as Australia recovered from the Depression, and during the Second World War he was the man selected by Winston Churchill as Minister to the Middle East, with a seat in the British War Cabinet.
Politics was Lord Casey’s overriding interest, but he always saw political power as a means and not an end in itself. He was no demagogue and never appealed to the mass audience for support. He worked quietly and effectively within his Party and Cabinet and usually away from the spotlight. The criticism sometimes made that Lord Casey had limitations as a politician is belied by his achievements. If Lord Casey left his own political monument it certainly lies in his determination and success in bringing Australia much closer to Asia than many expected during the Menzies era. He had a vision of Australia as a bridge between Europe and Asia. It was said that he was perhaps too much of a gentleman to make a Prime Minister. Lord Casey may have lacked certain attributes deemed essential to be a Prime Minister- it is not for me to judge- but we can say that he was a great Australian and that he served his country with distinction in every role that he played. The Australian Labor Party is saddened by his death and expresses its sympathy to his family.
– My colleagues in the National Country Party of Australia and I support this motion of condolence. Richard Gardiner Casey was a greatly respected, long-standing friend of science in Australia. Lord Casey was appointed Minister in charge of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research- the forerunner of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation- in 1937, some 6 years after he entered Parliament. His death in June of this year marked the loss of a most valued adviser to CSIRO and Australian science in general.
Lord Casey’s contribution to Australian science and technology, through his role in the development of CSIRO, is so significant that it is difficult to measure accurately. It is sufficient to say that his vigorous interests and endeavours are still bearing fruit today. As Minister responsible for CSIRO, Lord Casey was prominent in spelling out the value of science to Australia, generally in terms of increased productivity. He certainly put science before the Parliament and the people of Australia in a way that brought not only attention to but also support for the expansion of scientific research in this country. There is no doubt that without his understanding, sympathy and enthusiastic support both inside and outside the Parliament, CSIRO and Australian science generally would not be as well developed as they are today. Lord Casey relinquished his post as Minister in charge of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research shortly after the outbreak of war. On his re-election to Parliament in 1949 he was again to resume his role of advocate, critic and adviser on science as Minister in charge of the newly formed Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. He retained the responsibility until 1960, when he was elevated to the peerage. He then became a part time member of the CSIRO executive until 1965, when he became GovernorGeneral of Australia.
The death of Lord Casey brought to a close the life of a great Australian. Many will acknowledge that life as being the most significant in Australia’s history during this century. He left a record of achievement which will live and which will have a bearing on our society for decades yet to come. Mr President, the people of Australian science join the rest of the nation in mourning the passing of Lord Casey.
Senator SIR MAGNUS CORMACK (Victoria) From time to time over many years I have had the melancholy duty of sitting in this place when the Senate has been asked to mark the passing of distinguished men who have served this country and of notable companions who have sat in the Senate. But today I have an even stronger sense of melancholy in relation to the motion which has been moved by the Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Withers, and supported by the Leader of the Opposition, Senator Wriedt, and by Senator Webster. I ask the indulgence of the Senate that I may address myself in a few words to the death of a very notable Australian, the Right Honourable Lord Casey. I knew him better than perhaps any other honourable senator with the possible exception of Senator Wright who sits in front of me and who, no doubt, will address himself to the matter later on. I have been most interested, and saddened in a way, to hear of the great and distinguishing qualities which I remember most in the late right honourable gentleman and which have been so readily marked by Senator Withers and by the Leader of the Opposition.
In the past 70 years 3 men who have served this Parliament have been ennobled by their Sovereign. One was Lord Forrest of Western Australia of whom Senator Withers would know very well because of close associates, but certainly I knew Lord Bruce and Lord Casey. I knew Lord Bruce in a minor way but I knew the late Right Honourable Lord Casey in a more intimate way. The interesting thing is that there were 3 factors common to these 3 men, but particularly common to Lord Bruce and to Lord Casey. For example, both these men served in war with distinction. They served in war with great bravery which was acknowledged at the time, when it was recognised. They both entered Parliament to serve their countrymen in their respective philosophical interests. Lord Bruce became a Prime Minister. Lord Casey became the Treasurer and Foreign Minister. Both served their nation in the highest diplomatic posts. Both served the world in various areas which Senator Withers has already mentioned and which Senator Wriedt has acknowledged. Lord Bruce served in the United Nations while Lord Casey became Governor of Bengal and GovernorGeneral of Australia. These are a mere part of the record of the notable events in the lives of both these men.
In these 3 men whose names I have mentioned there is a singular purpose in common. Notwithstanding all the xenophobic characteristics and qualities which mark all of us from time to time, these 3 men loved their country and their people with a devotion for which it is hard to find an expression. I suggest that Lord Casey was a man of a noble cast of mind, which is important. At the same time he had, as others did too, an enormous sense of compassion for the broad mass of the people among whom he lived. This was not only because he was in a position of power, as Senator Wriedt has already mentioned, but also because of a personal sense in that he often served people from his own purse. I can remember meeting a soldier during the war in rather dark days for Australia. The late Lord Casey’s name came up. I asked the soldier whether he knew Lord Casey because he had mentioned his name. The soldier replied that he had seen Lord Casey one day. The soldier added: ‘He said to me “How are things going?” ‘ The soldier replied: ‘Not very well. I am having a tough battle ‘. The soldier was an ex-serviceman of the First World War and a soldier settler. Lord Casey said: ‘I am sorry to hear that’. About a week or two later the soldier was stupefied when he received a letter from the bursar of a well known Australian school indicating that Lord Casey had made arrangements for the soldier’s 2 children to be educated at Lord Casey’s expense. That is what I mean by saying that Lord Casey not only served the people of Australia where he could exert power on their behalf but also in a most notable and personal sense tried to serve the people amongst whom he lived.
I think Lord Casey, as I knew him, would have been the last man to claim exceptional intellectual brilliance; but, as was hinted by Senator Withers, I think he fulfilled Thomas Carlyle ‘s definition of genius, namely an infinite capacity for taking pains. Senator Wriedt remarked on this as well. Lord Casey was a titanic worker of an order and nature that I had never come across before. He was almost Herculean in his labours for the public weal. A younger generation of members who sit not only in this Senate chamber but also in another place will little understand the life of this notable man and will little know how much the men and women of this country owe to men of Lord Casey’s nature. The noble Lord- I hope honourable senators will not shrink when I use that phrase with which Lord Casey would be addressed in a House in which he sat in London- had the companionship of a great and notable woman, Lady Casey, who survives him. Lady Casey is an artist of quality, a writer of sense and style, an historian of competence and a woman of great style in her cast of mind. I think we all share in a most intimate way, if we may, her loss and here in this place acknowledge it.
In supporting this motion, I should like to conclude with words which are quite old-fashioned by saying without any sentiment: ‘Farewell. You were a good and faithful servant. You loved your native land, you loved its people and you tended it lovingly’.
-May I be permitted to add a postscript to the very eloquent and understanding statements that have been made on this occasion. Nothing more in Lord Casey’s history than his participation in the campaign at Gallipoli would be needed to call me to my feet, having regard to my great privilege in later life in working with and knowing him. Be it remembered that he served with distinction not only in the First World War when, as has been mentioned, he won the Distinguished Service Order and Military Cross and was mentioned in despatches, but he served also at the most eminent levels in the Second World War, first in Washington and then, as the choice of no less than Winston Churchill, in Cairo as a member of the British War Cabinet at a time when the crisis was at its peak. In between the wars he gave of his understanding and great capacity as a Minister in the governments of the 1920s and 1930s and again in the 1950s and 1960s. Everybody knows that he gave sterling service in each of the offices in which he was then employed.
May I refer to just 2 aspects of that service. When I was a Minister and had the privilege one day of accrediting the Ambassador for Turkey at Government House at Yarralumla when Lord Casey was the Governor-General I referred naturally to the conflict in which the Turks and the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps had been engaged and to the fact that Lord Casey had won a decoration in that conflict. Of course, in the aftermath of war it was a matter of infinite satisfaction to both of those great men, each from his respective nation, to recall the respect that war had earned and the good will that peace had allowed. Lord Casey went on to say that Lady Casey’s father had not fought against the Turks but had fought with them in 1888 against Bulgaria and had earned a decoration from the Turks. I should think that that little snippet of insight is unique in history, and I wanted to give expression to it.
The other aspect of Lord Casey’s service to which I make special reference is the fact that he was not the first but the foundational President of the Liberal Party of Australia. Having come back from his great duties in the Middle East and Bengal, he took up the administrative task of building the Liberal Party on its new foundations. He was the Australian President at a time when Senator Sir Magnus Cormack was Victorian President and I was Tasmanian President, and therefore I had an opportunity of working with him. His zeal, his energy and his wise understanding of all the problems of administration were responsible largely for the great success of that organisation and the sound basis upon which it was established. This is an occasion on which the Senate does honour to one of the greatest Australians that my time in public life has seen or will see. We pay a special tribute to the assistance and love that Lady Casey gave to Lord Casey in all that work.
Question resolved in the affirmative, honourable senators standing in their places.
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– It is with regret that I inform the Senate of the deaths during the recess of former Senators T. L. Bull, W. E. Aylett and G. I. Whiteside, and Mr L. J. Failes, a former member of the House of Representatives. I seek leave to move a motion of condolence.
-Is leave granted? There being no objection, leave is granted.
-I move:
That the Senate expresses its deep regret at the deaths of Mr Thomas Louis Bull, O.B.E., a former senator for the State of New South Wales, Mr William Edward Aylett, a former senator for the State of Tasmania, and Mr George Irvine Whiteside, a former senator for the State of Queensland, and Mr Laurence John Failes, a former member of the House of Representatives for the Division of Lawson, New South Wales, places on record its appreciation of their long and meritorious public service and tenders its profound sympathy to their families in their bereavement.
I am sure that all honourable senators were saddened to hear of the recent deaths of former Senators Bull, Aylett and Whiteside, and a former member of the House of Representatives, Mr Failes. Senator Bull served the Senate from 1965 until 1971, representing the State of New South Wales as a member of the Country Party. He died on 1 1 August last. A man with a strong interest in rural affairs, he was President of the Australian Woolgrowers and Graziers Council from 1962 until he entered the Senate. Senator Bull was deeply involved in the Senate’s committee work, serving on the Select Committee on the Container Method of Handling of Cargoes and on the Foreign Affairs Committee. In addition, he chaired the Senate Standing Committee on Primary and Secondary Industry and Trade. In 1969 his knowledge of the Parliament was respected by his election as Chairman of Committees and Deputy President of the Senate. I am sure that all honourable senators who were here during that period will remember the courtesy and fairness he showed when in the chair.
Former Senator Aylett, who died on 10 August, was born in Tasmania in 1900. He left school at 16 years of age to work in the Mount Vischoff tin mine on the west coast of Tasmania to help support his family. Later he worked in the coal mining and timber industries in Victoria, returning to Tasmania in 1925, where he became a farmer and began an active involvement in the Labor movement. Senator Aylett was elected to the Senate for Tasmania at the general election in 1937, taking his place here on 1 July 1938. He remained in the Senate until 1965. He was a member of the House Committee, the Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances and the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works. He served for many years as a Temporary Chairman of Committees.
Former Senator Whiteside, who died on 27 July, was chosen by the Parliament of Queensland on 9 October 1962 to represent that State in the Senate. He remained in the Senate until 29 November 1963. Before entering the Senate, former Senator Whiteside had a long record of service to the trade union movement and to the Australian Labor Party. His Party’ posts included the presidency of the Queensland Central Australian Labor Party Executive. He was a Queensland delegate to the Federal ALP Executive and Chairman of the Labor Broadcasting Station Pty Ltd. In addition, he was Secretary of the Federated Engine Drivers’ and Firemen’s Association.
Mr Failes died on 7 July. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 1949 until his retirement in 1 969. During that time he held the seat of Lawson for the Australian Country Party. After serving with the Royal Australian Air Force, in which he reached the rank of squadron leader, Mr Failes returned to farming and then entered Federal Parliament. His parliamentary service included membership of the House Committee from 1954 and membership of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs from 1 956. He was a member of the Select Committee on House of Representatives Accommodation.
I am sure that all honourable senators will join with me, on behalf of the Government, in expressing our sympathy to the families of former Senator Bull, former Senator Whiteside, former Senator Aylett and Mr Failes.
– The Opposition wishes to be associated with the expressions of regret by Senator Withers at the death of former senators Tom Bull, William Aylett, George Whiteside and Mr Laurence Failes, former member of the House of Representatives for Lawson. Senator Tom Bull was an extremely active member of the Senate. He will long be remembered for his intelligent participation as a member of several Senate committees and his impartiality as chairman of 2 committees and as Deputy President. Senators from all parties recall his friendliness and courtesy. Outside Parliament he was extremely active as a worker in the interests of the rural community, both as a former President of the Australian Woolgrowers and Graziers Council and as Chairman of the Narrandera Pastures Protection Board. The rural community had no finer advocate in this chamber than Tom Bull. On behalf of the Labor Opposition I extend my deepest sympathy to his family.
Bill Aylett was born at Wynyard in Tasmania in 1900. His early life was not easy. He had to leave school at the age of 16 years and worked in tin mines to support his family. Later he worked as a coal miner, timber contractor and farmer before entering Parliament as a Tasmanian senator in 1938. During his term, which lasted until 1965, Bill Aylett held the position of Temporary Chairman of Committees in the Senate from 1943 to 1949 and was assistant to the Minister for Labour and National Service in 1942 and 1943. In 1954 Senator Aylett was a member of the Australian delegation to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conference in Kenya. His career within the Australian Labor Party included the positions of Vice-President of the Tasmanian State Executive and a member of the Federal ALP Executive. The Opposition expresses its regret at Senator Aylett ‘s death.
George Irvine Whiteside represented Queensland in this chamber in 1962 and 1963. He played a long and active role in the Queensland trade union movement and in the Australian Labor Party within that State. During his life he held the positions of Queensland Secretary of the Federated Engine Drivers’ and Firemen’s Association and had been VicePresident and President of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party. An active sportsman, Senator Whiteside had been a noted amateur boxer. The Australian Labor Party is appreciative of his work on behalf of his Party and his State and expresses its sympathy to his sister.
Laurence John Failes represented the electorate of Lawson in the House of Representatives between 1949 and 1969. Born in 1899 he was educated at Sydney Grammar School and later graduated from Hawkesbury Agricultural College. As a farmer and grazier, Mr Failes was very active in rural organisations and a worthy spokesman in Parliament for country people. His parliamentary career followed distinguished service in the Royal Australian Air Force in World War II, during which he rose to the rank of squadron leader. On behalf of the Opposition, I extend my sympathy to his family.
– Honourable senators in the Australian National Country Party support the motion moved by the Leader of the Government in the Senate (Senator Withers). Tom Bull was a practical, down-to-earth man. He used simple words to express a common sense approach to any subject under debate in the Senate, and made use of his vast experiences particularly in the day to day functioning and administration of rural industries, He held clear views on the responsibilities of government towards primary industries and would disagree with his colleagues, even publicly, where he saw this as necessary in the interests of those industries and the people dependent upon them. His common sense was manifest time and again in speeches touching on the Government’s economic management. I quote from one of his speeches made in 1968, which was, you may recall, Mr President, a time of high employment and low inflation. He said:
The national wage case is of enormous importance to every wage earner and to the national economy. Every wage earner and every salaried man seeks increased payments. I agree that this is natural and understandable. I agree that every person is entitled to a better standard of living . . People are entitled to their own cars and to amenities for their homes . . . Every person is entitled to a share in the benefits of increased productivity, and I support this concept. But if increases in wages are greater than the increase in productivity and do not bear close relationship to consumer price movements, the cost of living automatically rises, inflation occurs and wage earners soon lose their newgained increase. This is not helpful to anybody.
Today all community leaders reiterate that view. Adherence to that piece of home-spun economic logic was a constant plea from Tom Bull, as honourable senators who served with him in this place will clearly recollect. On his passing, the President of the Narrandera Shire Council, Councillor Bruce Charles, and the Shire Clerk, Mr R. L. Goss, took the unusual action of issuing a special statement paying tribute to the late former senator. The statement said in part that Tom Bull, in his public life, had set an example of deep responsibility, rectitude and unwavering loyalty to Christian principles.
Senator Bull served as a senator from 1965 until 1971. He was Deputy President and Chairman of Committees for 2 years, Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Primary and Secondary Industry and Trade, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, a member of the Senate Select Committee on the Container Method of Handling Cargoes, President of the Australian Woolgrowers and Graziers Councilafter being Vice-President for some yearsManaging Director of the Yarramundi Pastoral Company Pty Ltd, President of the Graziers Association of the Riverina, member of the Pastures Protection Board of New South Wales, and Director and Chairman of the Narrandera Pastures Protection Board. In 1974 the then New South Wales Minister for Agriculture, Mr Crawford, appointed Tom Bull chairman of a special committee of inquiry into the whole structure of pastures protection in that State. He was President of the Narrandera Pastoral and Agricultural Association. He was a Rotarian. He was Chairman of the Narrandera Branch of the Australian Country Party. He was a quiet, gentlemanly, humble, firm and dedicated senator and he worked in a highly effective manner for his Party. Above all, he was respected by all parties in this place. The passing of Tom Bull is a loss to his family. We who knew him well, particularly the National Country Party senators, share the loss with his family and express our sympathy at his untimely death.
The passing of Laurence John Failes is regretted by me and by my National Country Party colleagues in this place. Laurence Failes was the only member for Lawson in New South Wales. The seat was created in 1949 and was abolished in 1969 and he held it for the whole of that period. Laurence Failes was a quiet man, admired for his efficiency in all his pursuits. He was basically a farmer and grazier who conducted later in life a business that was involved with agricultural machinery. Away from Parliament his greatest love was rifle shooting and he was a member of the National Rifle Association. As has been mentioned, he served in the Royal Australian Air Force in World War II, rising to the rank of squadron leader. During his term in Parliament he was a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, a member of the House Committee, a Temporary Chairman of Committees, a member of the Australian delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference in Warsaw and a member of the Select Committee on House of Representatives Accommodation. He was married with 2 sons and 2 daughters and was a member of the Coonabarabran Land Board and the Pastoral and Agricultural Association in that area. Laurence Failes was well known to me. He was a warm man who had a gift and an enriched experience throughout his life. It was an experience which came from being a man of the land elevated by his long term in parliamentary service. My party supports the motion and in respect of former Senators Aylett and Whiteside I express the same deep regret at their passing.
-I intervene to pay a personal tribute to Senator Tom Bull. My own leader referred to his impartiality as a chairman. At the time when .Tom Bull chaired proceedings in the Senate we had here another party that was masterly at provoking people. Those of us who have a robust debating style were often in situations which required a very fair chairman to determine who did the provoking. I say without doubt that on a number of occasions Senator Tom Bull acted in difficult situations and he always ruled correctly. I refer to one further quality of Tom Bull. I and my colleague, Senator Douglas McClelland, have often and still do put forward the views of unions with rural membership. I refer to the Meat Industry Employees Union and the Meat Inspectors Associaton
– And the AWU.
– And the Australian Workers Union, as Senator Douglas McClelland mentioned. Among his many rural accomplishments, Tom Bull was an authority on the meat producing industry. Whenever Senator Douglas McClelland and I rose to put a point of view on, say, Meat Board representation, we knew that Tom Bull would not come into us with both feet and dismiss the trade union movement. He recognised its role in the community. That was another quality of his that we admired. In making this personal tribute I naturally identify myself with the sentiments expressed in respect of the other people who have passed on.
– While supporting this motion of condolence in respect of the 4 men concerned, I should like to take the opportunity of saying just a few words about the late Senator Bull. He and his family were friends of mine. It was a personal connection which led to Senator Bull being one of those who escorted me- I guess that is the word- into this chamber when I was first admitted in 1970. To me, as a freshman in this Parliament, Senator Bull was the essence of kindness and generosity. I am sure he offered that kindness and generosity to all people. That was a measure of the greatness of the man. There are a great number of measures of the greatness of Tom Bull. I do not propose to enter upon the total list because I know that the late Senator Bull certainly would not have wanted a series of long discussions and tributes to him. That was not of his character. But let me mention just two or three things that occur to me as being relevant to the measure of the greatness of Tom Bull.
In the first place, I believe, he was significant because he had a very real understanding and commitment to the family unit as the basic unit of our society. Anyone who knew Tom Bull knew the strength of his convictions and his concern for the welfare of his family and, indeed, of all families in our community. He was a leader in very many fields in his community, as exhibited by the statements today in this chamber. He was certainly a leader in the area of traditional primary production which he knew so well, a leader of all those people involved in primary production and its subsidiary areas.
Tom Bull revealed greatness as a parliamentarian. He achieved the positions of Chairman of Committees and Deputy President of the Senate. He exhibited, as a parliamentarian, great measures of tolerance, understanding, determination and sincerity. Finally, Mr President, I believe that perhaps the greatest measure of this man was that he was above all things a humble man. It is with that thought in mind that I add my tribute to the tributes paid here this afternoon.
-Mr President, I rise primarily to support the motion of condolence on the death of former Senator Whiteside but before doing so I should like to add to the tributes paid to former Senator Tom Bull. It has been said that Senator Bull was tolerant and I must testify to that tolerance. During his chairmanship I was perhaps one of the turbulent members to whom Senator Mulvihill referred. I remember the day that Senator Tom Bull took me aside and suggested that aggressiveness was not what achieved most in this place, and I believe him to have been right. He had great gentleness and great tolerance. To his family I express my sympathy and condolences.
As a Queenslander I must remind the Senate of George Whiteside, a man who had no aspirations to greatness but who, in his time, achieved much for his fellows. He was for many years- I think some 20 to 24 years- secretary of one of the more important unions in Queensland, the Federated Engine Drivers’ and Firemen’s Association. He fulfilled that responsibility very well indeed because it led to his appointment as President of the Labor Party in Queensland and to his delegation to the National Conference of the Labor Party and to the National Executive. The Australian Labor Party holds these positions in high regard and Senator Whiteside filled them very well. He also showed some courage in being an ardent follower and supporter of Australian Rules in the very Rugby State of Queensland and for that he must bie commended. He was a patron of the Queensland Australian Football League from 1 973 until the time of his death. Might I say that we were told of his death in a few words on the sporting pages of Queensland ‘s newspapers. I think that he was somewhat overlooked. Today we take the opportunity to make up for that lack of recognition and appreciation by the media in Queensland. The former Senator Whiteside had a great regard for young people. During his lifetime he endeavoured to initiate schemes for their welfare. For those reasons, we regret his passing and give sympathy to his relatives..
– I rise to support this motion and wish to speak particularly of the late Senator Tom Bull. I speak as one who was closely associated with him not only in this Parliament but also for many, many years in primary industry where we worked very closely together. Tom Bull was a man who was full of energy and dedication. More than that, he demonstrated his deep understanding and integrity; throughout his life and in his associations, and he won respect from all with whom he worked. I was delighted today to hear in this chamber Senator Mulvihill and Senator Georges pay their respects to the late Senator Bull.
One aspect which stands out very clearly in the life of the late Senator Bull was the contribution that he made to all sections of the community. This applied to primary industry and especially the wool industry which, for many years, suffered from frictions that were not helping that industry. In fact, those frictions held back the progress of the industry. The wool industry owes a great deal to Tom Bull. It owes him gratitude and is in his debt for what he did in bringing about unity in that industry and in finally seeing the establishment of the Australian Wool Industry Conference. Very few people are aware of the hours of work put in by the late Senator Bull and of his dedication and, more than that, of the respect that he commanded. His work brought so many people in the wool industry together and resulted finally in unity becoming a reality.
After his active life in primary industry, when Tom Bull came to the Senate he continued to work with the same dedication and energy, serving on many committees, as has been mentioned today. Eventually, he became Chairman of Committees and Deputy President. I had the pleasant experience of serving with the late Tom Bull as Vice-Chairman of the old Senate Standing Committee on Industry and Trade of which he was Chairman. To me, that was a great experience and a continuation of our very close associations. For his efforts in his local district, his work in the industry with which he was closely associated and his work in this Parliament, many people owe a big ‘thank you ‘ to the late Tom Bull for the contribution that he has made to Australia as a whole. He will be long remembered for the service that he rendered. I join with my Leader, Senator Withers, the Leader of the Opposition, Senator Wriedt, and the Minister for Science, Senator Webster, in extending condolences to his wife and family in their sad bereavement. I extend my sympathy also to the families of the other former senators and of the member of the House of Representatives with whom this motion is concerned.
-I am prompted to rise to pay my personal tribute to the late George Whiteside. I knew George
Whitside for over 30 years. I met him first in 1942 when I returned from the Middle East and was on embarkation leave prior to leaving for New Guinea. The place was Rockhampton. George Whiteside was then in Rockhampton in his capacity as organiser of the Federated Engine Drivers’ and Firemen’s Association. He was conducting an organised tour through Queensland. He offered me transport to Mackay. Honourable senators will know that at that time with the war-time restrictions that were operating and with transport in short supply his offer was greatly appreciated. I have always regarded it as being most significant that from the moment I met him I had a continuing friendship with George Whiteside and I have always regarded it as being significant that I have had a continuing and warm friendship with the people to whom he introduced me.
In order really to understand the full measure of the man and his worth in the community one would need to have knowledge of the very considerable contribution that he made to the industrial and political life of this country, which was so capably referred to earlier by my colleague Senator Georges. One of the wishes that lay nearest to George Whiteside’s heart was that Queensland would become a great Australian Rules State. He was as proud of the sport of Australian Rules at the time of his death as he was when he came to Queensland as a young man in the late 1920s. I must admit that, as the President of the Queensland Rugby League, I gave away a long time ago any thought of ever converting him to that game. Of course, that only exemplifies his character. He was a man who remained steadfast to the causes in which he believed.
I should mention that I had the pleasure of meeting the late former Senator Bill Aylett on only one occasion, even though he retired to the Gold Coast. That was when I delivered a message to him from the then Senator Lionel Murphy, who I understand was a very close friend of his. He retired from the Senate before I became a member of it, as did the late former Senator Bull and, I understand, the late former member of the House of Representatives, Mr Failes. So I did not know them in the Parliament. I regret the passing of each of them and also the passing of the former Governor-General of Australia, Lord Casey, and I hasten to extend to the relatives of all of them my deepest sympathy.
Question resolved in the affirmative, honourable senators standing in their places.
Senator WITHERS (Western AustraliaLeader of the Government in the Senate)- Mr President, as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, I suggest that the sitting of the Senate be suspended until 8 p.m.
– Order! As a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, the sitting of the Senate is suspended until 8 p.m. this day.
Sitting suspended from 3.28 to 8 p.m.
page 10
Suspension of Standing Orders
Motion (by Senator Withers)- by leaveagreed to:
That so much of the Standing Orders be suspended as would prevent the Ministerfor Industry and Commerce, Senator Cotton, speaking without limitation of time when moving that the Senate take notice of the Budget papers 1976-77.
– For the information of honourable senators I present the following papers:
Australia’s Official Development Assistance to Developing Countries 1976-77
Civil Works Program 1 976-77
Estimates of Receipts and Summary of Estimated Expenditure for the year ending 30 June 1 977
Particulars of Proposed Expenditure for the Service of the year ending 30 June 1 977
Particulars of Certain Proposed Expenditure in respect of the year ending 30 June 1977
Government Securities on Issue at 30 June 1976
Income Tax Statistics
National Accounting Estimates of Receipts and Outlays of Commonwealth Government Authorities
National Income Tax and Expenditure 1 975-76
Payments to or for the States and Local Government
Authorities 1976-77
I ask for leave to move a motion that the Senate take note of the papers.
-Is leave granted? There being no objection, leave is granted.
-I move:
That the Senate take note of the papers.
Tonight the Treasurer (Mr Lynch) is delivering in another place his Budget Speech for 1976-77.
It is my privilege to outline to the Senate the Budget proposals of the Government.
When this Government was elected on 13 December last, Australia was in bad shape.
The Government immediately set about the enormous task of repairing the damage and restoring confidence.
Recovery is now getting under way.
The private sector is growing again and confidence is gradually returning.
This Budget will aid that recovery and rebuild confidence further.
It will do so in part by putting an end to permissiveness in government spending and turning back the recent trend towards bigger and bigger government.
At the same time it will build further on the social reforms of 20 May so as to assist the most needy in our community.
It is a Budget for confidence; it is also a Budget for reform.
page 11
When this Government came to office, Australia was still locked in its most serious postwar recession: that quite unnecessary calamity was the product of three years of Labor Government.
The major distortions which that Government imparted to the economy in 1974 and 1975 had become deep-rooted obstacles to a return to full employment.
The economy had been shaken to its foundations.
At the end of 1975, the private sector was employing no more people than it had been three years earlier, although over that period the labour force had expanded by about 370 000.
Unemployment had risen to a level unheard of in this country since the Depression of the 1930’s.
Gross non-farm product in the December quarter, seasonally adjusted and at constant prices, was still almost 5 per cent blow its peak level recorded two years earlier.
The farm sector was in a state of collapse.
The share of company profits in national income- one of the flywheels of our whole economic system- remained depressed at around three-quarters of its long-run norm.
Real business fixed investment fell in the December quarter to its lowest level for almost three years.
The Consumer Price Index in the December quarter was 1 4.0 per cent above a year earlier.
Above all, inflation showed no real prospect of a sustained move down.
This was the economic legacy which we inherited.
The human reflection of these dry economic facts was to be seen in the devastation of the lives of ordinary people which those events had wrought.
Hundreds of thousands of people who had thought that savings accumulated by the thrift and industry of their working lives would help to protect their later years suddenly found the real value of those savings cut to ribbons by inflation.
I mention also the personal tragedies of school-leavers and other young people, and of disadvantaged groups in the community such as Aborigines, who have been denied jobs by the policies of those three years.
Given this economic legacy, restoring the economy was certain to be a protracted task.
Before the election we said it would take a full three-year term.
The Government quickly put in hand a coherent strategy involving all the main arms of economic policy.
Initial measures to control government expenditures were taken as early as December and followed up by further measures in February.
Meanwhile, in January, major monetary measures were undertaken to drain off some part of the excessive liquidity build-up of 1 975.
Since that time, especially during the seasonally tight June quarter, monetary policy has been operated flexibly- but always with a view to bearing down against current inflationary pressures while maintaining the capacity of the financial system to underwrite recovery in the private sector.
We had earlier made clear that, contrary to views in some quarters, we had no intention of depreciating the exchange rate for the Australian dollar.
In February the Commonwealth sought to bring home to the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission that full wage indexation, by locking the economy into double digit inflation and a disaster level of business profitability, ran completely counter to hopes of a sustained economic recovery and a return to full employment.
This fundamental truth was initially not widely understood.
Since then, however, it has increasingly gained understanding and acceptance in the community.
The full scale review of expenditures which, at the outset, we had put in hand culminated in the Treasurer’s statement on Fiscal Policy Decisions of 20 May. It was given to the Senate by me on the same evening.
In that statement the Treasurer announced a sharp reduction in the rate of growth of expenditures previously in prospect for 1976-77.
At the same time the introduction of full personal tax indexation and significant improvements in the manner of assisting families and to Medibank were announced.
As we have stressed from the outset, we have made our first priority the absolute necessity to combat inflation.
We have done so not merely because of the direct hardships that inflation obviously brings, but because unless we can brake inflation we shall not succeed in restoring full employment.
The economy is now showing signs of progress.
Typical of the early recovery stage in the economic cycle, the areas of strength are still scattered.
Much of the early impetus to recovery has come from a cessation of the stock rundown which had continued heavily throughout 1975, and from continued strengthening in exports.
More recently, however, private consumption expenditure has begun to grow.
In the business sector also there are early signs of confidence regenerating.
Some healthy gains in capital spending on plant and equipment have already occurred.
The key question hanging over the future course of the recovery is whether the main components of private demand- consumption and business investment- will firmly join stocks and exports in building a continuing recovery.
If they do not, that recovery will falter and expire.
Another key question concerns the extent to which the growth in demand will be met from imports and so not be translated into local production and local jobs.
The recovery will be threatened if rising demand is associated with a too strongly rising tendency to import.
The need to qualify answers to these questions indicates that the economy still lacks a fully assured foundation for recovery.
When one asks, why should that be, there is a very simple answer.
It is so because both the key questions I have mentioned depend for their outcome on the future of inflation in this country.
Consumers will step up their spending and cut back on their saving only if they judge inflation to be declining.
Businessmen will emerge further from their shell-holes and start buying plant, equipment and new buildings, re-stocking and taking on new workers only if the uncertainty wrought by runaway inflation can be removed from their calculations and profits again begin to represent a reasonable rate of return.
The prospective threat to the recovery from import competition will only be banished if Australia’s international competitiveness does not continue to be eroded for too much longer by cost escalation in excess of that of our trading partners.
Each of these provisos points unequivocally to the fundamental needs to reduce inflation and, as an integral part of that process, to rectify the wage-profit distortion which the wages explosion of 1974 produced.
These objectives are fundamental to recovery.
There have been some favourable developments on the inflation front in recent months.
The 5.6 per cent rise in the Consumer Price Index in the first half of 1976 represented some advance on the 6.4 per cent and the 7.2 per cent in the second and first halves, respectively, of 1975.
The Arbitration Commission’s decisions of May and August in respect of wage adjustments for the Consumer Price Index movements in the first two quarters of 1976 hold out hopes for some further moderation of inflation in the remainder of the year.
Meanwhile, the previously very depressed level- though not yet the share- of aggregate profits has begun to pick up.
In these two respects we are moving in the right direction.
But we need to go much further- and we need to do so faster.
Time is of the essence for two reasons.
First, the sooner wages and profits return to a more normal relativity, the sooner job prospects will improve.
On the more pessimistic assumption, the downward adjustment in the wage share that is now required would occur slowly via an unacceptably high level of unemployment persisting for a long period.
The same adjustment can take place much more quickly, and with much less cost in terms of idle resources and production forgone, if the determinations of wage fixing authorities continue to eschew the full indexation of wages for past price increases and wage moderation prevails.
This is the course the Government has been urging before the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission.
The second reason why we need to get inflation down more quickly is in order to stop export.ing jobs
In short, when we come to examine each of our current economic problems we find that all of them have their genesis in the inflationary experience of recent years.
There is no way in which those problems can be solved other than by dealing with inflation itself.
That is the key to it all.
page 13
Consistent with that view, this Budget is therefore an essential element in our anti-inflation strategy.
First, the Budget takes its place in the on-going process of imposing more effective control on Commonwealth outlays generally.
Restraint on Budget outlays and on the size of the public sector is necessary to allow and to foster that expansion of the private sector to which we are committed.
Secondly, through the full indexation of personal income taxation which was announced on 20 May and the other tax changes to be detailed tonight, we are putting in place some of our proposed reforms.
What these will mean is that the revenue side of fiscal policy will also be working to reinforce wage restraint, to strengthen company profitability and to boost business confidence.
Thirdly, the substantial reduction in the magnitude of the deficit since we came to office, and of which this Budget constitutes a further step, will help to moderate the flow of liquidity into the economy.
That is basic to achieving the monetary environment that is necessary if inflation is to be reduced.
The monetary conditions which might be expected in 1976-77, given the Budget outcome and other relevant influences, will be indicated later.
Of course, the very need for public sector restraint and tight control of the Budget deficitthe basic thrust of the Government’s fiscal and monetary policies- has been disputed by some.
Yet all the evidence- in Australia and overseasis that, under the kind of inflationary conditions which we have been and are still experiencing, fiscal and monetary policies of what used to be known as the ‘pump-priming’ kind no longer prime the pump but serve only to turn off the flow of jobs even further.
The reason is to be found in what I have already said.
It is inflation that is at the heart of the problem.
This Government yields to none in its concern for the genuinely unemployed.
But, whether they know it or not, those who, in the name of reducing unemployment, call for higher government spending, or bigger deficits, or full wage indexation, or devaluation of the Australian dollar, are calling for higher- not lower- unemployment in this country.
The overwhelming weight of evidence is against such courses.
They have been tried both here and abroad; and they have failed.
Let me just mention here- for the case has been fully detailed elsewhere- that experience abroad strongly reinforces our conviction in these respects.
At this year’s Ministerial Council meeting of the OECD, the main industrialised nations of the non-Communist world agreed on an economic strategy which had as its basic premise the view that: . . the steady economic growth needed to restore full employment and satisfy rising economic and social aspirations will not prove sustainable unless all Member countries make further progress towards eradicating-
And I repeat, eradicating- inflation.
Consistent with that premise, OECD Ministers underlined the need for caution in the pursuit of expansionary policies and for firm use of fiscal and monetary policies to achieve the general economic climate required for non-inflationary growth.
As the Communique says: . . because of the virulence of recent inflationary experience, there is a danger that inflationary expectations could revive quite strongly if the pace of the recovery is too fast.
Within that general context it was further agreed that: . . because of inadequate investment in past years in some countries and in certain basic industries, there is a risk of supply bottlenecks at a comparatively early stage of the recovery … In most countries, policies should be directed more towards promoting investment rather than consumption. In many cases, this will require an appropriate recovery of profits from the depressed levels of recent years.
On that basis, action was seen as being required both to stimulate investment and to restrain the rise in public expenditure.
There could be no clearer demonstration of the appropriateness of the Government’s economic strategy.
I repeat- the speed with which we can restore full employment in Australia and ‘get Australia moving again’ on a sustainable basis will be directly related to the speed with which, in the words of the OECD Communique, we as a nation can ‘progress towards eradicating inflation ‘.
It follows that Australia would stand aloneand against the background of its internationally unfavourable inflation rate would be all the more noticeable for doing so- if we were once again to begin applying a clearly inappropriate pump-priming ‘ policy.
Whatever the virtues of such a policy may have been under conditions of stable prices, low unemployment and a smaller public sector, they have entirely evaporated under conditions of high inflation, high unemployment and a public sector already bloated beyond belief.
Having consistently rejected the ‘pumppriming’ expedient, however, the Government has not moved to the other extreme of trying to balance the Budget overnight.
Rather, this Budget applies the maximum degree of restraint judged to be consistent with promoting confidence and maintaining a steady path towards economic recovery.
By careful choice of the taxation measures to be announced tonight and those of 20 May, we have matched restraint in our own spending with confidence-strengthening measures to boost the private sector.
The way in which the various elements of the Budget slot into the anti-inflationary strategy highlights the importance of looking at all our policies- fiscal policy, monetary policy, wages policy and external policy- as a unified and coherent whole.
No single component of the strategy can fail without putting the basic objective under threat.
For example, a less firm fiscal stance would undermine the necessary degree of monetary control; or, alternatively, require a return to the kind of overly restrictive monetary policy which would inhibit recovery and the rebuilding of confidence.
A lax monetary environment would endanger wage and price deceleration.
A too stubborn adherence to the existing excessive level of real wages- for example, through full wage indexation- would continue to hold inflation high, depress consumer and business spending, hold back the creation of new jobs and prevent unemployment from falling.
Examples could be multiplied; but I simply say that our strategy is a coherent one.
All of its separate elements involve difficult decisions.
Bt the Government and all sections of the community must persist with the fundamental task.
In doing so, we can take comfort from two things.
First, we know that the alternatives have been tried and found wanting.
Secondly, although they are still limited, we are already beginning to see some positive results.
page 14
Budget outlays in 1976-77 are estimated to total $24,32 1 m, an increase of 1 1 .3 per cent over actual outlays in 1 975-76.
In 1975-76 the increase was almost 23 per cent and in the year before that is was almost 46 per cent.
This marked slowing in the prospective rate of growth of Budget outlays in 1976-77 accords with the key role of expenditure restraint in the Government’s overall economic strategy to which I have referred.
Many of the provisions included in the Budget estimates flow from decisions announced in the Treasurer’s comprehensive statement on 20 May.
The references to individual provisions which follow are confined mainly to major items.
Full details are set out in Statement No. 3 attached to the Treasurer’s Budget Speech.
Where appropriate, additional information will be announced by the Ministers concerned.
The decisions reflected in these expenditure provisions are in line with the Government’s broad priorities.
They reflect, for example, this Government’s philosophy that so far as possible responsibility for spending decisions should remain with private individuals and businesses, and not be assumed by governments.
More and more Australians are coming to understand that, one way or the another, they must pay for the things they want.
This Government believes that Australians should have more scope to decide what they want.
At the same time, these expenditure decisions reflect the Government’s main objectives to: promote confidence in the business sector; institute just social reforms in areas of need; and increase real levels of expenditure in those areas to which it gives priority.
page 15
For example, although the proposed increases in spending on education are less than some would like, this is an area where, notwithstanding our overall budgetary constraints, we have provided for increases in real levels of expenditure and restored triennial programs on a rolling basis.
In short, education for this Government is a high priority area.
In all, Commonwealth expenditure on education in 1976-77 is estimated at $2,204m, an increase of 1 5.3 per cent compared with 1 975-76.
Grants to universities, colleges of advanced education, technical colleges and government and non-government schools by the respective education Commissions account for $1,75 lm, or nearly 80 per cent of the total allocation for 1976-77.
In each case the budgetary provision represents a significant increase in real terms.
The Government has given to the education Commissions, for planning guidance only, minimum expenditure levels for 1978 and 1979 which will involve further increases in real terms.
As previously announced, this planning guidance is: for universities, colleges and schools, 2 per cent growth in real terms per annum; and for technical and further education institutions, 5 per cent growth in real terms per annum.
The Budget also provides $2m for the Curriculum Development Centre and $ 1 . 1 m for research by the Education Research and Development Committee.
In addition the Commonwealth extends substantial assistance directly to students.
This Budget includes a total of $155m in 1976-77 for a range of student assistance schemes, including the Tertiary Education Assistance Scheme and programs of assistance for isolated children and Aboriginal children.
The Government is aware that many of these allowances have not been increased for some time; meanwhile, inflation has been proceeding.
Large numbers of students are involved.
It is not clear to us, however, that existing schemes are the most cost-effective, in terms of directing the substantial sums involved to the most needy and deserving students.
We have therefore initiated an urgent investigation into the adequacy of existing rates of benefit and the possible rationalisation of the schemes.
It will be recalled that full-time allowances under the National Employment and Training System were reviewed in February; payments in respect of in-plant and part-time training under that System are also now being similarly reviewed.
With respect to student assistance schemes, the Government’s decisions will be announced in October and implemented from the beginning of the 1977 academic year.
The investigation will also cover the question of the reintroduction of tertiary education fees for those classes of students mentioned in my statement of 20 May.
This does not of course involve reintroducing fees for Australian students undertaking their first degree.
page 15
Another in which this Budget provides for a large real increase in expenditures is Social Security and Welfare.
This is indeed the largest single component of Budget outlays.
In 1975-76 it amounted to over $5,000m or 23 per cent of total outlays.
The 1976-77 Budget provides for expenditure of $6, 1 87m, or about 25 per cent of total outlays.
The Government has already initiated major reforms in this area; some further reforms will be announced tonight.
The new scheme of family allowances- one of this country’s most significant social reforms- is now in operation.
Under the new arrangements, rates of family allowances have been substantially increased and the tax rebates for dependent children abolished.
The new arrangements will benefit, in particular, large families with low incomes: those in most need will derive most benefit.
Some 300 000 low income families- with 800 000 children- with incomes such that they previously derived no benefit- or less than full benefit- from the dependent children’s rebates, will benefit most.
This accords with the Government’s sense of priorities.
We are committed to protect pensions against inflation.
We will continue to honour that commitment.
In line with it we propose to introduce legislation to tie future pension and benefit adjustments automatically to movements in the Consumer Price Index.
The next two six-monthly increases, in line with movements in the Consumer Price Index, will come into effect in November 1976 and May 1977.
Effective from the first payday in November the standard or single rate of social service pensions and benefits will be increased by $2.25 to $43.50 a week.
This reflects the movement in the Consumer Price Index between the December 1975 quarter and the June 1 976 quarter.
The increase will apply in respect of age, invalid and repatriation service pensions, widows’ pensions and supporting mothers’ benefits.
The combined married rate will rise by $4.00 to $72.50 a week.
Similar increases will apply to unemployment, sickness and special benefits, sheltered employment allowances and tuberculosis allowances.
In line with the practice initiated by our predecessors, there will be no increase in single unemployment and sickness benefits payable to persons under the age of 1 8 years.
The increases are estimated to cost $190m in 1 976-77 and $508m in a full year.
I come now to another significant reform.
Following a recommendation by the Income Security Review Committee, the Government has decided, with effect on pension payments after 1 1 November 1 976, to abolish the separate property component in the means test for pensions. (Opposition senators interjecting)
-Mr President, from the interjections that are coming now from members of the Opposition, you can detect their total lack of concern for social welfare.
Those pensions that are now subject to a means test based on a combination of income and property will in future be subject to a test on income only, including income from property..
It will be both simpler and more equitable to take into account for pension purposes the actual income received by a pensioner.
Many people will gain from this overdue reform.
It has been clearly inequitable that pensioners should have been means-tested on the basis of a notional return on property, even though in many cases their actual income from such property fell well short of that notional return.
We believe therefore that this measure will be welcomed by all.
Transitional arrangements will ensure that no existing pensioner will suffer a reduction in pension as a result of the change; these arrangements are estimated to cost about $7m in 1976-77.
The main Repatriation pensions also will be increased in November 1976 and May 1977 in line with increases in the Consumer Price Index.
The increases are estimated to cost $ 15.8m in 1976-77 and $38.8m in a full year.
Along with the proposed changes to the Social Security legislation, we will be introducing legislation to increase automatically the main Repatriation pensions.
The Minister for Repatriation will be announcing further details.
The Government attaches high priority to the provision of adequate facilities and care for handicapped people.
Under the Handicapped Persons Assistance program funds are provided to help voluntary organisations establish and operate sheltered workshops, activity therapy centres and training centres, and to provide accommodation for handicapped children and adults.
We propose to increase expenditure on this program substantially over the next three years.
This Budget provides a total of $30m for these purposes, comprising $2 7m for continuing commitments and $3m for new projects.
In 1977-78 the total amount will be increased so as to provide not only for continuing commitments but also $ 10m for new projects.
In 1978-79 the planned provision for new projects will be doubled to $20m in addition to providing for continuing commitments.
In all, over these three years we shall be providing a total of $ 12 lm under this program.
Arrangements will also be made so that selected organisations will be able to commence the planning and construction of approved projects now, in the firm knowledge that government funds will be forthcoming at nominated dates over the next three years.
These arrangements parallel those already announced for aged persons homes and hostels under which up to $225m is to be made available over the next three years to provide urgently needed accommodation for about 15 000 aged people.
We have decided to increase substantially both the handicapped child ‘s allowance and the handicapped children’s benefit.
In recognition of the special financial problems that are involved in the care of handicapped children, the relative increase in benefits in this area outstrips that of any other area of the Budget.
We have demonstrated our concern for this real area of underprivilege by raising benefits sharply.
The handicapped child’s allowance will be increased from $10 to $15 a week and the handicapped children’s benefit, payable in respect of handicapped children in institutions, will be increased from $3.50 to $5.00 a day.
These increases, which will benefit about 2 1 000 children in these categories, will take effect from November and are estimated to cost an additional $3. 8m in 1976-77.
We shall provide an amount of $4m for grants to approved senior citizens’ centres in 1976-77, and the same amount in each of the two succeeding financial years.
page 17
Notwithstanding the need to contain government spending, we are proposing to increase outlays from the Budget on overseas aid, excluding defence co-operation, to $400m in 1976-77; that is, by 14.6 per cent on 1975-76.
Of this total, $228. lm is allocated to Papua New Guinea, which continues to be the major recipient of Australian aid.
An estimated $2 6m will flow to Indonesia in 1976-77, being the first year of the new threeyear aid program of $86m to that country.
Full details of Australia’s overseas aid programs are set out in the accompanying Budget Paper, ‘Australia’s Official Development Assistance to Developing Countries 1 976-77 ‘.
page 17
In these uncertain times, the highest priority of any responsible Government must be national security.
Total outlays on defence activities in 1976-77 are estimated at $2 1 78m, an increase of over 1 7 per cent compared with last year.
The present Government is determined to restore and maintain an adequate Australian defence capability.
This will require increases in defence expenditure over the years ahead, particularly for the more adequate equipment of the Defence Force.
A White Paper on Defence is to be issued during this Session and at that time the Minister for Defence will make a comprehensive statement on the Government’s defence policies.
page 17
The cost to the taxpayer of health care in Australia has rocketed in recent years.
Last year Commonwealth expenditure on health services amounted to about $2953m, including $ 1 637m on Medibank.
At $16 12m the Budget provision for Medibank in 1976-77 is slightly less than last year.
When allowance is made for the prepayment of $2 16m to the States at the end of June for hospital operating costs in the September quarter, the cost of Medibank this year is about $407m greater.
But for the modifications we have made, the increase in cost this year would have been much greater still.
Levy proceeds to be collected under the modified arrangements to come into effect on 1 October are estimated to offset the costs of Medibank by $250m in 1976-77.
As part of the reform of Medibank, the Government will provide $37.5m in 1976-77 towards the deficit incurred by registered hospital insurance organisations- including Medibank Private Insurance- from the payment of benefits to high risk and chronically ill members.
In addition, $12m has been provided for a subsidy to registered hospital insurance organisations to reduce the cost for those Medibank levy payers who choose to take out basic hospitalonly insurance cover.
The subsidy is intended to ensure that the cost of such insurance generally will not be more than $2.60 a week for family cover.
The Government has also decided to make an advance of $ 10m in 1976-77 to Medibank Private Insurance for establishment purposes.
In line with the undertaking given by the previous Government we have provided $108m for payments to the States in 1976-77 for the development of public hospitals and related health care facilities.
A further $70m- compared with $54.3m last year- has been provided for payment of grants to States, local government authorities and other eligible organisations under the Community Health Program.
We have also made a number if increases in other items of health expenditures.
Commonwealth expenditure on medical research, including the special grants to the Hall and Florey Institutes, is estimated at $ 10.1m in 1976-77; expenditure in 1975-76 was $6.2m.
New arrangements for financial assistance to the Red Cross Society’s Blood Transfusion Service will result in an increase of $330 000 in the Commonwealth’s subsidy to the Service in 1976-77.
The provision for the Royal Flying Doctor Service in 1976-77 is increased by a special grant of $800 000 to $2m.
page 18
The Government is mindful of its election undertakings and is committed to promoting the welfare and well-being of Aboriginals.
Unlike our predecessors, however, we do not see the achievement of that objective as being simply a matter of injecting ever-increasing amounts of money into an ever-increasing complexity of insufficiently considered programs.
An increasing body of evidence has demonstrated the need to re-assess the efficacy of some of the approaches of the past.
In this re-assessment the Government will have the benefit of the recent Hay Report on the programs involved.
Meanwhile, and pending its consideration of that Report, the Government is providing in this Budget no less than $153m for programs of direct assistance to Aboriginals.
Although this is $33m less than expenditure in 1975-76, spending on many programs is being maintained at about the same levels as last year.
In the case of some programs- such as grants to Aboriginal Housing Associations- the provisions in the Budget are to cover outstanding firm commitments, pending further reviews of the objectives, priorities and past administration of those programs.
In the light of those reviews additional funds will be provided.
page 18
As announced previously, advances totalling $375m- $ 10.4m more than was provided in 1 975-76- will be available to the States for welfare housing in 1976-77.
The Government has decided in principle to undertake a housing allowance voucher experiment; $75,000 is provided in the Budget for the first phase of this initiative.
Should the experiment prove successful, implementation of such a program would give low income families the financial means to select their own rental accommodation on the open market.
It would provide a new mechanism to make welfare housing sensitive to the needs of the users rather than those of the planners.
It takes into account the view of the Commission of Inquiry into Poverty that the first principle in the provision of assistance to low income people is that assistance must be linked to the person and not to the house.
The Government has under way a comprehensive review of all major urban and regional development programs, including growth centres and decentralisation, land commissions, sewerage and urban rehabilitation.
Pending review of the appropriate role for the Commonwealth in relation to growth centres, the Budget provides sufficient funds to preserve the Commonwealth’s options in regard to AlburyWodonga (for which $15m is provided), Bathurst-Orange ($2m) and Macarthur ($2m).
Other community development programs provided for in the Budget include: $50m for the National Sewerage Program; $ 1 5. 1 m for land commissions; $ 10.3m for the acquisition of property, planning and site development in the Woolloomooloo Basin in Sydney; and $9.4m to assist with the construction of water treatment plants in the Adelaide area.
page 19
A total of $133m has been provided for the Australian Broadcasting Commission; this compares with $ 1 3 7m last year.
In his statement of 3 June the Prime Minister emphasised that the Government would seek to eliminate unnecessary expenditure on the arts in 1976-77, but maintain important and worthwhile programs.
The Australia Council has been allocated $23m this year, about the same amount as was provided in 1 975-76.
Expenditure on construction and running costs of the National Gallery, and on acquisitions, is estimated at $9.3m in 1976-77 compared with $4.6min 1975-76.
To meet existing commitments, about Slim has been provided by way of capital assistance for leisure facilities in the States, $5m more than was spent in 1975-76.
The Commonwealth’s role in youth, sport and recreation programs is one of the matters to be examined by the Task Force that has been set up to examine welfare services and communitybased programs in the health/welfare/community development area.
Pending the Government’s consideration of the Task Force report, the 1976-77 Budget provisions for youth, sport and recreation are being maintained at the amount- almost $ 1.2 m- that is required to meet existing commitments.
page 19
The Australian Telecommunications Commission will undertake a capital program in 1976-77 which will require funds of $4 15m additional to those available from its own internal resources.
As already announced, $2 15m of this will be provided from the Budget; the Commission will seek the balance of $200m by borrowing on the local capital market.
Last year an amount of $392m was advanced to the Commission from the Budget.
The Australian Postal Commission’s operations in 1975-76 yielded a surplus estimated at about $30m.
The Commission therefore expects to be able not only to finance its 1 976-77 capital program entirely from internal sources but also to repay $3m advanced to it by the Commonwealth in 1975-76.
With effect from 1 September 1 976, the fees payable by the licensees of commercial television stations are to be brought into line with the scale which, since 1973, has applied to commercial broadcasting stations.
The new fees are estimated to yield additional revenue of $624,000 in 1976-77 and make total revenue from fees sufficient to cover the annual operational and capital costs of the Australian Broadcasting Control Board.
Radiocommunication licences are also to be increased for some classes of users from their present level of $ 1 2 a year to $20 a year.
The Minister will announce the details; I mention, however, that there will be no increases in fees payable by voluntary bodies such as life saving organisations and rural fire brigades.
These new fees will operate from 1 October and are estimated to increase revenue by $ 1.2m in 1 976-77 and $ 1 .6m in a full year.
The Government is concerned at the continuing high cost to the general public of providing airport and airways facilities.
The gap between revenue and expenditure in this area was about $77m in 1975-76.
To help reduce this gap, and as already announced, air navigation charges are to be increased by 15 per cent with effect from 1 December 1976.
The increase is expected to yield an additional $4m in revenue in 1976-77 and $8m in a full year.
We are also implementing economies which, without adverse effects on safety standards, will result in expenditure on civil aviation facilities and services in 1976-77 being lower, in real terms, than in 1975-76.
An amount of $60.8m is being provided to subsidise expected operating losses of the Australian National Railways Commission.
These losses, which greatly concern the Government, are being generated primarily by the Tasmanian and non-metropolitan South Australian railway systems transferred to the Commonwealth under the previous Government.
A further $36. lm is included to finance the capital program of the Australian National Railways Commission.
This amount includes provision to continue the construction of the standard gauge railway between Tarcoola and Alice Springs.
It also includes funds for essential capital works on the Tasmanian railway system pending completion of the inquiry into that system that was announced in my statement of 20 May.
The separate provision of $2m for the Adelaide to Crystal Brook standard gauge railway project will meet current commitments, pending the findings of the independent committee of inquiry that will be reporting on that project.
The Australian Shipping Commission’s capital expenditure program for 1976-77 requires provision of $63.4m from the Budget.
This program relates essentially to the provision of terminals and the acquisition of vessels and seaborne equipment by the Australian National Line for use in coastal and overseas trades.
The subsidy for the operation of ‘Empress of Australia ‘ by the Australian National Line in its Bass Strait passenger service will be increased by $lm,to$2m, in 1976-77.
An amount of $ 16m is provided to meet the estimated cost in 1976-77 of the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme that has been introduced following the report of the Royal Commission into Transport to and from Tasmania.
The Government is increasing its financial assistance to the Australian Shippers ‘ Council from $90 000 to $120 000 for 1976-77.
Light dues levied on shipping to recover the cost of providing coastal navigation aids are to be increased from 3 1 cents per net registered ton per quarter to 35 cents from 1 October 1 976.
This increase is expected to yield an additional $1.7min 1976-77.
A separate levy on shipping of 1 cent per net registered ton per quarter has been collected to cover the cost of the national plan to combat pollution of the sea by oil.
An adequate working reserve has been built up and the Government has therefore decided to reduce this levy to 0.8 cents from 1 October 1976.
The Budget estimates include almost $65m in assistance to the States for urban public transport projects.
This amount includes $20m for payments which may be required in 1976-77 to meet the Commonwealth’s share of approved cost increases in respect of previously approved projects.
An amount of $433. 5m will be made available to the States for roads in 1 976-77.
This includes $35.8m which will be made available in addition to the amounts appropriated under existing legislation.
An amount of $8m is to be provided to the States in 1976-77 for expenditure on approved planning and research projects in relation to roads and urban public transport.
The Government has accepted the Industries Assistance Commission’s recommendation to continue for a further year the joint Commonwealth/State Government scheme for the provision of concessional carry-on finance to beef producers.
The Commonwealth will match State approvals in 1976-77 on a dollar-for-dollar basis, subject to a limit of $1 5m on the Commonwealth Government contribution.
The Government has considered the report of the Industries Assistance Commission which recommended that the subsidy of $78.74 per tonne on the nitrogen content of nitrogenous fertilizers be phased out over three years.
The Government agrees in principle that this subsidy should be phased out and has decided that the rate should be reduced to $60 per tonne on 1 January 1977.
The subsidy is estimated to cost $12m in 1976-77.
The Rural Reconstruction Scheme, which expired on 30 June 1976, will be extended to 3 1 December 1976 pending finalisation of the Government’s consideration of the Industries Assistance Commission report.
Of the total of $27m provided for the Scheme in 1976-77, $10m relates to the proposed extension to 3 1 December 1976; the remainder relates to commitments under applications approved prior to 30 June 1976.
An amount of $13. 5m has been included to meet the Commonwealth’s estimated liability in respect of the Dairy Adjustment Program in 1976-77.
This is additional to other assistance the Government has offered to the dairy industry by way of underwriting of producers’ returns from skim milk powder, casein, butter and cheese, details of which have already been announced by the Minister for Primary Industry.
The Commonwealth has authorised the Australian Wool Corporation to increase the level of support provided under its minimum reserve price scheme to 234 cents per kilo clean on a whole clip average basis.
This is equivalent to 275 cents per kilo clean on the previous 2 1 micron basis.
Notwithstanding this increased level of support, it is expected that the Corporation will be able to repay in 1976-77 $245m of advances made by the Commonwealth to the Corporation in previous years.
The Government has decided to continue its support for the Commonwealth/State Water Resources Assessment Program for another three years; the provision for 1976-77 is $6.7m.
The Government is increasing, from $66 000 to $177 000, its support for programs designed to improve productivity at plant level.
page 21
An amount of $20m (including $3. 7m for legal aid for the Aboriginal community) is included in the Budget for legal aid, compared with expenditure of $ 16.3m in 1975-76.
The Attorney-General is negotiating with the States with the object of bringing all forms of legal aid under the control of statutory Legal Aid Commissions and thereby effecting savings in the administration of legal aid.
Pending completion of the negotiations, the Government is maintaining legal aid activities at their present level.
To help offset the sharp rise in costs of legal aid to the Commonwealth over recent years, new and increased fees will be levied in Federal Courts; these fees are estimated to yield $2. 5m this year and $3. 5m in a full year.
page 21
One of the topics to which, since taking office, the Government has accorded a very high priority is that of the financial relations between the Commonwealth, State and local governments.
The tax sharing scheme- the central element in our program of reform- is to a large extent now settled with the States.
Under Stage 1 of the scheme, the States will be entitled to 33.6 per cent of the Commonwealth’s personal income tax collections, excluding any special surcharges or rebates.
On present estimates, which are necessarily subject to a considerable margin of uncertainty, this puts the States’ entitlement for 1976-77 at $3,716m.
This would represent an increase of $643m, or about 2 1 per cent, over the comparable grants in 1975- 76, and is presently estimated to be $89m more than the States would have received under the old formula.
The State Governments’ Loan Council programs for 1976-77 will total $ 1,356m, an increase of 5 per cent compared with 1975-76.
Local government also will have an annual entitlement to a share of personal income tax.
An amount of $140m is to be provided in 1976- 77- an increase of 75 per cent over last year.
In recent years specific purpose payments to States and local government authorities have grown very fast; in 1974-75 the increase was no less than 92 per cent and in 1975-76 it was a further 34 per cent.
After adjustment for the hospital prepayments to the States in late June, specific purpose payments are presently estimated to increase by about 9 per cent in 1 976-77
Lumped together, net payments to States and local government authorities in 1976-77 are estimated to total $9,077m- an increase of 13 per cent after adjustment for the hospital prepayments.
If allowance is made also for the non-recurring payments made for unemployment relief in 1975-76, the increase in 1976-77 becomes 15 per cent.
This represents a significant increase in real terms and is a slightly faster increase than is in prospect for all other Budget outlays.
The greater part of the funds we are providing to the States is untied and can be used by the States in ways of their own choosing.
The States have always said they want greater freedom to make their own decisions and determine their own priorities.
That is why we have increased our provision to them of untied funds relatively more than funds for specific purposes.
The States now have the capacity to spend these untied funds in ways of their own choosing- be it welfare housing, or sewerage programs, or whatever it is to which they choose to give priority.
The State Governments, along with the Commonwealth, must play their part in the battle against inflation.
At a time when there are complaints about the level of funding of State Government programs the Commonwealth finds it particularly strange to find some State Governments actually supporting the even higher increases in their cost levels which full indexation of wages would bring.
There is a need for restraint in the expenditures of State Governments as well as in the expenditures of this Government.
The figures I have just given clearly show that the States are not being asked to bear any undue share of the task.
page 22
The Budget includes an amount of $26m for relief payments in 1976-77 following natural disasters.
This amount comprises continuing payments following floods and cyclones during 1975-76 and recently announced drought relief assistance to Western Australia.
The Government has also undertaken to support, in accordance with the natural disaster assistance arrangements with the States, expenditures by the Victorian Government on certain drought relief measures.
page 22
We have approved a total program of $293m . for new works to be committed to construction in 1976-77.
A total cash allocation of $4 10m has been set for expenditure during the year on new and already committed projects; this compares with actual expenditure of $425m in 1975-76.
For the Darwin Reconstruction Commission a new works program of $50m and an expenditure figure of $140m have been determined; actual expenditure in 1975-76 was $1 10m.
The approved new works program for the National Capital Development Commission is $153m, with a cash allocation of $195m compared with $ 1 88m in 1 975-76.
For the remainder of the works program the limit on new works is $90m, including $50m for the Northern Territory, and the cash allocation is $75m; actual expenditure last year amounted to $127m.
The Minister for the Capital Territory has already announced details of increases in general municipal rates and in water and sewerage rates in the Australian Capital Territory.
Action is in hand to limit the subsidy to the Canberra bus service to $5.4m in 1976-77.
There will be increased revenue from bus fares and paid parking spaces in Canberra.
The Minister will be issuing details.
Soon after taking office the present Government introduced new staff ceilings which were mainly responsible for reducing Commonwealth employment in the area covered by staff ceilings by 2.8 per cent in 1 975-76.
This compares with a growth in Commonwealth employment in the area concerned of about 4 per cent per annum in the three years to 1974-75.
On 14 June the Prime Minister announced a further overall reduction of 1.2 per cent in these staff ceilings to be achieved by 30 June 1977.
This comprised a 1.6 per cent reduction in the ceiling for Public Service Act employees and a 0.9 per cent reduction in the ceilings for certain Commonwealth Government authorities.
These lower ceilings have been reflected in the detailed Budget estimates.
The Prime Minister indicated at the time that the 1976-77 ceilings set in June were provisional, being subject to further review and possible adjustment in the light particularly of the Government’s Budget decisions.
Following further consideration in the Budget context, the Government has decided upon an objective of achieving a further reduction of 2 per cent in staff ceilings for Public Service Act employees during 1976-77, making the objective in this area a 3.7 per cent reduction in all.
This further reduction is estimated to produce a saving to the Budget of about $22m in 1 976-77.
Accompanying- though lesser- reductions in the staff ceilings for certain Commonwealth Government authorities will mean that, after allowance for the reduction previously announced, the total reduction in ceilings now being aimed at during the course of 1976-77 amounts to 2.5 per cent.
The Government reaffirms its intention to achieve these reductions without sacking anyone and without creating personal hardship.
Following the change of Government we were able to keep total Budget outlays for 1975-76 within the original Budget estimates for the first time since 1968-69.
We aim to repeat that performance again in 1976-77.
We will not let up in our efforts to achieve savings and eliminate waste and inefficiencies wherever they occur.
Because so much expenditure tends to be committed before the year starts, effective expenditure control must begin at the stage of commitment.
To this end, new administrative arrangements have been developed for the regulation of forward expenditure commitments by departments and authorities which depend on the Budget for the whole or part of their finance.
Limits within which departments and relevant authorities may make commitments during the current financial year- but which are to be financed from appropriations in future years- were determined as part of the Budget process.
These limits can be increased only by specific Government decisions.
We see the development of these new administrative arrangements as making a major contribution to the improvement of overall financial management in the area of Commonwealth administration.
page 23
I turn now to the receipts side of the Budget.
Government spending cannot be massively increased as in recent years without also significantly increasing the overall tax burden.
This remains true notwithstanding the enormous deficits which have been allowed to open up between the outlays and the receipts side of the Budget- and which in due course have to be closed.
With that latter important qualification, it is also obvious that, by prudently reining in the rate of growth of government spending, it becomes possible not only to avoid further increases in the tax burden but also to contemplate reducing it.
In 1976-77, for the first time since the last Liberal-National Country Party Budget of August 1972, there will be no increases in the major indirect taxes.
I contrast this with the 1975-76 Budget proposals for indirect tax increases which- even excluding the coal export duty- represented additional levies totalling $602m in 1975-76 and $688m in a full year
Over the three years 1973-74 to 1975-76 the total of all the increases in taxation in this area lifted the annual level of taxation by over $ 1000m.
In this Budget, I repeat, there are no proposals to increase excise on cigarettes, or on beer, or on spirits, or on petrol.
Moreover, because of our success to date in restraining expenditures, 1976-77 will see our first steps towards positively relieving the burden of taxation.
The decisions involved- those already announced and those I am about to announceaccord with our basic philosophy that individuals and businesses should have more say in spending decisions which concern them, and governments less.
At the same time they are intended to strengthen confidence among consumers and investors, and thereby advance the recovery of the economy.
page 24
The most important step in relieving the burden of taxation-the indexing of personal income tax- has already been taken and has been in operation for pay-as-you-earn purposes since 1 July.
It represents perhaps the most significant reform of the personal income tax system in our time, and certainly the most costly in terms of revenue forgone.
We have taken this step both in fulfilment of our objective of getting the Government’s hands out of taxpayers’ pockets, and for wage policy reasons.
Individuals, rightly in our view, attach considerable importance to their own command over their incomes and their ability so far as possible to spend those incomes as they see fit. The indexation arrangements which are now part of the income tax law will prevent the automatic increase in effective tax rates which used to come about as rising money incomes resulting purely from inflation took taxpayers further up the progressive rate scale.
The law now provides for annual adjustments to prevent that.
A change to the law will now be needed if a government seeks to increase effective real rates.
This brake upon financial profligacy is a major step towards ‘keeping governments honest’ with their taxpayers.
The new arrangements are described in Statement No. 4 attached to the Treasurer’s Budget Speech.
The cost of indexation and the changes associated with it is estimated to be $ 1050m in 1 976-77 and $ 1 2 1 Om in a full year.
page 24
The Government made it quite clear in its election policy statements that it was not prepared to see inflation continue to add to the tax burdens of individuals and businesses.
We allowed ourselves a period of three years to give full effect to the necessary remedial legislation.
So far as personal income tax is concerned, we have already fulfilled our undertaking by indexing the system as from 1 July 1976.
We have now considered relieving businesses also from the impact of inflation on their tax burdens.
In the kind of highly inflationary situation which Australia has recently been experiencing, firms have serious problems in financing the rapidly growing costs of an adequate and appropriate level of trading stocks.
They have problems, too, with financing the soaring costs of replacing plant and equipment when depreciation allowances for taxation purposes are based on historical costs.
Since coming to office the Government has given careful thought to the most effective ways of providing relief to firms beset with problems of these kinds arising from our recent high rates of inflation.
In doing so it has had the benefit of the views originally stated by the Mathews Committee and, more recently, by Professor Mathews personally.
It has also sought and received the views of leading representatives of the accountancy profession and of a wide sweep of industry interests.
The Government has now decided to take a substantial step in relation to a system of trading stock valuation adjustments applying to taxable incomes earned in the 1976-77 income year.
Meanwhile, we are continuing to examine the impact of inflation on depreciation allowances and other aspects of business financing and profitability, with a view to bringing in appropriate legislation within the Government’s current term of office and having regard to the availability, in the meantime, of the investment allowance.
The key features of the proposed system of trading stock valuation adjustments will be:
The adjustments will reduce taxable incomes in respect of income year 1976-77.
On practical grounds, the accent of the scheme will be, so far as possible, on simplicity.
With that in mind, we propose the use of a general index for calculating the trading stock valuation adjustment.
Specifically, the cost of a firm ‘s trading stock as at 1 July 1976 will be revalued for income tax purposes by reference to the percentage increase in the ‘goods’ component of the Consumer Price Index between the June quarter of 1 976 and the June quarter of 1 977.
It is not proposed to bring the adjustments back into assessable income in later years in the circumstances proposed by the Mathews Committee- the adjustments will reduce tax, not defer it; in terms of the jargon, there will be no ‘clawback’.
It will be necessary to lay down some safeguards against misuse of the system to avoid tax that ought to be paid; the precise nature of these is at present under consideration.
By way of illustration I mention that, had such a scheme been operating fully in the current year on the basis of 1975-76 incomes, it is estimated that the cost to revenue this year would have been of the order of $ 700m.
What the full cost of the final scheme would be in 1977-78 cannot of course be foreseen at this stage.
That would depend among other things upon the rate of increase in the index during the current year.
We have said that the scheme would be phased in.
At this point it is clearly not possible for us to say how far, by this time next year, we shall feel able to go.
We shall go as far as we can.
What we do now undertake is that 50 per cent of the full adjustment will be allowed next year as deductions from 1976-77 incomes.
There are other aspects of the system of adjustments which require further study and which we are therefore not in a position to announce at present; these include, for example, the safeguards I have referred to and the categories of trading stocks to be included in the scheme.
Legislation to be introduced in the next Autumn Sittings will provide full details.
In settling those details, the Government will have discussions with professional and industry groups where appropriate.
page 25
The Government has undertaken to ease the distribution requirements for private companies under Division 7 of the Income Tax Assessment Act.
In this regard we have had the needs of small businesses particularly in mind.
We attach importance to the spirit of free enterprise which small business symbolises.
For distributions in respect of taxable incomes of the year 1975-76 and subsequent years the retention allowance for trading or business income will be increased from 50 per cent to 60 per cent.
This will increase by one-fifth the amount of after-tax income which a private company can retain without incurring Division 7 tax.
No change is being made to the 10 per cent retention allowance for property income or to the rule that there be no retention allowance for dividends that one private company receives from another.
At the same time, the law will be amended to terminate the ‘excess distribution’ provisions of Division 7, which permit a company which makes more than the minimum distribution in one year to make less than a minimum distribution in a later year without incurring Division 7 tax.
With the proposed increase in the retention allowances there will no longer be any practical need to retain these highly complex provisions, which have also been of some concern in connection with schemes of tax avoidance; they are accordingly to be withdrawn subject to appropriate transitional arrangements.
The increase in the retention allowance is estimated to cost about Sim in 1976-77 and $30m in a full year.
page 25
The Government has had under consideration the report of the Industries Assistance Commission on the income tax arrangements applying to the mining and petroleum industries.
In the light of that report it has decided on certain amendments to the law, bearing in mind both the Government’s desire to see a healthy and efficient mining sector and the IAC ‘s observations on the desirable relationship between the levels of tax on income from mining and on income from other business sources.
The changes proposed are:
Petroleum exploration expenditure and allowable capital expenditure on the mining of petroleum will be deductible against income from any source.
Allowable capital expenditure of any mining company on the development of a mine or field will be deductible on a diminishing value basis, as at present, by reference to a maximum life of mine or field of 5 years, instead of 25 years as at present.
Allowable capital expenditure on facilities used for the transportation of minerals, including petroleum, will now be deductible on a straight line basis over either 20 years, as at present, or 10 years, at the taxpayer’s option to be exercised with the first claim for a deduction.
The categories of expenditure covered by the present provisions giving deductions for allowable capital expenditure on mineral transport facilities will be extended to cover expenditure, presently not deductible, on port development such as harbour surveys, initial dredging, navigational aids and breakwaters.
The amendments will apply first to capital expenditures incurred after today.
They have no cost in 1976-77 but the revenue to be foregone in the first full year is estimated at $60m.
page 26
In the last Budget an excise of $2 per barrel was introduced on the production of crude oil, condensate and naturally occurring liquefied petroleum gas.
Under existing policy any company discovering oil would receive import parity less the production excise.
Many oil exploration companies have put to us that costs are so high today as to make commercial production from new oil discoveries of the size likely to be found in Australia unattractive at this level of return.
The Government accepts that the levy represents a substantial deterrent to companies considering exploration for new fields.
It has therefore decided that oil from discoveries after today will be free from the production excise.
The result will be that all production of crude oil from future discoveries will receive full import parity at the nearest refinery port.
The Government believes that this will significantly affect the level of activity within the oil exploration industry.
page 26
The coal export duty introduced in the last Budget applies at two rates- $6 per tonne for , high quality coal and $2 per tonne for other coal, apart from certain lower grade coal which is exempt.
The Government has always regarded this as an entirely inappropriate form of tax,
The quality of deposits varies markedly, but within and between the two categories which are subject to duty the effects of the duty fall in a quite haphazard manner.
Marginal fields pay the same rate of duty as economically more profitable fields, or in some cases more.
The imposition of this levy has had undesirable effects both on existing producers and on potential developments.
It is the intention of the Government to remove this particular levy, but for budgetary reasons which will, I think, be obvious it is not possible to remove it at one stroke.
It will however be reduced immediately, in what the Government regards as a first step towards completely phasing out this particular tax within three years.
The Government is taking these steps towards phasing out this levy to encourage the healthy development of the industry.
If the States take advantage of this situation to increase their own royalties the Government will have to review its position.
So far as immediate steps are concerned, the Government will remove the duty from noncoking coal and will reduce the rates on coking coals by 25 per cent- from $6 to $4.50 per tonne in the case of the higher rate of duty and from $2 to $ 1 .50 per tonne in the case of the lower rate.
These changes, to apply immediately, will cost an estimated $33m in 1976-77 and $37m in a full year.
page 26
Legislation to introduce an investment allowance was passed in the Autumn Sittings of the Parliament.
During those Sittings and since, representations were received on a number of aspects of the allowance on which changes in the law were sought.
In the course of its deliberations on the Budget the Government has carefully considered all of these representations and having done so has decided that the present scope of the allowance should remain unchanged.
page 26
The present level of the exemption from payroll tax in the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory is to be increased to the level recently adopted by the States.
The present exemption of $20,800 will become $41,600 per annum; above $41,600 the exemption will phase out by $2 for every $3 by which the annual payroll exceeds that amount.
The new exemption will apply from 1 January 1977.
The change does not have any significant effect on Budget revenue.
page 26
The Government has now considered the IAC report on ‘Rural Income Fluctuations- Certain
Taxation Measures ‘, which dealt with two broad questions: the averaging arrangements for primary producers, and a proposal for a scheme of income equalisation deposits for primary producers.
The Government has decided to continue the averaging system in its present form, but will take up the proposal for a scheme of income equalisation deposits.
Commencing with income year 1975-76, deposits lodged with the Government under the latter scheme will be deducted from the assessable income of the year of income in respect of which they are lodged, and included in assessable income of the year in which they are withdrawn.
The scheme will enable primary producers to act themselves to even out the effects of fluctuating income on their tax liabilities over a period of years.
Details of the scheme will be available when the legislation is introduced; the scheme will, however, include the following features:
A minimum limit of $100 and a maximum limit of $100,000 is to be applied to the total value of a taxpayer’s holdings.
It will not be possible to withdraw deposits within the first 12 months after lodgment (other than in exceptional circumstances such as natural disasters, death, or financial stringency); however, there will be no maximum limit on the period for which an amount may be left on deposit.
The scheme will apply to primary producers, but in determining taxable income from which deposits may be purchased, no distinction will be drawn between income obtained by primary producers from farm or non-farm sources.
Interest is to be paid on the deposits at a rate, initially 5 per cent per annum, to be prescribed by regulation.
The present Drought Bonds Scheme is to be discontinued under appropriate transitional arrangements.
Present holders of Drought Bonds will be offered the option of transferring to the new scheme.
It is estimated that the revenue forgone in 1976-77 will be about $2m; the full-year cost of the scheme cannot be estimated at this stage.
page 27
We undertook to increase the exemption from estate duty where the whole or part of the estate of a deceased person passes to a surviving spouse.
This is an area of the law where personal tragedies abound.
Even in current tight budgetary circumstances we have seen the need to pay special regard to rectifying the present situation.
We shall therefore fulfil our undertaking in this Budget.
We shall introduce a special deduction to apply where an interest in an estate passes to a surviving spouse.
The deduction will be $50,000, or the entire net value of the spouse’s interest in the estate if that is less than $50,000.
The existing statutory exemptions, and the rebate of part of the duty in respect of a primary producer estate, will then apply as at present to the remainder of the estate.
With the introduction of this special deduction, the deduction introduced in 1974 for an interest in the matrimonial home passing to a surviving spouse will be terminated.
This was in any case an unsatisfactory provision, as it discriminated between different types of assets and was available in full only if the gross value of the interest in the home did not exceed $35,000.
The new deduction will apply regardless of the nature of the assets and will not be reduced where the value of the relevant interest exceeds $50,000.
In the case of an estate passing wholly to a surviving spouse, no duty will now be payable on an estate of up to $90,000 (or $98,000 for primary producer estates).
About 20 per cent of presently dutiable estates will cease to be dutiable, and the impact of duty on larger estates will be considerably reduced.
The new provisions will apply to estates of persons who die after today.
The cost of this measure is estimated to be $2m in 1 976-77 and $ 1 4m in a full year.
page 27
In the aggregate, outlays in 1976-77 are estimated to increase by 11.3 per cent to $24,32 lm.
Receipts are estimated to increase by 18.8 per cent to $2 1,7 13m.
The overall deficit is therefore $2,608m. This is $977m less than the actual deficit of $3585min 1975-76.
This latter figure would of course have been much greater had it not been for the actions taken by this Government immediately it came to office.
When allowance is made for overseas transactions, the domestic deficit in 1976-77 is estimated at $1879m; this is over $1000m less than the domestic deficit of $2 905m last year.
For all the reasons I have stated earlier this hauling in of the deficit this year is appropriate.
But, over and beyond that, it can fairly be claimed that the deficit in prospect for 1976-77 differs in important respects from those of 1975-76 and 1974-75.
The ‘mix’ of the prospective deficit this year is vitally different from those of the last two years.
It is particularly striking, for example, that the lower deficit in prospect for 1976-77 is estimated to come about after forgoing revenue of no less than $ 1250m on account of personal tax indexation and the investment allowance.
Had we not chosen to make those desirable reductions in the burden of personal and corporate taxation the deficit would have been about $ 1360m and the domestic deficit would have been down to around $630m.
Not only is the reduction in the deficit appropriate to the evolving economic recovery but it is also being achieved after a major reduction in taxes which will play its own part in enhancing that recovery.
More generally, this Budget reflects the Government ‘s determination to press on with the major social, economic and administrative reforms that were outlined by the Prime Minister last November.
It continues the drive to restore to individuals the economic independence that was so markedly eroded by the policies of our predecessors. It puts people first.
It points towards the re-enhancement of the role of the private sector and away from the threat of big government.
It emphasises the importance of free enterprise.
For the first time in recent years, it gives real incentive for individuals and companies to venture and to succeed.
page 28
Against that background, I believe there will be general agreement that this Budget is above all a fiscally responsible one.
Among other things it represents another step towards a better ‘mix’ of fiscal and monetary policies than has existed in recent years.
The joint thrust of this Government’s fiscal and monetary policies to date has slowed the growth in the monetary aggregates in recent months from the grossly excessive rates of 1975.
This Budget stays firmly on that track.
The reduction we are effecting in the Budget deficit will reduce the Government’s call on financing from the community.
It thereby provides more scope for maintaining financial conditions appropriate to continuing recovery in the private sector while holding growth in the overall monetary aggregates at appropriate rates.
Thus, the technical estimates at the moment suggest that with the monetary regulators at settings appropriate to continuing recovery in the private sector, a Budget outcome of the kind foreshadowed here, along with other factors affecting the financial system, could be consistent with growth in the broadly defined volume of money (M3) in the 10-12 per cent range during 1976-77.
That range, which is subject to the usual hazards of forecasting, will no doubt change over time as circumstances unfold.
Depending upon those circumstances it could also be necessary and appropriate for policy to be adjusted in the light of events as they develop.
As of now, however, it gives a broad indication that growth in the monetary aggregates will be a notch or so slower than last year.
The Government believes that, notwithstanding all the qualifications which necessarily attach to it, this broad indication of the monetary outlook will provide the private sector with a greater degree of certainty regarding that aspect of policy in the year ahead than it has previously enjoyed- particularly in recent years.
It should help, for example, to allay fears of either excessive financial tightness or financial ease.
Consistent with the aims of government policy, an outcome along these lines would contribute to reducing inflation while ensuring adequate funds to underwrite recovery.
Within that broad monetary framework, the decisions of the wage-fixing authorities will be crucial to the speed of the wind-down in inflation that, one way or another, has to be achieved.
Provided there is significantly less than full flow-on of price increases to wages, an improvement of several percentage points in price performance, and a possibly somewhat greater deceleration in money wages, can be had in 1976-77 as as whole.
By the end of the period, we should be down to single digit rates.
With some productivity gains accruing in the upturn, a noticeable rise in the profit share would then be in prospect.
With such a gradual winding-down of inflation and inflationary expectations, recovery in demand and activity would be unlikely to proceed at more than a modest pace.
Under those circumstances, both private consumption expenditure and business investment should, during 1976-77, become established as sources of continuing growth in demand for domestic production.
Over the year as a whole they should, on that basis, record moderate increases in real terms.
Unhappily, seasonal conditions appear likely to permit little if any increase in farm production overall; however, developments along the lines I have mentioned could reasonably be expected to result in gross non-farm product growing by about 4 per cent for the year as a whole.
Given a more widespread recognition, on the part of all those principally concerned, of the central role which current rates of inflation are playing in holding back the recovery and keeping unemployment high, it is possible to envisage a more optimistic scenario.
But until the evidence of that more widespread recognition comes up on the board- for example, in the determinations of the wage-fixing tribunals and in the co-operation with those decisions of the trade union leadership as a whole- we cannot plan on that.
Even the more gradual recovery prospects, however, would be consistent, after allowance for labour force and productivity growth, with some gradual reduction in unemployment during the course of 1 976-77.
It would be rash to predict any early reduction in unemployment; movements in the remainder of calendar year 1976 are unlikely to be great.
But 1977, all going well, should see the start of a more concerted fall.
page 29
This Budget embodies and advances the Government’s overall economic and social strategy.
The economy is now set on the right path and the combination of expenditure and tax measures in this Budget will help it along that path.
For the first time in several years there are now good prospects of staying on a growth path we can sustain.
Inflation- and therefore unemployment- will not be wiped out overnight, but even on a not over-optimistic view of things they will be steadily reduced by the budgetary and other policies to which this Government is adhering.
After only eight months since, on coming to office, we confronted the full enormity of our inheritance, these policies are now beginning to produce results.
At the time the Budget also reflects the Government’s priorities both as between private and public spending, and within the public sector itself.
It is, as I said at the outset, both a Budget for confidence and a Budget for reform.
Debate (on motion by Senator Wriedt) adjourned.
page 29
Assent to the following Bills reported:
Income Tax Assessment Amendment Bill 1 976
Superannuation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 1 976
Income Tax (International Agreements) Amendment Bill 1976
Health Insurance Levy Assessment Bill 1976 Health Insurance Levy Bill 1 976
Income Tax (International Agreements) Amendment Bill (No. 2) 1976
Income Tax Assessment Amendment Bill (No. 2 ) 1 976
Income Tax (Rates) Bill 1976
Income Tax (Individuals) Bill 1 976
Health Insurance Amendment Bill 1 976
National Health Amendment Bill 1976
Health Insurance Commission Amendment Bill 1976
Social Services Amendment Bill ( No 2 ) 1 976
Family Law Amendment Bill 1976
Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill 1976
Customs Tariff Validation Bill 1976
Northern Territory (Administration) Amendment Bill 1976
Supply Bill (No 1 ) 1976-77 Supply BUI (No. 2) 1976-77
Papua New Guinea (Staffing Assistance) Termination Bill 1976
Public Accounts Committee Amendment Bill 1976 Wool Industry Amendment Bill 1976 Wool Tax Amendment Bill (No. 1) 1976 Wool Tax Amendment Bill (No. 2 ) 1 976
Wool Tax Amendment Bill (No. 3 ) 1 976 Wool Tax Amendment Bill (No. 4) 1976 Wool Tax Amendment Bill (No. 5) 1976 Dairy Adjustment Amendment Bill 1976 Dairying Industry Research and Promotion Levy Bill 1976
Dairying Industry Research and Promotion (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 1976
States Grants (Hospital Operating Costs) Bill 1976
Road Safety and Standards Authority (Repeal ) Bill 1 976
States Grants (Air Quality Monitoring) Bill 1 976
Remuneration and Allowances Amendment Bill 1976
Maritime College Bill 1 976
Industrial Research and Development Incentives Bill 1976
page 30
– Pursuant to the resolution of the Senate of 2 June 1976 1 received from the Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on
Education and the Arts, Senator Davidson, the report of that Committee on the education of isolated school children. In accordance with paragraph 1 of the resolution I gave directions for its printing and circulation. In compliance with the order of the Senate I now table that report.
-by leave- I give notice that on the next day of sitting I shall move:
That the Senate take note of the report.
page 30
– I lay on the table a copy of the reasons for judgment of His Honour the Chief Justice of Australia refusing an application by Bruce Noel Hill relating to the election of senators from the State of Tasmania, held on 13 December 1975.
Senate adjourned at 9.36 p.m.
page 31
The following answers to questions were circulated:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Primary Industry, upon notice:
– The Minister for Primary Industry has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
The relevant bodies are therefore:
The Australian Apple and Pear Corporation
The Australian Canned Fruits Board
The Australian Dairy Corporation
The Australian Dried Fruits Control Board
The Australian Egg Board
The Australian Honey Board
The Australian Meat Board
Australian Tobacco Board
Australian Wheat Board
The Australian Wine Board
Australian Wool Corporation
Australian Wool Testing Authority
The Australian Canned Fruit Sales Promotion Committee
Pig Meat Promotion Advisory Committee
Australian Chicken Meat Research Committee
Australian Meat Research Committee
Australian Pig Industry Research Committee
Dairying Research Committee
Dried Fruits Research Committee
Fishing Industry Research Committee
Wheat Industry Research Council
The marketing bodies are self-financing, so that the question of Commonwealth savings does not arise.
Research programs approved for 1975-76 are fully committed and there will be no savings in Commonwealth contributions to these programs in this financial year.
It is expected however that some savings will be made in the area of promotional activities, and details of these savings are given below:
As a consequence of the reduction in the Commonwealth contribution to the joint overseas promotion campaigns of the Australian Apple and Pear Corporation, the Australian Dried Fruits Control Board and the Australian Wine Board, a saving of approximately $ 1 1 5,000 will be made in 1975-76.
Due to inflation, the originally agreed Government and grower contributed budgets are insufficient to maintain wool research and promotion activities in 1975-76 and 1976-77 at the level of recent years. Accordingly, programs in both fields have already been pruned, and any further reductions in budgets would seriously impair the effectiveness of the reduced programs.
From a marketing viewpoint, the Commonwealth contributes funds to the overseas promotional activities of the Australian Dairy Corporation, the Australian Egg Board and the Australian Honey Board. In the 1975-76 financial year, some savings will be made, as the Commonwealth contribution will be reduced from a matching dollar for dollar basis to 70 per cent of the amount spent by authorities. On current estimates, a saving of approximately$ 100,000 will be made in 1975-76.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development, upon notice:
– The Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
1 ) What was the cost of Aboriginal legal aid
) What was the cost of other legal aid
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question:
(a) the cost of Aboriginal legal aid for the year ending 30 June 1 975 was $2,734,000.
2 ) I am informed by the Attorney-General that
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Post and Telecommunications, upon notice:
– The Minister for Post and Telecommunications has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development, upon notice:
– The Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question: (1)I understand that the New South Wales Government approved a limited number of school buildings to be started in 1975-76 on the basis of no payment for work until July 1976. I am advised that no contracts, incorporating such a scheme, were let by the Public Works Department in Western Australia.
The New South Wales Public Works Department awarded contracts for the projects involved in the extended credit scheme after representations from companies tendering for the projects. The basis of the extended credit scheme was:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question:
(a) Nil.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Post and Telecommunications, upon notice:
– The Minister for Post and Telecommunications has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question:
TheDepartment of Aboriginal Affairs does not have significant information in relation to the allegations. It sought the advice of the Commonwealth Police in relation to the allegations made in the Newsletter referred to and was advised that the Newsletter article, being apparently based on hearsay and rumour, did not provide sufficient grounds upon which the Police could initiate an investigation. In these circumstances, I do not propose to take further action.
If the author of the article is prepared to substantiate in some way the allegations, I would be prepared to again refer the matter to the Commonwealth Police for consideration of investigation.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development, upon notice:
Has the Minister been able to obtain a reply from the Attorney-General regarding Senator Cavanagh’s question without notice asked on 6 April 1976, viz: ‘What constitutional authority has the Government to make home savings grants to single persons as proposed in a statement submitted to the Senate ‘.
– The Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
The Attorney-General has advised that it would not be in accordance with practice to furnish legal opinion on the Commonwealth’s constitutional powers in answer to a question. I would, however, refer the Honourable Senator to the decision of the High Court in the Australian Assistance Plan Case (7 A.L.R. 277), which provides a reasonable constitutional basis for the making of the grants by the Commonwealth.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister representing the Treasurer, upon notice:
– The answer to the honourable senator’s question is as follows:
The Government’s assessment of the state of the economy and its strategy for recovery have been spelt out in detail to the Parliament. In particular I refer the honourable senator to statements by the Treasurer to Parliament on 4 March, 25 March and 20 May which dealt at length with the Government’s economic policies.
In short, the Commonwealth Government’s economic policies are designed to reduce the rate of inflation; they are not in themselves inflationary.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question:
1 ) The following sub-contracts have been let:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
Will the Minister inform the Parliament if there are to be severe cut-backs in the number of staff employed by the Department of Aboriginal Affairs; if so, are most of those to be dismissed Aboriginals.
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question:
As part of the further reductions in Public Service staff announced by the Prime Minister in June, the staff ceiling of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs has been reduced from 1275 to 1225. The Prime Minister has made it clear that the latter level of staff, which is to be reached by 30 June 1977, is to be attained through wastage and by restricting recruitment, not by dismissals. It seems likely that there will be such wastage amongst Aboriginal staff members, as among nonAboriginal staff,
House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs: Report (Question No. 616)
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question:
The functional departments have also examined the report with a view to determining the practicability of implementing the recommendations. A summary of action to date on each of the other recommendations follows:
The Aboriginal Medical Service field staff consult at a training level with major hospitals and liaise with Community Health Services field staff informally. Community Health Services has recently conducted seminars for field staff in Kalgoorlie and Port Hedland which should promote more effective consultation in the future. The Community Health Services Director is a member by standing invitation of the Medical Committee of the Aboriginal Medical Service.
Community Health Services, with an increased Aboriginal field staff, has local contact with communities throughout the State.
The Aboriginal Medical Service provides health education at the AMS Centre. Subsidised lunch schemes are operating at Gnowangerup and Wiluna and other selfsupporting schemes are being organised in a number of other centres.
(a) This recommendation has been implemented in part. Views of Aboriginal people in local communities, as well as the Aboriginal Affairs Co-ordinating Committee are being sought on housing solutions but progress must depend on the availability of funds.
16) (a) Effective consultation takes place between Adult Education, Technical Education of W.A., Education Depanment and Aboriginal communities. Health and hygiene courses are available.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question: (1), (2) and (3) The information sought by the honourable senator in respect of annual allocations of funds on the votes of the Depanment of Aboriginal Affairs is provided in Second Reading Speeches in respect of the States Grants (Aboriginal Advancement) and States Grants (Aboriginal Assistance) Bills in respect of the financial years 1972-73 to 1975-76 and in the annual reports of the Depanment of Aboriginal Affairs for the period ending 30 June 1974 and 1974-75. Information on other Government funds allocated to Aboriginal affairs on the votes of other Departments is available in the Appropriation Bills, Budget Speeches and associated documents for the appropriate years. It is not practicable to provide such information on a quarterly basis, as requested by the honourable senator.
asked the Minister representing the Treasurer, upon notice:
1 ) What are the present levels of foreign ownership and control in the following Australian industries:
– The Treasurer has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
Foreign Ownership and Control of the Mining Industry, 1972-73 (reference No. 10.42);’
Foreign Control in Manufacturing Industry- Study of large Enterprise Groups, 1972-73 (reference No. 12.35). The results of a more comprehensive study covering manufacturing industry as a whole will be published during the next few months.
No official statistics are available in respect of the beef, sheep and wheat industries.
asked the Minister for Science, upon notice:
– The answer to the honourable senator’s question is as follows:
Should the honourable senator require further details in relation to the expenditure of other departments and authorities, I suggest that he direct his question also to the Ministers responsible.
Investment Allowance for Tractors
-On 25 and 26 February 1976 Senator Walsh addressed two questions without notice to me as Minister representing the Treasurer in the Senate. The questions related to the new investment allowance as it might apply to imported tractors. I undertook to refer the questions to the Treasurer who has supplied the following answer
The Government has estimated that the cost to revenue of the new investment allowance, during its 40 per cent phase, would be some $500 million in a full year. It has not estimated what percentage of this might be attributable to the purchase of large imported tractors by taxpayers paying tax at high marginal rates.
The honourable senator appears to be under the impression that the investment allowance is solely directed towards stimulating Australian manufacturing through increasing demands for its products. That is not so. The allowance is directed also at increasing the productive capacity of the economy through the upgrading of the capital stock and in that sense does not discriminate between imported capital goods and those of domestic manufacture. Presumably the tractors in question will increase the productive capacity of those producers making use of them.
Second-hand Motor Vehicles
-On 18 May 1976 Senator McLaren asked me the following question, without notice:
I address my question to the Minister representing the Minister for Business and Consumer Affairs. I refer to question No. 461 dealing with the importation of second-hand motor vehicles, a question which I had on the notice paper and in respect of which I received an answer prior to the recess. Whilst the Minister was able to provide me with information about the number of vehicles imported during the last 5 years and the amount of revenue collected, can he tell me why his Department cannot provide me with the names of the persons and companies who imported these cars?
The Minister for Business and Consumer Affairs has now provided me with the following information in answer to the honourable senator’s question:
As indicated in the earlier reply to question No. 461, over 24 000 second-hand motor vehicles were imported in the period. To provide the specific detail now required by the honourable senator would require a very substantial commitment of departmental staff resources and ensuing expense to extract such data.
In addition, the Commonwealth Statistician who is, inter alia, responsible for the collection, compilation, tabulation and publication of statistics, including statistics of imports and exports, is legally constrained by the Census and Statistics Act 1 905, 1 973 to not, except as allowed by that Act, divulge the contents of any form filled up or information supplied.
Under that constraint, the Statistician does not disclose the names of persons or companies involved in import or export transactions.
The Bureau of Customs, as a primary source of such import and export data to the Statistician, has followed a practice, which I believe to be appropriate, of also not making public information which the Statistician would not disclose.
Australian Citizenship Applications
-On 26 May 1976 (Hansard, page 1925) Senator Mulvihill asked me, as Minister representing the Prime Minister, a question without notice concerning the reports of Mr Justice Hope’s Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security. The Prime Minister has now supplied the following information for answer to the honourable senator’s question:
The reports of the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security are under consideration by the Government as they come to hand and an announcement on the various matters dealt with by the Royal Commissioner will be made in due course.
Postal and Telecommunications Commissions
– On 1 April 1976 Senator Thomas asked the Minister representing the Minister for Post and Telecommunications the following question, without notice:
In view of the fact that the Australian Postal Commission and the Australian Telecommunications Commission are now expected to be financially self-sufficient and to contribute to their own capital expansion, what safeguards can the Minister give that the interests of families living in remote areas which would be patently unprofitable to service are being protected?
The Minister for Post and Telecommunications has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
Both the Postal Services Act and the Telecommunications Act provide that the Commissions, in performing their functions, shall have regard for the special needs of Australian people who reside or carry on business outside the cities.
Recent marketing initiatives by the Postal Commission include reductions in charges for boxholders not served by a postman or mailman and for users of the private mail bag services. Lower rates announced for local bulk postings of mail permit lower volumes of postings to attract the concessional rates in smaller communities than postings in metropolitan areas. When telephone tariffs were last raised there was no rental increase for subscribers connected to noncontinuous telephone exchanges and the construction charge beyond the 8 kilometre point has been retained despite cost rises since 1973 when the present charge was determined. The service targets for Telecom Australia in 1975-76 included provisions for continuous services to be provided for 10 per cent of the 14 600 subscribers who had noncontinuous service and for automatic service to be provided for 1 1 per cent of the 146 000 subscribers connected to manual exchanges.
These examples indicate that both Commissions are responsive in a practical way to the special difficulties of families in remote areas. Services available through both Commissions are under periodic review with the objective of providing the best national service possible at the least cost. Recent decisions to hold the basic letter tariff at its present level during 1976 and to retain existing charges for the telephone service into 1976-77 should be pleasing to all users in a time when costs have risen significantly.
Atomic Reactor
– On 1 June 1976 Senator Keeffe asked the following question, without notice:
Does the Minister possess up to date information concerning a proposed reactor to replace HIFAR at the Lucas Heights establishment of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission? If so, can the Minister advise the Parliament of its proposed location, its accessibility to the scientific community of Australia and, in the light of the inadequacies of the present facilities, when it will be built?
The Minister for National Resources has now provided the following answer to the honourable Senator’s question:
As reported in its 1974-75 Annual Report, the Australian Atomic Energy Commission is making a detailed study of the Australian requirements for research reactor irradiation facilities to the end of this century. The study is taking account of the reactor needs within the community for both scientific research and radioisotope production. At the same time, the Commission is reviewing the capacity of its existing reactor HIFAR to meet these needs.
The study is expected to be completed in early 1977. Any new reactor recommended as a result of the study could not be operational before about 1 982 due to the lead time for design and construction involved. A new reactor would be equally as accessible to the scientific community as is HIFAR. Present indications are that Lucas Heights would be the most suitable location for such a reactor.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for National Resources, upon notice:
– The Minister for National Resources has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
Over the past ten years, the Commonwealth has also spent considerable sums on water research through CSIRO, the Bureau of Meterology and the Australian Research Grants Committee, and through the National Capital Development Commission and the Department of the Northern Territory (previously through the former Department of the Interior) on the development of water resources in the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory respectively. These figures are not readily available and I suggest that the honourable Senator pursue his enquires through the appropriate authorities.
Details of expenditures on research and development for which my Department has administrative responsibility in respect of the first three months of each year from 1 970 to 1976 are not readily available and the preparation of that degree of detail would involve a very time-consuming process. In any event, payments during this period of each year could vary considerably from year to year depending on the timing of action by recipient organisations or individuals in lodging claims for which advances or reimbursements are payable.
In the case of water resource development projects, the allocation of funds has generally been made within specific programs of assistance by way of Section 96 grants authorised by special legislation. In the case of the allocation of funds for capital works on the River Murray system, expenditure is in accordance with the Commonwealth’s obligations under the River Murray Waters Act ( 1915-74).
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
Is the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, in conjunction with the Attorney-General’s Department, currently preparing legislation to override discriminatory clauses of the Queensland Aborigines Act and the Queensland Torres Strait Islanders Act.
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question:
No. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Queensland Discriminatory Laws) Act 1975 came into force on 19 June 1975.
The purpose of this Act is to supersede certain provisions of the laws of Queensland that have the effect of discriminating against Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders and denying their basic rights.
The Act deals specifically with the following areas:
Entering on Reserves
Conduct on Reserves
Payment of Award wages
Management of Property
Legal proceedings
Entry on premises on Reserves
Compulsory labour
In addition to this Act, the Racial Discrimination Act became effective in law from 31 October 1975. This Act has a more general application to discrimination based on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin, and makes it unlawful for a person to do an act involving racial discrimination which impairs the enjoyment, on an equal footing of fundamental rights and freedoms. This Act also contains provision which guarantees equality before the law in the enjoyment of rights without discrimination based on race, and which are designed to supersede State or Commonwealth laws that discriminate on ground of race in relation to the enjoyment or rights.
This Act also prescribes acts of racial discrimination in respect of access to places and facilities available to members of the public, the disposal of land, housing and other accommodation, the provision of goods and services to the public, employment, and the right to join trade unions.
Complaints of infringements in relation to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Queensland Discriminatory Laws) Act 1975 should be made by the person affected to his legal adviser. The Government fully funds the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Legal Service (Queensland) to provide legal advice and assistance to Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders in Queensland. That service employs field officers and retains solicitors who can be consulted by any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander who wishes to enquire about his rights or wishes to take legal action to enforce his rights under the Act.
The Racial Discrimination Act 1975 provides that the Commissioner for Community Relations shall enquire into alleged infringements of the Act and endeavour to effect a settlement. Where the Commissioner certifies thatsettlement has been attempted but has not been achieved, legal proceedings may be brought for an injunction, damages or order directing specified acts to be performed or other remedies set out in the Act. Advice in relation to infringements of this Act can be obtained from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Legal Service (Queensland) who can provide representation of the person complaining where settlement has been attempted but not achieved.
asked the Minister representing the Attorney-General, upon notice:
– The Attorney-General has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Post and Telecommunications, upon notice:
With regard to musical performing groups employed by the Australian Broadcasting Commission:
– The Minister for Post and Telecommunications has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
Key players perform for outside organisations, where appropriate, and in overseas activities of the Musica Viva Society. Such players also provide tuition for young people at music camps and for the National Training Orchestra.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Post and Telecommunications, upon notice:
– The Minister for Post and Telecommunications has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Post and Telecommunications, upon notice:
What was the total expenditure of the Australian Broadcasting Commission on direct coverage of overseas sporting events in each of the last two financial years.
– The Minister for Post and Telecommunications has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for the Northern Territory, upon notice:
What has been the effect on fish life and the fishing industry in the Melville Bay area, due to the mining operations of Nabalco at Gove Peninsula.
– The Minister for the Northern Territory has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
There was no fishing industry in the commercial sense at Melville Bay although there is subsistence fishing in these waters. There is no evidence to date of any deleterious effects to the fish resources of Melville Bay from the red mud disposal system used by Nabalco. There have been occasional fish kills due to accidental spillages of noxious materials from the cooling water outfall, but these have been infrequent and the fish kills have been considered insignificant.
Many people have attributed a virulent occurrence of the condition known as ‘ciguatera ‘ on the seaward side of Gove Peninsula to some part of the mining operations. However, ciguatera is known throughout the Indo Pacific region. It has been known since the very earliest European explorations and although its origins are obscure there is no evidence at present linking the mining operations with this condition.
asked the Minister for Education, upon notice:
– The answer to the honourable senator’s question is as follows:
During 1975-76 the Schools Commission advanced funds to Queensland totalling $1,266,996 for recurrent expenditure of government special schools for handicapped children. The claim for recurrent expenditure of non-government schools in Queensland has recently been received and I have approved payments amounting to $638,082.99 for the period 1 July 1 975 to 30 June 1 976 to these schools.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for the Northern Territory, upon notice:
– The Minister for the Northern Territory has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question: (1)Yes
(2)-
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
Has the National Aboriginal Consultative Committee formally made any specific recommendations to the Government relating to the Aboriginal Land (Northern Territory) Bill 1976 currently before the Parliament; if so (a) what recommendations have been made, and (b) has the Minister responded to the recommendations and if he has, what was his response.
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question:
The National Aboriginal Consultative Committee has not formally made any specific recommendations to the Government relating to the Aboriginal Land (Northern Territory) Bill currently before Parliament.
asked the Minister for Education, upon notice:
Is it a fact that no new students will be admitted to quota places at the University of Queensland in the second semester of 1976; if so (a) have any other Australian universities or colleges of advanced education placed similar restrictions on student intakes in 1976, (b) can the Minister estimate how many (i) full-time, (ii) part-time and (iii) external students will be affected by the restrictions imposed by the University of Queensland and other universities or colleges of advanced education and (c) have these restrictions resulted from any financial cut-backs imposed by the Australian Government.
– The answer to the honourable senator’s question is as follows:
I do not have precise information regarding the admission of new students to the University of Queensland in the second semester of 1976. The level of quotas set by universities and colleges of advanced education to achieve recommended student numbers and the method of application of those quotas are matters for determination by individual institutions themselves. Total enrolments in universities rose from 148 000 in 197S to 1S3 000 in 1976 and in the case of colleges from 125 000 in 1975 to 134 000 in 1976.
Recommended student numbers on which the funding of universities and colleges of advanced education was based in 1976 are set out in the reports of the two tertiary Commissions for that year. The reports were based on guidelines laid down by the previous Government and were endorsed by the present Government. I draw to the honourable Senator’s attention that the number of equivalent full-time undergraduate students enrolled at the University of Queensland in 1976 was 12 850 which was 550 above the level recommended by the Universities Commission.
asked the Minister representing the Attorney-General, upon notice:
Has the Attorney-General’s attention been drawn to comments made by Judge Demack of the Family Court of Australia in The Courier Mail, of 21 May 1976, that the present premises of the Court in Brisbane are inadequate: if so, (a) what efforts are being made to obtain adequate accommodation for the Court in Brisbane; (b) if alternative accommodaton is not envisaged at this stage, what is being done to ensure adequate privacy for court hearings and counselling sessions; (c) is it planned to appoint another Judge to the Court in Brisbane; if so, when; and (d) is it planned to appoint additional counsellors to the Court in Brisbane; if so, how many additional counsellors are to be appointed and when are the appointments to take place.
– The Attorney-General has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
My attention has been drawn to comments made by Mr Justice Demack of the Family Court of Australia in The Courier Mail of 2 1 May 1 976 concerning the inadequacy of the temporary premises of the Court in Brisbane. I had already initiated action towards obtaining more suitable accommodation for the Court.
The answers to the specific points raised are:
Space has now been allocated for permanent accommodation for the Family Court of Australia in Brisbane, and architects from the Department of Construction have commenced the necessary detailed planning.
As it will be several months until the permanent premises will be ready for occupation, steps are currently being taken to improve the temporary accommodation to ensure a greater degree of privacy for court hearings and counselling sessions.
I announced recently that I will soon recommend the appointment of additional Judges to the Family Court of Australia. These should include the appointment of an additional Judge to the Court in Brisbane.
An additional counsellor will be appointed to the Court in Brisbane shortly.
Report on Aborigines in the Kimberley (Question No. 694)
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
Were funds from the Australian Government, or any assistance from Australian Government Departments, employed in the preparation of the report entitled ‘Assessment of the Needs and Opportunities for Aborigines in the Kimberley’ in 1971; if so, (a) what assistance was provided by the Australian Government; (b) has the report been made public and when was it made public, and if not, will the Minister table the report in the Austraiian Parliament; and (c) which recommendations of the report have been put into effect to date, and at what expense to (i) the Australian Government, and (ii) the Western Australian Government.
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question:
Yes.
Action has been taken in relation to all these objectives but it would be impracticable to list all the action taken on each of numerous recommendations made in the report. A total of over $7m has been provided by the Commonwealth Government for Aboriginal affairs programs in the Kimberley region since the presentation of the report.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Defence, upon notice:
– The Minister for Defence has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
Yes.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Health, upon notice:
Has the Queensland Branch of the Australian Medical Association requested the National Health and Medical Research Council to ban phenacetin from compound analgesics; if so, what action has been taken on the submission to date.
– The Minister for Health has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
Yes, through the Federal Council of the Australian Medical Association.
The submission accompanying the request is under consideration by the Medicine Advisory Committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council.
In addition, analgesics are receiving the attention of the Public Health Advisory Committee of the NH and MRC.
asked the Minister representing the Treasurer, upon notice:
Is the Commonwealth Statistician arranging a conference to discuss rationalisation and development of health data collection in Australia; if so, (a) what is the exact aim of the conference, (b) when is it to be held, and (c) what is the estimated cost of the conference.
– The Treasurer has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
The Statistician did arrange such a Conference, at the request of the 1975 Australian Health Ministers’ Conference, on the advice of the Hospital and Allied Services Council.
The Conference was held, in Canberra, from 9-13 February 1976.
The terms of reference of the Conference were to report on:
the nature and scope of problems currently associated with health data collection, including consideration of deficiencies and areas of overlap;
b) definition of the areas of activity of organisations;
c) action that might be taken to rationalise and improve present and future health data collection and analysis activities.
The approximate direct cost to the Bureau was $3,000; all participants met their own travelling and accommodation expenses.
A formal Report of the Conference has been produced and is to be discussed at the 1976 Australian Health Ministers ‘ Conference. Copies of the Report, which contains full details of the terms of reference, agenda, participants, resolutions, recommendations, etc., are available and a copy can be supplied to the honourable senator upon request.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Post and Telecommunications, upon notice:
– The Minister for Post and Telecommunications has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
A similar service is provided by a number of private distributors with whom Australia Post must compete for this type of business.
asked the Minister represent ing the Minister for Overseas Trade, upon notice:
Has the Government of Italy invoked regulations requiring a health certificate on the import of Australian hides; if so
what are the regulations concerned,
b ) how long have they been in force,
do the regulations apply to any other country,
did the Government of Italy advise the Australian Government why the new regulations were being invoked, and, if so, what reason was given, and
has the Australian Government made any attempt to have the regulations revoked, and, if so, what action has been taken and what results have occurred.
– The Minister for Overseas Trade has provided the following information in answer to the honourable senator’s question:
Since February 1976, a number of Australian shipments of hides have been detained by Italian authorities because of the absence of accompanying health certificates required under Italian Government regulations. The answers to the specific points in your question are as follows:
The regulations concerned require that certain categories of imported hides be accompanied by certification that hides originate from animals free from infectious and contagious diseases.
It is understood the regulations were enacted in 1954 but were not previously enforced.
The regulations apply to imports from all sources.
As mentioned in (b) above, no new regulations are involved.
Since the problem arose, the Australian Government has made a number of representations to the Italian authorities and the problem has now been satisfactorily resolved. Approval has been obtained for the entry of detained shipments as well as shipments in transit. A new form of certificate acceptable to Italian authorities and the Australian Department of Primary Industry has been agreed upon to enable full resumption of Australian hide exports to Italy.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Defence, upon notice:
May a person who joined the Army when under eighteen years of age with parental consent be discharged from the Army if the parent withdraws consent, (a) before the person is eighteen years of age, or (b) after the person is eighteen years of age.
– The Minister for Defence has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
It is Army practice to obtain parental consent to the enlistment of members under 18, but consent is not a legal requirement.
Australian Military Regulation 176 ( 1 ) (b) empowers the proper authority to discharge a member under 18 when a parent requests his discharge. However, the Regulation does not confer an entitlement on the soldier for discharge. Discharges under this provision are usually approved only on strong compassionate grounds.
asked the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister in Child Care Matters, upon notice:
– The answer to the honourable senator’s question is as follows: (1), (2), (3) and (4) On 20 May 1976, both the Prime Minister and the Treasurer announced that $73. 3m would be available for children’s services in 1976-77. This compares favourably with the $63.29m expected to be spent in the current financial year. The Prime Minister has announced that in the coming financial year priority will be given to funding child care projects in high need areas and that ways of meeting this priority within the level of funds provided will be examined during discussions with the States. I will ensure that the points the honourable senator has raised are taken into account as the program develops.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
Does the Minister’s statement to the Australian Mining Industry Council ‘s General Meeting held on 2 9 March 1 976, that ‘the fact that an agreement has been entered into by a foreign-owned consortium with a State Government does not tie the hands of the Federal Government in the pursuit of National policies of this kind ‘ have significance with regard to Aurukun; if so, is the agreement entered into between the Queensland Government and the Aurukun Mining Consortium worthless if it contravenes Federal Government policy on mining on Aboriginal lands.
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question:
The Commonwealth Government has indicated that any arrangements for mining development in the Aurukun Reserve must conform to the Government’s policies in respect of foreign investment in Australia and of the rights of Aboriginal people.
Negotiations between Aurukun Associates and the Aboriginal community at Aurukun are continuing and the possibility that the terms of the agreement might need to be renegotiated has been referred to in the report of the Queensland Ombudsman on the matter.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for National Resources, upon notice:
– The Minister for National Resources has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question, based on information supplied by the Australian Statistician:
No statistics were compiled for years prior to 1965.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for National Resources, upon notice:
– The Minister for National Resources has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
On the Northwest Shelf (Offshore W.A. and NT.)
Woodside-Burmah Oil N.L.
Shell Development (Australia) Pty Ltd
B.P. Petroleum Development Australia Pty Ltd
California Asiatic Oil Company
West Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd (2/7 Texaco Overseas Petroleum Company, 2/7 Shell Development (Australia) Pty Ltd, 2/7 California Asiatic Oil Company, 1 /7 Ampol Exploration Ltd)
Arco Australia Ltd
Australian Aquitane Petroleum Pty Ltd
Esso Exploration and Production Australia Inc.
In the Perth Basin ( W.A.)
West Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd
Esso Exploration and Production Australia Inc. Inc.
Western Mining Corporation Ltd
In the Cooper Basin (S.A. and Qld)
Delhi International Oil Corp.
Santos Ltd
Vamgas N.L.
Bridge Oil NX.
Reef Oil N.L.
Basin Oil N.L.
PexaOilN.L.
Endeavour Oil Company N.L.
AbrolhosOilN.L.
Pursuit Oil N.L.
Western Mining Corp. Ltd
Total Exploration Australia Pty Ltd
Alliance Oil Development Australia NX.
In the Amadeus Basin (N.T.)
Magellan Petroleum Australia Ltd
Oilmin N.L.
United Canso Oil and Gas (NT) Pty Ltd
Transoil (N.T.) N.L.
Flinders Petroleum N.L.
Freeport of Australia Inc.
In the Gippsland Basin (Offshore Vic. and Tas.)
Hematite Petroleum Pty Ltd (BHP subsidiary)
Esso Exploration and Production Aust. Inc.
In the Bowen-Surat Basin (Roma/Moonie area, Qld)
International Oils Exploration N.L.
A.A.R. Ltd (formerly the Associated Group)
I.O.L. Petroleum Ltd (formerly Interstate Oil Ltd)
Bridge Oil N.L.
PexaOilN.L.
Offshore Oil N.L.
Hartogen Oil N.L.
Amalgamated Petroleum N.L.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question:
Queensland
Aurukun
Bloomfield River
Doomadgee
Hope Vale
Mornington Island
Western Australia
Balgo
Beagle Bay
Cosmo Newbery
Cundeelee
Kalumburu
La Grange
Lombardina
Mt Margaret
Northern Territory
Angurugu
Bathurst Island
Galiwinku (Elcho Island)
Lake Evella
Milingimbi
Minjilang (Croker Island )
Numbulwar
Oenpelli
Port Keats
Ramangining
Yirrkala
Goulburn Island
Mission bodies manage children’s homes and other institutions on some other reserves.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development, upon notice:
Did the Treasurer refer a letter from the Shire Clerk of the Pine Rivers Shire Council dated 18 February 1976, in connection with the Sewerage Backlog Programme, to the Minister for consideration; if so, (a) did the Minister discuss with officers of his Department the Council’s request that in future it be given more notice regarding the allocation of funds, (b) if the answer to (a) is in the affimative, what was the outcome of those discussions and (c) has approval been given for an extension of time in which the funds granted to the Council for 1975-76 may be expended.
– The Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
Yes.
My understanding of this program is that its administration at the Commonwealth and State level has emphasised forward planning to overcome a backlog within a specified time. Other considerations may not have contributed to achieving these objectives. For instance I am quite sure that the timing problems you have brought to the Treasurer’s notice were in large part a result of the 1 974 and 1 975 Parliamentary events and subsequent elections ‘.
It is the State’s responsibility to allocate the funds so that they are spent within the financial year.
These funds form part of the annual appropriations of the Parliament and the Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development has no legislative ability to grant an extension of time for funds allocated in 1975-76 to be expended in another financial year.
asked the Minister for Administrative Services the following question, upon notice:
– The answer to the honourable senator’s question is as follows:
New South Wales
O’Riordan Street, Alexandria- Administrative Services
Garden Island Dockyard, Sydney- Defence
High Street, North Sydney- Defence
Newington-Jamieson, Auburn- Defence
Bundock Street, Randwick- Defence
Australian Government Centre, Chifley Square, SydneyEmployment & Industrial Relations
Grace Building, 77 York Street, Sydney- Employment & Industrial Relations
Australian School of Pacific Administration, Middle Head, Mosman- Foreign Affairs
Small Arms ‘ Factory, Lithgow- Industry & Commerce
Forrester Road, St Mary ‘s- Industry & Commerce
Carrington House, 50 Carrington Street, SydneySocial Security
Carrington Road, Marrickville- Transport
Operations Building, Mascot Airport- Transport
Balls Head Road, Waverton- Transport
Victoria
Customs House, Melbourne- Business & Consumer Affairs 17 Yarra Street, Hawthorn- Construction
Salmon Street, Port Melbourne- Construction
Nelson Place, Williamstown- Defence
Spring Street, Melbourne- Australian Government
Centre- Employment& Industrial Relations Government Aircraft Factory, Avalon- Industry & Commerce
Ordinance Factory, Bendigo- Industry & Commerce 14 Gafney Street, Coburg (Clothing Factory)- Industry & Commerce
Lorimer Street, Fishermen’s Bend (Aircraft Factory)-
Industry & Commerce
Gordon Street, Footscray (Ammunition Factory)- Industry & Commerce
Cordite Avenue, Maribyrnong (Ordinance Factory)-
Industry & Commerce
Ammunition Factory, Mulwala- Industry & Commerce 339 Swanston Street, Melbourne- Industry & Commerce 169 Kings Way, South Melbourne- Repatriation Tullamarine Airport, Tullamarine- Transport 350 Collins Street, Melbourne- Taxation
Queensland
Customs House, Queen Street- Business & Consumer Affairs 295 Ann Street, Brisbane- Australian Government Centre- Employment & Industrial Relations
Taxation Building, Adelaide Street, BrisbaneEmployment & Industrial Relations
Eagle Farm Airport, Brisbane- Transport
South Australia
Woodville North (Transport & Storage)- Administrative Services
Salisbury (Weapons Research)- Defence
Western Australia 1 St Georges Terrace, Perth- Australian Government Centre- Employment & Industrial Relations 13 William Street, Perth-Repatriation Tasmania
Collins Street, Hobart- Australian Government Centre- Employment & Industrial Relations
Australian Capital Territory
Government Printing Office, Kingston- Administrative Services
A.C.T. Police, London Circuit- Capital Territory
Sirus Building, Phillip- Construction
Administrative Building, Parkes- Employment & Industrial Relations
Campbell Park, Campbell- Employment & Industrial Relations
Russell Offices, Russell- Employment & Industrial Relations
Woden Offices-Health
Anzac Park West- Industry & Commerce
Treasury Building, Parkes Place- Treasury
Royal Mint, Deakin- Treasury
Cameron Offices, Belconnen- Treasury
There may be cafeterias located in buildings controlled by various statutory authorities details of which are not held by myDepartment.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Post and Telecommunications, upon notice:
– The Minister for Post and Telecommunications has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
Any Australian radio station with access to the Cairns/Perth landline will be able to link into the radio program originated in America for broadcast in Australia at no cost. The financial contribution to the radio weekend by the Australian Government will be directed towards the rental of the Australian landline and the satellite link.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Post and Telecommunications, upon notice:
Will only 48 new apprentice technicians be employed by Telecom in 1975-76; is so,
how many new apprentice technicians were appointed in each year since 1 970, and
what effect will the reduction in recruitment of apprentice technicians have on
telephone maintenance, and
telephone installation.
– The Minister for Post and Telecommunications has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
In 1975-76, the total intake of apprentice telecommunication tradesmen was 325 of which 297 were recruited from outside Telecom Australia.
Aboriginal Affairs: Reduction in Expenditure (Question No. 750)
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister represent ing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
Did officers of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs meet with Dr Duncan Chappell and Dr Paul Wilson on 12 January 1976; if so, (a) what was the purpose of the meeting; (b) who was in attendance; (c) what decisions were reached; and (d) are any follow-up meetings planned.
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question:
Yes.
asked the Minister represent ing the Minister for Health, upon notice:
Has the Department of Health been able to estimate the number of employees of Medibank who are likely to become redundant as a result of the alterations to Medibank announced by the Treasurer on 20 May 1976; if so, what are the estimates for each State and the Northern Territory.
– The Minister for Health has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
It is not possible to estimate at this stage what Medibank ‘s future staffing requirements will be, but in the light of the further announcement that Medibank will be able to offer private health insurance in competition with private health funds it is not expected that the question of redundancies will arise.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Health, upon notice:
What financial assistance has been provided by the Australian Government to organisations and individuals engaged in research on methods to combat arthritis and rheumatism.
-The Minister for Health has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
Financial support for medical research is provided through the National Health and Medical Research Council. The Council is currently funding the following projects at a cost of over $7 1 , 000 for 1 976:
In addition the Council has appointed Dr B. J. Clarris as N.H. and M.R.C. research fellow in Rheumatology at the department of clinical medicine, University of Melbourne. The total funds for his research program in 1 976 are $36, 1 1 8.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development, upon notice:
What financial assistance is the Australian Government providing to functions and activities organised as part of World Environment Day held on 5 June 1 976.
– The Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
Financial assistance for the promotion of World Environment Day in Australia was provided from a fund administered by the Australian Environment Council which comprises State and Commonwealth Ministers responsible for environmental matters.
This fund was established in 1 973-74 when the Commonwealth and State governments contributed the first and only payment of $300,000 on a dollar per dollar matching basis. The Commonwealth contribution was $ 150,000.
An allocation of $60,000 for World Environment Day was provided by the Australian Environment Council from its fund of which $30,000 might be considered as the Commonwealth Government contribution.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations, upon notice:
– The Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs, upon notice:
– The Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development, upon notice:
Has the Department of Environment, Housing and Community Development received reports of pollution in any Australian rivers caused by polychlorinated biphenyls; if so, (a) which rivers are involved; (b) what action is being taken to ascertain the exact level and causes of the pollution of the rivers concerned; and (c) what action is being taken to reduce the level of pollution in these rivers.
– The Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
The Department of Environment, Housing and Community Development and the former Department of Environment have taken an active role in the control of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). PCBs are not manufactured in Australia and it has, therefore, been possible to effectively restrict the quantities and uses of PCBs under a Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulation specially introduced in 1973. The Australian Environment Council has also taken an active interest in PCBs and commissioned a study to investigate present patterns of use of PCBs, their disposal and their presence in the environment.
As regards the occurrence of PCBs in Austraiian rivers, monitoring of PCBs has been undertaken by various State Departments and in one case only has evidence of PCB contamination been found. In this case, tests by the Queensland Water Quality Council some time ago found PCBs in three small tributaries to the Brisbane River. It is understood that the sources of contamination were determined and controls introduced to prevent further discharge of PCBs. Continuing sampling of the Brisbane River and its tributaries would indicate that release of PCBs into the waterways has ceased.
Navy: HMAS Flinders (Question No. 765)
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Defence, upon notice:
Is the Royal Australian Navy survey vessel, HMAS Flinders currently undertaking a survey of the Dampier Strait; if so;
a ) what is the purpose of the survey
what areas are being surveyed; and
was the Government of Papua New Guinea informed in advance that the survey was to take place.
– The Minister for Defence has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
The Royal Australian Navy Surveying Ship, HMAS Flinders is currently undertaking a hydrographic survey in Dampier Strait in Papua New Guinea. Flinders arrived in Papua New Guinea waters from Cairns in late April and returned to Cairns in early July having visited Port Moresby, Rabaul, Kavieng and Lae for fuel and stores during her deployment.
The purpose of the hydrographic survey is to obtain the necessary data to enable the publication of Nautical Chans of the Dampier Strait area which are suitable for the use of the shipping which operates in this area. At present only small craft with local knowledge can pass through Dampier Strait because the existing Nautical Charts do not have sufficient information shown on them for a ship to make a safe passage through the Strait. This survey is a continuation of the hydrographic surveying programme, commenced in the early 1960s, to survey all the poorly charted areas in Papua New Guinea.
The area being surveyed is Dampier Strait which lies between Umboi Island and the western end of New Britain and also includes the area from Dampier Strait along the south west coast of New Britain as far as Arawe Harbour. This area of some 1500 square miles, extends from the beach to the 300 metre depth contour and includes all known islands, reefs and underwater obstructions.
The survey programme being undertaken was drawn up in conjunction with PNG authorities under arrangements agreed between Australian and New Guinea authorities for hydrographic surveys of New Guinea waters. The Government of PNG was informed in advance of the survey programme and an invitation was extended to them to send observers or persons requiring hydrographic survey training to the ship for the duration of the survey.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Foreign Affairs, upon notice:
Did officials of the Australian and Indian Governments have talks in Canberra on 24 May 1976; if so, (a) what matters were discussed, (b) who attended the meeting and (c) were any decisions reached as a result of the talks.
– The Foreign Minister has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
The Eighth India-Australia Officials’ Talks took place in Canberra on 24 and 25 May 1 976.
In relation to (a) the agenda for the talks included a general review of the international situation, regional developments, India-Australia bilateral relations and multilateral questions, (b) The Indian delegation was led by the Indian Foreign Secretary, Mr Jagat S. Mehta, and included the High Commissioner for India in Australia. The Secretary and Deputy Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs led the Australian side which comprised senior officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs, ADAA and the Department of Science, (c) The talks provided an opportunity for informative exchanges of views on a wide range of issues and were not intended to reach decisions on specific matters.
Department of the Northern Territory (Question No. 770)
asked the Minister representing the Minister for the Northern Territory, upon notice:
– The Minister for the Northern Territory has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
Officers of the Department of the Northern Territory will be available to discuss any matters arising from the report with members of the public.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Primary Industry, upon notice:
– The Minister for Primary Industry has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
1 ) The total areas under State or National Forests are:
asked the Minister representing the Prime Minister, upon notice:
– The answer to the honourable senator’s question is as follows:
Film Fund, and that it be conditional both on the series ‘ conforming to the Commission’s investment guidelines and on other commercial support becoming available.
The Commission, on behalf of the Australian National Advisory Committee, sought further details from Dr Greer on a number of occasions, including whether she had been able to obtain commercial support for the project. Dr Greer was also advised that the offer would be withdrawn if details were not forthcoming. In the absence of any positive response from Dr Greer the offer was finally withdrawn on 4 May 1976, some eleven months after it was originally made, and over a month after the Australian National Advisory Committee had ceased its operation.
The $100,000 has now been absorbed into the Women’s Film Fund as was originally intended should happen with proceeds from the project. This Fund is administered by the Film Commission and used to encourage the production of worthwhile films about women or films scripted, directed, produced, etc. by women.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Foreign Affairs, upon notice:
Would foreign aid be far more beneficial if small solar energy stations or packs were built to enable small communities to conserve fuel and other natural resources; if so, will the Government initiate the research required for the development and production of such solar energy power units by immediately providing funds.
– The Minister for Foreign Affairs has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
There are a number of solar energy research projects currently being undertaken in Australia, both by recipients of grants from the Australian Research Grants Committee (ARGC) and by the CSIRO. For details of such projects and some preliminary results, I would refer the honourable senator to the reply to Question No. 611 on Solar Energy Research which appeared in the Senate Daily Ilansard of Wednesday, 2 June, 1976.
It is agreed that such research may have some valuable application to the energy needs of developing countries, and the transfer of relevant technology in this field to developing countries is fully supported in principle. Moreover, Australia provides financial and technical assistance to the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), one priority of which is the development of appropriate energy sources in the region, and also the Department of Science is involved in work in this area in the forum of the Association for Science Co-operation in Asia. Unfortunately, as a result of current budgetary constraints no additional funds from aid sources can be made available for solar energy research activities at this time, in view of other programs given higher priority by recipient governments.
asked the Minister for Science, upon notice:
– The answer to the honourable senator’s question is as follows:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development, upon notice:
– The Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question: (1), (2) and (3). Future policies and programs are currently under review both within the Department and by this Government and until such time as these reviews are completed, the role and responsibility of the Government will remain as at present.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
Will the Minister take appropriate action to persuade the Government to make sufficient funds available in the Budget for the next financial year to provide for improved methods of protection of Aboriginal relics.
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question:
The protection of Aboriginal relics is primarily the responsibility of State and Territory authorities under existing legislation. The Department of Aboriginal Affairs provides funds for Aboriginal groups wishing to take special action, such as the erection of fences, to protect sites and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies funds programs of identifying sites for protection through State and Territory authorities.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
Has the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs given an assurance to the Mining Industry Council that the Aboriginal land rights legislation ‘need not worry them too much ‘.
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question:
page 53
asked the Minister for Science, upon notice:
– The answer to the honourable senator’s question is as follows:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development, upon notice:
– The Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
I have been informed that the reclamation has proceeded under Queensland law. No approval from the Commonwealth Government has been called for and therefore the provisions of the Environment Protection (Impact of Proposals) Act 1974-73 do not apply. Accordingly, no environmental impact statement under that Act has been prepared. In view of the foregoing, I regret that I am not in a position to provide a reply to the other questions asked by the honourable senator.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Defence, upon notice:
– The Minister for Defence has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister for Social Security, upon notice:
When will the report of the Inter-departmental Committee, inquiring into various matters relating to South Sea Islanders, be available.
– The answer to the honourable senator’s question is as follows:
The Inter-departmental Committee on South Sea Islanders first met on 17.12.75. Departments represented on the Committee include the Department of Social Security, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, and the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations. The Royal Commission on Human Relationships is also represented on the Inter-Departmental Committee. Dr C. Price of the Department of Demography of the Australian National University also acts as a full member of the
Committee. The Committee is chaired by the representative of the Department of Social Security and will make its recommendations to me.
The terms of reference of the Inter-Departmental Committee are:
To estimate the numbers of South Sea Islanders in Australia and examine their demographic distribution;
To assess the economic and local characteristics of the islanders and to decide if they are in any way disadvantaged as a group, relative to other groups in the Australian community;
To evaluate their special needs, if any, and to recommend appropriate forms of government assistance to meet these needs.
The first task of the Committee was to find out, to the best of its ability, how many South Sea Islanders there are in Australia. There is very little statistical evidence and estimates vary greatly. A survey was therefore carried out in June and July to determine more accurately the number and condition of the Islanders.
The Committee has also consulted with representatives of the Islander Communities.
The Committee hopes to finish gathering evidence during August and to make its recommendations to me shortly afterwards.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Primary Industry, upon notice:
– The Minister for Primary Industry has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister for Administrative Services, upon notice:
Has any progress been made with plans for the construction of shelter boxes for the Commonwealth Police who are required to patrol the area around Parliament House, and if such plans have been approved, will the shelters be erected before the end of this winter.
– The answer to the honourable senator’s question is as follows:
Guard boxes are available for the Commonwealth Police who are required to patrol the area around Parliament House. The question of approval to their installation is currently with the Presiding Officers.
asked the Minister for Social Security, upon notice:
– The answer to the honourable senator’s question is as follows:
No public funds were used to subsidise motel accommodation and other expenses.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Foreign Affairs, upon notice:
When will the conclusive report on the fate of the five Australian journalists killed in East Timor be presented to the Parliament.
– The Foreign Minister has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
The honourable senator will be aware that the report of the Australian Embassy team which visited East Timor at the end of April and the report of the Departmental official who interviewed Mr Jose Martins in Melbourne in May have been made available in the Parliamentary library, together with a summary of the various accounts on the deaths of the five newsmen.
In my statement in the House of Representatives on 2 June I stated that I had instructed my Department to complete its investigations as soon as possible. In the same statement I indicated that the account given by the KOTA personality, Mr Jose Martins, had opened up some possible new channels of inquiry. In particular, Mr Martins mentioned the names of certain Indonesian officers and an Indonesian official as having been in the Balibo area at the time of the deaths of the newsmen. The Government has accordingly asked the Indonesian Government whether these persons would be available and prepared to be interviewed. The Government is at present awaiting a response from the Indonesian authorities.
It is hoped to bring our investigations to a conclusion as soon as possible.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for National Resources, upon notice:
– The Minister for National Resources has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
I refer you to the Commonwealth petroleum legislation, Le. Petroleum Search Subsidy Acts (now expired), and the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967-1974 where petroleum is defined in each Act to mean:
any naturally occurring hydrocarbon, whether in a gaseous, liquid or solid state; or
any naturally occurring mixture of hydrocarbons, whether in a gaseous, liquid or solid state; or
any naturally occurring mixture of a hydrocarbon or hydrocarbons, whether in a gaseous, liquid or solid state, and one or more of the following, that is to say, hydrogen sulphide, nitrogen, helium and carbon dioxide.’
In this reply petroleum is understood to be the liquid form, i.e. crude oil and natural gas liquids, and the unit used is the American barrel.
(D-
As at 31 March 1976 the estimated total known petroleum reserves in Australia (in millions of barrels) were:
It is estimated that, at present, the following quantities are sub-economic (that is, those theoretically recoverable reserves which are either geologically proved but considered uneconomic under present conditions, or are awaiting further appraisal and therefore subject to major revisions). (In millions of barrels):
b ) The total inferred petroleum (crude oil only) reserves in Australia were recently estimated at 3000 million barrels. (Reported to the 47th ANZAAS Congress, May 1976, in Hobart, by F. Jeffries of Esso Exploration and Production Australia lnc in a paper entitled Undiscovered Oil Resources of the Australian Continental Plate). No estimates of inferred reserves of condensate and LPG are available.
Bass Strait fields (Offshore from Victoria):
Oil in all these fields is of light gravity and contains little or no sulphur.
Carnarvon Basin fields (Western Australia ):
Oil is of light gravity and has no sulphur.
The 1975 average annual production (in millions of barrels) of crude oil was:
The abovementioned operations are more likely to discover and, hopefully, prove natural gas accumulations with condensate content, than crude oil.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question:
Sir Douglas Nicholls, Chairman
Charles Perkins- Secretary
Brian Dixon- Executive Officer
Syd Jackson- Member
Lionel Rose- Member
Richard McCarthy- Member
George Bracken- Member
Eric Simms- Member
Michael Ah Matt- Member
Faith Thomas- Member
Walter McArthur- Member
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Primary Industry, upon notice:
– The Minister for Primary Industry has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, upon notice:
– The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has provided the following reply to the honourable senator’s question:
(2)-
Transfers to Unattached List
H. V. Clarke . . Director, Information and Public Relations Branch, Canberra
A.H.Ross . . Clerk, Class 7, Community Development Branch, Sydney
V. Meakin . . Food Services Adviser, Grade 3, Services Branch, Darwin
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Primary Industry, upon notice:
What area is under sugar cane cultivation in the following districts:
– The Minister for Primary Industry has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question: (1)337 200 ha.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Primary Industry, upon notice:
– The Minister for Primary Industry has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
The quantity and value of beverage wine production for the period 1960-61 to 1967-68 inclusive, is available in the following Australian Bureau of Statistics publications: 1960- 61; Secondary Industries Pan II- Materials Used and Articles Produced in Factories, Bulletin No. 55, Page 62. 1961- 62; Secondary Industries Part II- Materials Used and Articles Produced in Factories, Bulletin No. 56, Page 71. 1962- 63; Secondary Industries Pan II- Materials Used and Articles Produced in Factories, Bulletin No. 57, Page 33. 1963- 64 and 1964-65; Manufacturing Commodities, Bulletin No. 1, Pages 1 1 and 109 respectively. 1965- 66; Manufacturing Commodities, Bulletin No. 2, Page 11. 1966- 67 and 1967-68; Manufacturing Commodities, Bulletin No. 3, Pages 10 and 103 respectively.
The method of compilation of production statistics for beverage wine was changed for subsequent years. Instead of being recorded on the basis of the value of production it is now being recorded on the basis of the value of sales and transfers out of wine. This information from 1968-69 inclusive has not been published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on a State basis. The following information has, however, been made available on request from the Bureau:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development, upon notice:
– The Minister for Environment, Housing and Community Development has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
(3), (4) and (5) The answers to these questions are to be found on the following tables.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for National Resources, upon notice:
– The Minister for National Resources has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
The total inferred raw gas reserves in Australia have recently been suggested by the Bureau of Mineral Resources to be between 1700 and 2500 billion cubic metres (reported in a paper entitled ‘Australia’s Natural Gas Reserves and Future Natural Gas Potential’ by L. E. Kurylowicz et al at the 47th ANZAAS Congress in Hobart, Tasmania, May, 1976.
It is not possible to itemise the reserves by fields without violating the confidentiality under which the information is received. With some exceptions, gas reserves in the individual fields have not been made public.
So far as grade is concerned, Australian gases are ‘sweet’, Le. they contain very little or no sulphur compounds, but some, like those in the Bowen Basin, Queensland and the Cooper Basin in South Australia and Queensland contain significant percentages (up to 25 per cent) of carbon dioxide. The West Tryal Rocks (W.A.) gas, in addition to 10 per cent carbon dioxide, also contains 12.5 per cent of nitrogen. Most gas accumulations, particularly those in Bass Strait and on the Northwest Shelf are ‘wet’ to very ‘wet’, Le. their hydrocarbon liquids (condensate and LPG (liquified petroleum gas) component) content is rather high. Few gas accumulations like those in the Palm Valley field (N.T.), some at least in the Bowen-Surat Basin in Queensland, and some in the Cooper Basin in South Australia, are relatively dry, i.e., have low to very low liquids content.
The 1975 annual gas production rate (in cubic metres) including gas sold and that used for field and plant operation was as follows:
The Moomba-Sydney gas pipeline is nearing completion, and soon thereafter some, if not most, of the gas fields in the Cooper Basin (other than the abovementioned three already producing for the S.A. market) will be connected for production for the Sydney market. These are Daralingie, Brolga, Brumby, Burke, Dullingari, Toolachee, Delia, Strzelecki, Merrimelia and Mudrangie.
In Queensland, Kincora, Boxleigh and Silver Springs fields are to be connected to the Roma-Brisbane pipeline once sufficient reserves of gas are established; this may happen in late 1976 or early 1977.
Discussions are taking place for the development of the LNG (export) project and the associated gas supply by pipeline from the North Rankin Field on the Northwest Shelf (and possible from Goodwyn and Angel fields) for the Pilbara region and Perth area. This is a complex and expensive project which, if successfully negotiated, will not be a reality until the next decade.
Still in Western Australia, we may look forward to the successful proving of significant gas reserves at Barrow Island, which, when added to those of West Tryal Rocks, would considerably add to the Northwest Shelf reserves and thus may to some extent modify current development plans under discussion and those mentioned above.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Post and Telecommunications, upon notice:
-The Minister for Post and Telecommunications has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister representing the Prime Minister, upon notice:
– The Prime Minister has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
Ceilings are set by the Government for each department as a whole, not for individual components of a department. Ministers are expected to ensure that the resulting resources available to their departments are deployed in such a way that essential services are not impaired.
In addition, staff ceilings for each department are kept under constant review, and account is, of course, taken of individual programs and priorities, as approved by the Government.
asked the Minister for Education, upon notice:
Is it a fact that unless the present staff ceiling of 205 is lifted to at least 283 for the 1977 academic year, over 1600 students will be denied access to the Darwin Community College; if so, will the Minister indicate whether staff ceilings will apply next year and if so, whether those at the College will be lifted to meet the needs of the community for which the college was established.
-The answer to the honourable senator’s question is as follows:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for the Northern Territory, upon notice:
– The Minister for the Northern Territory has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
Since 1 June 1976 the Katherine Abattoir has been managed by Norwest Development Corporation Ltd, the management company for the Wyndham Abattoir.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Construction, upon notice:
– The Minister for Construction has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Post and Telecommunications, upon notice:
– The Minister for Post and Telecommunications has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
1 ) Yes, a paid advertisement was included with the copies of Stamp Preview No 2, 1976 posted to Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations, upon notice:
-The Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
The comprehensive review of the Department’s activities was aimed at identifying the relative priorities of different areas of work and the resources which should be available for them. As a result of that review, some 105 positions, 62 of which were substantively vacant, were withdrawn and, simultaneously, steps put in hand to fill 108 other positions which were substantively vacant. Further details of the classifications of positions withdrawn and numbers substantively vacant are provided in an attachment.
The redeployment of resources will make for a more efficient operation of essential activities. While the withdrawal of the positions is seen as permanent, should further changes be necessary these will be dealt with in the normal way. The changes affected all Divisions of the Department, including the three Manpower Divisions concerned with development and operations of manpower policies and programs, including industrial training. As already indicated, the objective is to ensure a more efficient and effective role of the Department in the total range of its work, including industrial training.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Post and Telecommunications, upon notice:
Has Telecom placed an order in the United States of America for two devices which can be linked to telephones and used by deaf people; if so, (a) on what principle do these machines operate, (b) what is the cost of purchase and installation, (c) to what use will the 1 100 machines be put, (d) are additional machines to be purchased and (e) has there been any unnecessary or unavoidable delay in the provision of telephone facilities for deaf people in Australia.
-The Minister for Post and Telecommunications has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
No. Telecom Australia does not offer equipment of this nature in its range of standard telecommunications facilities. However, as part of an overall program to look at various telecommunications facilities designed to assist handicapped people, the Commission is examining a number of such devices to assess their suitability for connection to the public telephone network.
One such device to be examined is the equipment referred to by the honourable senator. The current positon with this equipment is that the Commission is obtaining on loan from each of two American firms a pair of units which are designed to enable people with severe hearing and /or speech problems to communicate over the telephone network.
The answer to the honourable senator’s specific questions are:
The units which are associated with an ordinary telephone service have a small keyboard similar to a typewriter and a display panel which holds about 30 characters at any one time. As each character is typed on the keyboard, it is displayed at both the send and receive end.
No pricing details have been supplied to date by the manufacturers.
As mentioned in the general comments above, only two pairs of units are being obtained on loan.
Purchase of this type of unit is not recommended until its suitability for operation on the network has been evaluated by the Commission.
No.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for the Northern Territory, upon notice:
When does the Government intend commencing airport checks at Darwin, Katherine, Groote Eylandt, and Nhulunbuy, as part of the program aimed at combatting the outbreak of oriental fruit fly in the Northern Territory.
– The Minister for the Northern Territory has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
The program to combat oriental fruit fly in the Northern Territory will not involve full quarantine checks at any airport in the infested area in the immediate future. Some sample checks however will be made during times of maximum fruit production.
It is considered that if quarantine checks are to be introduced, the destination airports would be the most appropriate location in view of the widespread infestation of oriental fruit fly now known to cover an area of 300 000 square kilometres in the top end of the Territory. In this area there are cattle stations which regularly have direct movements to southern States by light aircraft as well as the main airports and a considerable amount of road traffic moving south.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for the Northern Territory, upon notice:
– The Minister for the Northern Territory has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
When the new uniform was designed the Northern Territory Police was to have been amalgamated into the proposed Australia Police and the question of whether numbers or name plates would be worn was still under consideration. It was expected that if a number were to be displayed it would have been incorporated in the Australia Police badge.
The matter of whether an identification tag should be worn by individual policemen (including its possible form and the costs involved ) is under review.
Northern Territory Police Standing Order No. 58, Clause 7, provides that when acting in an official capacity a member shall at all times state his true name and rank to any person so enquiring.
asked the Minister representing the Prime Minister, upon notice:
– The Prime Minister has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister for Education, upon notice:
Why was the Fourth Annual Report for 1973-74 and the Fifth Annual Report for 1974-75, of the AACRDE, not published until 1976, and presented to the Senate until 3 June 1976.
– The answer to the honourable senator’s question is as follows:
A major component of each Annual Report of the AACRDE (now ERDC) is the Policy Statement on Principles and Procedures provided by the Committee chairman. During the period covered by the two reports in question, a changeover of chairmanship occurred. This combined with delays in publishing meant the Reports could not be tabled before the Autumn Session of Parliament.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for the Northern Territory, upon notice:
Has a case been made in the Northern Territory for a Royal Commission into the transport needs of the Territory, following upon the Government’s decisions to withdraw all services on the Larrimah-Darwin rail link; if so, would a Royal Commission be justified in view of the fact that the Bureau of Transport Economics is already conducting such a survey.
– The Minister for the Northern Territory has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
Yes, such a call was made by the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in a resolution dated 3 June 1 976; no, a Royal Commission would not be justified for the reason indicated in the question by the honourable senator.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for the Northern Territory, upon notice:
Did the Government announce that the Katherine meatworks will open in July of this year for a short season; if so, will the Minister give the Senate some indication of the longer-term plans of the Government in this regard so that pastoralists may be able to plan their ongoing program with some confidence.
– The Minister for the Northern Territory has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
In addition to my reply to the honourable senator’s question on Notice No. 682 it is advised that the Bureau of Agricultural Economics is undertaking a general study of the relationships between the requirements of cattle producers and the slaughtering facilities in the Top End and north west Australia.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Post and Telecommunications, upon notice:
What is the current delay in the installation and repair of (a) private, and (b) business telephones in each State of Australia and the Northern Territory in (i) capital cities, (ii) provincial cities, and (iii) rural areas.
– The Minister for Post and Telecommunications has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
Telecom Australia does not classify its comparative summaries of installation and repair times under the headings mentioned by the honourable senator. However, the current position in regard to average installation times for telephone exchange services-measured in calendar days- is as follows:
So far as repair service is concerned, the aim is to clear 90 per cent of all faults by the close of business on the next working day following lodgment of the report. Not all faults render a service unworkable but on those which do, the aim is to provide a same day repair service.
Current achievement measured against the ‘all faults’ standard in respect of State capital city networks is as follows:
Performance is much higher on faults which render a service unworkable.
Staff of the Department of the Media
– On 8 April 1976 (Hansard page 1 193) Senator Townley asked the Minister representing the Prime Minister a question without notice concerning the staff of the former Department of the Media.
The Minister Assisting the Prime Minister in Public Service Matters has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
The Public Service Board has advised me that following the abolition of the Department of the Media, its major branches were distributed between the Depanment of Administrative Services and the Postal and Telecommunications Depanment as follows:
By 31 May 1976 the transfer of staff from the former Depanment of the Media was substantially complete.
Of the 1461 staff originally transferred to the Depanment of Administrative Services, 1378 were still with that Depanment at 3 1 May 1976. Of the remaining 83,
Of the 114 staff originally transferred to the Postal and Telecommunications Department, 54 were still with the Department at 3 1 May 1976. Of the remaining 60,
Since 31 May 1976 there has been one change in administrative arrangements related to the original Department of the Media, namely the transfer of the Audio- Visual Branch of the Postal and Telecommunications Department to the Australian Film Commission, effective from 1 July 1976. The seven staff involved in this transfer were staff originally with the Department of the Media.
Changes subsequent to 31 May 1976, with the exception of the Audio-Visual Branch mentioned above, are not specifically related to the former Department of the Media, but are in the nature of those that occur from time to time within and between Australian Government bodies in the normal way.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for the Northern Territory, upon notice:
– The Minister for the Northern Territory has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
All timber used locally. Production not valued as not yet a commercial venture.
General: 85 per cent of prawn production exported overseas by sea. 70 per cent of Barramundi exported for interstate consumption by road and air. Remainder local consumption.
All local consumption.
(f), (h) and (I) Crop varieties grown in each of the above categories have never reached a viable commercial stage. All production has been recycled for research domestically.
Ali domestic consumption.
(3)-
Cattle and boneless beef-
Timber industry-
Fishing industry-
Market gardening-
Sorghum-
Buffalo meat industry-
Pig industry-
Others- Insignificant production. Crops grown for further research activities.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for the Northern Territory, upon notice:
– The Minister for the Northern Territory has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
In addition, Commonwealth expenditure on agricultural extension and research also benefit beef producers.
Commonwealth expenditures which are comparable with Commonwealth expenditures to the beef industry in the States are tabulated below:
(a) As at 31 March 1975 (the date of last published cattle census) the cattle population of the Northern Territory stood at 1 445 000-4.4 per cent of Australian total of 32.8 million.
The table below indicates the growth rates of the Northern Territory cattle industry over the past 1 0 years.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations, upon notice:
-The Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
However, the recent announced eligibility of primary producers for unemployment benefit, pending consideration of a scheme of ‘household support’, should be seen as recognising the special income support needs of this group which were identified in the Henderson Report.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Post and Telecommunications the following question, upon notice:
-The Minister for Post and Telecommunications has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Transport, upon notice:
-The Minister for Transport has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
The Department no longer identifies staff by Air Transport or Surface Groups. Rather, the Department is comprised of the following functional areas:
The number of staff directly associated with air activities (i.e. item (c above) is 8931.
(a) $58,878,986.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Transport, upon notice:
– The Minister for Transport has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Transport, upon notice:
– The Minister for Transport has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question: 1 and 2. For competitive reasons Trans-Australia Airlines would prefer not to disclose percentages of all airline tickets sold directly by the airline or its agents.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Transport, upon notice:
– The Minister for Transport has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
The allocation of Commonwealth moneys are regarded a matter for the States, whilst the allocation of State moneys was a matter for the States.
The information sought by the honourable senator is of such amount and of such a diverse nature that it would need to be assembled from a number of sources- principally from the records of the States of Queensland and Western Australia and from those of the Northern Territory.
Such a task would require a major commitment of staff resources from the States and within the Commonwealth Public Service. I do not feel that I would be justified in asking the Commonwealth Ministers or my counterparts in the States to have the information extracted.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Transport, upon notice:
Is the Department of Transport considering instituting a third stock train service each week from Alice Springs to Adelaide to assist cattlemen in Central Australia. If so, when is it likely that a decision will be made.
-The Minister for Transport has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
Arrangements have been made by Australian National Railways to provide an extra cattle train every other week to meet the additional demand. However the continued provision of this additional service is in doubt as a result of a shortage of enginemen caused by an industrial dispute concerning working hours.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Transport, upon notice:
-The Minister for Transport has provided the following answers to the honourable senator’s questions:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Transport, upon notice:
-The Minister for Transport has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Health, upon notice:
– The Minister for Health has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
The number of deaths from meningococcal infections during the same five years were:
In these latter statistics it is not practicable to distinguish meningococcal meningitis from other meningococcal infections. Information on the strains of meningococcus concerned is also not available.
This vaccine is directed against conditions which would have led to a proportion of the deaths due to meningococcal infections given in ( 1 ) above.
The Department of Health and the National Health and Medical Research Council have closely studied the development and availability of these vaccines overseas with a view to their potential use in this country should an epidemic develop which proves to be of a type in which immunisation is deemed to be the control method of choice.
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Primary Industry, upon notice:
– The Minister for Primary Industry has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
Mr A. G. Bollen, Leader First Assistant Secretary, Fisheries Division, Department of Primary Industry, Australian Commissioner and Chairman of the IWC.
an- Alternate: Representative of Department of Primary Industry at Australian High Commission in London.
Dr K. Radway Allen, Scientific Adviser; Chief of Division of Fisheries and Oceanography, CSIRO.
Mr J. L. Bannister Scientific Adviser; Director of Western Australian Museum.
Public Service- Flexible Working Hours
– On 6 May 1976 (Hansard, page 1618) Senator Sheil asked the Minister representing the Minister assisting the Prime Minister in Public Service Matters a question without notice concerning flexible working hours in the Commonwealth Public Service. The Minister Assisting the Prime Minister in Public Service Matters has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:
The Public Service Board has advised that trial schemes of flexible working hours were first introduced into the Public Service during the term of the previous Government, following reports on overseas developments, and interest displayed by staff, staff organisations and departments.
There is a trend in the Australian work force towards varied working arrangements, particularly for office workers. All State Public Services and a number of private employers have approved some form of experimentation with flexible working hours. The Board has instituted arrangements designed to monitor closely the effects of flexible hours trials in the Service to ensure that they are managed in a way that maximises efficiency and economy.
The Public Service Board is currently examining departmental evaluations of their trial flexible working hours schemes. Preliminary analysis indicates: in general, trials of flexible working hours have been successful, and the benefits to both staff and management outweigh the disadvantages departments do not consider that efficiency has been significantly affected by the introduction of flexible working hours schemes of flexible working hours offer scope for a better match of working time to workload, and can provide a capability to give service to the public over a longer span of hours staff morale and job satisfaction have increased as a result of working flexible hours.
There appear to be grounds for retaining flexible hours as a permanent feature of public service employment. It is recognised, however, that flexible working hours schemes require careful attention by management to operate effectively, and the Public Service Board will continue to oversight their operation and draw to the attention of departmental management any deficiencies that may become apparent.
Cite as: Australia, Senate, Debates, 17 August 1976, viewed 22 October 2017, <http://historichansard.net/senate/1976/19760817_senate_30_s69/>.