Wed, 7th May 2008
Brendan Nelson: Address at the John Howard Tribute Dinner
The Hon Dr Brendan Nelson MP
Leader of the Opposition
E&OE
Thank you very much Jason for your introduction and being the MC here this evening. John and Janette Howard. Geoff Selig and Jane Selig. President of the New South Wales Division of the Liberal Party. My deputy, Julie Bishop. My many federal and state parliamentary colleagues that are here this evening. The members and supporters of the Liberal Party of Australia.
When Sir Robert Menzies wrote of the forgotten people, he wrote and spoke of the salary earners, the shop keepers, the skilled artisans, professional men and women and farmers. Economically and politically he described them as the middle class. Un-organised and un-self conscious; not rich enough to wield power in its own right and not sufficiently organised for pressure politics, being too individualistic. And yet, Sir Robert concluded, they are the backbone of the nation.
It was upon that foundation and for them that our party was founded. And it was into the Liberal Party of Australia that John Howard has invested all of his public life and, through the Liberal Party of Australia and service to it, the people of Australia and the betterment of our nation and the fundamental values that as Liberals we believe. In that of the individual; support and encouragement and rewards for hard work and self sacrifice. The constant belief that everything we do as Liberals is about creating a better future for our children and the next generation. The belief in choice, whether in health or education or in the workplace. The fundamental belief in small business and family businesses. Of families as being the bedrock of Australian society. Of strong, sound, secure economic management and the defence of our nation, its people, interests and values.
This country is a different country today. A more prosperous country. One that is more confident in itself and its place in the world because of what John Howard did as the Prime Minister of Australia over almost 12 years.
Australia was quite a different place in 1996. It was a country that had emerged from long term unemployment, of oppressively high interest rates, of the collapse of small and larger businesses. It was an Australia in which, as parents, we struggled to believe that our children could really go from our families into the workplace, apprenticeship, training or universities.
It was a country when, when John Howard and Peter Costello came to office, the then government of Australia carried close to $100 billion in debt. And in that very first Budget, John Howard faced a deficit of $10 billion. And last year in November Mr Rudd was given an economy the envy of the rest of the world. With no Commonwealth debt, a surplus now being accepted as the norm for Commonwealth budgeting, and more than $60 billion invested in Australia’s future.
And over those almost 12 years the leadership of John Howard amongst other things delivered national uniform gun control. And the courage that was shown by John Howard in standing up for what he believed to be and knew to be right.
The courage of John Howard and Peter Reith on the waterfront in 1997 and 1998, which means that we as Australians are able to more afford the goods that we buy that come across those wharves and our exporters can be more confident in what they will receive throughout the rest of the world from that which we export.
It was John Howard that led us to the 1998 election in the conviction that Australia needed major tax reform. The abolition of a myriad of taxes and the introduction of a broad-based consumption tax – a GST – because he believed that it was right for Australia even tough we had a near political death at the 1998 election.
The independence of East Timor and the way in which John Howard had led the Australian Government to support that very difficult but ultimately successful process.
The changes to workplace relations in 1996 and 1997 which for 10 years created almost two million jobs for Australians.
The privatisation of the old Commonwealth Employment Service, the Job Network, work for the dole. The things that were done in 2001, the reforms to higher education and voluntary membership of student unions.
The introduction of choice: to be able to afford to send your child to either a Catholic or independent school or a government school. To say to Australians that we would support you if you chose to purchase private health insurance.
To live in a country where we restored and modernised the Australian Defence Force, which had been so degraded it was incapable under the previous Labor government of supporting Australia’s interests in south east Asia, let alone defending our nation.
The extraordinary effort by John Howard and Alexander Downer over 10 years to prosecute foreign policy which sees Australia now a nation which holds its head and shoulders above all others throughout the rest of the world.
The $4 billion invested in welfare to work because we knew that our key challenge was to get jobless sole parent families back into the workforce; to make sure that their children did not stay in the cycle of not knowing a person in their family to actually have a job.
The unashamed support for border protection. To stand up for Australia’s interest and to make sure that the people smugglers did not continue to abuse those people who were seeking to come to Australia unlawfully.
The other thing, the other great achievement of John Howard in government to which Major Brian Watters alluded to earlier – if young people are the coal miner’s canary of this country and their health and wellbeing is one of the key determinants of a growing society, we need to also reflect on the fact that in 1996 when John Howard came to office, confidence in the future was a minority position in Australia. Just over 30 per cent of Australians believed this country was moving in the right direction. And hope and confidence in the future is the most fragile yet powerful of human emotions. When there was a change of government last year more than two-thirds of Australians believed we were moving in the right direction.
Self harm, suicide and drug use by young Australians has declined over the last almost 12 years.
The other thing that is extraordinarily important to all of us to appreciate is that John Howard’s investment in our nation and in Liberal values and Liberal belief over all of his adult life has not only reshaped Australia, it played a significant role in reshaping our party and reinforcing and forging our fundamental values, but I also believe that John Howard actually reshaped and repositioned the Australian Labor Party.
When Sir Robert Menzies wrote of those salary earners and shopkeepers and skilled artisans and farmers and professional men and women, and concluded that they are the backbone of the nation, he added that in their children they see their greatest contribution to our future.
John and Janette Howard have achieved much for our country, but in the production of their three magnificent, now young adult children, in the love and support and sacrifice made by Janette for John and his service to our nation, we are enormously proud and indebted.
I say to you John and Janette on behalf of the Liberal family of Australia: thank you for making us a better people, thank you for making us a stronger nation, and thank you for making us even more confident than we are to be Australians, to fly our flag and to see our place in the world as proudly Australian. We thank you very much.