The "Clark Report" 1999

The following is the text of the speech by Robert Clark, MP at the annual "Clark Report" public meeting held at Box Hill Institute of TAFE on 8th June, 1999

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I welcome you to tonight’s meeting.

This is the 11^th annual "Clark Report" to the electorate since I was first elected in 1988.

However, it is a different and special "Clark Report" this year, because this is the first time we have had as our guest speaker a Premier of our State – and I would particularly like to extend a warm welcome here this evening to our Premier, Jeff Kennett.

I would also like to welcome to the platform my Parliamentary colleague, the Hon David Davis, one of our two Upper House Members for East Yarra Province.

As well, I pass on apologies from the Member for Kooyong, Mr Petro Georgiou, and from the other Member for East Yarra Province, the Hon Mark Birrell.

I intend to make my remarks briefer than usual tonight, since I am sure we are all keen to hear what the Premier has to say and to allow plenty of time for questions. I will make just a few comments on the past year and then say a few words about the future.

The past year

The past year has been largely one of consolidation and steady progress, both locally and Statewide.

Within the electorate, there has been progress in a range of areas:

• the extension of the tram line from Mont Albert to Box Hill was announced. This was one of the first issues ever raised with me after I was elected to Parliament, and will take place as one of the benefits flowing from the franchising of public transport

• Box Hill TAFE, where we are this evening, has continued to grow in stature as one of the key institutions in our area. The Premier opened the new Nelson Road campus in March, which will house electronics and information technology training, and in the recent budget the TAFE was awarded a further $1.7m to refurbish its Whitehorse Road campus, which started life 75 years ago as the Box Hill Girls’ Technical School.

• Box Hill hospital has continued to treat more patients each year, while meeting all treatment targets set for it. The Minister for Health, Rob Knowles, officially opened the new Birralee maternity suite, in April.

• additional capital and maintenance funding has become available for schools, with Box Hill Senior Secondary College receiving $418,000 and Surrey Hills Primary a further $55,000, and I am continuing to work with other schools on their cases for funding. Box Hill Senior Secondary also became a self governing school during the year, and it is doing outstanding work in vocational education for students who come from all over Melbourne in order to take part.

• a greater say was given to residents over the future of the Boroondara and Whitehorse dry areas, and we have recently seen voters in the Whitehorse dry area exercise their new rights by deciding to allow licensed restaurants while continuing to exclude hotels.

At a State level, there are two features of the past year which are worth special comment:

• the first has been the continued expansion and improvement of services, and reduction of taxes, by the State Government

• the second is the recent announcements of the retirements of several senior Ministers.

Alan Stockdale

I would like to pay particular tribute tonight to the Minister with whom I have had the honour of working and learning since almost the time I first entered Parliament in 1988, namely Alan Stockdale. Alan Stockdale has been a rare combination of a man with vision, and also a man with enormous attention to detail and a capacity to drive himself and to drive others so as to take reforms from ideas through to successful implementation.

Thomas Edison made the famous remark that invention is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, and the same certainly applies to reforming and managing government finances. Alan Stockdale has put in not only the inspiration, but also the perspiration which is indispensable to achieving and then preserving the gains we have made over the last 6 ½ years.

"We've come a long way"

As I have mentioned, this past year has seen the continuation of the delivery of benefits to the community, made possible by the reforms which the government has been undertaking since elected. I need hardly point out that we have come a long way - fixing up our finances, improving services, creating jobs, revitalising the economy, rebuilding infrastructure, and restoring cultural institutions.

However, a point worth particularly emphasising is that we are now spending more than ever before on core services for the public. Compared with 1991-92, the last year before the change of government, we are now spending 12% more in real terms in education, 21% more on police, and 24% more on health, social security and welfare. However, the big difference between the present government and the previous government is that now we can afford what we spend. This is because we have cut our State debt burden from $33 billion to under $6 billion and because the budget now spends around $900m less on interest than we used to, even after allowing for the dividends we no longer receive from privatised businesses. That $900m can go a long way in providing more and better hospitals, schools and police.

The new millennium

Now we are about to enter a new millennium, and it is a time to think of the future and how we can best build on what we have achieved to date. I would like to make three observations about the years ahead – one a warning, and two predictions about themes that I believe will become increasingly prominent over the next few years.

A warning

The warning is that it will be essential for electorates and governments in Australia not to lose sight of what has have achieved over recent years. There is a risk in times of prosperity such as at present that we forget what it is that has brought us that prosperity. We can so easily take for granted the sound financial management, the freeing up of the economy, and the ongoing quest for ways of doing things better. We may think we can forget about such things and start living it up. However, if we do that, we will find that the party ends quickly and we are left facing the hangover the next morning, just as we have found before in the mid 70s and the late 80s.

Globalisation and new technology

The first of the themes I would predict is that of globalisation flowing from information technology. Most of us are of course aware of the growth of information technology, and of some of the things it can do. However, I do not think we have yet fully grasped just how far information technology is going to transform the world.

Humans have always sought to expand their horizons. We can go back to Marco Polo, to the great European explorers of the 15^th century, to Captain Cook, to the steam ships and telegraph of the 19^th century, and then to the telephone, the aeroplane, the wireless, satellites, fax machines and mobile phones. In one sense, the Internet is just another step forward. However, it is an enormous step forward, because it will make distance irrelevant to an extent that has never happened before. For more and more jobs, it will make absolutely no difference whether you are working in Michigan, Melbourne or Madrid. Your communication will be instantaneous and what will matter is simply your skills and your knowledge.

This is a wonderful opportunity for Australia – it overcomes our traditional tyranny of distance, and it plays to our great strengths of innovation and adaptiveness, which go right back to the days of the stump jump plough and the combine harvester. Globalisation will be great for jobs, great for exports, great for investment and great for the economy.

Even the Socialist Left of the ALP recognise this potential. Lindsay Tanner, in his recent book Open Australia, forcefully argues that Australia should take full advantage of the opportunities of globalisation.

Social benefits of globalisation

However, this globalisation does not just have an economic benefit. I want to particularly mention tonight the human and social aspect of the new technology. Computers and the Internet are not just for computer nerds, or just for younger generations. They are for everybody, and they are there for family and personal use, as well for business. It is worth noting that retirees, for example, are among the fast growing component of Internet users.

The Internet is a marvellous way to keep in touch with friends or family around Australia, or around the world. It can be used for hobbies, interests or private research. Folk art, genealogy, health, travel - there is a wealth of information about all of them available on the net.

Some people have the fear that you will end up spending all your time hunched over computer, and lose touch with real world outside. There is that risk. We want the Internet to end up being used more like the telephone, to communicate and interact, than like the television, where the temptation is to be passive and inert. However, If used properly, the new technology can be enormously enriching and promote contacts and friendships around the world. Hopefully, that will in turn be a great force for further eliminating the barriers of suspicion, ignorance and isolation that have traditionally held back many parts of the world.

Social problems

The second theme I would predict is going to become increasingly prominent in our lives is discussion about the various social problems being faced by the western world - drugs, youth homelessness, suicide, domestic violence, child abuse, crime generally.

In any era, attention tends to be focussed on the most acute problems of the day. In time of war, the national effort goes into winning the war. In times of economic stagnation such as the western world experienced from the late 60s to the 80s, the focus was on freeing up the restrictions, letting in competition, and finding new and better ways of creating wealth and adding value.

Now that we have raised our economic wellbeing, and regained our sense of productivity and creativity, as a result of the reforms that have been undertaken not only in Victoria, but around the world, we move on to the next item on our list of priorities.

To some extent the social problems I have referred to have always been with us. However, the evidence is strong that our social problems have been growing steadily over recent decades, and that they have increased rapidly over the last 10 or 20 years. Our initial responses to these problems have mainly been preventative intervention, and in helping those who have been hurt. But we are starting to realise that we need to look for the causes of these problems, and work out what to do about those causes once identified. There is also a growing view, and I think a correct one, that the various problems I have mentioned have a largely common set of causes.

Some argue that these causes are economic, in the sense of poverty or income inequality, but I would strongly disagree with that. We are enormously better off now in material terms that people were in the depression of the ‘30’s, but that depression did not result in anything near the level of social problems we have today. If anything, those problems declined in the 30s.

Rather, I strongly suspect that the causes of these problems lie in the sense of value and meaning that people have in their lives. We all need to feel we have a place in the world. We need friends, we need a sense of community. We need a framework of parameters and boundaries within which to operate. We need to ensure that other people are not treated as commodities to be disposed of to suit our convenience. We need to accept individual and family responsibility, and we need to feel that others trust us with responsibility.

This is not a subject on which there is necessarily a division of views along traditional political lines. Lindsay Tanner, whom I mentioned earlier, has also written about the damage caused by the erosion of the belief structures around which western civilisation has been built, and has characterised "loneliness" as being the root of many of our social ills.

Nor is any of this truly profound or new. It is really just restating what parents have passed on to their children over many generations. However, often these lessons need to be learnt anew by each new generation, and expressed in a way and in the language which meets the needs of the times.

There are already signs of changes in our society, responding to some of these factors. Let me mention three.

Part-time education

First, in education. We are starting to take a more realistic view of the demands we put on young people, in terms of workloads and the number of years we expect them to remain in full time education.

For many young adults it has been asking too much to expect them to remain in full time education, wholly dependent on others, into their years of biological maturity, when their natural urge is to take responsibility for themselves and for others.

At the same time, we are realising that in the modern days of a flexible workforce, needing to learn and adapt on the job, the best way forward may not necessarily involve full time secondary education, followed by full time tertiary education leading to a white collar degree. That may not be the best way to become a Bill Gates or, indeed, a State Premier.

Rather, it may be better for many young people to enter the workplace earlier and undertake a combination of vocational education coupled with part time work. Not only may this make sense in economic terms; it can also help give a sense of purpose and responsibility earlier in life to some young adults who may otherwise be struggling to find their place in the world.

Indeed, the growth we have seen in recent years in secondary level Vocational Education and Training, and in TAFE, is already responding to this trend.

"Downshifting"

A second area of change that is underway is in the balance between work and other priorities. We are starting to be more realistic in the long term employment and career workloads we expect of each other. It was important and necessary that we shook off the rigidity and complacency of the standard 9 to 5 hours for almost everyone. However, from there a lot of people have got into the habit of working 12, 14 or 16 hour days week in, week out, regardless of the impact on their families and personal life.

Now I think we are starting to move slowly towards a more balanced approach - being prepared to put in the long hours for a spurt when the need requires it, but easing off at other times. Evidence of this is the trend being referred to as "downshifting", where employees are consciously electing to take jobs at a lower salary in order to enjoy shorter working hours and less stressful work, and to spend time on other important things in life.

The importance of community ties

The third area of change we are already seeing is the increasing attention being given to the role of community organisations, and of the social context in which business activity takes place. People are finding a strong correlation between the strength of community organisations on the one hand, and both economic prosperity and the quality of government on the other hand.

For many years there has been the myth promoted by some that free enterprise and the community sector are somehow at odds with one another – that if you are pro-free enterprise you are anti-voluntary and community organisations, or that a more efficient economy is harmful to a sense of community. Indeed, only yesterday the sad-sacks at the Melbourne Age published an article which tried to argue that very point and use it to attack the achievements of the Treasurer and the State Government.

However, nothing is further from truth. Free enterprise is vital to our wellbeing, but it has always needed to be free enterprise within a social context. A successful economy needs a strong social framework. Conversely, free enterprise helps build aspects of human character which are vital for democratic and community institutions and for individual and family lives – values of thrift, diligence, hard work, foresight, sacrifice, priorities, service. The more exposed are young people to these values, the more likely they are to make good citizens.

These are points that are being increasingly raised by writers such as Robert Putnam, Michael Novak, and Francis Fukuyama, and we are starting to see discussion of these matters emerging more and more from academic and policy think tank circles and into the popular press. Indeed, only last Friday the Australian Financial Review published an excellent overview of some of these issues by Francis Fukuyama, with a further instalment due this Friday.

The way forward

Thus, while the western world does face serious social problems, there are signs of a clear way forward. If we can find solutions for the causes, not just treatment for the symptoms, of these problems, if we can continue to restore fundamental values, and give people from all sections of the community a sense of purpose in life, we have cause for optimism.

Every age is inclined to think its troubles are more serious than those ever experienced before, and that the youth of the day are going to ruin. But we should never forget that out of difficulties, a solution often comes unexpectedly. For example, contrast the problems of the times portrayed by Charles Dickens with the general prosperity and sense of purpose and confidence which Britain had achieved 50 years later.

And so, in conclusion, the message I believe we should take with us into the new millennium is threefold

• Firstly, we should be adventurous, we should be enthusiastic, we should seize the opportunities the future holds.

• Secondly, we should not lose sight of the fundamentals of sound management of government and the enormous creativity of the free market, and

• Thirdly, we must never forget the human factor in everything we do - relationships, friends and family, traditions, a place in the world.

If we can go into the future with those three factors firmly in mind, we have every reason to look forward to the new millennium with optimism and with confidence.