Gorton speaks bluntly

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32524, 6 February 1971, Page 15

Gorton speaks bluntly

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) CANBERRA, Feb. 5. The new “tough-line” post-Singapore image of the Australian Prime Minister (Mr Gorton) was reinforced yesterday when he flatly rejected pleas from the Australian states for money to help them meet wage costs.

A meeting of the state Premiers had been called, to discuss how the states could meet the 6 per cent increase in the national wage, awarded from January by the Commonwealth Arbitration Commission. The Premiers went away with empty hands and a warning that they should start lowering their sights

when they frame their next year’s Budgets. GOVT DIRECTIVE The Commonwealth restrictions are designed to reduce Government spending and so relieve pressures on the private sector of the economy. It has not yet publicly defined their extent, but sources in Canberra said that departments had been told to reduce their spending by 6 pet cent over all.

Since departments are committed to pay the extra 6 per cent awarded in wages and salaries, the saving will have to be made in overtime and other spending. This means that to achieve an over-all 6 per cent reduction in their budgets, departments will have to reduce spending on sectors other than wages by between 11 and 12 per cent.

The Premiers are to meet again in April, when they will be expected to produce detailed arguments against the Commonwealth proposals designed to curb inflation. The measure of the new bluntness of Mr Gorton can be read in his address to the Premiers; so direct as to be almost offensive:

“I do hope when you come back in April you will give us some genuine figures. “We are going to dig into them, but it would be much easier and better if there was a fair dinkurn operation between us.” Political observers see his toughness as the more remarkable, as it might rebound against two state governments of Mr Gorton’s own political bias. MERINOS FLOWN

The Government today served notice that it will continue to use Air Force personnel and facilities to sidestep a union ban on the export of Merino rams. A chartered Norwegian Boeing 720 early today left Australia carrying 136 rams; it had been fuelled and loaded at the R.A.A.F. base at Richmond, near Sydney. It had been unable to load the rams at Sydney because of the union ban.

A spokesman for Mr Gorton said today that the R.A.A.F. would be used again if the unions continued theit ban. Union leaders have reacted angrily: The president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (Mr Robert Hawke) said that if Mr Gorton was convinced that the Government’s policy on ram exports was correct, he must be prepared to debate the issue in Parliament. “A wide section of the wool industry, as well as the public generally, supports our view,” Mr Hawke said.