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Hawke 's historic summit

Sydney's Sunday Telegraph proclaimed it to be "Australia's D-day--a day aimed at determining our destiny." Even the conservative Australian Financial Review hailed it as "one of the most unusual and hopeful experiments we have ever witnessed in this country." Only five weeks after he won office, Prime Minister Bob Hawke, 53, made good on one of his most daring campaign promises by bringing together leaders of labor, business and government for an unprecedented National Economic Summit Conference. Its purpose: to reach a consensus in solving Australia's chronic economic problems.

Hawke's experiment in domestic diplomacy provoked some predictable skepticism. Andrew Peacock, who was elected leader of the opposition Liberal Party last month, dismissed the summit as "a carnival of economic sophistry." But few could contest the necessity of dealing with what Hawke called "Australia's gravest economic crisis for 50 years." Largely because of a debilitating drought, farm production, which accounts for half of Australia's exports, plummeted 20% in the second half of 1982. Moreover, the new Prime Minister inherited an unexpectedly high $8.2 million budget deficit, which has forced him to consider trimming welfare spending and increasing taxes. Hawke now hopes to reduce the nation's 10.4% unemployment figure without spurring an inflation rate that at 11.2% is well above the rates of Australia's principal trading partners.

The government's inevitable call for restraint was surprisingly well received at last week's gathering in the capital city of Canberra. The unions seemed willing to settle, for the time being at least, for modest wage increases pegged to the consumer price index. Business leaders struck an equally harmonious chord. Many, in fact, went so far as to advocate a freeze on senior management salaries, shareholders' dividends and medical fees.

By week's end, despite some signs of labor unrest, the conference participants had agreed in principle to a new, centralized wage-fixing system. Indeed, the majority signed a far-reaching 55-point communique pledging "to work together to meet the challenge of Australia's economic and social crisis." The summit had, it seemed, achieved the spirit, of cooperation that Hawke wanted. Noted Michelle Grattan, political writer for the Melbourne Age: "The breakthrough was in the vibes, not the decisions." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.