Australias destiny will be shaped by its people: Rupert Murdoch delivers lecture to the Lowy Institute RUPERT MURDOCH THE DAILY TELEGRAPH NOVEMBER 01, 2013 7:35AM SHARE expand Share on facebook YOUR FRIENDS ACTIVITY NEW! Discover news with your friends. Give it a try. To get going, simply connect with your favourite social network: Facebook RUPERT MURDOCH DELIVERS THE 10TH LOWY INSTITUTE LECTURE 24:54 Play video One of the ambitions of the Lowy Institute is to amplify Australian voices on the world stage, and no Australian businessman has had more success on that world stage than Rupert Murdoch. Your video will begin in 1 seconds STOP Autoplay ON OFF THE 21st century is Australias for the taking. Australians are a naturally competitive people. Maybe its because of where Australia sits geographically. Whatever the reason, Australians are curious about the world - and the great Australian diaspora proves we have never been shy about taking it on. That is a testament to our competitive streak. You see it in our sport and hear it in our everyday language: Have a go, mate. Dont look for entitlements, have a go! This should be the spirit of the 21st-century global economy. And Australia is well suited by character and culture to be a great success in it. For Australia is on the cusp of becoming something rare and valuable in this new world: an egalitarian meritocracy, with more than a touch of libertarianism. But we cant wait for later. In the past few years, we have all seen how advances in communications and travel have eliminated the tyranny of distance. The same might be said for size. Think about Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. These are all small places, and hardly blessed with natural resources. Yet they have carved out a competitive position in the world because of their free, open and dynamic economies. Australia can and should do better than all of them. Three factors will make the global Australian even more competitive in the world ahead. First, Australian values. Some people say we need to abandon Australian values. The truth is if we want to lead rather than follow, we need to promote Australias values and strengthen the institutions that sustain them. Second, immigration. Having a diverse immigrant population is a precious resource as we engage the world. Rupert Murdoch delivers the 2013 Lowy Lecture at the Sydney Town Hall / Picture: James Croucher Rupert Murdoch delivers the 2013 Lowy Lecture at the Sydney Town Hall / Picture: James Croucher Source: News Limited Finally, disruption. One of the few certainties we can have is that the 21st century will be a century of disruption. Australia must be the economy that thrives on disruption. Primarily we will do this through the key drivers of prosperity: trade, technology, and free markets. If we do these things, I promise you this: Australia will do more than prosper. Australia will lead. Australia had a long history before it became a British colony. But that colonisation resulted in class pretensions that have lasted a long time. These pretensions include not only the stuffy, narrow-minded elitism that still exists in some small quarters of society, but more recently, the faux class war that has been stirred by contemporary politicians grasping for an election theme. Thankfully, Australia has emerged from its inauspicious colonial beginnings to become a proud nation - a nation that overcame those primeval prejudices. We have a perfect example: Many of you will remember when a Catholic was rare in a Liberal Cabinet. Those days are now behind us. And Prime Minister Tony Abbott is part of the proof. The heart of Australia today is our belief in a fair shake for all - no man or woman is above any other. We applaud achievement and innovation. We want people to strive, to make the most of their talent and not to be content with their lot. That is the essence of an egalitarian meritocracy. Thats an appealing message, and a competitive edge in a competitive world. If we wish to continue to punch above our weight, we must cultivate the values and institutions that sustain this ethos; our churches and our social organisations. The values that define Australia depend on more than good government and strong allies. They depend on sound and vigorous institutions - especially private institutions. You cant have the rule of law if the courts arent free and independent - or if you have lawyers running amok as they do in the American system. We cannot allow the rule of law to become the rule of lawyers! You cant have a free democracy if you dont have a free media that can provide vital and independent information to the people. You cant have a competitive, egalitarian meritocracy if only some of your citizens have the opportunity for a good education. In a world as competitive as ours, the child who does not get a decent education is condemned to the fringes of society. In the decades since World War Two, Australia has gone through many changes. But for all this progress, there is still a strand among some who seem to value every culture except our own. These people are gravely confused about what real multiculturalism is. Rupert Murdoch delivers the 2013 Lowy Lecture at the Sydney Town Hall / Picture: James Croucher Rupert Murdoch delivers the 2013 Lowy Lecture at the Sydney Town Hall / Picture: James Croucher Source: News Limited Multiculturalism is not relativism, and tolerance is not indifference. Australia has clear values and strong institutions. One key value is an openness to all comers - provided they are willing to abide by our way of life. The result is a great model for the world - a prosperous, multicultural society of people living together in peace and freedom. The nations that lead this century will be the ones most successful at attracting and keeping talent. We need to get the brightest of them here. That is how we will strengthen our human capital. Australia is on its way to becoming what may be the worlds most diverse nation. This is an incredible competitive advantage. Which brings me to my last point: Australia must be the worlds disruptive economy. The economist Schumpeter once described the process of creative destruction as essential to capitalism. The current fashionable word to capture that sense of creative chaos is disruption. I guess some would say that I have been a disruptive influence at times. I will take that as a compliment, even if it wasnt intended that way. When I think of the newspaper industry today, and the transition that has taken place from Gutenberg to Google, I know the status quo is being disrupted yet again. Perhaps the most revolutionary disruption in the last decade has been the stunning growth of mobile communications. For a company like News Corp, that disruption has actually been a shot of adrenalin. Now, each and everyone of us can have our news and information when and where we want it. That is a huge leap for an industry that once had to rely on trucks and news agents alone to deliver news. The same opportunity for global growth is there for Australia, if we can make ourselves more nimble. While the lack of a huge domestic market presents challenges, it also means we have fewer huge industries demanding the government protections common in large industrial nations - and fatal for any society that hopes to advance in a disruptive world. And it means we are always forced to think outside the box. The disruptive forces in the world economy today are as relentless as they are remorseless. But once we embrace that reality, we can make sure they are rewarding. It is the Australian people who will, collectively, define this nations destiny. We must be leaders, not followers. We must be egalitarian, not elitist. We must be victors, not victims. It wont be easy. But the Australia that I know and love has never shied from a challenge. This is an edited version of the speech given Thursday night to the Lowy Institute by Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 09:11:01 +0000
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