2 May 1997 TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER
THE HON. JOHN HOWARD MP
DOORSTOP INTER VIEW SYDNEY
E O E
PRIME MINISTER:
Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to congratulate Tony Blair, the Prime Ministerelect
of Great Britain on an extraordinarily impressive victory. I commiserate with my
friend, John Major. He fought a courageous personal campaign in quite impossible
circumstances. Mr Blair inherits a very strong British economy, in fact the strongest
economy in Europe. He inherits the legacy of 18 years of overall, very successful
Conservative Party rule and at a time in which the electoral fortunes of the British
Conservative Party are at a very low ebb, it is worth recalling the enormous
transformation that the Thatcher years, followed by the Major years brought to the
economy of the United Kingdom. The relationship between Australia and the United
Kingdom is a very important relationship. It consists of many layers of history, of
shared values and shared attitudes and many personal links and on a personal note I
look forward to meeting Mr Blair in the very near future. I again warmly congratulate
him. I wish him well. I hope he brings good government to the country that he has
now been elected to lead.
JRNLST: Mr Howard, is our economy growing as strongly as the United Kingdom's?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, in fact on some estimates, a tick stronger. It depends what measure you use but
certainly, the growth rate in Australia and the growth rate in the United Kingdom are
very similar indeed.
JRNLST: Mr Howard, did you, as has been suggested in newspapers this morning, attempt to
broker a deal with Mr Murdoch?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I saw that story. I was rather surprised at the tone of it. What happened was that
I was asked by News Ltd, by one of the Murdochs, whether I would be willing,
whether the Government would be willing to agree to an increase in the foreign
investment limits for television. In the course of discussions with him and also with Mr
Cowley, the proposition was put that, as to whether News Ltd would be willing to
surrender ownership of some newspapers if the increase, if an increase in television
foreign ownership were allowed. At no stage was there any suggestion put that there
was some trade off between changing the cross media rules and lifting the foreign
ownership limits in television. The approach about lifting the foreign ownership limits
in television was to me, came from News Ltd, and may I say, I didn't find that the least
bit odd.
I mean, newspaper and press proprietors are always putting propositions to the
Government about changing the law in a way that might suit them and that applies to
Mr Packer, it applies to Mr Murdoch, it applies to Mr Stokes, it applies to a whole lot
of other people, so there's nothing odd about that and I don't take any exception but
what I do reject about that Financial Review article this morning is the suggestion that
I tried to sort of broker some trade off between changing the foreign investment limits
for television in exchange for some tacit acceptance by the Murdoch interest of
changing cross media. What was put to me was, would we change the television laws,
and we said, well would you surrender some newspaper interests so that the overall
level of foreign ownership in the media did not go up, and nothing has come of that.
So what happens is a matter for the Government to decide but the law as it stands at
the present time is the law as it stands and no Government decision on any aspect of
media law has been taken and I ought to make that very plain to everybody who is
interested. JRNLST: What do you say then Mr Howard, to Mr Stokes who today has accused you of doing
a quote, disgracefuil deal to deliver Fairfax to its...
PRIME MINISTER:
Really? Well that rather tiresome allegation was I think launched onto the world stage
in Singapore and outside the Brandenburg Gate by my predecessor as Prime Minister a
couple of years ago. Of course I have not done any deal, disgraceful or otherwise with
Mr Packer. Our policy at the last election left open the question of whether the cross
media prohibitions would be lifted. I am on the record over a period of ten years as
being opposed to the cross media prohibitions and I'm rather puzzled, I had a talk to
Mr Stokes two days ago and he didn't say anything about that to me.
JRNLST: Are you surprised at the bitterness of his attack? He's accused you of playing king
maker, much the way that the Labor Party did?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think that's an extraordinary attack but I am not surprised. I mean, Mr Stokes
doesn't want the cross media rules changed so I mean, look, I think there's a pattern.
All media proprietors tend to make public statements in promotion of their own
interests and I understand that. I don't criticise them for it. I think he obviously feels
that obligation to his shareholders to put a point of view. Mr Packer does to his
interests and Mr Murdoch does to his and all the other players on the Australian media
scene really do the same thing. There's no real difference. I think in fact it's better
that these things be discussed in an open fashion like this. Every media proprietor in
Australia is pushing his or her own barrow. There's no qualitative difference as far as I
have been able to divine but I just reject completely any suggestion of a deal. That's a
silly, erroneous and quite dishonourable claim.
JRNLST: Mr Howard, is there any chance that the foreign ownership in television will be lifted
so it's consistent with newspapers, to that 25% limit?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I don't want to speculate or comment any further. Obviously the media laws
are under some consideration at the present time. That's plain. We haven't reached
any final decision. As I said a moment ago, the law at the present time is the law at the
present time and in the course of these reviews you have a lot of views put to you by a
lot of people and I have been receiving a lot of those views from different people. The
one thing I can tell you is that nobody, no one person is in agreement with any other
person. They all have a slightly different point of view.
JRNLST: Is it according to what the proposition, or the counter proposition you put to Mr
Murdoch, you might be prepared to contemplate increasing the levels for tv if there
was a divestiture in, say print or something to ( inaudible)
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I said what I said. I can't add anything to that and I wouldn't have said it if it
weren't accurate. I simply make the point that at no stage did I try and broker some
kind of trade off between cross media laws and foreign investment laws in relation to
television. That part of the Financial Review story was completely erroneous and I am
very surprised that it was written in that form.
JRNLST: What do you think of the proposition"
PRIME MINISTER:
What do I think of what proposition?
JRNLST: The News Ltd proposition that they increase their stake to seven at the same time as
you ( inaudible)
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that wasn't their proposition. That was the whole point of what I said.
JRNLST: What do you think of the idea?
PRIME MINISTER:
What do I think of the idea? Well I think that's academic.
JRNLST: Mr Howard on Wik...
PRIME MINISTER:
On Wik, yes.
JRNLST: If as reported, next week the National Party forces Tim Fischer to abandon your plan
to favour extinguishment, where do you go?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I never react to each and every piece of speculation in newspapers and on
television about how something like this is going. I am confident that the plan that I
have put forward is the best plan to give certainty to pastoralists and deliver fairness to
the Aboriginal people. I am determined to press ahead with it. I have already asked
that work begin on preparing legislation. I will be talking to the Cabinet about it next
week and I am very confident that the plan will receive the support of the Joint Party
Room.
JRNLST: Aboriginal groups are worried you've ignored the stolen generation inquiry?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I haven't received a detailed briefing on that and until I have I am not going to
make any comment.
JRNLST: Mr Howard, when do you expect to make a decision on plans to ( inaudible) the laws
on cross media ownership?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't know.
Thank you.