LYNEHAM:
Prime Minister welcome again to the programme.
PRIME MINISTER:
It is a pleasure.
LYNEHAM:
What is good news about unemployment stuck at 8.4 per cent?
PRIME MINISTER:
The good news is that over the last three months we have created
145,000 jobs. Now that is the best quarterly figure for two and
a half years. All the other forward indicators show a strengthening
employment situation and these are the first real signs that we
have begun to turn the corner and we are quietly confident that
unemployment will slowly but steadily fall during 1998. It really
does represent more than just a flash in the pan. We still have
a long way to go but because the foundations of the economy are
so strong and growth domestically is so strong. It is a very good
Christmas, all the indicators are that consumers are spending, so
we end the year on a very optimistic note for Australian families.
LYNEHAM:
Well you certainly do have a long way to go Prime Minister. We
have still got 779,000 people out of work and that is, in fact,
about 11,500 more tonight than on the night you were elected.
PRIME MINISTER:
Of course we have a slightly larger population, you have got to
make allowance for that. We still have a long way to go.
LYNEHAM:
And youth unemployment now at 28.4 per cent and that was one of
your benchmarks. You said, judge me by that.
PRIME MINISTER:
We still have a long way to go but let us deal in positive realities,
and the last quarter has seen the best job performance for two and
a half years. To have 145,000, I recognise we still have a long
way to go, but 145,000 jobs created in that period of time is very
good and very positive news.
LYNEHAM:
Labor says that in its last 21 months they created 297,000 jobs.
In your first 21 months 54,800.
PRIME MINISTER:
I can remind you that unemployment went to over 11 per cent when
Mr Beazley was Employment Minister. We can get bogged down in those
sort of statistical tit-for-tats, but the reality is right now we
have seen the first really strong signs in two to three years, and
that goes back to well within the period that Labor was in office,
the first really strong signs of a turn around in employment. Now
I acknowledge there is a long way to go but when you see some good,
positive signs I think it is important that the community gets the
benefit of that.
LYNEHAM:
Prime Minister, another sign, recently a couple of surveys about
businesses intentions on investment, they are very frightened now
about the prospect of being hit by the backwash of the Asian meltdown,
investment expectations are down dramatically. That won't help
jobs next year?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Paul, obviously the Asian turn down is going to affect Australia
to some degree. It would have affected Australia a lot more if we
hadn't fixed up Mr Beazley's $10.5 billion deficit. It
would have affected Australia a lot more if we hadn't got the
foundations right and we hadn't got interest rates and inflation
down.
LYNEHAM:
But doesn't it jeopardise your growth creation trend?
PRIME MINISTER:
Paul, there will be some impact but it won't be nearly as
great as it would have been if the domestic economy had not been
moving ahead so strongly. You see what we have done over the last
21 months is to waterproof Australia to a large extent against the
storms that have come out of Asia. If we had not done what we have
done over the 21 months we would have, as a people and as a nation,
we would have been knocked around a lot more over the last few weeks.
LYNEHAM:
And waterproof us against any substantial cuts in greenhouse gas
emissions as the result of this conference in Kyoto?
PRIME MINISTER:
This is a terrific outcome for Australia.
LYNEHAM:
The greenies don't like it.
PRIME MINISTER:
The greenies seem to have overlooked the fact that in relative
terms we are going to cut our emissions more than the industrial
world average, it is just that we had a higher level in the first
place because we depend very heavily on fossil fuel. But this is
a balanced outcome, it will protect jobs, and that is very important.
LYNEHAM:
I thought we were going to put out 8 per cent more of this gas?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, but if we had not taken measures the figure would have been
somewhere between 28 and 40 per cent. You see, unlike a lot of other
industrialised countries we rely very heavily on fossil fuel for
our energy. And what we have done, against all the predictions,
against the criticism of the Labor Party, the cynicism of our critics,
what we've been able to do is to achieve a decent balance between
an overall attack on the environmental problems of pollution. But
at the same time we have protected Australian jobs. It's an
excellent outcome for Australia. It's a first-class outcome
for Australia and one that is certainly pro-employment in Australia,
but it also means that we'll be playing a very significant
part in the overall global attack on greenhouse gas emissions.
LYNEHAM:
And you wouldn't look more fair dinkum if you hadn't
taken so much money away from renewable energy research?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, hang on, I mean, if you're going to start talking about
who's done what in relation to the environment, I mean, let
me remind you of the Natural Heritage Trust which is going to make
an enormous contribution towards reforestation in this country.
Land care, I mean, that's the biggest environmental package
that this country has had in 30 or 40 years.
LYNEHAM:
Why do you say people should take a cold shower with regard to
the Australians training in Dubai as wharfies?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, for the obvious reason that we have a simple situation that
we have laws in this country. If people want to start any stevedoring
activities, they have to be within the law. And all this talk about
guns and thugs and so forth is ridiculous. And it's coming
from people, incidentally, who are involved, some of them, at least
in an emotional sense, they were involved in that attack on Parliament
last year. I mean, the only violence I've seen on the industrial
scene in Australia in recent years was that attempt to bash down
the front door of Parliament House after having listened to a speech
from Kim Beazley, Cheryl Kernot and Jennie George.
LYNEHAM:
Finally, Prime Minister, the republicans appear to be out-polling
the monarchists in early counting of the postal ballots almost three
to two. Are you surprised?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I'm not. I thought that would be the case. You always,
particularly in a voluntary voting situation, those who are satisfied
with the status quo are more likely to be disinterested. But I expected
the republicans to do better in this ballot. What I want now is
the focus to be turned to the convention itself.
What must be done at the convention is an attempt by all participants
to sort out what is the republican alternative to the present arrangement.
We all know the present system. We all know that when a vote is
finally taken on this issue, people can vote in favour of the present
system. But at this stage we de present
system. But at this stage we don't know what the alternative
is. And what I want everybody at that convention to do, whether
they are republican or anti-republican, is to focus on working out
the alternative so that in the not too distant future we can have
a vote on this issue and find out where the Australian public really
stands.
[Ends]