E&OE..............................
LYNEHAM:
Prime Minister welcome again to Nightline.
PRIME MINISTER:
It's a pleasure.
LYNEHAM:
What are your briefings telling you about the prospect of major
social disorder in Indonesia?
PRIME MINISTER:
I am concerned about what is happening and the Indonesian Government
and armed forces must exercise restraint. Indonesia is going through
a very difficult time. The adjustment process to get its economy
in order is not easy for the people of Indonesia and they all deserve
our understanding and support but the Indonesian Government of course
has a crucial role. It's got to strike the balance between
maintaining order but also recognising the great deal of pain that
people are feeling and the natural desire of people in that situation
to vent their feelings.
LYNEHAM:
Is anyone inclined, do you think to tell President Soeharto, or
suggest to him that his troops might not use live ammunition against
students?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it's not for me as Prime Minister of Australia to get
into the detail of riot response.
LYNEHAM:
Some will say there's all the evidence you need that the IMF
package was too tough.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it was always going to be difficult, the adjustment process.
The package was not as tough as it might have been had it not been
for Australian persuasion and advocacy. I believe we got the balance
right. Unless Indonesia adjusts, then the rest of the world will
turn its back on that country and that will be tragic and the social
dislocation would be much greater than what is involved in responding
to the IMF package.
LYNEHAM:
Isn't it the fact that nobody really knows how serious the
Asian meltdown will ultimately be and that the Budget figures we
saw last night are certainly no worst case scenario?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think what we could say about the Budget figures last night is
that they were quite conservative. A lot of people have expressed
the view that 3 per cent growth is at the conservative end of the
range but that was the Treasury figure and we're not in the
business of ...
LYNEHAM:
Others would say it's optimistic.
PRIME MINISTER:
No, not many people have said that to me.
LYNEHAM:
Even if the three percent growth figure for next year is the right
one, we're still being told that unemployment is not going
to get much worse. Now how can that be?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there's some in the pipeline as the Treasurer said earlier
today.
LYNEHAM:
But enough to...
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, according to our advice, yes.
LYNEHAM:
The Government's next big card is tax reform. Should part of
that debate include the question of whether we really want say,
the lowest possible personal income tax or better hospitals, schools,
roads and other amenities?
PRIME MINISTER:
People want a new and a fairer tax system. There's no doubt
about that. We have a very clear message and we are going to do
that.
LYNEHAM:
Is your aim to try to make tax reform revenue neutral or are you
looking at those big projected budget surpluses...
PRIME MINISTER:
I am not going to, we will use the budget surplus in the way that
best advantages the Australian people. I am not going to at this
stage talk about whether tax reform is going to be revenue neutral
or this or that. The only proviso I will make is that we will not
be increasing the overall tax burden. I made that clear in August
of last year and that remains definitely our position. Everything
else is on the table.
LYNEHAM:
You've also made it clear that we will have time to debate
the tax plan before the election.
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh yes.
LYNEHAM:
Does time mean a couple of months?
PRIME MINISTER:
I am not going to specify what that time is. There will be adequate
time for people to digest what is in the package and ask questions
about it and people will be able to debate the wheres and why-fors
but I am not going to tie myself in advance of its release to a
minimum or a maximum amount of time. I am not in that business.
There is no reason for that.
LYNEHAM:
Has it really taken shape yet? Is there a document?
PRIME MINISTER:
We have done a lot of work, the Treasurer and I, and the broad architecture,
if I can again borrow the nomenclature of pure economic debate but,
has emerged but there is still quite a bit of work to go. I am,
along with the Treasurer, devoting an enormous amount of time to
it. It's a very important exercise. It's something to
which I am very strongly committed.
LYNEHAM:
Youve told your party room that this session of Parliament
could be the last. Are you trying to put the wind up Labor or are
you really being serious?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I think it's just a normal piece of prudence. You shouldn't
read too much into that. I was just stating the obvious.
LYNEHAM:
But it does suggest that your thinking has become more finely focussed
on the months ahead, doesn't it and that seems to be mooted
around the building.
PRIME MINISTER:
Paul, Paul we are in a situation where if there is to be a double
dissolution, the Parliament has got to be resolved under the Constitution
by the 29th of October so it's now almost mid-May. Naturally
you get a little more focussed but time will take care of the date.
LYNEHAM:
And that really is an option is it, a double dissolution despite
the losses you might face in the Senate?
PRIME MINISTER:
How else do you get the Native Title legislation into law?
LYNEHAM:
So there's no bluff on the subject?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I'm not bluffing. I will decide at the right time whether
or not I have a double dissolution but Paul, I am not kidding when
I say that as it seems to me now, the only way we can pass the Native
Title Amendment Bill into law is at a joint sitting following a
double dissolution. Now whether I end up having a double dissolution
will be influenced by a large number of factors but if you are looking
at the Native Title bill, that's the only way I can get it
through. I mean, imagine if I did what you suggested, come back
and they knock it back again and I go through this business again.
People will say, what's the country coming to? I can't
even resolve something like that.
LYNEHAM:
Prime Minister, thanks for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
It's a pleasure.
ENDS