E&OE....................................................................................................
LYNEHAM:
I would think it's gone down well for the first few days but
you haven't got a sort of huge bounce have you there's
not conga lines of enthusiastic people in the streets of suburban
Australia are there?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I must say, in Adelaide yesterday a lot of people stopped
me a lot of elderly people stopped me outside the Commonwealth
Bank and said that it was a good plan, people were honking
their car horns a bit. Look, I wasn't the boss when Fightback
was released so I can't compare it, a different situation.
But I'm very reassured by the response.
LYNEHAM:
But even after John Hewson hammered away for months, many people
still didn't understand some of the basic concepts.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, John Hewson was a long way in front for a long time. It was
only towards the end that he lost.
LYNEHAM:
Then it says: here's what's in it for you, doesn't
this sound a bit like a sales pitch as much as an explanation from
your Government and should we, the taxpayers, be paying for that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Paul, people want to know what's in this plan. I mean, you
can't, on the one hand, say, oh look, it's complicated
and then criticise us for trying to make it simple.
LYNEHAM:
But if the Liberal Party wants to sell it to them prior to an election,
shouldn't the Liberal Party foot the bill for the sales pitch?
PRIME MINISTER:
There's no election been called. It has long been the case
that if a government announces a new policy, a new plan, it provides
basic information. If the material contained an attack on the Labor
Party, it would be a different matter, your criticism would have
more point.
LYNEHAM:
So, you're saying this isn't all now occurring in a pre-election
context?
PRIME MINISTER:
Paul, no election has been called. I have not decided when the
election will be.
LYNEHAM:
Would you like to rule out an October election, for example?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm not ruling anything in or out. I'm accepting regular
dinner engagements right through the coming months.
LYNEHAM:
We had 120 uncommitted voters who were very, very positive as they
heard your Address to the Nation but, in the end, a majority of
them said they weren't buying what you were selling. Does that
concern you?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, there'll be a plethora of polls and surveys between now
and whenever the judgement day may be, politically speaking, and
I believe we'll end up selling this to the Australian public.
LYNEHAM:
So the sell goes on?
PRIME MINISTER:
Sure does.
[Ends]