E&OE……………………………………………………………………………………….
LYNEHAM:
Prime Minister, welcome again to the programme.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good evening.
LYNEHAM:
And congratulations on your election victory.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you very much.
LYNEHAM:
Now, you’ve given Jackie Kelly a huge job with tourism and sport. Are you sure she’s up to it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, I am. I think she’s a very intelligent, energetic person. I think she’ll do it very well.
LYNEHAM:
The New South Wales Premier, Bob Carr, says that if you and your new Minister want to get in on the Olympic glory you’d better bring your cheque book. Have you been a bit stingy?
PRIME MINISTER:
No. Isn’t that just a typical comment from a New South Wales Labor Premier?
LYNEHAM:
What, never stand between a Premier and a bucket of money?
PRIME MINISTER:
I didn’t agree with many things Paul Keating said but when it came to New South Wales Labor Premiers that was a brilliant description.
LYNEHAM:
And Wilson Tuckey as Minister for Forestry and Conservation. When did you first notice his hidden conservation tendencies?
PRIME MINISTER:
Wilson Tuckey is a person of many parts and many interests and there’s a softer side to him as there is to all of us.
LYNEHAM:
Would you concede he’s not noted for the subtlety of his approach at times?
PRIME MINISTER:
Wilson has a directness of language which is sometimes very desirable in public life. I think he’s person, like all of us, who’s mellowed over the years. We’ve had our differences. They’ve been well publicised.
LYNEHAM:
Well you sure have. He knifed you in the back in ’89 and then boasted about it afterwards on the ABC.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, that’s nine years ago. That’s what happens when you boast about things on the ABC.
LYNEHAM:
And you’ve mellowed, have you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Of course I have, we all have. And he’s a very strong, articulate political operator and I think he’ll bring a lot of strength to the party’s profile in the west.
LYNEHAM:
Gatjil Djekurra, the ATSIC Chairman, says that if you really wanted a fresh start with indigenous people you should have moved John Herron from Aboriginal Affairs.
PRIME MINISTER:
I don’t know that I’ve read that Gatjil’s said exactly that. But can I just say of John Herron’s detractors, I took no notice of them. I have a very high regard for John Herron and there are a lot of Australians who think he’s handled his job very well. He’s been doing what the Government has asked him to do in that portfolio. He’s a person of deep compassion and great human decency.
LYNEHAM:
But couldn’t you say John Herron is a decent man but the fact remains that he’s lost the confidence of his constituency, be pragmatic, take a fresh look at it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I don’t agree that he has. If you go out into the settlements and you talk to the elders and you talk to the people on the ground as distinct from some of the people who are reported as representing Aboriginal views, you’ll get a completely different read out. He enjoys their confidence, their affection and their respect.
LYNEHAM:
Now, some press reports said you wanted to move John Fahey from Finance but he dug in, is that how it was?
PRIME MINISTER:
I never wanted to remove him from Finance. It was one of those stories that your colleagues conjure up to provide a bit of amusement while they wait for me to make the announcement. I think John’s done a good job in Finance. An equally ridiculous story was that I, at some stage, wanted to give some other person than Peter Costello responsibility for shepherding through the GST. That’s perfectly astonishing. I can’t imagine that, with the biggest tax reform in history facing us, that anybody other than the Treasurer would shepherd it through the Parliament. Neither of those propositions emanated from me and neither of them were ever on my mind or on my agenda.
LYNEHAM:
Talking of the Senate, Kim Beazley says that if you accept Mal Colston’s vote you’ll be breaking faith with the electorate and driving down confidence in the democratic process.
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh gee, really. I think Kim Beazley is still sort of in a state of delusion about what happened on the 3rd of October. Kim, we won the election and you lost. You’re the Opposition Leader, I’m the Prime Minister and if you want to get technical about the basis on which Mal Colston was elected to the Parliament, have you forgotten that in 1993, when he was elected, the then leader of the Labor Party said that if the Liberal Party won with a GST he would let it go through the Senate.
LYNEHAM:
But isn’t Colston now facing 28 charges of defrauding the Commonwealth? Weren’t you outraged when all this was first raised?
PRIME MINISTER:
Paul, he’s entitled to a presumption of innocence. And I’ve said that we’re going to re-examine our refusal to accept his vote. We did take that position in the last Parliament.
LYNEHAM:
And was that wrong then?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, you can have a different view at different times. Surely if it’s alright for the Labor Party to take Carmen Lawrence’s vote - and she is facing charges – then, on the same basis and according Colston a presumption of innocence, it’s okay to take his vote. The Labor Party’s happy to take his vote but they don’t want us to take it. But, I mean, they are just making a purely political point.
LYNEHAM:
Kim Beazley announces his Shadow Ministry tomorrow, do you accept you’ll be facing a stronger team this time round?
PRIME MINISTER:
I doubt it.
LYNEHAM:
You doubt it.
PRIME MINISTER:
I really doubt it. Yes, I do doubt it because I don’t think there’s going to be any changes. All of these new people that came in, I suppose I’ll be facing Laurie Ferguson in Veterans’ Affairs again and Gareth is gone…
LYNEHAM:
Well, new blood, Cheryl Kernot.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I think Cheryl Kernot, well, I think the people of Dickson are entitled to feel pretty insulted. You were good enough to be represented when I thought I was going to win but not when I thought I might lose. I don’t think those people will forget that in a long time and neither they should.
LYNEHAM:
If you were Mark Taylor, would you have batted on?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I admire the way in which he put his team ahead of his own personal position. I spoke to him on the morning and he indicated that he was likely to do that. And I just think he displayed all of the talent and all of the style that has marked his career and I congratulate him and I admire him immensely for his tremendous fight back and the way in which he’s convincingly put down his critics and proved them so utterly wrong.
LYNEHAM:
This capacity to come back from the depths reminds me of a few other people including a bloke from Bennelong. Is that part of his appeal to you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, his appeal to me is as a great cricketer and as a very fine Australian who’s a delight to be in the company of.
LYNEHAM:
Prime Minister, thanks for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
Pleasure.