E&OE....................................................................................................
MCKENZIE:
Prime Minister John Howard, welcome to North Queensland once again.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you. Very good to be here.
MCKENZIE:
Actually it's been more frequent, the visits in recent times.
You've been in that seat many, many times. You've taken
open line calls before so it will be interesting to hear who wants
talk to you this morning and what they want to talk about. I'd
like to talk about some local issues. Firstly, why are you up here?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I've come here to open the RAAF Base Scherger which
is near Weipa. And this is the last of the trilogy of northern air
bases which were planned to be established a few years ago. It's
a very large base. It will have a capacity for about 1500 defence
personnel. I'm very happy to say that the base and all the
arrangements for it have been developed in direct and very harmonious
discussion and cooperation with the local Aboriginal community and
no intervention of bureaucratic bodies or anything, there's
just been direct negotiation between the Air Force and the Aboriginal
people and they're very supportive of the Base. It's a
very important link in Australia's northern defences and I'm
very proud to be officiating at it. I think defence remains a very
important thing for Australia and I'll tell the gathering that
it was the one area that was utterly and completely quarantined
from any budget cuts when we came to power in 1996. I put a circle
around it and said former governments have cut defence far enough
and we weren't prepared to go any further.
MCKENZIE:
It's interesting, that decision having been made back in,
what, the late 1980s I presume, what would have then been the Hawke
Government, the conditions that prevail today, as far as our national
security is concerned, would be much different from those days.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, but not in a sense that makes it a bad decision. If anything,
the changed circumstances reinforce the wisdom of having this greater
flexibility in relation to our northern defences.
MCKENZIE:
I want to talk to you about the GST and you've kindly agreed,
off air a few minutes ago, to talk, I suppose, obviously in generic
terms you can't get into the detail, we won't know
that for another week, a week tomorrow but in general terms
and, of course, there's the local application which is what
you obviously would want to address today. The tourism industry,
how are you going to appease them? They're very concerned it's
going to have a detrimental impact on the tourist numbers here.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it won't. It won't. I'm not going to talk
specifics but the total plan, which is much more than a GST, will
be of enormous benefit to the tourist industry. I'll tell you
why it will be of enormous benefit to any industry, because it is
going to reduce their input costs. And one of the great virtues
of a big change to the tax system and the introduction of a goods
and services tax and the replacement of existing indirect taxes
is that you can get rebates of tax off your inputs. You can't
do that at the moment. I mean, this is going to be of enormous benefit
to Australian exporters. This is a change that exporters have wanted
for years. And we are going to see in Australia, as a result of
this plan being introduced, the next important building block towards
making the Australian economy stronger and better. It's not
just something out there on its own. And the reason we're doing
it is that it will further strengthen the Australian economy in
a very difficult world environment. We can't, in the face of
what's happening in Asia, we can't sort of say it's
too hard, we'll stop, let me get off, let's put a cocoon
around Australia, let's pretend that we don't live in
a competitive world. You can't do that. You really do have
to keep pushing ahead and offering the Australian people something
better and something that will better secure their future.
MCKENZIE:
It's funny, you've got to speak to the Australian people
still in fundamentals when it comes to a GST. It's very funny.
I saw a survey last week and I think they said 60 per cent of Australians
now would acquiesce to a GST but only if there were concessions.
Well, ever since it was ever mooted back in the 1980s there were
always concessions, there were always tax concessions.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I think some people are a little stung, particularly of the
experience of the former government in 1993 when it campaigned against
John Hewson's tax package. You know what it promised, it said
no GST but we'll give you the personal income tax cuts. When
it won the election it cancelled half the personal income tax cuts
and it increased all of the existing indirect taxes. So, I guess
people still remember that. Now, I ask those people to accept that
it is now a different government. We are open enough and honest
enough and upfront enough to put our plan to them before the election,
not afterward but before, and if they don't like it, well,
they won't support it. But if they have a look at it they'll
see that its overall benefits are good for the country and fair
to them.
MCKENZIE:
With Fightback, of course, I think you had nearly a couple of years,
didn't you, to look at it? How long was Fightback released
before you...?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, Fightback was released in November '91 and we had the
election in March '93. So that was a long period of time.
MCKENZIE:
A long period of time and in the early stages, very popular.
PRIME MINISTER:
Very popular, because it was seen as a plan. Now, what we'll
be unveiling next week won't be Fightback, it will be its own
presentation. But it will be a change to the whole system. It won't
be a new tax, it will be a new tax system. It will be a plan to
further strengthen the Australian economy and it will obviously
contain reductions in personal income tax. I said that a year ago
and I say to the people listening to this programme, look at the
whole plan, don't just look at one thing in isolation, look
at all of it together. Don't just see it as a goods and services
tax, see it as a total plan. Now, it's an honest attempt to
reform a ramshackle system. Now, if we can't persuade the Australian
people to support it, then we have to accept that verdict. But we
will have tried to do something to help Australia. I really do believe
Australia will be a better and stronger country, economically, if
the Australian people vote for this plan. But if they don't,
well, I have to accept that judgement and I will.
MCKENZIE:
It must be very interesting for you to hear the humourous rumours
coming out everyday in the media. I mean, no one knows the detail
yet, obviously you're having a quiet chuckle to yourself, but
the pressure groups are in there already clamouring for concessions,
they don't want the GST applying to food or to rent, and they
haven't seen the fine-print yet.
PRIME MINISTER:
No, well, that always happens and it indicates the enormous public
interest in the plan and that, in one sense, is good. There's
nothing I can do about the speculation. It is only speculation and
none of it has been put out by us. It's pure speculation. I
won't comment on any element of it but I just make the point
that it's pure speculation.
MCKENZIE:
And you're obviously a lot more confident in this than you
ever were in Fightback!. I mean, you're oozing confidence,
your Ministers came out the other day oozing confidence.
PRIME MINISTER:
I am confident about this because I believe it is a good plan for
Australia and that's what really matters. If something is good
for Australia and if it's fair to people, then I believe you
can win support for it.
MCKENZIE:
And if it's easy to understand. Is this easy to understand?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes. Well, yes, it will be quite easy to understand, quite easy.
MCKENZIE:
All right. I want to take you on to another local issue now and
that's this situation of federation funding. I know, look,
it's very much a local issue and you may not have been briefed
on it. We've got an esplanade...
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, I'm aware of the esplanade, yes.
MCKENZIE:
...already $5 million from the previous Government. They also
proffered another
$4 million to be available if they won the election. And the Labor
Party now, well, the Labor Government is talking about not providing
that $4 million. The local Mayor, Tom Pyne, who is, himself, a life
member of the Labor Party, coincidentally, is very angry about that.
He feels that $9 million total should be available from the State
government. And then, on that basis, he was confident of another
$9 million possibly being forthcoming...federation funding from
your Government.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, there are a lot of requests on the Federation Fund. The only
thing I can do is to say that it will be considered along with all
the other requests we've got, and we have got hundreds from
all over Australia, hundreds. We will consider it. I don't
want to say and I can't say any more than that.
MCKENZIE:
All right. I don't know if you want to comment on the Local
Government Associations across Australia he's the Queensland
Chairman of the Local Government Association - very concerned that
the GST would be seen as a tax on a tax, they're seeing it
as a tax on a tax.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I invite them, like everybody else, to hold their fire, have
a look at the whole plan when it's released and then make a
judgement. And if it's looked at fairly people will support
it because it will be the next element in strengthening the Australian
economy. It will be the next logical step to give Australia further
protection and strength against a more difficult world.
MCKENZIE:
Actually, last time you were in the studio we briefly discussed
these proposed reforms to the Child Support Agency system in Australia
too. I've talked to Warren Entsch about this recently. There
have been some modifications, apparently, but the main thrust seems
to have been postponed because he said, obviously with the new change,
the new tax package, the whole thing will have to be revisited anyway
and those reforms that he's been hoping for should be part
of those deliberations, of these changes, the new tax package reform.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, without, once again, going into detail, anything of this
kind does need to be looked at against the background of changed
arrangements concerning taxation. Warren has pushed very hard for
reform in this area and relief for people who believe they're
being adversely affected by it. It is a difficult area and it does
arouse tremendous feeling and passion on both sides. It's a
very difficult issue and I don't believe you will ever get
a system that everybody feels happy about. My electorate office
in Sydney gets an enormous number of complaints from my constituents
about how this operates.
MCKENZIE:
More than on anything else I would imagine, similar to this.
PRIME MINISTER:
It is very....because you're dealing here with personal
feelings, raw emotions, the sense of grievance that people feel
when a marriage breaks down and the sheer financial difficulty of
trying to support two households. I mean, it's very difficult
to support one household on an ordinary income. But if you're
obliged to support two, it's very, very tough and I understand
that. On the other hand, the community's entitled to say that
if people bring children into the world, they have some responsibility
to look after them. And trying to balance those two considerations
is very difficult.
MCKENZIE:
That's only the area of the formula that seems to be the main
concern but we won't go into that now because obviously that
will have to await the release of the tax package. Just while we're
on the tax package for a moment - the Nationals' State Director,
Ken Crook, has said over the weekend that the Senate wouldn't
pass a GST anyway and I thought is that too premature to be saying
that, how do you feel about him having said that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, of course it is. I won't respond specifically, I don't
give running commentaries on what State secretaries of parties say.
But the Government will put the plan before the Australian people
and we will be asking the Australian people at the next election,
whenever it is held, to give the Coalition a mandate, not only in
the House of Representatives but also in the Senate. And we'll
be going flat-out to win very strong public support for the plan.
MCKENZIE:
Just one simple question will anybody be worse off under
this tax package?
PRIME MINISTER:
Tax cheats will be worse off.
MCKENZIE:
Nobody else.
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't believe anybody, when you look at the generality of
the package, will be worse off except tax cheats.
MCKENZIE:
One area that's probably an area of some disdain to you, I
suppose, One Nation and its figures, once again, I think figures
out today showing something like above 25 per cent in Western Australia,
18 per cent in Queensland. It was interesting on 60 Minutes
on Sunday night, they had a representative of Labor, Nationals,
Liberal Party, there and Graham Richardson came out with something
I thought was interesting. He said, look, all of these things that
all of you disaffected voters are upset about can be fixed by government,
whether it be a Labor government or a Coalition government, they
can be addressed, he said, but not by all this, not by all this
shouting and ranting. Is it too difficult for you to find out what
these disaffected voters, for example, in Queensland, are upset
about and go about addressing those concerns one by one?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, what you do John is, incidentally, you don't do what
those three people did and engage in that sort of thing on 60
Minutes. I wouldn't have done that but that's their
decision. I think that's quite counterproductive. What you
do in response to One Nation and I'm speaking on behalf
of the Coalition Government which I lead what you do in response
to One Nation is not search around for some magic formula to knock
it out of the ring. What you do is, you just offer the Australian
public something better. My response to my political opponents,
and I've got two opponents, I've got Kim Beazley and I've
got Pauline Hanson and I've got others who are against me,
and my response is to offer the Australian public something better.
And could I also, while on the subject of One Nation, say that
people who engage in violent demonstrations against One Nation are
doing One Nation an enormous service. Let me repeat that, you could
almost imagine that those demonstrators in Ipswich last night were
being paid by One Nation. I thought it was the most ridiculous demonstration
in a long line of ridiculous demonstrations. And those people are,
themselves, doing violence to the democratic process when they engage
in violence and I think the sight of elderly people being obstructed
and bashed and prevented from attending meetings is wrong, it is
anti-democratic and it plays into the hands of the simplistic nostrums
of the One Nation Party. So, can I just say, as an individual Australian
as well as Prime Minister, violent demonstrations have no part in
Australian democratic life. People who engage in them are helping
the people against whom the demonstrations are directed and they
are doing their own cause immense disservice. And I can only believe
that many of the people involved in those demonstrations, that their
purpose is really to do damage to the Government by bolstering the
stocks of One Nation.
MCKENZIE:
Interesting to hear Liberal MP, Tony Abbott, over the weekend,
virtually echoing the words of former Premier, Rob Borbidge, before
that last disastrous election for him, he said One Nation will deliver
government to Labor if it holds that 15 per cent support level,
well, in fact, today it's up around 18 per cent in Queensland,
between 25 per cent and 30 per cent in Western Australia. Is that
how you see it, they are virtually delivering government to Labor?
PRIME MINISTER:
I believe the Coalition will win the next election. I believe it
will. I have a very confident view about the next election but not
a smug or complacent view. I don't underestimate the challenge
but I am very confident that we are going to win. But the answer
to Labor, the answer to One Nation, the answer to all of our political
opponents is that the Liberal and National parties have to offer
the Australian public something better. And what we will be offering
in the tax plan will be something better. We'll be offering
people a better tax system, a stronger economy, a fairer tax system.
Now, that is what the public wants. We shouldn't engage in
endless debate about the role of One Nation or the role of any political
party. They have a right, she has a right to go around the country
putting her point of view, like I have. That's not an issue
as far as I'm concerned, it's what she says and what she
stands for. It's what I stand for and what my Government stands
for that really matters.
MCKENZIE:
Prime Minister, could you put the headphones on for a moment. We're
going to take some open-line calls now. All the lines are jammed
at the moment so if you could just hold off for a few moments. Go
ahead.
CALLER:
Hello.
PRIME MINISTER:
Hello there.
CALLER:
Yes, I was wondering, in the new tax plan, what will happen for
people who are working overtime or are working a second job in order
to help their families out?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, the only answer I can give you at this stage is that there
will be reductions in personal income tax under the plan, reductions
in personal income tax. I can't really give a more precise
answer to your question without going into detail of that that I
can't, at this stage, disclose. But I can assure you that the
overall impact of the changes in personal income tax will be to
give greater incentive to people who want to work harder.
CALLER:
Good. Because when I left high school I worked in a job where guys
worked 12-hour days and they got crib and tea money for doing that,
their four hours overtime, but their four hours overtime just went
to tax and they ended up with...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, you have a look at the plan when it comes out next week.
CALLER:
Okay. Thanks a lot.
MCKENZIE:
Next call. Go ahead.
CALLER:
Oh hello, John.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes.
CALLER:
It's Robyn.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, Robyn.
CALLER:
I'm interesting in tax deductions for students at university.
I mean, up here we don't have a lot of choice. My son can do
first year here but he has to go away next year.
PRIME MINISTER:
You realise that under the I don't know what your income
is and I don't want to ask you, it's your business
but under the new Youth Allowance scheme he gets a much higher rate
if he has to go away and live away from home as part of his study.
Are you aware of that?
CALLER:
Well, who do I see about that.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, you ring Warren Entsch about that and he'll give you
all the details. But one of the features of the new Youth Allowance
is that we have significantly increased the rate of the allowance,
this is a common allowance now. It takes away the incentive that
used to exist for people to go on the dole rather than study. And
under this new allowance you can stay...you get a higher amount
if you have to live away from home.
CALLER:
But what...because the cut-off point for AUSTUDY's $36,000.
I mean, you can hardly survive on $36,000.
PRIME MINISTER:
As I say, I don't...well, it's a matter for you whether
you disclose your income, I'm just making the observation,
if you were entitled to the Youth Allowance then you would be...
CALLER:
...but you can't claim any of your fees or anything as
a tax...
PRIME MINISTER:
No, that is true, that is true.
CALLER:
...and yet if I choose to go the Northern Territory for a holiday,
I can claim a zone allowance up there because you