E&OE..................................................................................................
SATTLER:
The Prime Minister joins me now for his regular segment and he is
in our sister station 2UE studio in Canberra. Good morning Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning Howard.
SATTLER:
Thanks for joining us. When did Mr Fischer actually ring you and tell
you that he was going to pull the pin?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, only a few days ago. He's explained the circumstances of it. We
had our final discussion yesterday. Tim has been a tremendous Deputy
Prime Minister and I am going to miss him. I can't disguise that fact.
He has been a loyal Coalition partner and a very good friend, a wonderful
Trade Minister and just a great personality into the bargain. But
he's decided for the reasons that he has made very plain and he does
have quite young children. He's been in politics for a very long period
of time and he has decided to take a different career path. And whilst
I will miss him terribly I understand and respect that and along with
the rest of the political community and the Australian community more
generally I do wish him and Judy and Harrison and Dominic every happiness
in the future. He's done yeoman service for the country, for the National
Party, for the Coalition Government and very importantly as a Trade
Minister he really has made his mark. I have found as I went around
Asian capitals that everybody knew Tim Fischer...
SATTLER:
And his hat.
PRIME MINISTER:
And his hat and a smile came across their face when you mentioned
him. And he is held in very high regard in the Australian business
community as being a person who is prepared to go out there and punch
hard for Australian business overseas and I thank him for that.
SATTLER:
Did you try and talk him out of it or at least to delay it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh look, the sort of conversations that a Prime Minister and a Deputy
Prime Minister have are very intricate, they are very detailed, they
range over a whole lot of subjects and I don't break confidences in
relation to that.
SATTLER:
But is his timing okay with you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, his timing is okay with me if it's right for him and his family.
And in the end, individuals in public life know when it's appropriate
for them to go taking all factors into account. And there is no hard
and fast rule for when you go or how long you stay or what age it
is it depends entirely upon each separate set of circumstances, what
your other interests are, what the age of your children might be,
what your health is like. All of those things. How long you have been
around. There's no hard and fast rule, it varies enormously. Tim has
reached a firm decision to go. I am sure it's the right decision for
him because it's a decision that he believes is right for him. And
in the end he's the only person who has got a right to make that judgement.
SATTLER:
Does it cause you to reflect on your own situation, the past and the
future? You have put 25 years of public service in too and I guess
a lot of the time you have had to put that ahead of your family?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, my family, of course, is older than Tim's family....
SATTLER:
They are now, of course.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, and in a way the more challenging years are behind Janette and
I in relation to our children. They are now three adults, we are a
very happy group and I am immensely grateful for that and we are enjoying
their company as young adults and that's a marvellous phase of your
life. I enjoyed their company as young children. We were able to organise
things between ourselves so that even though I was away a lot when
I was at home I did nothing else but devote myself to the children.
We now, I guess, are getting the reward of that because as young adults
we are enjoying their company and it's very stimulating, we are enjoying
that company immensely.
SATTLER:
Yeah but see, Tim Fischer is quitting largely because of the health
condition of one of his children and your wife was quite ill for a
time too. I mean, was there a time when you thought, well, you know
really I have just got to put the family first and maybe it's time
to go?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I have been asked that before. Janette was ill three years ago.
Thankfully she has got over that and her health now is very good and
she's very enthusiastic about my continued participation in public
life.
SATTLER:
What indefinitely?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, nobody stays forever, break it down.
SATTLER:
No.
PRIME MINISTER:
She wouldn't want me to do that. But I said...
SATTLER:
Well, you'd probably like to enjoy your lives together and stop us
hassling you.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, you never hassle me you just ask hard questions. Howard, I said
at the time of the last election you take it one term at a time. I
have got very good health, I am very lucky and we have reached a stage
in our life where, as I say, our children are young adults. That doesn't
mean to say you don't still have responsibilities and continued intense
interest and devotion and commitment but it's a slightly different
situation than perhaps 15 years ago...
SATTLER:
But do you review your life ahead and say, well okay, I am going to
go to the next election but after that I really am going to have a
think about it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, what I say is I do one election at a time when you reach my
age. And I have been re-elected and I am enjoying it. I am still stimulated
by it. I think the Government is achieving a lot and we have got more
to achieve.
SATTLER:
But you have achieved your primary goal and that is tax reform.
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh well, it's an ongoing thing. I have got to bed that down, we've
got business tax coming up. Howard I am still stimulated by it, I
am still energised by it and I still have a lot, I hope, to give to
this country but nobody stays forever.
SATTLER:
No, no, okay. So you will go to the next poll, we can confirm that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we take one election at a time.
SATTLER:
Okay. Now, the new leader has been elected, the new leader of the
National Party, John Anderson, said to be a lot drier than Tim Fischer.
What does that mean?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, can I first of all congratulate John for being elected leader
and Mark Vaile as Deputy. They'll be an excellent team. I like and
respect them both, they are very intelligent, energetic men. Both
of them understand the needs of the Australian economy and a global
economy as Tim Fischer did. Can I say I don't agree with that, I don't
think to use these rather simplistic expressions of dry or not so
dry. I think Tim, one of Tim's many virtues was that he never gave
in to populism, he always argued that in the long-term interests of
this country, including its rural community, we needed to trade more
successfully and to open markets abroad. And therefore we had a vested
interest greater than most in an open world trading system. Now, John
Anderson...
SATTLER:
It's a pity our American friends don't have the same attitude.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, this is precisely the argument I put to President Clinton. When
I spoke to him on the phone a few weeks ago I said: Bill, if you take
this restrictive decision on lamb it will go against all of your rhetoric
and it will be used by other countries as an excuse for them to lapse
back into protectionism.
SATTLER:
What did he say?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, he said he would consider that and we haven't had a decision
yet. I must say, like Tim Fischer, I am not very optimistic as to
what that decision will be. But John Anderson understands the modern
world, we all do and it is in the long-term interests of Australia
that we prize open world markets. We are only 18.5 million people,
we must trade to survive and we must make sure that we are competitive
and that's why we have got a new tax system because our exports will
be cheaper under the new tax system.
SATTLER:
Does that mean you will offer John Anderson a trade portfolio because
I understood he didn't want to take it or Mark Vaile?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I will talk to John about the arrangements. That's a matter
of courtesy I owe to him.
SATTLER:
Would you like him to take that.....?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I will talk to him first before I start saying what I'd
like him to take. He is the newly elected leader of the National Party.
He will on the 20th of July or there abouts become the
Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and I owe him the courtesy of talking
to him first before I start saying who does what amongst National
Party ministers. He has a right to have an input into that as part
of our Coalition arrangement.
SATTLER:
Sure. [Commercial break]. I've got the Prime Minister in our
[inaudible] 2UE studios in Canberra. If you want to give him a call
you can on 9221 1233. He was telling us that he has been speaking
with President Clinton about their attempts to try and protect their
farming fraternity over there and exclude Australian lamb from the
markets over there. Prime Minister, you are due to meet Mr Clinton
what, the week after next is it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah, on the 12th of July. I'm leaving Australia on
Monday to go an official visit to Japan and that will be next week.
And then at the end of next week I'll go onto the United States
and I'll see the President.
SATTLER:
Will you get to him before they make a decision...?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don't know. I don't know. I expected a decision about
a week or ten days ago. I still remain basically a bit pessimistic
because in the end on these matters the Americans do have a track
record of listening to domestic pressure. It will be a great shame
if they go against us on this.
SATTLER:
Well what will we do about it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well you've got to remember we're only 18.5 million people.
SATTLER:
I know, and they know that too.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I know. But it doesn't alter the fact that if they do the
wrong thing on this it sends a terrible signal to other countries.
I just hope that they will listen to us at least to some degree.
SATTLER:
All right, back to domestic matters. You were clearly delighted to
get the tax reform package including the GST through the Parliament.
But this is not the tax package we voted you into office on. Are we
entitled to feel a little cheated with what we've got?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it's 85% of what you voted for.
SATTLER:
That's right but.....
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the alternative was to spit the dummy and persevere with the
present system, or to take the public back for another election with
no guarantee that that would deliver 100%. I mean we could.....
SATTLER:
Or that you'd get re-elected.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well of course. I mean there's always...Howard I don't
disguise that in any election there's a danger you're going
to lose. There's a winner and a loser in every election. I don't
think the public wanted another election.
SATTLER:
No well I'm sure they didn't.
PRIME MINISTER:
It wasn't the mail I was getting. The mail I was getting from
people was basically they really wanted, even those who didn't
vote for it, they wanted the package to go through in its original
form. When we found we couldn't do that most people were saying
to me well see if you can negotiate an outcome with the Australian
Democrats which delivers most of what you wanted. You won't get
all of it because you can't expect them to give up everything
that they hold dear. And that's exactly what I did and I found
in negotiating with the Democrats in Senator Lees an intelligent,
straight forward candid woman with whom one could talk and do business,
and we did that.
SATTLER:
Would you like to get rid of the Senate?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, well no. I don't think you can get rid of the Senate, it's
part of the Federal compact.
SATTLER:
Well in New Zealand they got rid of the Upper House in their Parliament
and they got the GST through in 2 hours did they.
PRIME MINISTER:
But New Zealand's not a federation. You can't ignore the
history of this country, particularly when I'm talking to a Western
Australian audience. It started with the States and we formed it into
soluble federal commonwealth. We are a nation of course more importantly
than we are individual States. But the deal for federation essentially
was that you had a Senate with equal State representation to more
or less cater for the less populous parts of Australia and you had
a House of Representatives elected on the basis...
SATTLER:
Is it working as it should?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. But I deal with
reality. Change of that kind is very difficult in this country and
I'm not sure that the Australian public mind the current arrangement.
I think it waxes and wanes a bit. I'm certainly not proposing
any radical changes in that area.
SATTLER:
On the goods and services tax, do you feel sympathy for small mixed
retail businesses who are saying they're going to be saddled
with a paper and financial nightmare trying to comply with a GST.
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't believe it will be as bad as some are suggesting and
we are going to put a lot of resources in the way of making sure it
isn't. So the answer is, I think by the time all the systems
are ready for its introduction in a year's time then it won't
be anything like what people suggest and I suspect it will be like
New Zealand. After it had been in place for a few weeks people have
said, gee, what was all the fuss about.
SATTLER:
Yeah, but what help are you going to give those people?
PRIME MINISTER:
A lot. We're putting $500 million aside for small businesses
and others to help with the implementation of the GST. And we are
going to conduct a very extensive education campaign and we're
going to adopt a very practical approach to compliance in relation
to those businesses that are essentially selling items that are both
subject to and exempt from the GST.
SATTLER:
Do you think there'll be much rorting or attempted rorting?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, there's always some of that no matter what system you have
but the great beauty of a GST is that it's harder to rort than
the present system.
SATTLER:
Yeah, no doubt about that. All right, but logically some of the eating
out establishments will suffer once they have to...
PRIME MINISTER:
No, not necessarily.
SATTLER:
Why?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, because people will have more money in their pocket to buy their
restaurant meals. They will have more money in their pocket. You see,
everybody's in front unless you're a crook because there
are personal tax cuts. And if you watch my Address to the Nation tonight
I'll explain it in more detail.
SATTLER:
I'll watch with bated breath. I'll be riveted to it.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah, I'm sure you will.
SATTLER:
How do you think it's going to rate?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't know. I mean, these things, I mean, you've...
SATTLER:
You've got to do it.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, no, it's important. It's important. I don't think
I'll quite be able to match Sea Change though.
SATTLER:
Or the tennis.
PRI