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PILKINGTON:
Prime Minister good morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning.
MCCLUSKY:
How are you Mr Howard? Good morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm very well.
MCCLUSKY:
Mr Howard, we were talking this morning about the preamble and I was
saying to Pilko that I was amazed at the objection to using mateship'.
My argument is that mateship is one of those characteristics and qualities
that is near and dear to the heart of every Australian male or female.
And I cannot for the life of me believe these people who are going
on about it. What was your reaction?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well my reaction's exactly the same. It is not, whatever its
origins, it is not now an exclusively male concept or term. It describes
looking after our mates, our friends, our fellow Australians in adversity.
It conjures up all of the egalitarian spirit which is distinctive
of Australians. It not only recalls the fact that Australian soldiers
in captivity survived better in prisoner of war camps than many others
because they helped each other, but it also reminds us that when we
have a disaster, we have a bush fire, we have a landslide which buries
a ski lodge we will get together and help each other.
MCCLUSKY:
Mr Howard, this might be a silly question. Do we need to have a preamble
to a Constitution?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it would be good if only because the existing document makes
absolutely no reference at all to the indigenous people. None at all.
And the existing preamble which is really part of the British act
of Parliament which established the Australian Constitution, whilst
appropriate for the time, makes no reference to Aborigines, it makes
no reference to the contemporary values of the Australian community
and it plainly...we do in those circumstances need a new preamble.
Now some people will argue not of course. And if they feel that way
they can vote no'. It's a free country.
MCCLUSKY:
That's exactly right.
PRIME MINISTER:
But if you're going to write a preamble you've got to try
and say something about what the country believes in and stands for
and I do believe that the objection to mateship is just so petty and
narrowly based, and also misunderstands the mood and temper of Australians.
PILKINGTON:
Prime Minister, was there any consideration given to sitting down
maybe with the Democrats and with perhaps Kim Beazley or somebody
from the Labor Party, and all parties sitting down and trying to thrash
out a preamble?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I have sent the preamble we've drafted to Mr Beazley for
comment, and I've sent it to the Democrats for comment, and I've
asked them to send me their comments by the 30th of April.
It is a draft. Now plainly you can't write something like that
as a committee because people approach it from a different perspective.
And I will have a look at their comments. And I've said that.
PILKINGTON:
So you are willing to change, perhaps a few little things in it...?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I'll see what people have got to say. If I were absolutely
immoveable on every word I wouldn't have described it as a draft.
But it is the responsibility of the Government today to sort of know
its own mind, and we know our own mind on this. We've put something
out. I'm not only interested in Mr Beazley's reaction. I'm
also interested in the reaction of your listeners, or the reaction
of Australians generally. This idea that things like this are a matter
of negotiation between political parties is not right. This is something
that belongs to the entire community. I really want to know what people
think about it.
MCCLUSKY:
Certainly right. Mr Howard, I know that obviously the words were chosen
with great care and that the things that you're trying to convey.
Have you been surprised that people have literally sat down with a
microscope and a scalpel and said, because I read the, who was it,
the Premier of Tassie had a go at you for talking about, what was
the....
PRIME MINISTER:
Our vast island continent.
MCCLUSKY:
Our vast island continent. I thought well we all know that includes
the whole country.
PRIME MINISTER:
Of course I do. No, that doesn't surprise me at all because people,
what people do is they, people like Premiers and people who sort of
have a particular axe to grind will look at it from that kind of political
vantage point rather than thinking how an average Australian would
relate. Now the average Australian, whether that person lives in South
Australia or Tasmania, when you say our vast island continent they
know you are referring to the whole country.
PILKINGTON:
Prime Minister, you've got to be careful though that the Tasmanian
Premier doesn't get to Brian Harradine.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I've sent the, you know, Brian Harradine will no doubt let
me know his views. I would imagine that Brian would understand that
when you say "our vast island continent", that is what you
are referring to. You are referring to the whole place. But once again
I'll be interested to see what the people in Tasmania think.
I'll be interested to know what your listeners are thinking and
what listeners to other stations and in other States are thinking.
PILKINGTON:
Prime Minister, at Cabinet level was there much discussion about it?
PRIME MINISTER:
There was a bit. These are things that everybody really has a view
on and every view is different. Your style of expression is different
from mine. Mine is different in turn from that of some of my colleagues.
And you can say in a thousand different ways the same thing, and you
can commit yourself to the same set of values in a thousand different
ways. One of the things I was anxious to do was to have it not sound
like preambles normally sound. And what amazes me about the reaction
of some people in the Labor Party is that they've immediately
sort of run off to the American Constitution and said because it doesn't
sound like that it's no good. I mean we really have to be a little
less derivative and be a little less dependent and understand that
we're writing something for the Australian people. Not for Americans,
or Englishmen, or anybody else. We're writing something for the
Australian people which should express in the language of the time,
the values of the time, but in a way that recognises our history and
also allows for the possibility that it will still be relevant in
50 or 100 years time. But, I mean, what the American Constitution
talks about we the people in a more perfect union and so forth. Now
that was nice then. It was appropriate for them. Surely we can have
something of our own.
MCCLUSKY:
Prime Minister, I mean I must say, if nothing else it has turned our
eyes towards the Constitution. I've never read the preamble of
our Constitution as it stands and at least, if nothing else we've
now got a community of the nation actually debating what we do want.
I appreciate your time. We know we dragged you out of a meeting. But
thank you for taking some time to speak with us.
PRIME MINISTER:
Okay.