Subjects: New rules for jobseekers; Olympics protest; National
Textiles; Australia Day date shift; call for apology to Aboriginals
E&OE...................................................................................................
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, the toughening is not very great, it's only reasonable particularly
in the city areas where there are more jobs around to make certain that
people who are out of work are, all of them, making a reasonable effort
to find a job. It's a question of keeping a balance. Look, we are
seeing huge job growth in this country and if we can maintain a strong
rate of economic growth we can drive the jobless level down even more.
The good news in the Australian economy now is on the jobs front. The
first social responsibility of any government is to provide jobs for the
people. We are providing jobs for the people, we have provided over 500,000
jobs since my Government came to power and we are discharging our greatest
social obligation in providing people with jobs.
JOURNALIST:
Is it a bit harsh for people who are [inaudible]...
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, I don't think there's anything harsh about these new requirements
at all. I think they are perfectly reasonable and they are just ensuring
that there's a balance.
JOURNALIST:
Is this one way of reaching Mr Costello's forecast of unemployment...of
all Australians [inaudible].
PRIME MINISTER:
It's all about preserving a balance.
JOURNALIST:
How do you respond to accusations that it's a media stunt and it's
shifting the blame to the unemployed for unemployment?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, such a comment is a media stunt.
JOURNALIST:
Do you support Ian Causwell's comments...
PRIME MINISTER:
Ian who?
JOURNALIST:
Ian Causwell.
PRIME MINISTER:
Causwell. I don't know anybody by the name of Ian Causwell.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible] unemployed in regional Australia needs to [inaudible]...
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I haven't seen his remarks.
JOURNALIST:
Larry Anthony says any job's worth having no matter how bad it is.
Do you agree with that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I didn't hear the exact remark and I have long since learnt
not to respond to people's interpretation of what others say. They
are sometimes wrong.
JOURNALIST:
Well, what do you think of that concept? Do you think unemployed people
should...
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it's a beautiful afternoon.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, do you think Australians have reconciled themselves to
the fact that there is good and bad, as you were saying in your speech,
good and bad in our heritage...
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, I think most Australians are sensible and reasonable and decent and
they look back on our history and they see on balance it's a rich
history of huge achievement but like any other nation we have made mistakes.
Australians are very sensible, down to earth, decent people. They know
our history, they are proud of it, they're thrilled at what this
country has achieved but they also recognise we have made mistakes. All
of us make mistakes. But on balance this country has been hugely decent
and beneficial and is seen by the rest of the world as exactly that.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, I am wondering your response to comments today by our Australian
of the Year encouraging people to demonstrate at the Olympics [inaudible]
reconciliation.
PRIME MINISTER:
I haven't heard that Sir Gustav Nossal has said that.
JOURNALIST:
He said this morning when [inaudible] would carry the Olympic Torch that
the aboriginal protest outside the Olympics would [inaudible] Federal
Government....
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I didn't hear that and I don't support any protest at
the Olympics. But, you know, in a democratic society, anybody is entitled
to protest if they want to but I don't encourage it and I don't
think he would either.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I didn't see his comments. Once again I don't accept
on face value other people's interpretations of those comments.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible] on Australia Day do you have anything to say to the former
employees of National Textiles?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we are naturally sorry that because of economic conditions in that
industry and it's an industry that has seen retrenchments and closures
for a long time. It's very difficult for an industry like textiles
for Australian companies to remain completely competitive with low wage
countries. I mean, that's just an economic reality and the only way
that you can do that is to have absurdly high tariffs. And we can't
have absurdly high tariffs in this country otherwise other people would
do that to us and we won't sell our goods to those countries. So
it's just not possible. So unfortunately some firms close. As far
as their benefits on retrenchment are concerned Mr Reith has already indicated
that he'll be taking a plan to the Cabinet. I will be supporting
Mr Reith when that plan goes to the Cabinet.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
I will support what Mr Reith is putting to the Cabinet.
JOURNALIST:
Have you had an opportunity to discuss [inaudible]...
PRIME MINISTER:
I haven't discussed the matter with anybody in the company.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, do you think today is the most appropriate day to continue
celebrating our national day?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, absolutely. I think the 26th of January is in the words
of the eminent historian, Geoffrey Blainey, this morning, the 26th
of January is catching on. I have to say that in my lifetime it's
gone from being merely the anniversary day long weekend at the end of
the school holidays to being a day that people really look forward to
and a day that people really celebrate in quite an excited, varied way.
I think the constant call for it to be shifted is falling on increasingly
deaf ears. No day is perfect so what do you shift it to? If we shift it
to the 1st of January that doesn't mean a lot to a lot
of people. If you shift it to the 25th of April which is a
very sacred day in the Australian calendar you confuse two things, you
confuse sacrifice in war with a national day. Anzac Day is redeveloping
its momentum and it would be a pity to confuse the two concepts. So I
come back to being a very strong supporter of keeping it at the 26th
of January. And the important thing is that the people are voting with
their interest in favour of the 26th January...
JOURNALIST:
What about those Australians are who marking survival day today?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I respect that they have a different view but just as a lot of
people didn't vote for Advance Australia Fair as our national song
when it was adopted more than 20 years ago, but the majority of Australians
did, so it is with our anniversary, Australia Day. So it is with whatever
day you want to use. The great majority of Australians, I believe, support
the 26th of January and I think it ought to stay at that. But
you won't have 100 per cent of people supporting it. That's
impossible. Any more than you get 100 per cent of people adhering behind
any national observance or any national symbol. I respect the right of
some Australians to mark it as survival day, that is their right. But
I would say to them that I think the majority of their fellow Australians
want to leave it at the 26th of January. And they are demonstrating
their interest. You find all over the country now people are embracing
Australia Day. There's an excitement about it, there's an interest
in it. Not only in Sydney. This idea that it just belongs to the foundation
of a colony of New South Wales is absurd. It is now acquiring a national
resonance and affection that it hasn't had, that wasn't there
years ago. And as I say, in my lifetime it's been transformed.
JOURNALIST:
Would today be an appropriate day for an apology to indigenous Australians?
PRIME MINISTER:
You know that I don't think a formal statement of that kind is appropriate
because I don't believe that current generations of Australians should
be seen as responsible for deeds over which they had no control and in
which they had no involvement.
[ends]