Subjects: John Fahey
E&OE................................
JOURNALIST:
Mr Fahey's going to resign at the next election. What kind of hole does that leave in your Government?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I'll be very sorry to lose John as a parliamentary colleague. I understand given his recent illness and we all hope he's made a full recovery from that. I understand the reasons for his decision, it's a change of pace, a change of lifestyle. He'll still be with us as a Minister until the election, but it will leave a hole. He's been a great Member, a very good Minister and I'll miss him as a colleague. But we'll still be together in the Government until the election and I will continue to rely on his advice and his work as a senior Cabinet Minister.
JOURNALIST:
When did he tell you of his decision to resign?
PRIME MINISTER:
He told me of his decision this morning. We've had a long talk about it and I know he'd given it a lot of thought and naturally discussed it with his family. And it's a decision that he's taken out of concern for his family and given that he has had a difficult health challenge, a very difficult one. We're all delighted to see him back and to see him coping so well and I'll be delighted to have him as a Cabinet colleague between now and the election.
JOURNALIST:
There was a possibility of course that he wasn't going to win the next election anyway due to the pre-selection battle between him and Alby Schultz. Was there any pressure put on him to.
PRIME MINISTER:
Absolutely no pressure at all. This is a decision that John took having assessed his own position. Whatever decision he had taken would have been his own and would have been fully understood and fully supported by his colleagues. We feel for him in the health challenge that he's gone through, we're delighted to have him back and we wish him well for the future.
[ends]