E&OE..................
Thank you very much Mr Walden, Mr Paul Hughes the Principal, Pat Farmer my parliamentary colleague, other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
It';s a great pleasure for me to, in a way, end my year as Prime Minister by coming to this school and spending a few moments and saying just a few things to the students of this school. It is always a delight to talk to school students. It';s always an opportunity for all of us to remind ourselves of a few things. To remind ourselves of how lucky we are to live in Australia. We have arguments about the best way of running Australia. Some people want to do this, and other people want to do that – just like we find arguments in our daily lives. But in the end, living in Australia is the greatest privilege that any person can have in the world because when you put everything together, there is no country that is freer and stronger and more tolerant and more open in the way it treats all of its citizens.
We are a lucky country but we have to work very hard to keep it that way. And your school is a reminder of the different backgrounds that make up the modern Australia. And if I have a message for you, particularly at this time of good will towards people of all different backgrounds – it doesn';t matter what a person';s racial background is, it doesn';t matter what the colour of their skin is, it doesn';t matter what their religion is – that';s a matter for them. But if they are good and if they love Australia before anything else and any other country and they treat everybody well, then you should do the same because it';s the worth of people and how they treat each other and relate to others that really matters most of all.
Another thing that I would like to say to you is that if you try hard enough, there is nothing you can';t achieve. Sometimes it can be hard and some people can be luckier in the start they have in life than others. I know that. I know it';s harder for some children than it is for other children. But I know so many children that started in difficult circumstances and overcame them and achieved what they set out to achieve. And if you set your heart on achieving something, you will get it in the end. And that is a very important lesson in life.
Could I also encourage you to listen always to what your teachers tell you. I know on occasions you think – oh maybe not, maybe that';s not such a smart thing to do. But I was like that when I was your age. I didn';t always think what they told me to do was right, but I learnt later on that it was. It';s not an easy job being a teacher because they';ve not only got to try and help you to learn things but they';ve also got to give you a lot of other advice and a lot of other help as well. Please take notice of them because they do mean well, they do want to make your lives better, and if you listen to them your lives will be a lot better.
So can I say to all of you that it';s a tremendous pleasure to be here. Can I thank the parents and other members of the local community for supporting the school. Community support for a school is tremendously important. It';s one of the great strengths of the public education system, not only here in Sydney but all around Australia.
I went to a public school in Sydney when I was your age. I went to a public school in Earlwood, which is closer in to the heart of the city than Campbelltown is. And I know that having people in the local community supporting the school is very important. I want to thank them for that.
Can I join the District Superintendent or Supervisor in thanking Pat Farmer for the way in which he has represented all of you over the last year. He is a very energetic person and he helps everybody – it doesn';t matter what their politics are, Pat';s in there to help them if they';re from his local area, and that';s very, very important.
And finally can I wish all of you a Merry Christmas. It';s a time to spend with your families. It';s a time for a lot of people for spiritual renewal. It';s also a time for all of us to display tolerance and generosity and kindness to our fellow Australians, and if we do that then the good country that Australia is now can be made even better and the things that you want in your life and you want to achieve for yourselves I believe you can achieve.
I';ve learnt a little bit about this school over the past few days. It has some special programs, it has some special challenges, but it has some special achievements. And it has a lot of special teachers and most importantly, a lot of very special students. And you can achieve what you want as much as any other group of children at school anywhere in Australia and I congratulate Mr Hughes the Principal and his staff on the wonderful things that they have done. I thank them and through them I thank all of the teachers of the New South Wales public education system for the wonderful job they do for our young Australians.
Thank you.
BRIANNA GREEN, 8 years old, Camden South Public School.
What was the most important thing that you learnt at primary school?
PRIME MINISTER:
The most important thing that I learnt at primary school was that even if you got angry with people, and there were some people you liked and some people you didn';t like – this was the first time that I mixed with a lot of children – I really found that if you tried hard enough, there is always some good in even the person you didn';t like much at all. And I found that that was a lesson I learnt at primary school and it stayed with me through life. And you do find you';re a lot happier if you try and find what is good in people, even if it might be harder with some people than others. I know that. It is hard. But I found that the happiest people are the people who think best of others and the most miserable, sad people are the people who think the worst of others. And I think it';s a very good thing to learn, and it helped me a lot.
CHRISTOPHER NELSON, 11 years old, St Andrews Public School.
When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it changed a lot. At one stage I wanted to be an Australian test cricketer. That didn';t last very long because I realised fairly early, probably younger than you are, that I probably didn';t have quite the talent to wear the baggy green in a proper way. So I sort of moved on from that. At one stage I actually wanted to be a policeman but in those days you had to be a bit bigger than I am to be a policeman. They had different height and weight restrictions than they have now. I thought I mightn';t be a bad detective but then I sort of moved off that. And then I sort of wavered between being a lawyer and, would you believe, a journalist. I was actually quite interested in that. And then when I was at high school, at Canterbury Boys High School, I got quite interested in politics. I was always a bit interested in politics at home because I had three older brothers and a mother and father, and they all talked about politics. We talked about politics and sport at home, and so I sort of developed that interest. And by the time I had left school I sort of decided I wanted to be a lawyer, which I became one and I practised law for 12 years before I entered Parliament, but I always had this deep interest in politics and then that';s how I sort of ended up being there. And I haven';t regretted it – but I enjoyed being lawyer, and I also enjoyed writing the occasional newspaper article, but I sort of can';t do that for a living naturally. But I try and influence the articles – sometimes not very successfully, but I try nonetheless.
CHELLISA ANTONIO, 9 years old, Briar Road Public School.
Would it be hard for a female to become Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I think it is only a matter of time before Australia has a female Prime Minister. Many other countries have had female prime ministers. Other countries have been slower. America has never had a female President. Britain had a female Prime Minister in 1979. In fact the longest serving British Prime Minister in the last century, Margaret Thatcher of course, was a woman. And the first female Prime Minister I think was in what is now called Sri Lanka – Mrs Siramavo Bandaranaike. She became Prime Minister of a country then called Ceylon. And Israel had a female Prime Minister in Golda Meir. She was very successful, very strong, very effective. I think it';s only a matter of time. I think what happens is that for a long time many women didn';t pursue careers and they just saw their role entirely as a homemaker. Now that has changed. People mix the roles up. They want to have a career and a homemaker. Or some want to be a homemaker all the time and some want to do a career all the time. Whatever people want they should be entitled to do. But I think it';s only a matter of time before we have a female Prime Minister. We';ve had several female Premiers. Mrs Carmen Lawrence was the first. There was her and then there was Joan Kirner in Victoria. So there is absolutely no reason why it won';t happen. Just exactly when and who it will be I don';t know. But it will happen.
JEFFREY WAETCHLER, 9 years old, Briar Road Public School.
Mr Howard, why did you want to be Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I get asked that a lot. I wanted to go into politics because I wanted to be active in doing something good for Australia and trying to change things for what I thought was the better. You know when you get into a group, a team – you normally think after a while that you could probably captain the team as well as anybody else. And I began to think after a while that there were things that I could do as well, if not better, than other people and I felt that I could offer myself. But the main reason that you want to hold the sort of position I hold is that you have a very strong love of your country and you want to change things for the better. Now not everybody agrees with everything I do. I know that. And there has been no Prime Minister of Australia, and there never will be a Prime Minister of Australia, who gets support for everything that he or she does. But if your motivation, if your aim, is to try and make things better, then you can normally succeed. I really wanted to be Prime Minister because there are things I wanted to do to improve Australia and I hope I';ve done them and I hope I have the opportunity of continuing to do them.
DERYA UZAL, Year 2.
What time do you go to bed at night and wake up in the morning?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, what time do I go to bed at night and what time do I wake up in the morning. Well the answer to the first question – it varies a lot. Sometimes I go to bed at sort of 12.30 or 1.30. Other times I go to bed at 10.30. It just varies a lot. I normally rise quite early. My normal routine is I wake up sometime between 5.30 and 6.00 – sometimes a bit earlier but not usually – and I go for a walk. I go for a walk every morning for a fast walk wherever I am. I went for a walk this morning around the harbour because I was staying at Kirribilli House, and I went for a walk for half an hour. But I';m going to be in Perth overnight. I';m going to Perth tonight. So I';m going to welcome home the men of the Special Air Service regiment that have been in Afghanistan, and to thank them for the job that they have done for Australia. And so I will go for a walk along the river in Perth tomorrow. I normally have a walk around 6.30. So it varies when I go to bed, and I get up quite early. I mean I';ve become a very early riser. It drives my wife mad because, you know, sometimes I inadvertently wake her up when I get out of bed early and I get into trouble.
JEMMA MALLOY, 9 years old, Briar Road Public School.
Is it hard making such important decisions for the country, and who helps you make those decisions?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well sometimes the decisions are hard. They';re very hard when they put people in danger. I remember when we had to make decisions to send a lot of Australian troops to East Timor. I worried about that a lot because I was frightened that some of them might get killed or wounded. Fortunately we didn';t suffer any battle casualties. We were very lucky. And that is the hardest thing because you can';t as a Prime Minister, you can';t avoid taking those decisions because you have to think of the results further down, further on if you don';t take a stand. I mean the easiest thing is whenever you have trouble, is to run away from it and hope it will go away. But unfortunately trouble follows you, even though you may have run away from it. And history has told us that if you run away from trouble in the hope that it will disappear, it doesn';t disappear – it follows you and it';s often a lot more menacing and a lot stronger when it catches up to you. And so sometimes we have to take decisions that are not very popular at the beginning. So that';s very hard. What helped? I get advice from my Cabinet colleagues. In general terms – obviously I can';t talk about secret things – but in general terms I talk to my family about issues and they';re very good. And my wife is good and I have three adult children who will give me their opinions, if I ask for them, on different things, and sometimes when I don';t ask for them I';ll get their opinion. But that';s good. That';s very healthy. And they';re very helpful. And I have lots of advisers and I have very good people. And I have people like Mr Farmer here, who has a great understanding of how people feel and what people think. So you listen to all of those and you think very hard, and at the end of the day you try and do what is the right thing. And then you';ve got to go out and explain it. Some decisions are harder than others, and the hardest things are decisions that might put people in danger, because that is quite a big responsibility and you have to discharge that very, very carefully.
[ends]