SPEERS:
Prime Minister, thanks for your time. You';ve seen off Simon Crean and now face a new opponent in Mark Latham as Opposition leader. In many ways a very different politician to you – are you still confident you can win the contest against Mark Latham?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well first of all let me congratulate Mr Latham on being elected leader of the Australian Labor Party. It';s an enormous honour for anybody to be elected to the leadership of a national political party and it obviously represents for him a significant career achievement. So far as my capacities against him are concerned that is a matter for the Australian people. I am not going to give a running commentary on that. Obviously, the Australian people will make a judgement on that issue sometime next year. I do have to observe that the Labor Party now is less fit to govern than it';s been at anytime over the last seven and a half years because not only is the Labor Party bitterly divided over policy, but now it';s bitterly divided over personalities and leadership. Remember 47 to 45 is as close as it can get. You have to go back to the famous tied vote in the Gorton Liberal Party room more than 30 years ago to get something as close as that. And on top of it the man who got 45, the most experienced person by far in the Australian Labor Party is going to continue on the backbench – that';s what he said.
SPEERS:
So you think they should have gone for Kim Beazley?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I';m not saying who they should have gone for. I mean that';s for them. I have studiously avoided giving gratuitous advice as to who they should have gone for. They';ve made their decision, it';s a caucus decision - I respect obviously the right of the Opposition Party to make its decision. But I am simply observing as an alternative government, the Labor Party is less fit to govern now than in any time in the last seven and a half years. They are divided over policy and they';re also divided over leadership. Remember that the straw that broke the camel';s back for Simon Crean was that brawling over tax policy, while Simon Crean was in London at the dedication of the war memorial and the man who in a way initiated all of that was none other than the new leader of the Opposition. A point I make is that the Labor Party is very divided over policy and now you have this entrenched personality difference. Beazley was elected, as I recall it, unopposed after the Keating defeat, Crean unopposed after the last election, now at 47-45 – very, great division.
SPEERS:
If Labor move beyond those divisions and unify, do you at least concede that Mark Latham has a style that cuts through and does it pose a big difference to you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well David, you can do the commentary. You';ll never get me giving commentary. But you';ll always get me acknowledging that every election is tough. I take the opportunity to repeat to my colleagues and my supporters around the nation that there';s only eight seats between us and political oblivion. I don';t take any political opponent lightly. I never have and I never will. And the next election is going to be a very hard slog no matter who the new leader is and I made that observation the day that Simon Crean stood down. So I';m not just making that observation in the wake of Mr Latham';s election. No matter who leads the Labor Party at the next election it';s going to be hard for us to win.
SPEERS:
His victory speech a short time ago, he spoke about the rungs of opportunity being withdrawn under your Government. He will focus on health, he will focus on education – does that concern you at all that they';re the main strategies that he identified?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it would concern me if the charge were right. It';s hardly removing a rung of opportunity to make your mortgage repayment about $450 cheaper, it';s hardly removing a rung of opportunity to increase real wages by 12 or 13 per cent compared with the minuscule moves under the former government, it';s hardly removing a rung of opportunity to create 1.2 million new jobs, it';s hardly removing a rung of opportunity to generate tens of thousands of more apprenticeships and traineeships, it';s hardly removing a rung of opportunity to reducing a nation';s debt. Great line, the only thing is that the facts don';t support it.
SPEERS:
As Shadow Treasurer Mark Latham was attacked by the Government on some of the previous comments he';d made before coming to the role on the economy, on tax, is that a similar strategy we';ll see, the Government trotting out lines from Mark Latham';s past?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look David I';m not going to talk about strategy on this.
SPEERS:
What about his comments in relation to George Bush, are you going to use them against him?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well look I';m not going to talk about any of those things, I mean they are matters for us. Everybody in public life, and I';m no exception and he';s no exception, are accountable for the things that they do, the things they stand for and in the end what the Australian public wants from people is a statement of their values and their beliefs and they will make a judgement. And the people who decide these things are the millions of Australian voters, I always respect their judgement, I always pay heed to what they say, I mean we';ve done that in relation to Medicare, they weren';t happy with the first package and we';ve made a lot of changes, we now have a safety net and I can';t for the life of me understand how anybody could be against a safety net, I mean he talked about putting rungs in ladders, a safety net can be a rung in a ladder and how anybody could oppose the safety net is beyond me.
SPEERS:
Labor has now embraced generational change, do you think the Liberals will now start to contemplate whether it';s time for them to look at generational change?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I';ve always said that the question of my position is that while ever the party wants me to lead it I';ll do so. But let me make just one observation, the age of the person is irrelevant, it';s as irrelevant as that person';s racial background, gender, or religion. What matters is what the person believes in and what the person stands for and the measure of that person';s commitment to all of the Australian people and I';m happy to be judged at whatever age on what the people think of my stewardship of their affairs during very difficult times.
SPEERS:
And just finally the Prime Minister, the contest in Question Time now will see you against Mark Latham, do you expect at least a more fiery encounter?
PRIME MINISTER:
David, commentary, commentary, commentary, I';ll leave it to the experts in the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery.
SPEERS:
Okay, Prime Minister, thanks for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
You';re very welcome.