MARTIN:
PM, thank you for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
How are you Ray?
MARTIN:
I'm fine. Did Mark Latham catch you with your pants down?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look Ray, I don't really mind if people write stories about wins and losses between Mr Latham and myself. What matters is the public's interest and the public's view. There is no doubt that people think the Commonwealth Parliamentary Superannuation Scheme is overgenerous. There is equally no doubt in my mind on the merits that when you take it into account with parliamentary salaries and you look at the pay of other people, in overall terms, particularly senior people are not overpaid. But frankly all of that is irrelevant to the public. If you're a bloke on forty or fifty thousand dollars a year, what I'm paid sounds a king's ransom, and I understand that. And frankly I wasn't willing to allow this issue to become a diversion to more important issues such as whether or not the Labor Party should support the national interest and back our Free Trade Agreement, and the differences between the Government and the Opposition on economic management, border protection and national security. And I therefore decided the most sensible thing to do was to legislate immediately to change it.
MARTIN:
Alright. That was a long...
PRIME MINISTER:
To legislate immediately.
MARTIN:
A long answer to one question. I'm sorry but you've been...
PRIME MINISTER:
I know, but it's an important issue.
MARTIN:
It obviously is. Thirty odd years and you've been in government for eight years. Why did you suddenly change your mind? Why haven't you talked about this before?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Ray we have made changes before.
MARTIN:
When?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well yes, we made changes a couple of years ago.
MARTIN:
You said yourself...
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm sorry, I'm sorry (inaudible) there's a mismatch I'm sorry. There's a delay with the monitor, I'm sorry.
MARTIN:
I'm sorry. I apologise for that.
PRIME MINISTER:
It's just a bit confusing, but anyway. The changes that we made a couple of years ago mean that people elected in the last parliament, the last election, for the first time, cannot access their lump sump superannuation before the vesting age, that is 55, of the rest of the community. Now this was one of the major irritants. There were two irritants with the public. One of them was the idea that somebody could go in and after three terms, perhaps in their late 30s, early 40s, leave parliament with a very large lump sum, yet the rest of the community couldn't get their lump sum until they reached 55. Now we changed that for new entrants into the parliament.
MARTIN:
But your decision today PM would indicate that you realise, you recognise, the Liberal Party recognises in polling I presume in the last couple of days, that Australians think it is still outrageous that it's...
PRIME MINISTER:
We haven't done any polling on this issue. The Liberal Party has not polled this issue, for your information. I don't need polling for individual decisions.
MARTIN:
But two days ago...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well you may remember two days ago when Mr Latham asked me a question. You know what I said? I said I'd analyse it. And the only comment that I have made publicly in the last couple of days is to the effect that I would analyse it. But what my colleagues said, I mean particularly what Peter Costello said yesterday, was quite correct.
MARTIN:
What about Tony Abbott's comment. He said it was cynical, populist politics and he was chasing (inaudible).
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah well Ray, look we are a free spirited party. Different people will put things differently. We have made a Cabinet decision. It has been endorsed by the Party room. I'll be presenting legislation, or the Finance Minister will be presenting legislation, to bring it immediately down to the community standard as far as the Government contribution is concerned. And Mr Latham's proposal would not have had effect until 2007. Ours will have effect from and after the next election.
MARTIN:
But you know - final question, quick one PM - that tomorrow's papers are going to call this catch-up politics by you.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well look Ray, they will. If they do, they do. In the long run, are you saying that I have to pay more regard to one day's bad headlines than I do to what is in long term the right decision? And also in long term a decision that allows us to return to issues that are really important to the Australian public. I mean if I get some bad headlines tomorrow, well I'll wear that. I've had a lot of bad headlines in my political career. But in the long run this means that we're back to things that really matter. We're back to things like economic management, Free Trade Agreement, low interest rates, better taxation policies, and that is what is important in the next nine months.
MARTIN:
Alright PM. Thank you again. I thank you for your time and I apologise for you getting a delay in your ear. Thanks for your time Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ends]