MCGRATH:
Prime Minister, good morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning Catherine.
MCGRATH:
It';s a very dramatic move to amend the Sex Discrimination Act in a bid to develop more male teachers in the schools. How would it work?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don';t think it';s dramatic. I think it';s commonsense. And I';m amazed that Mark Latham, who has talked about male role models and the need to mentor young boys, and even in rather exaggerated language has said there was a crisis in masculinity, has come out against the first concrete proposition he has faced since becoming Opposition Leader, to do something about it. I mean it';s a very simple proposition. The Catholic Education Commission, and let me point out that amongst primary Catholic schools in New South Wales, the number of male teachers is 14 per cent. The nationwide average of male teachers in primary schools is 21 per cent. And what the Catholic Education Commission wants to do is to offer scholarships to attract men to do teaching courses, on condition that they teach in Catholic schools for a period of years. They have been told by the Human Rights Commission that that proposal is contrary to the Sex Discrimination Act. I find that, as an exercise in commonsense, very surprising. So what we are proposing simply to do is to amend the Sex Discrimination Act to the extent necessary to allow the Catholic education system, or indeed other education systems, to do exactly that. And for the life of me I can';t understand why somebody who is so concerned about the difficulties facing boys, won';t do something about it.
MCGRATH:
So it would apply across the board then, if the state system wanted to do it. And what evidence is there, Prime Minister, that this would have a positive impact?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well you don';t have field evidence because it';s illegal at the moment to do it. But, you know, there comes a time where you have to exercise your own commonsense. And it stands to reason that if you offer people scholarships to go into teaching, if you say to a young man – look, rather than do engineering or do law or do accountancy or do something else, why don';t you do teaching, we';ll give you a scholarship to help you do it, on condition that you teach in our schools. Now the Catholic system has put this forward, but as you say it would apply to anybody else, but I mean here is an example of Mr Latham being able to put into action his rhetoric. It';s one thing to say that you';re concerned about the lack of male role models. And we all know that if a boy grows up in a family where there is no father or no older brother, and he is constantly in female company, if he goes to school and he';s again in female company all the time… I mean there are 250 public or government schools in New South Wales, according to my advice, that have no male teachers. Now we';re trying to do something about this. We';re not trying to wind back the Sex Discrimination Act. Nobody wants to wind it back. We';re just asking that a little bit of commonsense be applied. Why does Labor oppose it?
MCGRATH:
Well one group that does oppose it is the NSW Independent Education Union, that represents private schools teachers, and they';ve said it';s short sighted and simplistic.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well teacher unions, I';m sorry to say, both in the public and private sectors, do have a tendency to react against proposals put forward by this Government and to see these things all in terms of hanging onto the status quo. But when you have only 21 per cent of primary school teachers throughout the country who are men, when it';s down as low as 14 per cent amongst Catholic schools in New South Wales, I mean 10 years ago that 21 per cent was 29 per cent. And I mean this is a problem. We have come up with a sensible, reasonable proposal to do something about it, and I';m amazed. I mean the Opposition Leader has talked more about this issue of loneliness amongst boys and lack of male role models and all of this sort of thing, and look I agree with him. John Anderson and I have talked about this for a long time. But here we come along with a proposal to do something about it, and what does he say – oh no, I can';t do that.
MCGRATH:
Well you';re setting this out clearly as a test then for Mark Latham. But can I ask you…
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I';m setting it out… I';m sorry, this is being set out as a practical response to a problem, and can I point out that Brendan Nelson was in discussions with the Catholic Education Commission about their problems on this issue and the Human Rights Commission';s objections before Mr Latham became leader of the Labor Party. So don';t come at this… I mean we haven';t put this up as some kind of test for Mr Latham. It is coincidentally something of a test for him, but it stands in its own right according to its own merits, and we';d have put it up irrespective of who had been the leader of the Labor Party.
MCGRATH:
Now what about Pru Goward? Have you spoken to her about it, and what';s her view?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I haven';t spoken to her about it, but she';s entitled to her view. She';s probably against it. I don';t know. And frankly, it';s a Government decision. We';re talking here about the amendment of legislation, and her responsibility as Sex Discrimination Commissioner would be to administer the legislation, but I would expect she may well have a contrary view. I';d be surprised if she didn';t. But that';s not really the issue. The issue is whether it';s a good move, and it is a good move and it meets the test of a commonsense, moderate amendment so that we can actually do something. And can I ask Mr Latham to just demonstrate that he is willing to do something, rather than just talk about an issue.
MCGRATH:
Prime Minister, from education to health. There are reports… you did in your party room yesterday hear from some backbenchers who said that you should consider the bold move of taking over the responsibility for hospitals. What';s your position? What are you going to do?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Catherine, there were some people who said that, but there are also a lot of people who said the opposite. I listened to it and I didn';t express a view. All I can say is that that';s not our current policy. We don';t have any plans in front of us to make that sort of change. I think everybody in the Government would be delighted if the states discharged their responsibilities. They run the hospitals. They always have. And we have a problem in public hospitals around Australia, which are the several problems of individual state governments. We';re increasing their money over the next five years by 17 per cent in real terms. Every time they have a problem, they try and blame us. It';s about time they discharged their own responsibilities.
MCGRATH:
Prime Minister, over the last week there have been a lot of damaging headlines within the Coalition, something you haven';t really suffered during this term, particularly that idea that there is division within the Liberal Party. And with the Treasurer refusing to rule out a challenge, where does that leave you and do you think that he should now rule it out?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I don';t think he should use any other form of words. I';ve made this clear. Catherine, political parties go through rough periods and smooth periods. We have been in a far worse position in opinion polls over the past few years than we are at the present time. We';ve had a very smooth run since the last election. It';s not as smooth now. I think we all recognise that. But that';s the test that any political party of enduring substance will face from time to time, and I greet that with calm and I just deal with it as it comes along. I don';t think it';s a time for people to jump to conclusions. It';s many months before the next election. Three years ago our position looked far more parlous than it does now, and three months out from the 1998 election many people were saying that we were going to be a first term government. Politics does ebb and flow and there are some fundamentals going in our direction. The public knows that if they want a strong economy, they want low inflation, low interest rates, low unemployment, you';ve got to have a Coalition Government. And if you want strong border protection policies and you want a strong emphasis on defence, illustrated later this morning with Robert Hill';s announcement about the Abrams tanks, then you want a Coalition Government.
MCGRATH:
Well you';ll no doubt be pushing that message throughout the year and towards the election campaign, but isn';t this issue though, can I ask, leadership, going to keep coming up while you are not outlining how long you intend to stay on?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Catherine, I';ve made my position clear on that. I';ll remain leader of the Liberal Party for so long as the party wants me to and it';s in the party';s best interests that I do so, and I won';t be altering that response to anybody.
MCGRATH:
But even though the Labor Party are going to make a lot of mileage out of that? A lot of voters around Australia might want to know.
PRIME MINISTER:
Surprise, surprise – the Labor Party criticises me. I mean the public will make a judgement. The public understand what I';m saying. They understand that it makes perfect commonsense. This business of saying anything else, I don';t think the public is demanding that. I think the public fully understands that it';s reasonable that a person who has been Prime Minister for eight years, who has got very good health and has a very strong commitment to the future, that such a Prime Minister would understandably say, well I';ll go on while my party wants me to and while it';s in the best interests of the party that I do, subject always of course to the will of the people. I mean in the end, I';m at the disposal of the Australian people, as any political leader is.
MCGRATH:
Prime Minister John Howard, thanks for speaking to AM this morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
You';re very welcome.
[ends]