CARLTON:
Good morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning, Mike.
CARLTON:
Have you recovered from yesterday?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, no, I've just been out walking.
CARLTON:
Have you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, it's stopped raining. There's one thing we can all agree on here in Canberra and that is we've had two days of rain, which is really welcome.
CARLTON:
Yeah, that's about all you agree on in Canberra at the moment. You both call each other liars. You call Mr Latham a liar yesterday, he's saying the same thing. That's a pretty rough start to six weeks campaign, isn't it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, he said that he didn't have a payroll tax, he clearly has, whether you call it a levy or whatever, he clearly didn't know what was in his own policy or he deliberately tried to slide through on that. Now, I'm not... I mean, I notice that he's pretty free with this 'L' word and quite honestly, if he misleads the public on something like that I've got a perfect right to point it out.
CARLTON:
Yeah, I just wonder whether the people like hearing the Prime Minister and the alternative Prime Minister calling each other liars.
PRIME MINISTER:
As you heard me say repeatedly, Mike, I want to talk about the future. This is an election about the future. I just saw Mr Latham on television saying that he wants to talk about the future. Well, I think the thing about the future he should immediately start talking about, is his tax policy. He's now got just under six weeks to release it, having promised to release it in the week of the May budget. And today I'll be inviting him, when he does release his tax policy, to have it properly costed by the Treasury and the Department of Finance. And they will do that costing quite independently of the Government, because we enter the caretaker period at 5.00pm this afternoon and if he wants to have his policy costed it can be done quite confidentially. And I think he ought to do that because our policies have been costed by the Department of Finance and I think his policies should be subjected to the same scrutiny because it's very important, particularly as he's holding it back to the last moment that the public know whether it adds up. You can make mistakes with these things...
CARLTON:
And you're hoping desperately that he does...
PRIME MINISTER:
I acknowledge that in 1987 there was an error made in an Opposition policy...
CARLTON:
Was there what....
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah, there was and I acknowledge it and I paid a price for that and I accept that. Now we have set in place now arrangements to have policies costed by the expert departments and I will really be challenging Mr Latham to subject his tax policy to proper examination by the Department of Finance and so forth because I think the public is entitled to know whether it adds up or not.
CARLTON:
Prime Minister, the Newspoll in The Australian today says you're creeping back towards the Labor Party with a better primary vote. Are you encouraged by that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, you'd be less than honest if you didn't say you liked good polls and you don't like bad ones. But I do believe this is a climate in which the polls are going to bounce around. Mike, I honestly do not know what the outcome of this election is going to be.
CARLTON:
No, I don't think anyone does...
PRIME MINISTER:
I really don't know. I enter this campaign not feeling in any way certain that the Government is going to win. I think we've got a good story to tell, we've got a good record to point to and we've got some interesting new policies to release during the campaign and we have a very good team. But if you're asking me in my heart am I certain of victory - no, I'm not. I think I've got a big fight on my hands.
CARLTON:
Prime Minister, I want to ask you again - it's going to drive you nuts this - but if you're re-elected, do you intend to serve the full three years as Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
I intend to serve as long as my party wants me.
CARLTON:
And that answer is too tricky by half...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well...
CARLTON:
Don't you mean... let me put it this way...
PRIME MINISTER:
Please.
CARLTON:
You are the most significant Liberal leader since Menzies, you dominate the party as no other Liberal has. It's your choice when to retire, it's not whether your party wants you, it's your choice when to go and you will not share that with the Australian people...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, can I by analogy with another party, point out that the degree of domination at a particular time does not govern whether your party changes its mind about you. Could I just point out to you that nobody dominated the Labor Party like Bob Hawke did. Bob Hawke has been, in my view, he was far and away the most successful leader the Labor Party's ever had...
CARLTON:
And he was challenged by his Treasurer, are you expecting that?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I'm not, quite the reverse. I'm just making the point...
CARLTON:
So you've got to stay on, haven't you?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, the point I'm making is that in the end it is the gift of your party, you see people, I notice Mr Latham and Mr Smith and others are talking about handovers and everything. Look, there is no deal between Mr Costello and I. Mr Costello and I have a very good partnership...
CARLTON:
In which case then, Prime Minister, surely it is your choice, when, it's nothing to do with the party...
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm sorry, it's got everything... I'm sorry it has got everything to do with the party. I am not so presumptuous as to imagine that I own the Liberal Party, I don't.
CARLTON:
But you dominate it...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, look...
CARLTON:
The way that Menzies dominated it, you do it.
PRIME MINISTER:
...flattery will get you nowhere on this issue. I mean, Menzies is a different, Menzies in my view is the greatest Prime Minister this country's had. I see him in a different light from myself. I am not so conceited as to imagine that I can just play funny games with the Liberal Party. I'm honoured that they have made me their leader. If the Australian people re-elect me, I will serve as long as my party wants me to.
CARLTON:
Do you intend then to go the three years? You're deceiving the people... it's like buying a fridge. If I buy a fridge with a three year guarantee, I expect the manufacturer to stand by the guarantee. You're asking to be elected for three years but you're getting a good...
PRIME MINISTER:
No, look, I was asked these questions last time, remember?
CARLTON:
Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER:
And I said I would examine my position when I reached age 64 and I'm saying this time because it is the case, that I will serve as long as my party wants me to...
CARLTON:
Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER:
Now, and the beaut thing I've got...
CARLTON:
And if your party wants you to, will you go the three years?
PRIME MINISTER:
I will serve as long as they want me to, full stop.
CARLTON:
I'm not going to shake you on that, am I?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, because it happens to be the case, it happens to be the reality, the other reality...
CARLTON:
... you're being less than frank with...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, Mike, look, I'm sorry, you shouldn't do that, but that is my position, that is my attitude. Can I tell you - I love this job. Does anybody really think that, you know, I want to give up the job? I mean, I get a buzz out of it. I like it. I have good health. I may be older than Mr Latham, everybody knows that, that doesn't matter. Everybody's born in a different year at a different time. I mean, that's just a fact of life. But nobody doubts my physical fitness and my focus and I want to go on serving the Australian people. Now, they will decide in just under six weeks whether they want to get rid of me, or they want to keep me. And in making that decision one thing they will have at the back of their mind is that I've got the best Treasurer this country's seen. And I think, I just find this...
CARLTON:
Is he a better Treasurer than you were?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I acknowledge that, I acknowledged that last night.
CARLTON:
Maybe he's got a better Prime Minister....
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, he has legitimate aspirations and I think Peter Costello is a very accomplished individual and political performer and we are a great team and I just don't know why the Labor Party keeps attacking him. I mean, Costello is the person who, in terms of commitment, and work done, has done more than anybody else as Treasurer to contribute to the strength of the economy we now have and the Labor Party keeps attacking him. I mean, I invite them to go on doing so. Look, what I hear when I go around the country is people saying Costello's done a good job and you're a great pair, you're a great team. And we are a good team and that's something that people will have in their minds, that they're voting for that team, they're voting for... you know if they want their interest rates to stay lower, then Costello and Howard are the team to do so.
CARLTON:
And will be for three years?
PRIME MINISTER:
Mike, I will serve as long as my party wants me to.
CARLTON:
You might get a tape of that and put it out on CD, I think. You're going to be asked...
PRIME MINISTER:
I understand that, but Mike can I remind you that you asked me that last time. I mean, I've gone back on some of the transcripts...
CARLTON:
No, I know, we've all asked it.
PRIME MINISTER:
And that's fair enough, I understand that and I gave the answer then that was true, that I'd look at it and I'm giving you the answer now.
CARLTON:
Alright Prime Minister, thanks very much. I hope we talk again, look forward to it.
PRIME MINISTER:
I hope so.
[ends]