JOURNALIST:
Well Prime Minister you must be very pleased with the unemployment figures today?
PRIME MINISTER:
These are fantastic figures. A great human dividend from good economic policy. The figures could go even lower if we could get our unfair dismissal laws through Parliament. We could have a four in front of the unemployment figures if we could get those unfair dismissal changes through. So I hope that all who have opposed those changes in the past will reconsider their position.
JOURNALIST:
Well of course I'll take you up on that, you've obviously got a majority in the Senate now, so do you think the Australian people would see these very positive figures as justification for the Government to press ahead with whatever IR changes it feels may be worthy?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think the Government's got a clear mandate to implement changes to unfair dismissal laws and other industrial relations changes that we have foreshadowed because our industrial relations policies have coincided with this very significant improvement in the unemployment outlook. Of course we don't have a majority in the Senate until the 1st of July next year, but wouldn't it be good if we could get those changes through before then because the sooner we get them through the sooner we can achieve a further improvement in the unemployment rate.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think that magically five per cent barrier, can that ever be broken?
PRIME MINISTER:
I do, certainly if we get the unfair dismissal changes through we can get a four in front of the unemployment figure.
JOURNALIST:
What else, aside from unfair dismissal, would need to be done to break that barrier?
PRIME MINISTER:
That's the biggest single change.
JOURNALIST:
Throughout the election I think you talked very much about the trifecta, or economic trifecta. Now that you have Senate control you must feel as if you have the authority to push ahead with many IR proposals, some of which your opponents may feel are radical, do you think you have that authority?
PRIME MINISTER:
There's nothing radical about anything that we have proposed, there's nothing radical about having low unemployment or having low interest rates or strong growth. I mean after all they are the product of our policies and we won't be doing anything radical but we won't shrink from using our majority to implement things that we have argued for over many years.
JOURNALIST:
Are there any proposals now that you're thinking about, new proposals, particularly in the area of IR that you may put forward though?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't have any particular new proposals that we haven't previously canvassed. I don't rule them out over the years ahead. But for the time being, implementing all of the things that we have talked about will make a very big change, a very big improvement, not radical, indeed progressive.
[ends]