JONES:
The Prime Minister's on the line. PM good morning?
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning.
JONES:
Thank you and congratulations.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well this is a situation, Alan, where you know I argued for the original decision of the Government but it was never something that I was committed to long-term. I never campaigned on the sale of the Snowy. I never had it as an election undertaking and the reason we decided originally to sell our 13 per cent was because we didn't think there was any point in us holding it, given the decision of the New South Wales and Victorian governments.
I did not, I have to frankly admit this, I did not anticipate the strength of public feeling. And it's always been my disposition that if there is no long-term national benefit at stake, if the public is unhappy with something, you shouldn't go ahead with it. Now I will argue the case for other things that don't have majority support if I think there's a long-term benefit for Australia such as the sale of Telstra and originally the GST.
I mean you took opinion polls on those things at the beginning, the majority of people were against them, but I kept the commitment because I knew those things in the long-run would help Australia. Now I can't honestly say to the Australian public the sale of the Snowy is crucial to our economic development. I can't honestly say that.
JONES:
Just let me ask you this because I know you're short on time and so are we, your 13 per cent, the concern still is that 87 per cent could, and I say could, although the political circumstances have now changed quite dramatically, 87 per cent could pass into private hands and we know that the public own water, but the bloke who owns the cup is just as important as the bloke who made the tea, so to speak, so the infrastructure is important. What kind of influence, if it stayed as it was, would 13 per cent have over the future direction of the scheme?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well not an enormous amount. But the question of whether New South Wales and Victoria now go ahead is a matter is them. We won't be buying their shares, I made that clear at my news conference this morning. That would be an unwise, unnecessary, unproductive use of our money. The New South Wales and Victorian Governments will obviously consider the implications of our decision and that is a matter for them. They decided to sell without reference to us. It was a unilateral decision of the New South Wales Government. Now that is a matter for them, they are the major player in this, they started it, they are the people who now have to make a decision as to what they do. But we will not be buying their shares. But I do think that what we have today is to demonstrate very clearly that there is very strong public opposition to the sale. So we wouldn't have changed our position if there had not been.
JONES:
This is Howard the strategist here, so basically let's forget the economics of it all. There's a massive amount of sentiment and sense of heritage resides within this infrastructure project. You've listened and you know the feeling is in the 90s against all of this, isn't it now fact that the onus is on the Labor Party, wherever they are, to respond to the public as you have now?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I'm not in the business of giving political advice to my opponents, but let me say this, that I would not have changed my position if I had not believed the public felt very strongly about this and equally because there was no long-term public benefit. I want to make it clear; I will hold the line against strong public feeling when I believe there's a public benefit in holding the line.
But at the end of the day I sat down and I thought what on earth am I doing holding the line on something that I've never really believed in passionately in the first place. And it's not like the sale of Telstra or industrial relations reform, where I know there's a long-term benefit for the country in going ahead with those policies. But it doesn't really matter economically whether the Snowy is in public or private hands. Whereas it does matter economically if Telstra continues to be half owned by the pubic and half owned by...
JONES:
This thing they feel very powerfully about who should own it. They all feel they built it, they all feel they own it.
PRIME MINISTER:
I now fully understand that. I have to acknowledge that at the beginning I didn't.
JONES:
Well no harm in acknowledging that, that's good politics you actually listen and respond.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it's the truth and if I had've we wouldn't have made the original decision, I can hardly argue otherwise. Now what New South Wales and Victoria and what the Labor Party around the country now does, is a matter for them. But I can only articulate the reasons why we have changed and I particularly want to pay tribute to one of my colleagues Gary Nairn, who's the Federal Member for the area that takes in Cooma and the Snowy headquarters. Gary's a member of the ministry, he's been unhappy and uneasy about this and articulating to me and to my colleagues the concerns of his constituents. He's been doing it behind closed doors and his feelings were crucial as far as I was concerned.
JONES:
Okay, thank you for your time PM.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ends]