PRESENTER:
In the sunshine capital of Australia we're 102.3, 4T0 FM, I'm docking your pay Mr Prime Minister, you're late.
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm late, yeah well, I meet some, I don't know what excuse I have. Slightly longer walks, no actually I don't have an excuse. I got a bit busy on the phone this morning talking to people.
PRESENTER:
Good on you mate. Now you went for your half hour stroll.
PRIME MINISTER:
I did, I did indeed.
PRESENTER:
Was there are a few people around, did you get that Lindsay person to walk with you?
PRIME MINISTER:
I did, he joined me. He was impressive.
PETER LINDSAY:
(inaudible) my boss, I kept up with him
PRIME MINISTER:
He kept up with me, it was very good. No, he was very good, he strode out, he was excellent.
PRESENTER:
Mate, that mango book in front of you, five bucks, it goes to charity.
PRIME MINISTER:
I'll buy one.
PRESENTER:
That's alright then. Now we have got a lot of mums dropping off kids at the moment, perhaps, six or seven year old kids at to school. And by the way things are going with you, by the time they're of voting age, you're likely still to be in?
PRIME MINISTER:
Now come on. No, no, no look I am, you know, one election at a time and the next one, got to work hard for it.
PRESENTER:
What is going to be, what is the hardest thing for these kids do you reckon about Prime Ministering would you say, what has been the hardest over the last year? It has been a hell of a year, an amazing year?
PRIME MINISTER:
The hardest thing in a way is when you know people are being hurt by something that you can't do much about: petrol prices.
PRESENTER:
Yes
PRIME MINISTER:
I mean the thing that is really biting into family pockets now, more than anything else is petrol prices and it's a problem all over the world and I worry about it a lot because I wish I could do something to, in a big way, I mean you can fiddle at the margins, but the main reason is that the price of crude oil around the world has gone up and that has affected the cost of petrol at every bowser in the world.
PRESENTER:
Including on most of the road trains too. Prime Minister, people power intervened and you set the excise at 38 cents. Can you not reduce the excise?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well you can reduce the excise, and mind you the excise hasn't gone up as the price of fuel has gone up, the excise is a volumetric thing, but we would...
PRESENTER:
Can you knock off 10 cents a litre?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well 10 cents, that would be $3 billion.
PRESENTER:
If you're making so much money...
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah but hang on, three billion, 10 cents a litre, I think a of people might think that $3 billion could be better spent in extra money for general tax cuts. They might think it would be better spent on roads, they might think it would be better spent on defence. I mean this country is going to have to spend even more money on defence as time goes by and I know the Townsville community, which of course is the home to the Lavarack Barracks and a very big defence establishment knows the importance of that, so the difficulty of cutting the excise, I mean 10, you'd have to do it by 10 cents, you've put your finger right on the amount that you'd need to do it by and that would cost close to $3 billion and then if the price of petrol were to fall by 10 or 15 cents a litre, and that is possible, I am not saying it is going to but it's possible, anything is possible with a volatile international market; I don't think people would be very impressed if the Government tried to put the excise up.
PRESENTER:
But they wouldn't because you're not that sort of man
PRIME MINISTER:
Well no you couldn't do it, you couldn't do it.
PRESENTER:
I can't believe all this serious stuff for the morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah I know, but one cent a litre is a net cost of $280 million or more.
PRESENTER:
Yeah but the point I'm making is that here, because we don't have a great public transport infrastructure...
PRIME MINISTER:
It is tough.
PRESENTER:
You've got to go a long way to get anywhere.
PRIME MINISTER:
It is and I understand that and that is one of the disadvantages in living in...
PRESENTER:
In the bush.
PRIME MINISTER:
...in, well, Far North Queensland.
PRESENTER:
Mr Prime Minister, defence, ah, well expansion of the defence force. That's been talked about.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think our defence forces are very heavily taxed at the moment...
PRESENTER:
Certainly are.
PRIME MINISTER:
...and we are always looking at whether there should be more done in that area and I think I can safely say that the expenditure on defence will be going up and the resources needed for defence, largely because of the volatility of our own region, I mean we had to go back into East Timor and we have got commitments in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in the Solomon Islands, in East Timor, and it is just that kind of world. It is going to be like that now for years into the future because we are seen by the rest of the world as the sort of security guardian of our region and therefore we have to have the capacity, that is why we are buying these C-17 big transport aircraft...
PRESENTER:
They're whoppers.
PRIME MINISTER:
They are whoppers, they are, and it is why we are looking at the amphibious capacity of the Army. So all of these things are directly related to the fact that you are going to for years into the future have a lot of Solomon Islands-type calls on our defence force.
PRESENTER:
Do we send an international force to the Middle East, to Beirut, out there, Lebanon?
PRIME MINISTER:
I would say this in relation to that, that we don't have a capacity to contribute more than what they call in the jargon a niche, make a niche, a small contribution. We don't have a capacity because of our other commitments to say, send a battalion, that is just not on at all. For an international force to be effective in Lebanon it would have to be a big one, it would have to be about 10,000 or 15,000. We would need to have a very strong set of rules of engagement, or mandate from the United Nations, including disarming Hezbollah. If it doesn't have the authority to disarm Hezbollah and that is not part of a mandate, there is not much point in sending it. It would just become a target for Hezbollah attacks, so I am very sceptical about inserting an international force into Lebanon unless it is clearly understood that it has got to establish the authority of the orthodox Lebanese Army and the Lebanese Government and it has got to have the authority to disarm Hezbollah. If it doesn't have that authority there is no point in it going.
PRESENTER:
Alright we have some of the guys here from 4th Field Regiment who have gone over because that is apart of their deployment, to help with the evacuation of Aussies from Lebanon.
PRIME MINISTER:
They have done fantastic job.
PRESENTER:
They have done a fantastic job, but what are their terms of employment over there, because I understand they were just on minimal wage, have you done something there, because that's a dangerous fight surely?
PRIME MINISTER:
Now that you have raised it with me I will have a look at it, I can't on the run make a commitment about that, I, you're the first person who has actually raised that with me.
PRESENTER:
There you go David.
PRIME MINISTER:
There you go, so I will look at it, but...
PRESENTER:
I am not saying you are going over there with them...
PRESENTER:
Oh we can put on our card (inaudible)...
PRIME MINISTER:
But I will, there are sort of established rules and understandings about this and you can't treat every engagement as war-like service, although some engagements are more dangerous than others. But, the normal approach will be applied and the fair approach and I think the way we do these things is quite fair. There was a bit of debate about whether people in East Timor should be paid the same as the people in Iraq and Afghanistan and the judgement was made and I believe it a correct one. It did go to Cabinet and on the advice of the defence forces that it wasn't quite in the category of war-like service and I think that was a correct judgement. The difficulty of, I know there is tendency if anybody is sent overseas at all, to say well let's give them a lot more, let's give them as much as we can. The only difficulty of that is that it does tend to devalue a little bit the people who are in a really hot, shooting war.
PRESENTER:
Mate, you celebrated your birthday. Of all of the presents that you probably got, one that perhaps you didn't get, what would have you liked from an Australian point of view, for you birthday a present for Australia, what do you think would be the best thing for this great country of ours?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the best present that any of us could wish for this country is that it keeps on as it is. I mean, it's a great country, we've got the lowest unemployment in 30 years, we are a very harmonious, united society...
PRESENTER:
Still the lucky country?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, but we've made a lot of our own luck, you know, and we've worked at it. It is a bit like that, was it Arnold Palmer who famously said that the more he practiced the luckier he got. And I think in a way we've practiced hard at being a lucky country, we work hard, we are very adaptable and all of those things. I think the best wish I could ever have for this country is that it continues what it is now. I mean that doesn't mean to say that there aren't people living a wretched existence in this country and there aren'tpeople who are falling between the cracks. There are a lot and we have an obligation to help them. I have just been to Innisfail and they were down on their luck a few months ago and I don't mind saying that the Federal Government has poured now more than $235 million of assistance into Innisfail and I think every dollar of it has been justifiably spent because support and charity of that kind does begin at home and it is because we are a wealthy country and a lucky country that we have the capacity to help our fellow Australians. And that money has helped enormously to get the place moving again.
PRESENTER:
Mr Howard, obviously you've been on record as saying that you are concerned that interest rates could go up today as a result of the Reserve Bank meeting?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well no, what I have said is that the Reserve Bank will decide whether or not they go up, yes. I don't know what their decision will be, we will know it tomorrow morning.
PRESENTER:
Surely, given that there are two states that are flying high with the resources boom, the others aren't travelling that well, they're travelling okay.
PRIME MINISTER:
They are travelling okay. Western Australia and Queensland are doing better than other states, they are all doing quite well, although the property market in Sydney has fallen over a bit, but it will come back, it has got a great resilience about it. The property market in Sydney will come back, I am not pessimistic about the long term, although I do think we need more land releases. The New South Wales Government has got to let more land onto the market there to relieve the pressure for new homebuyers. But it is true that there is a bit of a bit of a two speed economy and that is one of the factors the bank will no doubt take into account.
PRESENTER:
Not bananas?
PRIME MINISTER:
Bananas caused a kick up in the inflation rate, but that will pass because the bananas are growing again and as they come onto the market the supply will increase and the price will fall and that will be okay. But petrol, the big ongoing additional cost thing is petrol and it's the greatest worry of my political life, petrol in terms of it's impact on the average Australian because we love our cars, we Australians, we're...
PRESENTER:
Can't go back to horse and buggy, mate.
PRIME MINISTER:
No no, we are the sort of, you know, (inaudible) motorists of the world.
PRESENTER:
Is there a reticence about the ethanol and other alternatives?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, there is no reticence about it. We encourage people to use it.
PRESENTER:
We're a bit sceptical here and we're in a sugar cane area.
PRIME MINISTER:
You're a bit sceptical? Well you've got a right, I mean you are a consumer, you are an individual, you don't have to, nobody is going to... I don't think you should mandate ethanol. See, some people come to me and say you should say, every gallon of juice for the car should include 10 percent ethanol, people should be compelled to. I don't agree with that, I mean, you wouldn't agree with that either, would you because you're sceptical about it.
PRESENTER:
Very much so.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that's fair enough, you shouldn't have to buy it then should you?
PRESENTER:
Uh-huh.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that's a fair deal.
PRESENTER:
Righto, I've been ticked off.
PRIME MINISTER:
No you haven't been ticked off.
PRESENTER:
You got up him a couple of times.
PRIME MINISTER:
You have been agreed with. You haven't been ticked off.
PRESENTER:
The Prime anger. We played your favourite band earlier.
PRIME MINISTER:
Dire Straits, Simon and Garfunkel and Dire Straits.
PRESENTER:
Oh Dire Straits, we could have played Walk of Life.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, yes you could have. That is actually one of my all time favourites, it really is.
PRESENTER:
Dire straits. Can we give him this little prezzie. Can we give him one of these?
PETER LINDSAY:
Give him one of those.
PRESENTER:
The other one, mate.
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I am going to buy that
PRESENTER:
Do you want one for Janette because she does the cooking in the house.
PRIME MINISTER:
I have only got $100 here. So Lindsay lend me five bucks. I'll pay Lindsay back, he'll tell me I get paid a bit more than he does, only, just a bit more.
PRESENTER:
Prime Minister, $5 plus GST, it goes to the states.
PRIME MINISTER:
All of it, yeah I know. No state in this country that does better out of GST than Queensland.
PRESENTER:
Yeah, he's not arguing much.
PRIME MINISTER:
And even the Premier, you know, when he announces a new scheme and somebody says to him, where is the money coming from Premier, with a sheepish grin he says, oh the GST.
PRESENTER:
Mr Prime Minister, I was just going to say, well the latest from the Premier is I'll be damned. We gave the Premier 'Dam Busters' the book.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good book, I read that when I was a kid.
PRESENTER:
Mate, thanks for coming in, I know your minders get a bit worried about what we are going to give you as a prezzie or whatever, so we always...
PRIME MINISTER:
No, no, you've got to worry about those minders, they are good people though. Their hearts in the right place.
PRESENTER:
Prime Minister John Howard, thanks for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you and sorry I'm late. I won't be late next time.