Subjects: Fiji Crisis; Reconciliation; GST
LESTER:
Prime Minister before we address Reconciliation issues, your Government today has announced sanctions but has held off in imposing them for now. Just how bad is the situation in Suva have to become before its really time to act?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well its still evolving and I am not optimistic. I fear that Fiji is going to lurch back to a racially based constitution and that will be tragic and unacceptable. But while the situation is still evolving, we take the view that the best thing to do is to foreshadow the areas where we will act if as we fear Fiji is going to repudiate on a semi-permanent basis, a democratic constitution. Mr Chaudhry who was here only a few weeks ago, was the democratically elected, freely chosen Prime Minister of Fiji and it is quite appalling that he has been overturned at the barrel of a gun because he’s an ethnic Indian Fijian. I mean lets face it, that is essentially what has happened. And I am saddened by that and a lot of Fiji’s friends in Australia are saddened by it.
LESTER:
Given your critical of what the Fiji authorities have done here, how do you think they should have acted in light of this crisis.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well they should have upheld the constitution. I know its hard. I feel for Ratu Mara, his own daughter is one of the people being held but you can’t bargain with terrorists. They demand more, they devour more and its always a mistake.
LESTER:
In Senate estimates today Prime Minister, the Tax Commissioner conceded that the cost of GST education and awareness would go above four hundred million dollars. Now it is a major change to our tax system, but does it really warrant that much money on education and awareness?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well you have got to remember that that money is not for the ‘unchain my heart’ advertisement. That’s about twenty million.
LESTER:
Joe Cocker got about two hundred thousand.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, yes, but I mean you are talking about..you are talking here about the cost of informing people about the changes. I mean for the last six months, both the media and the Labor Party have been saying you’ve got to provide more information. The public is confused. The public doesn’t know about it. Now that is exactly what we are doing. I mean that money has some of it has gone to organisations like the ACTU and business organisations, the Catholic Social Welfare Commission in order to educate and advise their constituent bodies about how the new system works.
LESTER:
It’s a staggering amount of money though.
PRIME MINISTER:
It’s a staggering change. I mean this is the biggest change in a hundred years to Australia’s taxation system. We have an obligation to explain how it works. And if we didn’t we would be belted from pillar to post by small business, by the Labor Party, by the media who would be screaming at us and saying why don’t you hold seminars, why don’t you send out booklets. Why don’t you have education of people. I mean you are damned if you do and you are damned if you don’t. But I don’t apologise for this and I think it’s the right thing to have done.
LESTER:
Included in that campaign according to the Tax Commissioner today is that ten million dollar mail out next month that will include a personalised message. Will you write that message?
PRIME MINISTER:
I will be signing the covering letter, yes. There is nothing new about this. The Keating and Hawke Governments did household deliveries of booklets explaining changes in other areas.
LESTER:
And yet that opens you to this criticism that you are in fact more intent on promoting the Howard Government with taxpayers dollars than you really are about education doesn’t it?
PRIME MINISTER:
No it doesn’t because this is something that goes directly to every household. The letter that I will send is completely factual and it will provide direct to people a lot of information. We live an era where there is an enormous competitive clutter as far as information is concerned and you really have to work very hard because there is so much information being thrown at people, you’ve really got to work very hard to get a message through.
LESTER:
Why couldn’t the Tax Commissioner sign it though. Then there would no criticism of your political motives in sending out the letter.
PRIME MINISTER:
Because its Government policy. Tax Commissioners don’t propose changes to tax systems. Governments do.
LESTER:
And you see no danger of John Howard being accused here of promoting the Howard Government’s political imperatives here rather than simply aiming to inform the Australian public.
PRIME MINISTER:
Tim, I will be accused by the Labor Party of misdeeds no matter what I do.
LESTER:
Up to a quarter of a million people yesterday on Sydney Harbour Bridge. The words sorry in the sky above them. Did you feel the slightest bit out of touch with the Australian people when you watched that.
PRIME MINISTER:
That was a tremendous demonstration of general support in the community for reconciliation and I think that’s a good thing and I share that commitment. I know that I have been criticised because the Government won’t agree to a formal national apology for past misdeeds. My reason for that and the Government’s reason is that we don’t believe the present generation should be held accountable for the misdeeds of earlier generations, particularly when those acts were sanctioned by the law at the time.
Now, I know that is an unpopular view with a lot of people but it is a view that I sincerely hold. Now I have held it for a long time. I have consistently held it. I believe it and that’s why I have taken that stance. I mean all I can ever do on something like this is to tell the Australian public directly what I believe and why the Government I lead has taken certain action.
LESTER:
You are happy to use the word regret and sorrow?
PRIME MINISTER:
I mean there is a difference between saying I am sorry for something and I apologise for . . .
LESTER:
Not in my thesaurus. I mean I have had a look in the thesaurus today and the two words are there.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well let me put it this way, if you lose a close friend, do I say to you I was sorry to hear about that or I apologise for hearing about it? Or I apologise about it? It is, there is a very big difference. I mean there is an assumption of responsibility, there is an assumption which I can’t feel, I can feel saddened and sorry and regretful, and that is one thing and I do, and I have said that . . .
LESTER:
You have just used the words together Prime Minister, I mean you just put regret and sorry together.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, that is right, that’s right – regret and sorry, but not apologise. I mean I can regret, I can feel regret that something happened, I can feel sorry that something happened, but that doesn’t mean to say that I apologise for it because that assumes that I am responsible.
LESTER:
Have we got to the stage where language, semantics are actually being very hurtful and damaging in this country?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, you always have to understand the implications of what you say. I mean I can, I can apply that to anybody with whom I am having a debate about something. I am the Prime Minister and when I say I support something or don’t support something that "carries" certain connotations because I head the Government. Now most of the document, the Declaration for Reconciliation I and the Government very strongly support, I mean we support reconciliation, we want the indigenous people of this country to have their disadvantage addressed, we want them to be a full part of the community. I don’t want racism or division in the Australian community.
LESTER:
Jeff Kennett said sorry. So too did Richard Court. So too has every State Government in this country. Why can’t the Federal Government?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I have explained why Tim, I have explained why we have . . . .
LESTER:
But those same reasons face the State Governments.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes I know well I mean they are entitled in a democracy to make their decision . . .
LESTER:
And they are wrong?
PRIME MINISTER:
Hang on. No it’s their decision but in the end in a democracy what you do is you take a decision, you explain to the Australian public why you have taken that decision and if at the end of the day they don’t agree with that decision well they’ll be an implication the next time there’s an election. Now, I mean I can’t do anything other than sincerely tell the Australian people as I am tonight why I and the government I lead have this view. I’m, you know I don’t enjoy being criticised any more than any other person does but . . . .
LESTER:
Do most Australians agree with you?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don’t know.
LESTER:
Do you care?
PRIME MINISTER:
What I care about is doing what I believe is right for the community. I don’t for example believe it is right to have a treaty. Mr Beazley has embraced the process of moving towards a treaty. Now a treaty will divide this country. Countries don’t make treaties with themselves, they make treaties with other nations and the very notion of a treaty in this context conjures up the idea that we are two separate nations. Now I thought the whole idea of reconciliation was to prevent that occurring.
LESTER:
On Saturday, most of you and your ministers left the ceremony before the journey of healing, before the Governor-General spoke and Mick Dodson spoke – was it necessary to leave so soon?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well when you say suddenly, I had lunch with all the Reconciliation Council and then I had all of the members of the Reconciliation Council to a reception at Kirribilli House and later on in the afternoon. Now I spent a large part of Saturday involved. I mean everybody chooses to go to certain events and not to go to other parts of it. I mean a prime minister has lots of things to do, but I have spent a great deal of time meeting aboriginal leaders over recent weeks and I will continue to do so. And there are many areas where we agree but there are some areas where we don’t agree and I am sorry about that, but I can’t say something I don’t mean.
LESTER:
Does it worry you that your successor as Prime Minister in this country might be the one who does say sorry?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, what worries me Tim is being honest with the Australian people and explaining as best I can the reasons why I have taken certain decisions. I mean in the end what I owe most of the Australian people is the frankness and candour of my sincerely held views. If they think they are inappropriate or they’re wrong, well they’ll act accordingly but I can’t say something that I don’t believe. I mean I am genuinely saddened about what happened but I don’t feel responsibility for it because it belonged to an earlier time. And I think a lot of people agree with me on that. A lot disagree. But in these situations you can only be honest to yourself and say where you stand and how you feel.
LESTER:
Prime Minister, thank you for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[Ends]