Subjects: Meeting with Geoff Clarke, Aden Ridgeway, Pat Dodson; Reconciliation; Treasurer
E&OE………………………………………………………………………………………
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister how did the meeting go this morning with the indigenous leaders?
PRIME MINISTER:
I thought it was quite a positive meeting. Everybody agrees on most things in indigenous policy. There are some areas of disagreement, ongoing consultation, the ongoing momentum of the reconciliation process is something we all agree on. I hope the weekend is a great success, I’m certainly going to approach Corroboree with a very positive frame of mind. I’ll be talking very positively about the Government’s ongoing commitment. I think we should focus on the things that unite us in this area rather than the things that divide us.
JOURNALIST:
What sort of reception do you think you’ll get on the weekend?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh I don’t know but that’s a matter for the people there. I’ll be going there in a positive frame of mind. It’s one of those events where I think people of good will want to see succeed. We don’t want to see it as a negative event, it’s an important moment in the country’s experience and I hope that most people who go there will go there with good will and with a very positive frame of mind. I certainly will. I know that Mr Carr will and the other Premiers will and if we all have that approach then I think it will be a success.
JOURNALIST:
What were you able to agree on?
PRIME MINISTER:
We were able to agree that there ought to be an ongoing consultative process on further advancing reconciliation. Of course we all recognise that reconciliation is essentially a people’s movement, it’s essentially something that has to happen in local communities between individual Australians. It’s not something that can be mandated from some kind of political heaven. It’s something that has got to actually occur in the ground amongst people in their hearts and minds.
JOURNALIST:
Does it need a particular leader?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I don’t think reconciliation needs a particular leader, I think reconciliation needs the ongoing involvement of the community. It’s about respecting the special cultural heritage of the indigenous people. It’s about addressing ongoing disadvantage. It’s about recognising past injustices and it’s overall though, more important than anything it’s about getting on with the future because the future is what we can influence. We can influence the present and the future, we can reflect upon the past, we can express our sorrow about the past but we can influence the present and we can shape the future and that is what we should focus on.
JOURNALIST:
Where would you like Australia to be Sir on this issue after this weekend? Where would you like Australia to be on this issue?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well further advanced but it is an incremental process. You don’t achieve miracles by one event but you do add by events to the momentum and there is overwhelming support in the Australian community for the process of reconciliation - that is not an issue. Everybody supports - just about everybody - supports the process of reconciliation and the momentum is there. The differences are relatively unimportant compared with the points of agreement and the points of unity.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister what is your reading of the RBA’s Macfarlane comments on Monday on monetary policy?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh I don’t have any comment on that.
JOURNALIST:
Pat Dodson was saying that he wouldn’t come to Corroboree 2000 because he disagreed with your position. Have you been able to change his mind or has he changed his mind?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well you should ask him. I mean that’s a matter… what he does is a matter for him.
JOURNALIST:
What was his response to the meeting?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well ask him.
JOURNALIST:
Was he pleased?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh look he took a very positive role at the meeting. I mean everybody was quite positive. It was a very useful meeting. It was a very representative group of people involved in indigenous affairs and holding, in the case of Geoff Clarke, elected office, Aden Ridgeway an Australian Democrats Senator. I think it was very useful and I would expect to have similar meetings of that kind over the months ahead in fact we specifically agreed that the same group should get together again and think that of itself is a positive step forward. I mean every bit makes a difference, every bit makes a contribution. You can’t expect dramatic changes with one event or one meeting and we all change. My attitude on some of these issues is different from what it was a couple of years ago, it could well be different in a couple of years time, I’m sure it will be.
JOURNALIST:
What’s the purpose of the meetings in the future?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well what is the purpose of what?
JOURNALIST:
What is the purpose of the meetings between the key Aboriginal leaders? What is it that you’re resolving?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well…
JOURNALIST:
Is it a wording to the document?
PRIME MINISTER:
The whole range of indigenous issues.
JOURNALIST:
…(inaudible)…?
PRIME MINISTER:
I’m sorry I can’t hear you?
JOURNALIST:
Did you pressure the Treasurer into not walking on Saturday?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look there is no ban on anybody walking. He’s his own man and he takes his own decisions.
JOURNALIST:
Given that you say there needs to be a grass roots movement and not necessarily a leadership role for reconciliation. What role if any is there for the federal Government after this weekend?
PRIME MINISTER:
I didn’t say there should be no leadership role I said it is essentially something that comes out of the hearts and minds of the community and the Australian people and that’s the view of the Reconciliation Council. But everybody can play a part and the most important…
JOURNALIST:
What is the Government’s role?
PRIME MINISTER:
…well the federal Government has a very big role and I mean our commitment to improving indigenous health and education and employment opportunities is well known and we’ve given enormous effect to it and there are lots of things the Federal Government can do, lots of things state governments can do but in the end it’s about people’s interaction with each other and human relations in community settings, that’s what it’s all about more than anything else and I think that’s recognised by everybody both indigenous and other Australians.
Thank you.