Subjects: Christmas, Centenary of Federation
E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………
YAXLEY:
Your thoughts on Christmas for Australians on Christmas Day.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it’s always more than anything else a family day. To many millions of Australians it also has a great deal of spiritual significance and in a way the two for many of us come together. I can only say that I hope every Australian has the opportunity of spending the day with the people who mean the most to them. That’s the best wish you can give anybody on an occasion like this. I’m very conscious that there are people in our community who are lonely and disadvantaged and they will feel it more keenly on a day like this. And in different ways I hope the wonderful groups that tend to these people on Christmas Day will be able to give them some help and support and boost their morale.
YAXLEY:
And of course there are Australian service personnel and Australians working overseas or around the country who won’t be with families.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we always remember also on Christmas Day the men and woman of the Defence Force who are in Timor and Bouganville and other places. The volunteers, the emergency service workers, the police and others who by their responsibilities may not be able to spend the whole day with their family and a special message of thanks to them. It’s great that they have an opportunity perhaps through your program and many other radio and television programs for sharing some of the experience of the day.
YAXLEY:
Mr Howard it’s the Centenary of Federation we’re coming up to next year. A very important and special year. Your thoughts as Prime Minister being the leader of the nation for this year.
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it’s a great opportunity for Australians to reflect on how much we’ve achieved. It’s not an occasion for cheap triumphalism but it is an occasion to have very legitimate pride about the Australian achievement. The greatest thing about the Australian achievement is how cohesive we are. We have held ourselves together, we’ve got a very workable federation, we’ve taken people from 140 different countries. We’ve gone through every phase of human existence over that 100 years. And we enter the Centenary year in very good esteem around the world and it’s an incredible privilege for me as Prime Minister to be part of that great celebration and it will be a year when we learn a lot more about our history, about our selves about how we’ve related to each other over the last 100 years and how we need to relate to each other in the next century and with the rest of the world.
YAXLEY:
Your thoughts about what the challenges are for the next 100 years or for the first part of the next 100 years of Australia as a nation.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we need to maintain the things that keep us together. We need to maintain our social cohesion, we need to remain an egalitarian country and continue to reject division based on class and race or things that are pernicious dividers. We’ve been successful in that in the past but we need never to be complacent about it and to keep certain that we don’t lose what is such a very precious asset. We need of course as a community to be fully part of the explosion of information technology, which is now sweeping the world and transforming in a way that was unimaginable even 25 years ago, probably 10 or 15 years ago. We need to be ready for enormous advances, further advances in medical science. I believe the first 25 years of the century are going to see unbelievable advances in medical science. We’ve had a lot over the last 50 years but they will in comparison be dwarfed by what’s going to happen over the next quarter of a century. So there’s some of the things that we’re going to face over the next 20 to 25 years.
YAXLEY:
And a final question on your priorities as Prime Minister for the coming year.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I’ll do my best to preserve the stability and cohesion of our community, continue to see the economy grow and generate jobs to make certain that the high reputation and respect that Australia has around the world is further strengthened.
YAXLEY:
One more question, sorry I know I said that that was the last one, you must be looking forward to the celebrations of the day, the first of January the big parade in Sydney and the re-enacting of the ceremonies that took place a hundred years ago. What are you looking forward to about the day?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh it’s just the experience of being part of a re-enactment of a very important occasion in our history. It’s a totally Australian event. This is Australia and Australians celebrating our country, its history and its achievement and to be part of that as Prime Minister is a privilege beyond what I would have ever imagined.