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EMBARGO:_ 6: 00 pm ', SUNDAY, 9 DECEMBER 1979
PRIME MINISTER INTERVIEWED FOR
" SUNDAY REPORT", RICHARD COLVILLE, CHANNEL
( Please acknowledge Channel 10 Sunday Report)
Colville Prime Minister, I suppose the initial reaction of a lot of
people to the Ministerial reshuffle will be that you must be
rather disappointed with the performance of an awful lot of your
Ministers. Prime Minister
I don't think so at all. There are a couple of pretty obvious
things. Peter Nixon couldn't go on doing Transport and
Primary Industry. He is giving up Transport. It was natural
that Ralph Hunt take that as a minister coming into Cabinet.
I think it is also very natural that a senior Minister, a very
senior Minister, should have charge of National Development
and Energy. This is of increasing importance in a whole range
of areas of Commonwealth and State activities. It impinges
upon the activities of a number of other Departments' portfolios;
Transport, Primary Industry. You name it, there are energy
related elements in all those things. Therefore, I wanted a
senior Minister, in Cabinet to be handling these matters. In
addition to that many people think that there are only
negative aspects flowing to Australia from what is happening
in the OPEC countries, Iran and all the rest there are, in
terms of price. But we also need to understand that because
Australia is rich in energy resources, particularly in coal
and in coal-based electricity, there is potential for great
advantage, in greater generation of electricity and bringing the
processing of our raw materials and of our minerals together.
This is happening in the aluminium industry, and a significant
part of Senator Carrick's charter will be to work with the
States in helping to promote a greater use of these sorts of
things...
The development of overall energy policy, which has been carried
on well to this point by Kevin Newman. It requires an
increasing interaction with other Departments, and with the
States, and especially for the development of electricity based
on coal and the processing of raw materials. This is a very
important job, and indeed, a lot of people have been writing
and saying that a senior Minister should be in charge of these
particular things.
Once you make a couple of changes of the kind that I have just
mentioned, there are necessarily I think, a number of consequential
changes. Senator Webster has retired. That involved one
element of change. Quite plainly, not all ministers are to the
same extent suited for all jobs. It is a question of, therefore,
matching Ministers with the jobs which you believe that they
will do best. / 2
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Prime Minister ( continued)
That is what has involved a number of changes, perhaps slightly
more than I would have liked, but I think the ministers are
particularly well suited to the tasks that they will be
undertaking. Colville You are saying that none of these changes represent any
dissatisfaction on your part with the job that any of these
people have been doing?
Prime Minister
No. It is a function of the two things that I have mentioned.
Those two changes in the senior area then flow through to
another to make sure that people are'in the best places.
Colville On energy for instance, though, there was a situation where you
had responsibility split and in fact Ministers were making
conflicting statements at various times about the same subjects.
Prime Minister
Not really conflicting. So often people can be looking at
different sides of the same coin. When they talk about
different sides and it gets reported that way, it makes one appear
as though there is a conflict. I think in the statements on
energy which I think you are referring to, they were very much
in that context. Plainly, if Iran goes on and if Iran stopped
exporting oil-we don't buy much oil direct from Iran but
if all that was taken away from the normal world supply of oil
over a period it is bound to affect Australia. I think the way
it was reported appeared to lead to some sort of difference.
I think it was looking at it through different windows.
Colville Speaking of Iran, and getting away from domestic matters for
a moment, the current unrest in Iran and other parts of the
Muslim world does this -seriously concern you. Do you see this
as a widespread revolt against the Western way of life in a great
part of the world?
Prime Minister
Not against Western way of life so much, but I think what is
happening in Iran has got to be of enormous concern to all of us.
Now what has happened to the United States Embassy and to those
hostages is a matter of very, very serious international co ' ncern.
I believe that President Carter has behaved with commendable
restraint against enormous provocation, because what is happening
is going against all of the accepted modes of international
behaviour with countries dealing with countries, in diplomatic
terms. It is going against all of that. If this sort of thing were
to become commonplace, for example, normal communication between
nations would become quite impossible. Against that sort of
./ 3
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Prime Minister ( continued)
background. I believe that President Carter deserves our
sympathy for a very grave and serious situation, and also our
support for acting with, I would think, commendable restraint
under enormous provocation,. and I suspect under a growing
impatience by the United States' people.
Colville It seems to be an impossible situation, doesn't it? Can you
see anything that could be done if you were in that position,-
that President Carter is in.
Prime Minister
Individually, I think it would be very, very difficult indeed.
The United States is the most powerful country in the world,
but you are in a position in which any exercise of that power
could well place in jeopardy the lives of the hostages. Again,
I think it is to the President's credit that he has clearly
placed the lives and the well being of those hostages as a
paramount concern. There is a point here that I think is very
worrying indeed: there have been reports that there is going to
be'some sort of revolutionary tribunal that will try those
hostages. The whole of history is studded, especially in this
century, with the actions of revolutionary tribunals and
revolutionary trials. It is not necessarily the best way. It has
not been a way in which justice has been carried through.
What has happened has often been arbitrary, and pretty summary
and pretty brutal. I think that element is something that again
adds greatly to our concern.
Colville Getting back to Australia, and I suppose Australia's place in
the world another year coming up, I think the fifth for
you in Government how do you see Australia in the next year.
Briefly, what do you think will happen?
Prime Minister
I see more confidence in Australia, more confidence from
Australians in Australia and more confidence from people outside
this country than I have known for a very, very long while.
We went through some difficult periods: some downs and some ups
and damage to be repaired in the 1970' s. But I have said on a
number of occasions, that I think there is a difficult trading
situation in the world. Inflation is too high in North America.
Too high in Britain and in other countries of Europe. Against that
background, world trade is not going to grow all that rapidly.
How then, do we look after ourselves? We don't just sit back and
bemoan our fate and say the world trading situation is lousy, we
are going to be hurt. It will make it tougher for us. It will
make it harder for us. But what do we do about it, to try and
look after ourselves. I believe that economic policies that have
our inflation rate below that of our major trading partners that
is one point in our favour. That encourages investment and confidence
activity, makes it easier for Australians to sell Australian goods,
4
Prime Minister ( continued)
here and overseas. But then, couple that with our supplies
of energy, electricity based on coal, couple that with our
minerals and resources, and the prospects of bringing energy
together and the development and processing of our minerals
and resources together in this country, then I think we are
going to see much greater investment and much greater development.
This is already happening. It is part of the rationale of
the Department of National Development and Energy in Senator
Carrick's task. , Against that background, even if the world
trading situation is somewhat difficult through the next decade,
I believe Australia is much better placed than virtually any
other advanced industrial country. If we have the courage
to have confidence in ourselves, I believe that we can have
an exciting decade in the 1980' s, and maybe even the decade
of this century. 000---