TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW WITH MARK DAY, DAY BY DAY, CHANNEL 7,
MELBOURNE 12 MARCH 18
E 0 E PROOF ONLY
DAY: Mr Hawke thanks for your time. Don't worry about Dame
Edna, she'll keep. We'll put you first.
JOURNALIST: I feel very relaxed about that Mark. You seem to be
much more upset about it than I am.
MARK: I'm not the least bit upset Prime Minister. That kind of
economic scenario, very tight Budget once again. It's
reportedly lead to a warning from Senator Graeme Richardson, from
the New South Wales Right, that too-tough a Budget could cost a
lot.
PM: Now, let's just get a few things straight first. -You keep
saying that this a Paul Keating Budget strategy. Let's not leave
it all on Paul's shoulders. The strategy that has been followed
since we've been in office has been very much a Government
strategy. of course the Treasurer has -the main responsibility
for formulation and articulation. But the strategy is a strategy
of the Government and has been spectacularly successful. Now
we've come toa situation where, because of the very dramatic
turnaround in the last six or nine months in ouir terms of trade
against it, -a sharp decline in the prices we receive for so many
of our export commodities, increased prices for imports, this
dramatic turnaround in terms of trade has posed new pressures and
constraints upon us. We can't keep on borrowing from the rest of
the world and -expect to maintain positions on that basis.
Therefore we have to reduce our demand upon the market and that
requires us exercise considerable spending restraints. And that
policy, which has been put forward in the submission to which you
refer, has now been embraced by the Cabinet and by the Ministry
and it will be followed through. Now, of course, it's true Mark,
that in the proc ' ess of having to make some expenditure cuts, to
restrain the level of government outlays, that there will be some
hurt. There's no doubt about that. But in the past we have
last year one and a quarter billion expenditure cuts. We've
shown a capacity to get our priorities right. And I have a very
considerable faith in the capacity of the Australian electorate
to look at economic policy as a whole, to understand that we
can't just go along expecting to live on our borrowings from the
rest of the world, and they'll accept it.
DAY: Prime Minister, you say some hurt. Senator Richardson is
quoted as saying that it could cost you office, do you go that
far?
pm: well, if one was silly about the way one went about it you
could put yourself at risk. We have shown, I think, an
outstanding capacity in the three years in office to get the
balance right and we'll continue to do that. But it's proper, in
the same sense as I had no complaint about the letter from my
seven Ministers. I didn't like it being leaked, but I respected
their expression of concern about the need to take account of
particular interests. Now Senator Richardson is saying the same
thing. Well we'll take those considerations into account.
DAY: You say we can't keep on borrowing forever and yet talking
to Mr Keating this afternoon he suggested that a deficit in the
order of $ 5 billion may be the 1986/ 87 go. That's still a lot of
borrowing. PM: But it's still considerably less than when we came in and on
a much higher level of gross domestic product.
DAY: So you think we can keep on borrowing?
PM: No. I'm saying that we are successively bringing down the
Budget. We inherited a position when we came in, that the
deficit was in the order of five per cent of our gross domestic
product. Now this year we've brottgh. t--it down to 2.1 per cent.
In other words, we're bringing down the absolute level* 1 of the
deficit and we've been doing that in a situation where we're very
significantly increasing output. Now that's what we want to
continue to do.
DAY: Do you think that many old timers, particularly Labor old
timers, might be a bit puzzled at the sight of a Labor Treasurer
flattening down, if you like, the seven ministers who wanted to
spend more on social matters
PM: Let's get it right. What you're seeming to imply is that
there's going to be absolute real cuts in expenditure. What
we're talking about is arranging programs in a way in which-there
will still be real increases in outlays. We did that last year
while we had cuts in the order of $ 1.25 billion. we rearranged
programs in a way which allowed new initiatives to be taken in
our period in office.' Where we've had significant cuts in
outlays we've still had new policies and initiatives which have
meant, in the area of social welfare, increases beyond indexation
of $ 1.4 billion.
DAY: But some ministers and many backbenchers are saying that's
not enough. I
PM: Ministers and backbencherswere saying in 1983 that our
Budget was too tough. They were saying it in ' 84, but we got mix
right and in the process it's had the greatest increase in
employment in the history of this country. And that's the
greatest cause of poverty in this country unemployment. We've*
got now 608,000 Australians in jobs who weren't in jobs before we
came to office. And at the same time as I say, 1.4 billion
additional real dollars, beyond indexation. Now this has been
not only a government of economic efficiency. it's been a
government which has been true to the ideals of not merely the
Labor Party, but what the people of Australia want greater
equity.
3
DAY: Could I just cover a couple of other topics very briefly?
PM: Sure.
DAY: The opinion polls out today Hawke 57, Howard 30. in view
of that from the Morgan Poll in the Bulletin did you possibly
urge Mr Keating to go lightly on Mr Howard in the Parliament and
not to crucify him?
PM: No. I have total con ' fidence in Mr Keating in how he'll
handle himself. I don't brief my ministers before the Parliament
resumes. DAY: Well are you surprised perhaps that Mr Keating didn't, this
week, seek to crucify Mr Howard?
PM: well I don't think in a sense you need to crucify Mr Howard
when he's doing such an excellent job of seif-crucifixtion.
DAY: Mr Hawke, one other question. Also in the Bulletin today
the proposed new flag, the submission from Ausflag to request to
the Government would it please consider it and possibly put it
to the people. Now are you impressed by it?
PM: Well I think as designs go, it's not a bad design. But I
said look there are so many more important things ' that we, the
Government, are concerned with, that we have no intention of
changing the flag. I think it's healthy that people are thinking
about these things, but as I've said, in this whole area of flags
and symbols, republicanism and so on, that's the sort of thing
the people of Australia have got to think through, talk through.
And if you get to the sort of position where the people want
those sort of things to happen and clearly want them to happen,
then they will. There's not going to be some government
initiative on this matter.
DAY: Are you clearly closing the door to any move to tie in with
the 1988 Bicentenary?
PM: Well I'm saying we have no intentions about it. If you got
the situation where overwhelming the Australian people are saying
that's what they'd like, well the Government would facilitate it.
But it's not our initiative.
DAY: Mr Hawke thanks very much.
ends