TRANSCRI PT OF PRESS CONFERENCE, ORI ENTAL HOTEL, BANGKOK
4 FEBRUARY 1989
E 0 E PROOF ONLY
JOURNALIST: How long do you think it will be before the
uncertainty is cleared up, or is there no i'incertainty?
* PM: Mr Dowding is not claiming victory ton~ ght although he
is optim~ istic that the Government has been returned. He
thinks it could be a day or so before all the details are
finailised as to what the order of the outcome would be but
he, as I say, is not claiming vIictory but thinks-the
Government has been returned.
JOURNALIST: What do you draw fromi a cliff-hanger?
PM: Sat isfaction, if that is the outcome, because you have a
situation where you've had such a tremendous concentrated
bitter campaign against the Labor Party in Western Australia.
It was said that WA Inc was going to eipe them out, there was
all the story about interest rates and mortgages, home costs.
I think You have a situation where. as I said when I was in
the campaign over there, that I believe that in the end
politicians and commentators tend to underestimate the
intelligence of the electorate. In the end the majority of
. Aurstrealicans oarer coEncedrne, d, as between two parties, on the
which one is most likely to address the issues which
in a day to day sense affect their well-being. That seems to
be the outcome in West Australia. I might say . too that from
what I'm told at least one seat, perhaps more, has been lost
to Labor because of the change in the voting system. They
brought in the method whereby for the Upper House a tick
against the Labor Party box would ensure that your vote was
valid, and apparently thousands have thought that you could
do the same thing for the Lower House. So it looks as though
Barry Hodge for instance in Melville lost his seat there
by it's thought perhaps 11 votes or something ILike -that. A
couple of thousand votes have been clearly indicated as being
intended for him. So when you take that into account too it
seems to me to be a pretty good outcome. Let me say this,
I'm glad to have been there in the campaign associated with
Labor. We were wanted as distinct from the ban that was put
upon my federal colleagues.
JOURNALIST: There've been big swings against Labor in the
mortgage belt areas, theie'ye been two seats lost. Are you
concerned about that and do Yiou think that there could be a
need to reconsider the economic settings?
PM4: No, we're niot going to change economic settings because
we look as though we've won an election in Western Australia
it wouldn't be very good economic management. No, we'll go
about the process of controlling the economy as we think it's
necessary. Yes, it looks as though there's been some loss of
support in some of those mortgage belt areas but it's not
entirely surprising.
JOURN4ALIST: What do you believe are the federal
implications? PM: I think for Labor we're entitled to be satisfied but niot
complacent. I'm certainly never complacent in politics. But
. I bthienk a lot of people were expecting that this was going to
the one where another Labor government fell. Certainly my
opponent Mr Howard was saying without any doubt that's what
was goinq to happen, although they certainly didn't want him
over there as being any part of the process. But he was
trumpeting another victory for the anti-Labor forces well,
he's wrong again. What his own people think about that in
the federal sphere is a matter of interest I guess.
JOURNALIST: How important is this outcome in terms of Labor
Party morale generally?
PM: It always is better to have a win than a loss. As I've
said before, winning beats the hell out of losing. We've got
a situation now where quite clearly, if you go round
Australia just quickly, let me give you a run down.
Queensland Labor looking better than it ever has. NSW
the government of Greiner already in decay and Labor's morale
up a great deal. We've won in Victoria, Bannon will win in
South Australia, an election coming up in Tasmania we have
a great deal of confidence there we've now won in West
Australia. So, as I say, it would be silly to be complacent
but given all the gloom and doom that was around last year, I
think we're in good shape.
JOURNALIST: You do sound like you're claiming victory for
the Labor Party.
PM: I'm doing no more than what Mr Dowding has done. I ' m
repeating him, I'm not claiming victory, but he is saying he
has optimism, on what's in now, that the Government has been
returned. My comments therefore are based upon that premise
of Mr Dowding.
JOURNALIST: Given those swings in the mortgage belt areas,
are you concerned about implications of that for Labor's
federal seats?
PM: if you were going to an election now there's no doubt
that the tight monetary policy which produced these sorts of
results would be uncomftortable electorally. But we're not
going to an election now, we are conducting economic policy
in a way that's necessary in the light of the present
circumstances. The simple fact of life, which again I think
the electors of Western Australia seem to have understood, is..
that the level of economic activity has been somewhat too
high. We've got to not sit back a little bit because we
can't sustain this Level of imports associated with that high
level of activity. We believe that the policy that we've got
in place will start to have the sort of outcome that we want
and by the time that we go to the next election I don't think
we' 11 have exactly the same circumstances that we've got now.
JOURNALIST: When will that be, in the light of this result?
This result doesn't change the window that I've talked
about. It's the latter part of this year to May of next
year. I've been consistent about that no change.
JOURNALIST: We've seen two very tight elections in the last
six months, Victoria and Western Australia. Do you think
that's the way it's going to be up to and including the next
federal election?
PM: I think Labor wil. continue to win. We'll win the next
federal election. I hope to retain the sort of majority
we'ye got now, perhaps increase it.
JOURNALIST: What part did leadership play, do you think, in
the WA poll?
PM: A great deal. Peter Dowding was clearly intrinsically a
better leader and was perceived to be a better leader. I'm
. thnoetm sehlevrees , t o knock Mr McKinnon, the Liberals will do that
but he was clearly a much better leader and much
more acceptable. So leadership was pretty important.
JOURNALIST: WA Inc clearly played a role in the election. Do
you think it's an issue which was confined to WA or are you
concerned that it could spill over into the federal arena?
PM: If it spills over to the federal arena I tell you who'l
be worried, and it won't be us. If you want to look at where
there is corruption between parties and business, it's not
with Labor. You look at Queensland and NSW, it's the
conservative forces that need to be worried about that issue,
not us.
ends