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PRIME MINISTER
TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW WITH HOWARD SATTLER, RADIO 6PR
JULY 1990
E AND 0 E PROOF ONLY
SATTLER; Good morning Prime Minister.
PM: Morning Howard.
BATTLER: Could you f irst conf irm you are not intending to
stay till 2000 are you?
PM: You can take that for granted mate.
SATTLER: Alright well what about this duplication, where is
it worst?
PM: Well it's in so many areas, the area of health and
welfare services is ofle area which stands out. I mean if you
look at our elderly people, we cater for them as a community
through our hospitals, through our nursing homes, our hostels
and through the delivery of domiciliary services into their
homes. Now the State and the Commonwealth are intermeshed in
all of those area. and that means there is duplication not
only in the services but also in monitoring services
for instance and it's very inefficient. Now what we have got
to do is to work out ways in which we deliver to Australian
citizens the best possible services with the leasnt possible
duplication. If you take another area, transport which I
talked about in some detail yesterday. I ref erred to the
container going across the continent from Sydney to Perth and
what' s involved in all the changes there and the different
authorities, 3 different authorities that are involved. what
we have got to do is try and get a national rail freight
initiative which will mean that our enterprises around this
country are going to have the best integrated rail and road
services that are possible. These are just examples Howard
of the cost that we as Australian citizens pay for the system
we have got at the moment.
BATTLER: How's it been allowed to get to this stage?
PM: It's almost inevitable when you have the federal system
we have got. We have got a federal parliament and 6 States
and 2 Territories and you have got to understand that when
our founding fathers met in the final decade of the last
century what they were about Howard was not creating the
Constitution for a modern Australia. I mean they were there
at the end of the last century and they were reluctantly
giving what they saw as the minimum set of powers necessary
to a new national parliament to do things which they thought
they couldn't do like defence for instance and so on. They
were not planning for an Australia of the 21st century so we
have grown through the 20th century with a set of
arrangements which have been increasingly unsuited to the
growing complexity of our nation and of our world. So what
we have got do to now as intelligent men and women and as
intelligent state and national leaders is to say well while
we can't change the Constitution overnight are there better
ways of cooperation where we can identify more efficient
means of delivering services to our citizens and I think we
can do that. Importantly Howard I do think that we have
political leaders around the country as Premiers and at the
national level now who understand the challenge of the times
and who will be prepared to enter into this exercise
cooperatively. SATTLER: Well there has been a fair bit of discussion
publicly in the last week about it and you are right the
political leaders seem to agree that we have got to end this
duplication. Will your biggest stumbling block be the
bureaucracy, some of which might be cut back?
PM: We won't allow the bureaucracies to stand in the way and
what I have done so that I am translating this idea into a
concrete practical process of action I have invited the State
Premiers to nominate a senior representative to come and meet
with the secretary of my department so that in the period
between now and the end of October when I have this f irst
special premiers conference we will have hard concrete
working papers prepared for us in a number of areas where we
can start to move to decisions. Now it will mean in some
areas a lessening of the number of jobs in total within the
bureaucracy because if for instance we come to the conclusion
in a certain area that the Commonwealth will get out of the
delivery of certain services and hand that over to the States
well that will mean we won't need the same number of people
in that area and likewise if the States say that particular
area well it's perhaps better that we get out of that and let
the Commonwealth do that you won't need the same number of
public servants in a particular State on that issue. So the
running of this will not be with the bureaucrats they will
cooperate with us and do the work that we want them to do but
I have called for leadership yesterday and that leadership I
believe will be forthcoming from the Premiers as it will be
from me.
SATTLERs You suggested also yesterday if it's correctly
reported a uniform set of rules for non bank financial
institutions. Now I wonder if that had been in place would
that have stopped or would have it had lessened the rush of
investors funds and the loss of investor crisis particularly
in Victoria in the last couple of weeks.
P1( 1 It may have done. It is clear that the supervision
controls of the non bank deposit taking financial
institutions are better in some States than others so what we
have got to do now is to try and have the adoption in all the
States as the most effective form of supervision and try and
make it uniform with them the States having the
responsibility of that supervision.
SATTLERs Well you think that a Stat. like Victoria in its
current state is capable of administering that sort of thing.
Would that have been better administered by the Commonwealth?
PM: I don't this is the area where it would be appropriate
for the Commonwealth to be controlling because what you have
got to understand is when you look at these institutions
there is an absolute myriad of them. You have got deposit
taking institutions which operate at a tiny level. You know
particular firms have their credit union and so on and it
would be inappropriate to be having that sort of control I
think from Canberra. What is more important is that we
involve ourselves with the States in trying to identify what
is the most effective sort of supervision that you should
have, what are the ingredients of effective supervision and
then for the States to carry that out on a uniform basis.
SATTLER: What about taxes under your plan. There is at
least one comment piece today that says taxes on banks,
superannuation funds and other financial institutions are
likely to face hefty increases following the decision to hand
over say bank account debits tax to the States. What do you
see about that?.
PM: The is currently we raise from the bank accounts
debit tax a little over $ 400 million. Now the States also
have taxes in this area what they call their financial
institutions duty tax, so there is a sort of duplication if
you like. Now it seems like here was an area which could be
over time something of a growth area, let the States have
that and make the decisions according to their need as they
see it and their economic requirements. In giving them that
tax it gives them a possible growth area but not one which
compromises the need which I identified yesterday for macro
economic control to be with a I mean the Premiers don't
really question that. They understand that in this complex
world in which we live and an inter-related world Australia
must have control of the macro economy in the hands of the
national government. Now we think that in giving this tax to
the States we don't compromise the need for central control
of the economy but gives the States a possible growth area.
h 4.
BATTLERs We are running out of time Prime Minister but do
you see a long terma future f or three tiers of government in
Australia. Some people have suggested there should be only
two, the Commonwealth and regional government.
PM: I made that suggestion myself in the 1979 Boyer lectures
but I see my responsibility now as trying to make the system
that we have got work better. If at some time in the future
Australians want to look at that, that is for them but my
current responsibility is to make the system we have got work
better. SATTLER: But Bob Hawke individual would still like to see
that system would he?
PM: Bob Hawke individual may want to talk about those things
later on but that sort of thina is for Australians down the
track if they want to. I mean the urgency is to make what we
have got work better.
SATTLERs No one will disagree with that. Thanks very much
* for your time today.
PM: Thank you very much Howard.
ENDS