TRANSCRIPT OF JOINT NEWS CONFERENCE WITH JOHN RALPH AND
CATHY FREEMAN, NEW TAKANAWA PRINCE HOTEL, TOKYO
18 SEPTEMBER 1990
E OE PROOF ONLY
JOURNALIST: Mr Hawke, how did it go?
PM: Well, we're a bit biased I guess but I've never been
prouder of Australia. It was great.
JOURNALIST: Successful bid?
PM: Great, great, great. Everyone was well we can't
tell. You can't say you're successful until the result.
But I can simply say this, that no-one I think could have
done a better job than the team that was there. They
were magnificent.
JOURNALIST: Sir, you sound moved by the presentation.
PM: Everyone was. Everyone was. There are not many dry
eyes anywhere I don't think.
JOURNALIST: What sort of things did the delegates want
to know?
PM: Well we only got asked one question.
JOURNALIST: And what was it?
PM: About the detail of the other venues and the
question of accommodation and assistance and
accommodation. JOURNALIST: inaudible)
PM: It was brilliantly answered.
RALPH: Our young Olympians were the stars.
PM: Yes, and our young girl where is she? Cathy,
Cathy, come here.
FREEMAN: And Michelle.
PM: I tell you what. She's a bloody good runner but
she's even a better ambassador. T
4 6 2
JOURNALIST: What did you think of it Cathy?
PM: It was, it was beautiful. It was just absolutely
beautiful. There was something in there that just
touched the hearts of everybody in that room I think.
Beautiful. PM: We owe a great debt of gratitude to John Ralph as
the leader of the team. He introduced it and he
organised the team. It was great John.
JOURNALIST: John, your reaction.
PM: I'm very pleased. It couldn't have gone better. We
got a very positive response from all of the members in
the room and afterwards. There was a great deal of
enthusiasm as we came out. I couldn't have wished for it
to be better. It was perfect.
JOURNALIST: Went of f without a hitch?
RALPH: Yes. No hitches at all.
JOURNALIST: So how do you rate your chances now?
RALPH: I think our chances must have improved as a
result of that because
JOURNALIST: Is one question a good sign or a bad sign?
RALPH: I think it was a very good sign. They were all
satisfied with it and they were reacting very positively.
There was just a question that Prince Albert asked
because he said some of the members may not have been
there and he would just like the ones who weren't there
to have the benefit of what he had seen when he was in
Melbourne. JOURNALIST: You sound very confident.
RALPH: I think my confidence has gone up. I've been
fairly confident all along but we won't know till the
vote. JOURNALIST: Good luckc.
PM: Thank you very much.
ends