A
TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATING, MP
DOORSTOP, ST PATRICK'S DAY BREAKFAST, MELBOURNE
17 MARCH 1992
E& OE PROOF COPY
PM: Well that's a moot point. We can only be ambiguous
about ourselves and how we represent ourselves for just
so long.
J: Mr Keating, you have spoken about the flag now on a
number of occasions, what action would you choose to
change the flag?
PM: Well it's not a matter of what action I think the
Government: would wish to take. It's a matter of, on
these matt~ ers, what feeling there is in the community,
and that feeling being prompted, tested and thought
about.
J: But mustn't you now do something about it? Doesn't it
require a constitutional change or anything like that?
PM: No, we all, understand the constitutional things,
Michelle ( Grattan).
J: You said rLOt too long, is 2001 too long?
PM: Well let's wait and see.
J: Why won't you tell us how long?
PM: Well I have given you an answer.
J: How do you assess the community's feeling about this?
PM: Well I think it is changing, don't you? I mean, .1
think that it is changing, I think that it is important
to talk about these symbols and people are now thinking
about them, that's good.
J: How do you know when the debate is ended, that it is
time for a change?
PM: We all know, those of us who have got our fingers on
the pulse know these things.
J: What will happen if the community want to keep the
flag, will you be happy with that decision?
PM: I would be very surprised if in the long run that is
their view.
J: Mr Keating, yesterday's big fall on the Tokyo stock
market, what are the implications for Australia?
PM: There has been a correction in the Tokyo stock market
now for quite a long time. The fact that it has
dropped under 20,000 is probably not that remarkable,
it has been hovering around there for quite a while, it
has come off the very high prices of the late 1980s,
and this is the reason why most countries are now in a
recession. We' had to come off this high spending, high
credit growth, great speculation of the ' 80s. And as
the stock market, the forces of the world deflate, come
down, it's produced a recession world wide.
J: There are now major fears of a recession in Japan,
given the Nikkei is at a 5 year low. What are the
implications of that
PM: I don't think there will be a significant recession for
Japan, but certainly a slowing in growth, that will
have an impact on Australia. But again, we are luckily
in the fastest-growing part of the world, which is now
growing between 5 and 7 per cent most years. So while
the world growth is slower, our part of the world is
quite fast, Japan notwithstanding.
J: How great an impact on Australia is it likely to have?
Could it in fact slow down our own recovery?
PM: Well it could have some impact on our raw material
supplying industries, but again they have been
diversifying their markets, and where once Japan was
entirely critical to the extracting industries, it is
still important, but we have the diversified
substantially.
J: Is there any danger that it could put us back into a
recession?
PM: No. The thing is we have been in recession, and we're
in recession for largely the same reasons the United
States, Canada, Britain, New Zealand, France and many
other countries are, and that is that we couldn't come
off the hiLgh speculation of the 180s without a thud,
without some skin off ourselves.
J: Conrad Black wants more then 15 per cent of Fairfax,
would you let him do that?
PM: Look, we are not here to go round the world for sport.
J: Do you have any expectations for National Accounts?
PM: Well I donL't say expectational things about the
National Accounts. They are notoriously difficult to
predict and now for this time, there will be for the
first time three measures of national income. So that
may change one's compacity to predict, whatever that
compacity was. So we will wait and see this morning
when it will all be revealed.
J: What are your thoughts on South Africa?
PM: Well it's not a matter of thought, it's a matter of
what happens.
3: Mr keating, if, the GDP outcome is as expected, do you
agree with some commentators who say that in fact it
wouldn't be that Australia is in a recovery, because of
the change in the way that they are going to calculate
it?
PM: Well let's wait and see what happens. The Statistician
is looking for what he thinks is a more reliable
measure of product and growth and he is entitled to
those interpretative changes. So we will see what
today's figrures reveal.
J: Do you think we need to accept more Japanese investment
in order to trade?
PM: Two years ago our capital inflow was about 90 per cent
debt and about ' 10 per cent equity, now it is about
per cent equity and 20 per cent debt. So it has
changed dramatically and part of that change has been
from Japan. 11
J: Do we need to accept more investment, though? Ralph
Evans said
PM: Well we've just, largely taken away a large component of
the foreign investment policy for that simple point, to
encourage more investment, we want to encourage more
investment for Australia.
J: What if the Japanese don't invest here?
PM: Well others do, it is true that Japanese do and others
do, and the fact is that's changed in character now
enormously i~ n two years. I mean it is a huge lift in
equity.