P'RIME MINISTER
PAUL KEATING WITH KEL RICHAIW3, 29B, JULY 3, 1992
3 OR PROOF ONLY
RICHARD$.' KEATINGi RICHARDSI KEATINGs RICHARDS; KEATINGi Yes, indeed, according to the Opposition Leader,
John Hewson, Prime Minister Paul Keating is going
through Oa three-month remedial coaching to
overcome a lifetime of male chauvinism". It was
quite a blast. " Afterf aiIreaiid Hewson, * the
Prime Minister is a man who, in his maiden speech
in Parliament, demanded that the Government do
oomething to put the working wife back in her
home." well, is the man who-ledi the nation a
male chauvinist, or is he not? He joins us now..
Paul Keating, good morning.
Hello, Kel, how are you?
I'm fine. Male chauvinist guilty as charged?
No, not guilty. I mean, Dr Hewson's got to go
back to 1969 to find a quotation. You understand,
Kel, thm Liberal Party have comibed everything I've
ever said. You've got to go back to 1969 to find
a quotation from me about the right of a woman to
stay at home, ignoring all of the great changes of
the 1980. and then.. he's on the record.. but I've
only got to go back two years to find him saying
about these things for the ideal woman. He said.
" I look for three things in--an iaeal woman, good
teeth, good health and good cookery."
In other words, you're saying the boot is entirely
on the other foot?
I mean, he is the chauvinist. I've never spoken
of women In this country an Dr Hewson has as
though they were sort of, horses. yoU have a look
at their teeth and the sort of health they're in
and give them a poke and a prod., you know, to
feel how their general condition is. I mean, this
is the sort of stuff he deals in. And then, in
references to me, he said what X need is " a very
I
RICHARDSt KEATING: attractive, blonds, leggy nurse that is thawing
him out.' I mean, it's all sexist. Or his quote
that our airline policy is run " an the number of
sandwiches,, or how attractive the hosties
are". I mean, this guy is your classic chauvinist,
And here he is up at the Liberal Party's
convention trying to tell them about how he is
going to add to childcare places, not telling them
that he's going to put a 15% GST on childcar,
services and that there willbe no additionaI7
money for childcare. And the rest of his
policies.. adopting the policies of the Labor
Government which he is quite happy to continue, he
says# On the subject of women and politics though, the
longest-serving prime minister in Australia, Sir
Robert Menies, once said he just didn't
understand women Would you claim to understand
women? Nell, what I've tried to do is to even up the
social field in Australia. When I was Treasurer,
and let me just run through a couple of things
which I was personally involved and responsible
for as -Treasurer, one was, first of all, the
supplementary payments for low-paid wom~ en which we
do in the work~ force for th eo ~ ple process
workere and women working in sort of process 3obs
in retailing where a great number of women are
employed, we arranged through the Accords Mk V and
IV for supplementary payments, In superannuation,
women in Australia can't preserve benefits.. they
come into the workforce for a number of years, go
out to have children and then lose all
preservation. Benefits are now preserved and a
woman can come in and out of the workforce and, at
retiring age, have this occupational superannuation
pension or lump -he child I@ Uy-pport
agency I established in the Tax office with the
Tax office chasing maintenance dodger$ who l6ft
women behind and were never prepared-often to
support them. We now chase them and support their
wives and families with funds. The fily
allowance supplement % or low-income families which
most, of course, helps women.. what's Dr Howson
going to do for women? Putting 15% on everything
they buy and then they've got to try and get the
transfer within the home household income from the
husband or the breadwinner to pay f or the 15% on
food, clothing and all of the essentials of lifethat's
what he's doing.
RICHARDS1 KEATINGI RICHARDSS KEATING: RICOWDS8 KEATING; Hm.. mind you, he did tell the conference last
night that he now understands women beeause he had
this, he said and I'm quoting from hime " a
blinding flash whilst he was ironing his shirt".
He said " he now understands that women have the
same hopes, aspirations and values as us", he
says.
Well, in 1990, in the Australen Women's Weekly,
he was saying he looked for good teeth, good
health and good cookery.' In October, 1990, at the
Adelaide Chamber of Commerce he's referring to
leggy nurses and st the Liberal Party Convention
on ABC Radio in August, 1990, he saids " We really
have to deal..", this is the Liberal Party, " have
to deal with women's issues in a more deliberate
way in the Liberal Party, I tend to think there is
a lot of rhetoric and not a lot of detail in some
of that policy." The fact is, the Liberal Party
has never cared less in terms of the great
advances for Australian women, which this
Government has concentrated on in the 1980sstarting
with childcare, taking it from 50,000
places to 250,000 places by the middle ' 909. An I
say, the Child Support Agency, occupational.. all
those things.
Maybe it's not a matter of policy, maybe he wants
us to be impressed by the fact and just noticed
the fact that he was, indeed, ironing his own
shirt.
Well, I don't think that is a qualification for
having what I think is a progressive view, an
enlightened view towards the role of women in
society in general. And making opportunities,
that is, expressly, the Government expressly,
doing what it can to make natural opportunities
for women to find their way in society and in
work. While we're talking, can I ask you about the e
incident last night in Newcastle. I meanTis
tat-. o you read thit-1iicfefnf, an egg being
thrown at you, as being any sort of reflection of
the way the public feel about you, or think about
you? Oh, no. Look, I had my reception in Newcastle
last night was the best I've ever had as Prime
Minister. At two clubs, the Phoenix Club and the
Newcastle Workers' Club, I had the warmest
RICHARDS: KEATINGt RICHARDS: KEATING., RICHARDS: KEATING: reception I've ever had. I would have signed last
night, on the back of the invitation cards, maybe
300 of them. People coming up to me, writing for
thei~ r families, their children, thamselves.., you
know, ' beat wishes, warm regards', all the other
things that one does. I mean, I was inundated
with good wishes. And there was, sort of, one
nark, you know., the way one regards it. I mean,
I've never had.. I said last night that the spirit
in Newcastle.. the attitude of those people, the
senae of -cohesion in adversity, arnd the general
bonhommie and optimism of the place, and the goodnaturedness
of it, was profound. And I've had..
in no place I've visited in the six months I've
been Prime Minister have I ever had a warmer
reception. 11mm.. Just a ' one off' bloke just being odd..
yeah, Yeah, that's all..
The other question that has to be asked..
and he missed, anyway.
. which is the important thing, I suppose,
particularly when you're wearing an expensive
suit, The other question that has to be asked is,
Nick Greiner ha. gone in New South Wales. Now,
can on ransi lift the.. the general support for
the Liberal Party in NSW and make it harder to win
seats or you here in the next Federal Election,
Well, look.. I don't know. it's very hard to make
political Judgments. What I try and do is work
with each Premier and try and got the beet result
for each State. That's.. I mean, I think, when
one get's so tricky that one's regarding the
progress of another party in office as a detriment
to oneselfI in the end, the national good gets
overlooked. And I tried, with Rick Greiner#
always to try and find a constructive basis Of
getting along and doing things. And, in the ' One
Nation' package for instance, I mean, he asked me
things, ho asked me to extend offshore banking
units to austra. ial particularly Now South Wales,
by changing the tax system we did that. He
asked me to sort out the f unding on the Glebe
Island Bridge to provide funds there I did that.
in other words, we run a co-operative, I think,
relationship anid I'd hope that the same co-
RICHARDSI KEATING: RICHARDSt KEATINGi RICHARDSo KEATINGo RICHARDS: operative relationship could exist between the
Gove... nment of John Fahey and this Government, my
Government, and that we can do some things for New
South Wales as we've done for other States.
well, yes, he's got that of working class sort of
feelinq to him, John Fahey. I mean, there is the
possibility he could erode some of your support,
isn't there?
Well, I wouldn't regard a lift in the fortunes of
the people of New South Wales as any other than
a'nr ouunnda, m baisg uIo utshliyn kg oDord Htehwisnogn. doAensd, ih odpoinn'gt thgeo
place will be sort of in trouble so that one.. you
know, gloomy environment sort of advantages one's
political cause. I mean, we're all in politics
and we're in politics to win. But, by the same
token, one has got to move the commonweal on. You
know, you've got to got progress and you've got to
get development.
Yeah, because there are people who need that
support$ Go there are people who need it. And I mean,
that's what I was so absolutely encouraged by in
Newcastle yesterday. I mean# the sense of
sticking together up there, the fact that the
place is I mean, everybody on the tablewhether
they be from the various authorities, the
Education Department, or whether it be the Police
Department or wherever it might be, they all sing
the same song: " We want to advance Newcastle, we
want to get more growth in here, we want to do
more clever things on the technological side, we
are interested in productivity, you know, we want
to train our kids properly". I mean, it's a
comunity view.
And, in the end, that's the Australian spirit, in
the end that's what will make us, as a nation,
win, That's right. I think., but, I think Inarkism',
you know, from ' narks'.. the nark's view of the
world, we're all ' rooned', you know, we are all
ruined. Yeah, " we'll all be rooned, said Hanrahan, before
the year is out".
KEATING RI CKARDS; I
KEATING: RICHUADS:
KEATING; RICKARDS; K( EATING1
RICKIARDS: That's right. Wells that sort of view which gets
around the recear ion just does nobody any good.
And the fact is, we won't be ruined and we wlill
see a recovery come through this year and the
economy in the 1990s will be able to hold its head
up in the world as it never was for the last 20 or
years.
Quick final question, Paul, whAt's your tip for
the outcome at Lang Park tonight?
Well, r I'm not a great tipster on.. on the
footy. I mostly end up.. mostly and up making a
mesa of it..
Confident tip..
But I just.. you've always got to barrack for the
home side.
We'll win?
Well, I hope we will.
Okay, Paul, thanks for your time.
ends