PRIME MINISTER
TRANSCRIPT OF THIE PIUME MNITER, THE IION PJ. KEATING MP
DOORSTOP, THE PARK ILANE HIOTIEL, SYDNEY, 13 NOVEMBER 1992
E OE PROOF COPY
J Mr Keating, do you uice with Dr Hewson's ideas about citizenship?
PM: I think people needing to be here four years, broadly no I don't. I think the two
year citizenship has worked well and the question about knowing about the words
of the national anthem 1 thought were made well last night. These things are
important, but I do thinK that most people who take citizenship In this country take
it consequently and know what they are doing.
J: Will the ptocess to change the Australian flagb e in place by the end of this term of
Parliamnicat?
PM: No, what I said was whenever any of our national emblemnis change the community
should Know about it, be part of the debate and it shouldn't change without their
support.
J; But Isn't your Depailinent working out a process for that debatc?
PM: No, I'm at least talking about it whenever I get a chance like on occasions such as
this.
J: So will you be taking to Cabinet a submission?
PM: No.
J: What would you like to scc In place by the year 2000? I li I v i v k
PM: As I said there by the year 2000 1 think we will see an Australian R-ead of State.
That all of these constitutional issues and constitutional forms should he well
debated and discussed in this country, they have been taboo subjects and they
shouldn't be.
J! Have you got a personal choice for the Head of State yet?
PM: Well of course I don't. That is a penonally silly question.
J; Mr Keating, the changes to ' One Nation' today, how will they help the people on
the dole line at present?-
PM: What we are ensuring to see today that all of the budgcted expenditure of the " One
Nation' package is actually spent, When I announced It we did say that we will
need to monitor the spending tomse that the spending does--take place. Wc have
but Int sonme AreiS it is not possible to spend the monies within the financial . year
we think and so therefore we are moving some of the funding into areas where
there is a demonstrated capacilty to spend and where there is a greatet need and in
the labour market programs is one such place.
J: Is that an acknowledgmnent of failure?
PM: No, you've got to understand some of this was nail money. The States of Australia
left the railway systems In a dinosaur position. Now we are trying and very
rapidly to pull them back Into something like a modern transportation System, but
It is going to take time and some of the monies which we had ready for rail line
expenditure arc now going to be first subject to survey& and engineering planning
that basically the State rail system just haven't donc. We presume that the State
rail systems would have done basic engineering planning and survey work on rail
lines and they hadn't done it. So what it means is it will still be done, the money
will still be spent, but in a later year, so the systems wilt still be built just as we
planned excpt that in this year where we need the money spent for nationul
employment reasons we will move some of those funds into places where we can
spend the money fruitfully and quickly.
J: ( Inaudible)
PM: No, If you are going to try and spend a couple of billion in this country within a
year you've got to be careful about how you do it and if its not running as quickly
in some areas you shift it to others. It'sjust a sensible business like thin& to do.
I. Who is responsible for the delay in your opinion specifically?
PM: Delay in spending rail money?
J: Well in the ' One Nation' package in total, local government, the States?
3
PM: It Is basically the State rail systems who are trying to scramble from fifty years of
obsolescence, ( hat's the problem. But that is not a problem in itself because we'll
just add that money on in the out years, so the projects will be completed buat over
a longer time frame, another financial year will be added to the existing
construction phases and what that means is It will free up ( linds this year which
can be spent where there is a lot of demand. There Is a lot of demand for the
labour market programs amongst young people.
How long do you think ir will take before jobs are actually being created from the
moncy ainvuniced today?
PM: For instance Jobstart is running very strongly as a demand driven pmgramn and
requires more funding so basically that will go on from this very day. Some of the
others we are trying to put the labour market programs into oroups so that we can
group them for large employers so that they can take them on rather than as
Individual persons for individual programs, they take them as a job lnt, that iR by
their hundreds. So what we've done is cbange the nature of some of these
program,; so they can be packaged up, that means that we will need to spend more
money on them that's what we did last night.
1: How many cxtra jobs will be created as A r* 91ult Of the extra spending?
PM: It is a* matter of not just the extra jobs fromn the extra spending, but realising the
Jobs that have come from the spending arc already available and as we've said that
could be for young people. We have enough funding there to give 100,000. young
people between fifteen and nineteen six months training and a wage subsidy at the
end. % oit is a matter of whether we can get thoft programs up and we can get
companies and Institutions to take them on.
JAre the State~ s doinig eniough?
PM: They are doing all the things we have asked of them by and large, they have
dropped the ball a bit In relation to rail, but beyond that hy and large they are
doing their part in road works and local government is doing mote than its padt in
the Locsl Govcrnment Program which we Introduced in the Budget. In fact that is
now at tile point where we can spend additional monies on it and we are spending
additional mionies on it as of last night.
J: Any specific Statcs?
PM: No, I can't remember which ones.
I. Would you ennsider releasing more funds if unemployment doesn't fall?
i rLi _ LI i Uv i CI'u r .4j 4/
4
PM: This year demonstrates two things that the fiscal stimulus was the right thing to
do, John H1ewson said we should cut $ 7 billion out of the Budget, we've added $ 2
billion on to it and if we cut $ 7 billion out the economy would just go back Into
recession. The OECD the day before yesterday urged governments to embark
upon an expansionary fiscal policy and we are doing it. The key point hero is that
the Opposition's policies would push Australia back into in a recession and whilo
the economy isn't growing as fast as we would like it, we are on the right policy
track and what we were doing last night Is fine tuning the policy we already have.
J: Prime Minister what's your reaction to the 800 rail jobs going in NSW today?
PM: I didn't hear about that, I've only just heard from you.
J: Prime Minister, do you still believe that unemployment will be below 10 per cent
by next year's Budget?
PM: The forecasts for employment are very much on track with the Budget. We are
probably under target on unemployment at this Stage of the year.
J: Can you recite the words to the national anthem?
PM: I know both verses as a matter of fact, but I'm not singing them for you. I'll write
them down just give me a hit of paper and I'll write them down for you. I just had
a bad chest cold, but I can assure you I learnt them after we adopted it in the 1970s
and I've been singing it manfully right around the country ever since, even if all of
you haven't,
ENDS