TRANSCRIPT OF DOORSTOP INTERVIEW WITH THE PRIME MINISTER THE
HON. P. J. EATING, NP
KIRRIBILLI HOUSE, SYDNEY, SUNDAY JANUARY 30 W WERRIWA BYELECTION
E& OE PROOF ONLY
PM: Do you want a comment on the by-election? It was a
very standard by-election result, a sort of " as you
were" result, a six per cent swing against the
government is at the bottom range of par for the course
for by-elections. A couple of years ago when we-had
by-elections in Adelaide and Oxley when Mr Howard was
leader of the Liberal Party the swings were double
digit swings, 10 per cent, that sort of order. I think
the difference between mue and Dr Howson on this byelection
in Werriwa Is that him party will be very
unhappy with result today and mine is very happy and 1
congratulate Mark Latham on a campaign wall fought and
I think as a result of this you will hear the knives
sharpening in the Liberal Party, you will see a very
desperate Dr Hewson jump out of the boxes at Question
Time this week. Telecom would have had a great fillip
this morning from the calls in the Parliamentary
Liberal Party saying, well there it is, this fellow has
not won one political contest since he's been Leader of
the Opposition, not a general election and not even a
decent swing in a by-election. So if you hear the
clattering, you'll know what it is, it's the sharpeners
at work.
J: You mentioned mr Howard, does that mean you're pushing
John Howard...
PM: No, no. They're the only things to compare against,
simply to compare against the by-elections which were
on a couple of years ago in Oxley, in Brisbane where
the swings were the order of 10 per cent. Six per cent
against the Government is a standstill result in a byelection
and if the Liberal Party is looking for any
comfort, if Dr Hewson's looking for any endorsement
from this he is really, I think, sadly mistaken. I'll
bet if there is any sort of frequency counter inside
Telecom, or Optus indeed, today, you can bet the
Liberal Party's frontbench has really sent it up on the
scale this morning.
J: When you say a standstill result, does that mean the
Labor Party is content to stand still at the moment as
far as the electorate is concerned?
PM: It means the electorate is basically continuing to
support the Government and the opportunity that any
group of constituents have to express an opinion in a
by-election, well they have to the order of six per
cent. It's a good result for us. Thankyou very much.
ends