PRIME MINISTER
TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P. J. KEATING MP
DOORSTOP, PERTH, WA, WEDNESDAY, 15 FEBRUARY 1995
E& OE PROOF COPY
J: What brings you to Perth, Prime Minister?
PM: What brings an Australian Prime Minister anywhere in Australia? The
responsibilities of the Prime Ministership, of course.
J: You have been under a bit of stick though for not coming here often
enough.
PM: I was coming in August as you know, I got a bout of
the east it's basically two days and I come here as
South Australia or Tasmania. the flu, but from
often as I go to
J: Are there any plans yet to meet Premier Court?
PM: I don't think he is serious about all of that is he?
J: He's been a bit miffed
PM: I'm sure he is.
J: But, you didn't tell him you were coming?
PM: He knew, in fact we invited him to the launching of the REDO the
Regional Economic Development Organisation so he must have
known I was coming because Hendy Cowan was coming and he sent
his apologies, but Hendy is a nice fellow, he did the show. So, he did
know I was coming weeks ago.
J: Do you take the polls seriously, the polls that show you are so
unpopular in Western Australia? 7 F,
PM: Well, part of that is the sort of within Parliament ethos of governments
and they are always polls are up and polls are down, there is only
one poll that matters the big one.
J: But the fact that you are touring the marginal electorates obviously
highlights that doesn't it?
PM: Well, I, probably hope it should.
J: Do you accept that your popularity is different here than it is in the
east?
PM: Well, it could be but, you know, we did reasonably well in West
Australia in the last one. Now look, let me make this point. In this
Government I have been the Treasurer and the Prime Minister, most of
the things that I have been associated with have been in favour of the
primary exporting states. The big claim of Western Australia for
years was to take the tariff monkey off West Australia's back and I was
one of the principal people involved in that. I gave a statistic which I
thought was pretty compelling at the last function today saying
Australia's competitiveness is 40 per cent improved since John
Howard was the Treasurer. That is why the ship building is working,
that is why we have just saw a specialised steel facility in the aircraft
industry Western Aerospace working, it is because of
competitiveness. That comes by the exchange rate, inflation, wages
and productivity. That is why Western Australia is growing faster than
or as fast as any other State, faster than most in Australia because of
the policies of the Federal Government. And so, that being the case
and where we have had tremendous employment growth, why wouldn't
the Federal Government be doing well in Western Australia? Why
shouldn't it be doing well? I mean, if our policies are principally
responsible and they are for Western Australia's economic strength,
why shouldn't we be doing well?
J: Do you think West Australian's understand that?
PM: Well, maybe not everybody does understand it as well, but let me
assure them that the things that matter the exchange rate, interest
rates, inflation, wages, all of that structure which underpins this growth
economy comes from the Federal Government policies. I mean, you
know we have got new industries developing, the one I was at this
afternoon making alloys for aircraft engines. Could you imagine that
years ago? Really, it is there because of the Federal Government
policies. So, I think that people are starting to understand that a
sophisticated manufacturing, a sophisticated service sector, greater
strength of traditional industries like mining and agriculture come from
the Federal Government policies.
J: But, Do you understand the struggle you've got knowing that you have
got a Premier in WA who is belting you across the head at every
opportunity?
PM: Well, I mean, people put a bit of discount through all that stuff. The
public are very smart.
J: He put up petrol 4 cents a couple of weeks ago and basically blamed
the Federal Government.
PM: Well, if you are silly enough to believe that you will believe anything
won't you?
J: Well, I'm not.
PM: Well you're not? Well, that's good. I mean you are answering your
own questions.
J: The West had a poll ( The West Australian newspaper) saying that..
per cent of the public thought that the Federal Government, not the
State Government put up petrol.
PM: Richard Court put the petrol prices up for no other reason than he
wanted the money for his revenue. Nothing to do with the
Commonwealth and the story that in some way we have diminished
Commonwealth road payments is completely untrue. The underlying
payments have been growing.
J: The Western Australian Premiers have bashed Prime Ministers
forever, but he seems to have made an art form out of it. Has it
affected ( inaudible)..
PM: Well, I don't know, he hasn't quite got it perfected, I know his father,
the old story about lightning not striking the same place twice, Charlie
used to say ' Western Australia", he hasn't got that part of it right yet. I
mean, he has got the rest of the bits, you know, it is all Canberra and
they are fighting the centralists, but he needs to go around to Charlie
for some lessons in ' Western Australia", because Charlie used to get
that whoosh to the word.
J: The Head of the Native Title Tribunal has said that there are moral
shortcomings in the principles by which native title is recognised in
a ruling yesterday.
PM: I haven't seen the ruling, but what the High Court said that Aboriginal
custom and tradition was a source of Australian common law. What
the Commonwealth has fleshed out is a major piece of property and
cultural law in the Native Title Act. It will take a while for teething
problems to see it into place. The place it's not in place is Western
Australia because the Western Australian government is wilfully going
against the rest of the nation. Richard Court's government is doing
what the government of Queensland isn't doing, the government of
New South Wales isn't doing, the government of Victoria isn't doing,
the government of Tasmania isn't doing, the government of South
Australia and the Commonwealth. That is, trying to go it alone in a
very unfair policy and one which I think is going to be very disruptive
for business in Western Australia.
J: Do you have any plans at all to alter your native title legislation?
PM: No, but we have said that in terms of any review we might have down
the track coming from some of the case law, we would look at it but not
to its principle.
J: Would the cuts be as savage as Mr Howard is trying to make out?
PM: Well, Mr Howard doesn't believe in, all the variables in economic
management interest rates, revenue and cutting spending he
doesn't believe in any of those things he said, there should be no
increase in interest rates, there should be no change in revenue and
we shouldn't cut spending. This is the same fellow that wants to be
taken seriously as somebody who can put a national budget together.
Now, Mr Howard is a lucky fellow, he has been given a second go.
You see Andrew ( Peacock) got a second go, he wanted a second go.
Now, he has got the second go, but you think he would stick to a few
principles and one of the principles should be what is best for the
nations budget is best for the nation, obviously, and that he should
help rather than hinder the processes of budget preparation.
J: Prime Minister ( inaudible)..
PM: I'm quite sure, I said yesterday, that when the Government presents its
budget a lot of people in the Liberal party who have supposedly this
list will say oh, we wimped out: " the Labor government has wimped out
because we haven't taken the savage options". So, this week we are
taking the savage options, when the budget comes out they'll say ' ah
ha, you never took the savage options'.
J: Which one are you going to choose?
PM: Well, wait and see.
J: Prime Minister, what do you say to the people in West Australia who
are deeply concerned about what is happening to our forests in the
South West?
PM: What I want is, I think, what most Australians want and that is the most
important pristine stands of trees to be saved for our heritage and our
posterity, yet at the same time, the capacity to have a sustainable
timber industry and getting that balance right is what it is all about.
That balance will not be struck properly when you have got Wilderness
Society people at one side saying every group of trees are pristine
when it is not true or the timber industry people on the other side
getting the chain saw out too. There is a policy down the middle and
the only party at this stage following the middle course which will look
after both those imperatives is the Federal government.
ends