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PRIME MINISTER
TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTERs THE HON P. J. KEATING MP
DOORSTOP, CAIRNS INTERNATIONAL HOTEL, TUESDAY, 1S APRIL 19115
MWE PROOF COPY
PM: When you are ready, I am basically here for you. You ask~ thte quva Ions
and I'll answer them. I have a lunch to do, so we are not hema frevet, but
well try to do our best for you.
J ( Inaudible) Jobskille..
PM Welt, what it is doing Is taking the long term unemployed who withouli this
sort of program would be forgottn by society and giving them a useful role
in our lives.-In work. In training and bringing those skills to the laowur
market which are now becoming In short sup* t. And when skills g st in
short supply, say In building, building costs rise and you become
uncompettive. So, it is an efficient thing to do to get long iterm
unemployed people back Into the labour market and, of course, it. is a
humane and fair and decent thing to do as well. That Is, this Govern: nent
has said, I said after thie election, we are not going to leave the
unemployed behind. So. the Commonwealth labour market prog-arms
provide a Jobs subsidy ariJ training to got those people back to work and
that Is what we have seen today.
J: -( inaudible) Mr Wiser, intent on damaging Carmen Lawrence.
PM: Well, Mr Wilson said something today whiCh I thought was very reveliing.
He said this issue Is not capable of resolution. He sai t wIllealways b-tiy
word against othiers or others words against his. He admitted this "~ as a
meoeting where no notes were taken by note takers. So, by Mr WIsons3
own admission no inquiry can reveal more than his claim or C~ rmon
Lawrence's counter-clim. And, I think, that is the point about this, it Ii. just
one of those he-: kneyed political issues. The reewo It has been raiswd is
to obscure the fadt that the Wvestern Australian Liberal Party is tiflaliy
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divided. The Liberal Party is not a national party. It Is a collection of state
parties, but whets It has a State Government In Western Australia which is
Important to It Widmi11', fhe' ire hooelesi d~ v~ d~ d, Two of Mr Howard's
supporters wore defeated last week that is Mr Rocher and Mr Filing two
of Mr Howard's closest supporters were defeated. Can I Just say Mr
Crichton-Browne still hasn't resigned as Acting President of the Senate.
He Is still today Acting President of the Senate. me is still on the Saladie$
and emoluments of the Acting Presidency of the Senate. So, it shows you
the utter contempt he and the Western Australian Liberal Party hold for Mr
Howard, that he still hasn't resigned.
J: If Carmen Lawrence Is right, why are you not willing to call an inquiry?
PM: But the question Is why for? You don't have inquiries for nothing. This Is
essentially, I think, Mr Wilson's latest reference saying that he thinks this Is
Incapable of resolution, It will always be his word against others. I just
think the others have got a more credible case,
J: Do you think there is some Justification for an Inquiry then?
PM: No. Look, let me just say this. This Is all noise and no substance. Now,
what the Liberals think Is, If they can have three or four days of noise,
somehow that noise turns into substance. Noise, noise. Claim, claim.
Newspaper headline, nespaper headline. It doesn't amount to anything
unless there Is some substance. So, the substance here, why are they
running with it? Because of the divisions In the Western Australian
branch. Why Is that Important? Because unless they get them resolved
they have got nil chance of winning the next federal electon. That Is the
Issue here.
J: Why not prove it by holding an Inquiry?
PM: Well, there would be no point for an Inquiry. Why would the
Commonwealth want to hold an Inquiry? This is a matter In the State of
Western Australia, what is it to do with the Commonwealth? Nothing what
so ever.
J: So. do you think Mr Court should put his money where his mouth Is?
PM: No, I think, Mr Court should basically, I mean Western Australians I think,
are absolutely filled to the brim with Inquiries. The West Australian people
have had enough of Inquiries. They had the Royal Commission running for
years and I think no good is going to come from It. I mean, take the
claimant. The claimant has said today, that Is Mr Wilson, this matter is
incapsole of resolution. So, If he says it what is the point of any inquiry,
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J: Are you confident the Government's wood chipping policy is adecluate.
You are going to face a protest In just a moment?
PM: Well, lot me just say here. The Government's environment credentials are,
I think, more than adequate. I mean, for a start just take Cairns. This
Government put away the Paintree Rainforest for posterity. It Is one of the
great tourism assets of this city, of this region. In this lost Budget. we put
money away for a $ 24 million scheme to buy beck the hole In the heart of
the DaIntree. We hove given Douglas Shire the money to put the road
through, a sealed road up to the Daintree. In the last year, we put away
for posterity Shoalwater Say neaw Rockhampton. In the lest year Jervis
Bay of t coast of NSW and we have also said that we are reserving 264
coupes for further examination for a representative forest system. Last
year It was 17 coupes. This year it Is 284 and I have said that we will be
cutting the exports of wood chips down by 20 per cent a year from 6 million
to 5 million to 4 million et cetera. And we have just succeeded In-getting
Tasmania to sign for the first time, the National Forest Policy Statement.
So, It Is only Labor that is going to have the solution to set up
representative reserve systems under Regional Forest Agreements to look
after the native forests of this country. it will take a while for that to got
through, but peopl will understand that. The only party capable of
deliveting on the environment Is the Federal Labor Party.
J: Just with Jobskills, ACOSS has concerns you are going to be cutting back
onl funding
PM: Well, look, that is only a Budget question. Budget quastions are beat
answered on lBudget night.
J: You can't give any reassurances?
PM: Well, the reassurance is I sWd at the election we will not leave the
unemployed behind and we set up a $ 1.6 billion scheme called Working
Nation to support them. And it Is that which we were doing here today.
So, the proof of the pudding, I think, Is in the eating. Thank you.
ends