PRIME MINISTER
TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P. J. KEATING MP AND
THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER THE HON BRIAN HOWE MP, PRESS
CONFERENCE, PARLIAMENT HOUSE, 20 JUNE 1995
E& OE PROOF COPY
PM: and he said that he will not be contesting his seat at the next Federal
election, but wishes to continue in his portfolio and the Cabinet. I
addressed the Caucus about his life and career in politics and the
warmth and acclamation and recognition with which his contribution was
greeted by the Caucus, I think, said all that needed to be said about the
standing that Brian has had in the Party and in the Government. Before
I invite Brian to speak let me just record a couple of things.
I said of him and about him that he had been a major contributor to the
Government over the period from 1983, he joined the Expenditure
Review Committee which was basically the sorting house of priorities
within the Government and held major social portfolios at a time when
Government spending was being severely contracted. You might
remember that the Government inherited a level of outlays over 30 per
cent of GOP in 1983 and by 1990 that had declined to about 23.5 per
cent. That is a tough time to be a Social Security and Health Minister.
But, during that period, I think, we were able to say that through Brian's
leadership and commitment, that not only was social policy raised to a
much higher and more sophisticated level than had ever been
contemplated in Australia before, but we had actually been able to
support the people who we believe needed the support through a
focused policy, a targeted policy with across the board measures, but,
such things as the Family Allowance Supplement now called Additional
Family Support and the path breaking body of the Child Support Agency
where maintenance is collected through the tax system which is, I think,
a world first and is now being looked at and emulated by other countries.
Brian went on from there to the Health portfolio and then to Housing and
Regional Development and, of course, the programs which he has
become synonymous with ' Better Cities'. But, his commitment to the
Government and his leadership in the ERC when as the most senior
person in the Left in the Caucus and therefore Australia in the
Government, playing a role at that level meant that the Labor Party has
had a unity about it that previous Labor governments never had. Not
only unity, but a sense of common purpose and that sense of common
purpose tracked its way down through the years to find, you know, the
putting into place of not simply great economic reforms, but great social
reforms to match them, to graft with them to make this both an efficient
and equitable place.
Brian's commitment to equity and to social justice has been profound,
but also his commitment to economic efficiency and economic change is
what has marked him out as a leader in the Left and why, I think, many
people in the Left today take the view that you look at the Government
as a totality and you look at its responsibilities as a totality. I have said
to you before and it is worth repeating: I think one of the great changes
in Australia in the years of the Labor Government has been to the Labor
Party itself. Not many countries are able to see the complete
reformation of one of its major parties to become the party of
government, the party of economic change, the party of social reform,
the party of nationalism, these are all the things that have happened to
the Labor Party in the period 1983 to 1995 and that has come from a
unity between the moderate Right centre sections of the Party and the
Left coming together in a commitment of common cause, the likes of
which the Australian Labor Party has never seen and it has been the
foundations of our success.
The fact that we can, in a way, contemplate now Brian's departure and
his replacement, within the business of the Caucus an in-the-groove
change, itself says a lot about the maturity of the Labor Party in
Government and the way in which the Caucus acts and the strength that
the Government has had through the foundation stone of the Caucus in
having sensible, committed Caucus members right from that period
from 1983 down to 1995.
Brain's leadership in that, I said today in the Caucus, that Brian has held
more effective power than any person in the Left in Australia probably
ever. Certainly in the post war years, no leader of the Left has enjoyed
more power in these major portfolios of Social Security, Community
Services and Health, Housing and Community Services and, of course,
crowning that as Deputy Prime Minister. For my part, I couldn't have
asked for a more loyal or committed Deputy than Brian. We went
through the last election with complete unity of purpose and we have
ever since, but there comes a time in everybody's life where they decide
that they don't want to contest another poll and to make that decision
and make it forthrightly with their constituency and he felt that having
made that decision that now was the best time to surrender the Deputy
leadership to another person who was going to contest their seat at the
next election. We both salute him and thank him for that.
So, could I perhaps just wind up my remarks by saying that there was a
tremendous amount of good will towards Brian and the Caucus today,
across factions because, I think, part of the commitment is Brian's
commitment to social justice and the fact that he stands for something
good and solid and fair and equitable and decent in this country and this
community really counts well with that Caucus right across the board.
There was, as there always is in any of these transitions, a little touch of
melancholy about it, but again, for the change that it tells for the change
to another Deputy leader, Deputy Prime Minister of this Labor
Government, it is just another keystone in the continuity of the Labor
Party and the Government which we have seen from that period. So, I
would close my remarks now and just finally say that we will be holding a
Caucus meeting this evening to fill the vacancy vacated by Brian and we
will be, I might just also say, having another Caucus meeting tomorrow
to receive a report from Gareth Evans. On those two notes of business,
I hand over to Brian.
BR: Thank you very much Paul, I made a decision that I would retire at the
next election, hang up the Hansards as it were, and I thought the time
had come to do that. I think, this nonsense about mergers in Victoria
really has to be fought on a full time basis and the Hawthorn Football
Club is certainly not going to be merged as long as I am associated with
it the real issue. Apart from that I felt that once I had made that
decision that the second decision flowed from that and that I should
resign as Deputy and give the Party the opportunity to have a Deputy to
to in together with the Prime Minister to fight an election that I think we
can and will win and that, I think, really requires that degree of
commitment that obviously someone who is about to retire, you can't
really expect that. You can't be expected to do that, as much as I am
very interested in the result and will be very much a part of the
campaign. I continue in my portfolio and I hope that I will be able to
bring together the work that we have been doing in housing and some
associated urban areas of urban infrastructure in a month or so as a
fairly major statement and I want to complete that work.
I think, as Paul has said, my contribution to government has been very
much in the area of social policy and I would hope that social policy now
has a status and a standing that it didn't ever have before. When ever
you did any social policy work it was described as a hand out, as a bit of
trivia whereas, I think, now we recognise that Australia has one of the
most sophisticated social security systems in the world. That in terms of
our understanding of the links between social security and for example,
the labour market, so-called active social security policy, we were one of
the first countries in the world to comprehensively develop that policy.
That in terms of a whole range of areas of social policy we have been
able to not only bring about reform, but in the context of fiscal restraint
that produced Thatcherism in Britain which was described as inhumane
as vindictive, as having an enormous impact on lower income people, on
poorer regions in Britain, we never had any of that in Australia, I think,
because we had decent and respectable and reformist social policy and
I think over time we have been able to develop social policy in a whole
range of areas that have been quite, I think, path breaking and Australia
has an enormous reputation in the OECD as a country of very, very
significant reform in the area of social policy. The fact that we produce
an annual Social Justice Statement as part of the Budget, may seem
some small thing, but effectively it means that the Government allows
itself to be judged in each Budget in terms of its record and, I think, that
increasingly we are showing that social policy is the partner of economic
policy. I think, working with the Prime Minister and before that the Treasurer,
has been for me a great experience. I think, as I said to Caucus
because the Prime Minister has always taken when he was Treasurer
and now as Prime Minister the long view, his interest is not in
opportunist politics, it is in fundamental reform and fundamental
economic reform. But, of course, fundamental economic reform presents
great social challenges and, I think, the task of time has been to match
economic with social and, I think, this Government has now established
a unity of purpose in terms of economic and social policy, which means it
is identified significantly with fairness and with the best Australian values
that I think are the best that Australia has. And so I think that this is the
time in which to make that decision to move on and I suppose as
someone who is identified with the Left, I would say that I leave with the
show in very much better shape than when I started and that to me, as
someone who is very committed to Left wing politics, is a matter of great
pleasure. I think we have got a lot to contribute to the Caucus and to
Governments in the future and I suppose that is my final point, which is
simply to say that one of the strengths of this Government is that it is
refurbishing and rebuilding and strengthening and when you look around
the Caucus this morning, you think my God there is a lot Ministers out
there that still aren't part of a Labor Government and I am going to be
working very hard to see that they become Ministers in future Labor
Governments.
PM: Well I think both of us will be happy to take questions.
J: Mr Howe when did you decide not to contest the next election, what
contributed to that decision and whose views did you take into account?
BH: Well, essentially, the Prime Minister's views I suppose. I mean the
Prime Minister and I have been talking about it over recent weeks.
I hadn't made a decision until last night and I made a decision then,
I think, because we felt this was the right time to resolve the matter and
to resolve it in the way we have just done in the Caucus.
J: Mr Howe there has been a degree of speculation about your departure
for some time. Have you felt under any pressure, whatsoever?
BH: Oh well I think you are not insensitive to what comments occur.
I suppose I, of all people, tend to be very sensitive. But, at the same
time, I think you know that there is a job to do and I came into the
Federal Parliament to pursue reform and I have had the opportunity to
do that over a long period of time and I have got the opportunity to
complete the reforms in this current Parliament and I intend to do that.
And I have always tried to put what people say behind me and
concentrate on what I think is the main game and that is reform. I think it
is what you leave behind you, that really is important.
J: Mr Howe back to your first answer, are you saying that the
Prime Minister influenced you into your resignation?
BH: No I wasn't saying that.
PM: Michelle [ Grattan] will always look for the most difficult question.
J: Well could you elaborate on what you were saying when you said the
Prime Minister was the main influence?
BH: Well I had contemplated the possibility of retiring at the next election.
I thought I couldn't make that decision independently of the Government,
even though that is a decision for the Victorian Branch, so I took it up
with the Prime Minister and we have had several conversations over a
couple of weeks. We finally made the decision last night.
J: Mr Keating will you take the opportunity now to reshuffle your Ministry?
PM: Probably not. I think people are doing quite well and the Government's
performing, as I said, we have had more changes in the last month, than
we saw out of two decades of Coalition Government. The Budget in
surplus, they never got a surplus once, a Justice Statement, a framework
for the Republic. We are having another meeting on the Accord
tomorrow, with the prospect of another Accord Mark ViII which will mean
that this is the only Party in Australia able to deliver a low inflation rate
and keep it there. I think, by any measure, the Government is working
as well as it has worked at any time since 1983.
J: Who do you support as Mr Howe's successor?
PM: Well that is a matter for the Caucus, not for me.
J: Do you accept that anyone who succeeds Mr Howe could rightly see
themselves as your ultimate successor when you decide to retire?
PM: No I don't think so. I think there has been no pattern whatsoever to the
Labor leadership. But, of course, it has always been mostly about
leadership in Opposition, not leadership in Government and I think this
is what has marked this period out to be different. But there has never
been a pattern to it and I don't think you can ever induce one.
J: Mr Keating why shouldn't this move be seen as clearing the decks for an
election?
PM: Because I mean you, Glen [ Milne], amongst others, have been reporting
an early election now since 15 months ago, haven't you? And there still
isn't one.
J: Will you now rule one out Mr Keating?
PM: Well I have said before only if a Prime Minister who has these options
would be foolish to rule for, in this case, myself, himself, out of a
discretion which the Prime Minister in this system always enjoys. But
there..
J: It is not what we are reporting.
PM: Yes, I know. No you have been reporting early elections and
John Hewson said there were early elections and there was going to be
an election. Alexander Downer said there was an early election and I
think we have seen in recent weeks and months speculation about an
early election. When many of you thought the Government wouldn't
jump the Budget hurdle. When we did jump it, you didn't say good jump,
you said " early election". You were wrong and if you write it tomorrow,
you'll be wrong again.
J: Mr Keating when Mr Howe approached you at first and said he was
thinking of stepping down, did you encourage him to do so then?
PM: No, I take the view this: Brian and I have lived as Ministers in this
Government now for 12-odd years, that is a very long time. It is longer
than any other group of Labor Ministers have lived with one another in
work and in respect and given the pace of the Government, two Budgets
a year virtually for every year it has been in office, major policy changes,
for 12 years of our partnership has-been like 20 or 30 years in the days
of the Coalition, in terms of work, activities, probably more. Let me not
put a discount through that, probably half a century. And, therefore, you
know because of the engagement and the work and the frenetic pace of
it, you know May Statements every year up to 1991, bar one, Budgets,
big contextual social policy changes, then the big statements we have
had since budgets One Nation, Working Nation, Investing in the Nation
all these other changes and now Brian's stewardship of some of these
areas which formerly the Commonwealth hasn't been involved with, with
Better Cities etc, housing, choice. We have had a lot to do with one
another over the years and you get to that point where we went to the
1993 election together and we succeeded at a poll, it has been my view,
it's entirely a matter then for Brian to decide what he wanted to do and a
matter of his discretion, without any prompting from any one of us
including and, perhaps, especially me. So I never, at any stage, raised
the Deputy Leadership with Brian, he raised it with me, and I wouldn't
have.
J: Mr Keating when Caucus selects Mr Howe's successor, what should
they give the most weight to, seniority or electoral appeal?
PM: Well you had better get on the telephone and ring around and ask them
what they think?
J: Mr Howe it is probably likely the Left won't retain the Deputy Prime
Ministership. Do you accept that and do you think the Left should seek
any other compensation for losing the Deputy Prime Ministership, if that
happens?
BH: I think that we should choose in Caucus tonight who we think is the best
person to do this job at this particular point in time. In terms of the
positioning of the Left faction I think that occurs not around one
particular position, or one element of policy, but it occurs in a broader
context and you know I think the approach is not going to hang on the
particular decision the Caucus makes today. It will take account,
no doubt, of where that falls tonight. But then look to the next round of
decisions, maybe the policy stance on some issue. So I just don't think
that you can look at each position and each change in quite that way.
J: Are you happy with the level of representation of the Left in the Cabinet
and in the Ministry?
BH: Well I think we would always like to do better. I think we started off in
1983 with one Left Minister out of, whatever it was, 17. And today we
have four Ministers in Cabinet. But, more importantly, I think not just in
the Left, I think there is this enormous youth and enthusiasm and vigour
and intelligence that is there in the Caucus. So that I think, certainly,
following the next election there will be an opportunity for us to put
together an even more talented Government than we currently have.
J: Prime Minister could you comment on the Paris talks?
PM: Well just to say I was quite disappointed by the fact that the French
seem immobile about their decision. Gareth Evans will be coming back
giving a report to the Cabinet. We will be holding a Cabinet meeting to
receive that report and also report to the Caucus. I think we will
probably say more about it then.
ends