-I
PRIME MINISTER
TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P. J. KEATING MP AND
THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE UK, THE RIGHT HON TONY
BLAIR MP, DOORSTOP, CAIRNS PORT AUTHORITY, 16 JULY 1995
E& OE PROOF COPY
PJI( Can I say what a pleasure it is to have Tony Blair in Australia. We are
both in the same business and that has been modemising Labor parties
which is a pretty tough thing to be doing at the best of times and I like to
think, and I have said in this country and am happy to repeat it here, that
one of the great structural changes in Australia in the last 12 years was
actually the change to the Labor Party itself. Turning the Labor Party into
a party of government has been a matter of enduring benefit to this country
because most countries don't have the opportunity of modernising * their
political parties. This I am doing and this, of course, Tony Blair is doing.
Beyond that can I say that there is a very strong modemn relationship with
Britain. Britain is the largest investor in Australia. We are the second
largest investor in Britain. We hiave long traditional links and I am
delighted to see the Leader of the British Labour Party in this country
renewing those linkages and giving us a chance to compare notes about
how we see both our domestic and our international policy outlooks and
again to talk about the things we have in common and to listen to each
others experiences and to know that we are on a very interesting and
rewarding endeavour in the things we are doing.
So, I'd like to say how glad I am to have Tony in Australia and it may not
look to the travelling British press like winter, but it is. It is a strange sort of
winter I know, but up here it is warmer than it is down south as you know
and I am sure that a change of climate as it is will give US a chance to get
to understand the Labour Party in Britain better and Tony we are pleased
to have you here.
TB: Thanks very much Paul.
J: Mr Blair, what can you take back from your consultations with Mr Keating
and the Australian government back to Britain?
TB: Well, obviously, the fact that the Australian Labor Party has won, is it five
elections In a row? It seems to us a rather good record to take into
account and emulate if we possibly can. But there are also, I think, very
powerful lessons in the way that the Australian Labor government has
delivered greater economic efficiency, very high rates of growth at the
same time as keeping true to strong social values and the good social
wage. Also, the Australian Labor Party and the British Labour Party have
links going back over a long period of time. I was saying earlier this
morning, although it has been the case that we have often looked to Left to
Centre parties in Europe with which we have dialogue, in many ways the
ties between the British Labour Party and the Australian Labor Party are
even closer.
J: Has Mr Keating passed his recipe for electoral success at a'national level
onto Mr Blair and if so what's in it?
PJI( You have got to keep changing the recipe, this is the problem. We have
talked about our electoral success, but I think, Tony has in a sense,
summed up what we have been about. That is turning Australia into a
modem, a sophisticated market economy, but in the context of a set of
social policies which have underlined the premium we put on inclusion.
That is, we have tried to, by a process of strong employment growth and
equitable policies in such things as access and equity In education, in
health, the whole training agenda, employment of course the great liberator
of all, in these things, I think, we have produced a much more equitable
and fair society, yet we have had faster rates of growth double the rates
of economic growth of our conservative predecessors. If there has been
any formula for why Labor has won five elections I would say that was it,
that is we made a point of wanting to take the country along together.
That there is no underclass and that we think together we are stronger. If
we are together we are better, we are stronger, we are more cohesive and
I think, this has been well appreciated by our community.
TB: If I could add just one thing to that, I think, to me the record of the
Australian Labor government is one of combining economic efficiency with
a just and fair society. But it has also been one about giving a very clear
sense of direction and purpose to government and having a very clear and
profound understanding of Australia's place in the world and, I think, those
are all things that obviously have a resonance in British politics too.
J: You are at the head of a resurgent Labour Party in Britain, what do you
think you might have to offer to a Labor Party here?
TB: I think the Labor Party here has resurged and the length of time it has
been in government shows that. -But, obviously, What wehavebeen tryinsg
to do with British Labour Party is not just update how we apply our values
to the modem world, but in particular our key message and the message I
will be delivering in the speech that I will be making tomorrow is that we
live now in a world of massive economic, technological and social change
and it is the Left to Centre parties that are best able to cope with that world
of change because we are willing to plan and invest and organise our
societies in order to cope with that. And if we fail to do that, the result is
massive insecurity and it is providing security through a process of change
which is what the modem agenda for the Left of Centre is all about.
J: Would that be the reason for what happened in Queensland this weekend,
a massive insecurity in the community, they want to see a differentiation
between Labor and the Coalition
TB: I like the link, but I really don't know that that is for me to comment upon.
J: You seem to be widely regarded as almost a certainty for the next Prime
Minister of Britain and yet we have seen here on the weekend once again,
a very unpredicted result, an unpredicted bad result for Labor in
Queensland, does that sort of thing make you nervous?
TB: As people back home know, I am the eternal warrior against complacency
and I don't take anything for granted at all. It is very nice when people tell
me about opinion polls and all the rest of it, but the only things that decide
general elections are general elections and that is why the British Labour
Party carries on working to deepen that bond of trust that it is establishing.
But we take nothing for granted and we work from now right until election
day.
J: You are both going onto Rupert Murdoch's conference, one of the things
you have in common unusually for Leaders of the Left is that Mr Murdoch
seems to like you both.
PJK: Once you get to know us you can't help but like us.
J: How important was his endorsement for you as a factor of your winning the
last general election? Can I also then ask, how important is it for Tony
Blair to try to get a similar sort of endorsement for Labour at the next
election in Britain?
PJI( I think all Labor parties ever ask for and I'm sure this is the case for the
British Labour Party is equality of treatment. The chance to disseminate
one's message nothing more, nothing less. No one needs preference or
asks for it. We have never had It and we were not endorsed by the News
Corporation at the last election. In fact the majority of their papers came
out against us. But, I think, parties which are better win if they are able to
transmit their message. And, I think, the very things that Tony Blair has
mentioned about economic efficiency and social equity, these things make
our country stronger and having a set of values which the public can
identify with once they know what the policy structure is and the policy mix
is, they can make their mind up. Let me say about this country, what we
look for here most is dare I say it news. Our papers are too loaded with
opinions and what we need here is a straight recitation of the news. If we
can get that, then on that sort of wicket we can win. As News Corporation
goes we are seeing, both of us, the News Corporation executives from
around the world who meet every three years mostly in North America or in
Europe, it happen& to be here on this occasion. You are talking to people
who are running media organisations in three continents, probably four
soon, and it Is a good opportunity to say, in our case where Australia is,
where it is going, how we see the Asia Pacific, why we think News
Corporation has done well to have its head quarters here and to generally
pick up some of their views too about the way' international
telecommunications are going, the way the information highway is
developing. I think it will be an interesting occasion.
J: Mr Blair, will you be laying down any base lines as far as the media is
concerned?
TB: In the speech tomorrow, we will be setting out how we believe the Left of
Centre can best respond to the massive economic, social and
technological change and, of course, part of that is media and
communications. But that is not all and what Is absolutely essential is to
show how we can provide the best security and stability economically and
socially during this era of change. And that includes the media, but Is not
limited to it.
J: But will you set up principles if you like, when you say this is what I believe
in as far as the media is concerned?
TB: Of course, and we wAIl be doing that but we will be doing many other things
as well. I think what is absolutely essential, the great task of all modern
governments and why I believe that today's Labour Party is best able to
achieve this is that we have to show how in this era of change,
revolutionary change, that is sweeping the world in technology, in media,
in communications, in terms of economic challenge we have got to show
how we can best meet that challenge and guide our people through it and
that can only be done by a government that understands the importance of
allying a strong and prosperous economy with a fair and decent society.
J: And regulating the market or not?
TB: Of course, but that is only part of what is a much, much bigger picture.
J: Mr Keating, do you think that the columnists in newspapers are inherently
conservative?
PJK: No, it is just that they are full of views end 1 am one of those old fashioned
people who was brought up on newspapers where journalists actually
reported news and that is what I think is the best sort of journalism. But
we have now got around to, of course, where journalists interview other
journalists on radio and television programs.
J: When you were a young back bencher in 1972, there was a similar of
the Labor Party then which is occurring what advice would you offer in
the way of
PJK: I don't think Mr Blair needs my advice on these things. Again, I repeat my
point and I would be surprised if it wasn't his, that is without a handicap
that is being able to disseminate one's message Labor parties can look
after themselves very nicely thank you very much. Labor parties don't
need preference or bias, they just need a straight go, but one of things
which gives us a better go all of us is, of course, the diversity in the
media. This is true in Australia where we now have much greater diversity
than 10 years or so ago and the information highway itself holds out the
prospect of much greater diversity than we have ever had, allowing people
to take their news where they want it and not to have it wholesale or
filtered for them. I think, this diversity of Information in media is a very
democratic process and must be good for parties like ours.
J: Can I ask Mr Blair the message he has got for British people living in
Australia who are on the other side of the world when changes take place
in Britain.
TB: There are really three reasons for me being here. First, it is important to
build that relationship between Australia and Britain which is of Immense
importance both to trade and to foreign policy links between us. Second, of
course, it gives me the opportunity to address possibly the largest media
organisaton in the world and put the Labour Party's case there. Thirdly,
there are in some estimates, as many as a quarter of a million people living
here who have the right to vote In a British general election. Now, that Is a
pretty important constituency and we want to make sure our message gets
through to them. Thank you.
PJK: Thank you very much indeed.
ends