PM Transcripts

765
Current Affair.
Amp
1 2 November
Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser.
Q. Had you known beforehand, about how all of this was going to
turn out, would you perhaps have waited out the next 18 months.
Fraser. No. I would have acted as we did act. If we had waited out
an extra 18 months I think we might well have seen the circumstances
in which Australians would not again have had an opportunity for a
completely free election. We have seen a former government that has
been prepared to take unconstitutional and illegal means on a number
of instances over the loans affair, in their efforts to stay in
government, which was much more serious than the loans affair. Once
a government embarks on that path, it is a course that grows, it is a
course that spreads. That particular sin of the former government
would not have diminished as time passed.
Q. Do you think the major election issue now will be the constitutional
crisis, rather than the other issues of a couple of months ago.
* ra I don't think so. This afternoon the Ministry met. It was
briefed by senior officers of the Department of Labor and the Treasury.
There is not the slightest doubt that the situation in the Australian
economy is a good deal more serious than the former government had
led Australians to believe. On a completely factual basis we were
able to get answers to questions that had been denied the Australian
public, and ourselves, through the Parliament. At a later time I will
be making a considered statementi-about these particular matters. I
don't to overrate the matter in the sense of causing undue alarm. But
what I ani saying is that certain factors in relation to the economy
were kept from the people of Australia. They were kept from the
Parliament and the Opposition. They are more serious than we were led
to believe. It will be on these issues I believe that the fate of the
next government will be determined.
Q. You said more seriously than we were led to believe. What do you
mean by that.
Fraser. Harder to overcome. The difficulties in the private sector.
The problems of lack of investment. The problems of creating jobs for
the tens of thousands of school leavers. The difficulty of overcoming
inflation. These are the problems that are facing Australians which
effect the life and livelihood of every person in every family.
Q. How do you know that y~ u can fix them.
Fraser. Because we have a different approach to policy, We believe
that the government sector has absorbed too much of national production
in the last year or two. There must be greater encouragement of the
private sector. That can be an individual just as much as a company
or a corporation, so that they can do their own investing, create
productive jobs and create opportunities for Australians.