-PRESS OFFICE TRANSCRIPT 5 DECEMBER, 1978
Prime Minister Interviewed on ABC's
by Paul Davey
Report: With 1978 almost at a close, and certainly for Federal
Parliament it already is, how successful has the year
been for the Government? Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser
is keen to point to his Government's success in
sticking to its economic policies which, he says, have
reduced inflation. But on the other hand, Mr. Fraser
was forced to sack one of his senior Ministers during
the year, Senator Reg Withers, the Government Leader
in the Senate and Minister for Administrative Services.
While the Opposition has made much of the propriety
of Mr. Fraser's frontbench during the year, the
Prime Minister believes that Opposition Leader Bill Hayden
has been too " peripheral" in his approach to politics.
Mr. Fraser is talking in Canberra to Paul Davey about
what he sees as his Government's successes during 1978
and what he hopes for 1979.
Prime Minister
I think in terms of economic policy and the acceptance of
that policy in areas where it counts, it has been a thoroughly
successful year and inflation has come down more than
many expected. Overseas investment funds are coming into
Australia in a way which a year ago was being so. Interest
rates have started to come down and the one percent reduction
in home interest rates you can either look at it from
an individual point of view on an average loan that's
$ 17 a month or for all people paying interest on home loans
it's about $ 150 million a year. That's the area where you start
to see the very real results of policy. I think there has been
a concentration on peripheral issues in politics and the
particular incident to which you referred in a sense was one
of them. It was once which...
Question Is though, Prime Minister, with respect, the sacking of a
Minister a peripheral issue, in terms of the electorate's thinking
of a Government?
Prime Minister
I think that Mr. Hayden has concentrated very much on the
peripheral issues. You've only got to look at the subjects on
which he asks questions and the lack of questions about economic
policy. The lack of questions about employment. / 2
lAmit -2-
Question Nonetheless, has he been successful in so-doing, politically
speaking, in terms of the way the electorate thinks, in
your opinion?
Prime Minister
I think it can have some sort of influence on the electorate
but at the same time I think an electorate can say ' look,
we've had enough of this, we want to get down to the mainstream
of policies and we wish people would argue about the main
issues which are of concern to us'. In the latter phases of
the Parliamentary year there was very definitely a reaction
against Mr. Hayden's overwhelming concern with what are the
peripheral issues.
Question Do you think that the ALP will continue that tack in the
new year and will it succeed in it given I know you can't
comment specifically, but obviously Mr. Ian Sinclair, his
situation.
Prime Minister
Well let's see what happens as a result of that particular
N. S. W. inquiry.
Question From the Government's point of view, are you looking forward
to a good year in 1979. A year in which what are you
going to forecast for Australia?
Prime Minister
I believe in 1979, people will be able to see increasingly
that the policies we have pursued have been the right policies.
Question You've already said that inflation will come down. You've
predicted 5 percent by the middle of the year. Are interest rates
down again too, just as a final point?
Prime Minister
Let me just make it straight because these things sometimes
and in mythology later on are taken the wrong way around.
That was a Treasury prediction on which I was relying and I
wouldn't make a prediction of that kind because they've got
the expertise and the models and that was their prediction.
3
Question
Are you confident on that though?
Prime Minister
I have no reason not to be. The Treasury tell me that
nothing has happened since the Budget which would cause
them to withdraw from the basis of that. By the middle
of next year inflation should be running at around about
percent on an annualised basis. Getting inflation down
more and keeping on with that task, obviously has further
implications for interest rate changes but there have been
significant changes over recent weeks in that area and what
we've emphasised all along is that any policy of reducing
interest rates must be steady in a way that is sustainable.
You don't want something that is going to go diving down
and diving up again as has happened in a number of overseas
countries. In none of these areas have we ever promised
dramatic results. We have promised to stick to the task
and, sticking to the task, I am quite certain we will be
successful. 000---