PRESS OFFICE TRANSCRIPT THURSDAY 30 AUGUST 1979
INTERVIEW WITH 41P, BRISBANE
( QUESTIONS NOT AUDIBLE ON TAPE ANSWERS ONLY)
Question Prime Minister
A typical Canberra late winter cold morning.
Question Prime Minister
I thought I might have been late for your show.
Question Prime Minister
Well, it obviously makes it much more convenient because you
can use it as an office and get a lot of work done. The main
reason for it of course is security, and there is no way you
can get around that. The captain of the aircraft said that
defence didn't know what to do when I had the aircraft because
they've got so used to using them and the other one was being
serviced and for the two weeks they were without a 707 and
finding it inconvenient for defence itself because they are
using them so much on defence purposes.
Question Prime Mi-ni
Modern international terrorists they are totally mad in
my view. They are totally indiscriminate in their killing.
They want publicity. They don't care what they do. They have
no concern for human life or human decency. They are almost
a contradiction of mankind itself. The IPA, and some elements
of the IRA, have got to be at the very forefront of international
terrorism and everything that is bad about it. It obviously
poses a very real threat to people. We've had aircraft hijacked.
We've had terrorist incidents in many places around the world.
It's a great worry to all authorities, to all governments, who've
got the responsibility of trying to combat this sort of thing.
Australia so far has been relatively fortunate. We had the bomb.
incident at the Hilton. But you never know. The good old statement
" it can never happen here". You just can't rely on that anymore.
You've got to take the most stringent precautions.
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Question Prime Minister
Next year there will be a double anniversary -I will be
and 25 years in politics.
Questicn Prime Minister
I think we overlapped for a bit. Oxford is a large place and
we didn't really meet up.
Question Prime Minister
At a personal level, fine. It just depends if he is wearing a
political hat'--at the time.
Question Prime Minister
I don't think I would want to come back as somebody else.
You sometimes wonder I was 23 when I first got pre-selected
and I thought being a politician in a rural electorate would
fit in very nicely with being a farmer. I very soon learnt
that being a politician, even a private Member, was much more
than a full time job. I think it sometimes might be a good thing
that aspiring Members of Parliament don't know what is in store
for-them after they become a Member. If they did, they would
Probazbly never take that first: stCep.
Question Prime Minister
I would never advise people not to. I might say don't expect
too much, you might want to change the world or want to make it
a better place. There will be many frustrations, many difficulties,
A lot of criticism that you will inevitably think that is to a
degree unjust, but if you believe in things it is worth fighting
for. I think, go ahead, because if people won't try and press for
the things they do believe in, trying to make, as they see it,
Australia a better place, well then the political life of the
country is going to be very poor. So I will try and encourage
people but I would try and do it realistically. You can't change
the world overnight. It is a slow process. You've got to
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Prime Minister ( continued)
persuade other people to share your same beliefs, your same
hopes and aspirations. It sometimes takes years to achieve
a particular objective. But then if it is a worthwhile objective
the fight has been worthwhile.
Question Prime Minister
Thank you. 000---