031
P RIME MINISTER
TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATING, MP
DOORSTOP, BANCKSTOWN COLLEGE OF TAFE, MARCH 2 1992
E& OE PROOF COPY
J: Mr Keating, ACOSS has described part of your
tax/ economic statement as unf air and dangerous. Does
that concern you?
PM: Well I didn't hear ACOSS barracking for the low paid..
When I became the Treasurer the low paid were on a taxc
rate of 30 per cent, we cut them to 20 per cent over
those Eight years, introduced the Family Allowance
Supplement ' which never came from ACOSS. There are
bigger constituencies than ACOSS worrying about the low
paid. In the main the organisation which has most
represented the low paid in this country is the ACTU,
which it still does well and with great concern.
J: Will you ignore ACOSS?
PM: No, ACOSS is entitled to its view but it's only a view.
But thiLs area is the area I am interested in
technical and further education. And it's good to be
back at this school, I actually went to school here.
This is the area of education, beyond school, closest
to the community and it's the area which the
Commonwealth is going to take over, it's the area which
we are going to make again a strong part of the
education system by Commonwealth funding. All of the
courses which we saw here today, literacy, computers,
computer literacy, fitting and turning, carpentry, all
of those things are things which are important to the
community, important for basic jobs skills, important
for getting a chance to work and making Australia a
more capable country. And my colleague John Hewson
says, it's not affordable, we shouldn't be doing this.
This building right behind, you the Commonwealth has
just completed, $ 14 million. We will be doing more
TAFE technical and further education capital and
recurrent spending as a result of the One Nation
package.
-2
J: But are you spending enough money on TAFE?
PM: Well, we are going to spend more than has ever been
spent. That is we are going to lift it up as we lifted
universities up. But Dr Hewson says that it's unfunded
and unaf fordable, so he wouldn't be spending any money
on TAFE. He says it was irresponsible and extravagant:
to spend money on the TAFE system, to spend money on
Australian kids and adults who want to lift their
skills, give themselves opportunities in the workforce
and make Australia a more capable country, not just a
more clever country, but a more capable country. And
it is in places like this that people have got to know
what Dr Hewson's sterile policies are about. It's not
about helping these people. His education policy if
your par: ents can afford $ 13,000 you can go to a private
universi: Lty, but if they can't afford that and you can't
get into university well you are on your own. There is
no TAFE college for you, there's no computer course,
there's no literacy, there's none of these other 1200
courses which are available in TAFE which help people
find their way into the workforce and make Australia
better. I
J: Is you coming here today part of your remodelling your
image?
PM: It's not a matter of remodelling my image. I've been
coming here since I was a kid. I went to school here.
You have got to get better questions son, you've got to
chop those silly things out. The thing is, it's only
the Labor Party that's ever been interested in these
things, in trying to bring people up who don't have a
lot of opportunities, to give them something extra and
valuable. And that's what TAFE's about.
J: Mr Keating, how do you feel about Britain's response to
your republican push and your war history?
PM: I wasn't talking about republicanism. My views on all
this are well known.
J: Mr Keating, are you happy with the way the Statement
has been received so far?
PM: Exceptionally well received by the business community,
exceptionally well received, I think, by the community
in general. Because it is a plan for Australia, it's a
plan for the next four years, it's about rebuilding the
basic infrastructure, the rail system, the electricity
system, giving Australia a different airline system, a
competitive airline policy, letting industries like
tourism flourish, about rebuilding the TAFE sector to
give students, children and adults alike, a better
opportunity in life. It's about all those basic things
thfat are not going to be done by taxing your Weet-Bix.
I mean the GST on your Kellogs is not going to build
that TAFE ,' college, it'Is not going to rebuild the
-33-
Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne-Adelaide-Perth railway line,
it's not going to change the ports, it's not going to
change the way in which the airline system works. You
can't get that sort of vision and change from a sterile
policy which taxes your Weet-Bix and your shirts.
ends.