IPRIME
MINISTER
TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATING, MP
INTERVIEW WITH STAN GRANT, REAL LIFE
13 MARCH 1992
E& OE PROOF COPY
SG: Prime Minister welcome. It makes your job of pursuing
a one Australia vision pretty difficult, when people
have attitudes like those displayed by the two police
officers doesn't it?
PM: I think that is true. There can't be any concept of
' One Nation' until we are, non-Aboriginal Australians
are, at peace and come to terms with Aboriginal
Australians.
SG: I might be a little bit cynical here Prime Minister,
that although what I saw last night disgusted me, and
it certainly did, it didn't surprise me, did it really
surprise you?
PM: It did actually. I thought these characters were
throw-backs. I think Australians have now come to
understand more about Aboriginal culture, are more
sympathetic now than perhaps they've ever been, more
prepared to see change, good change to better
intergrate Aboriginal Australians into the broader
society. So I actually thought this was something one
would expect from another period.
I
SG: So you don't accept the view put about by a lot of
people that what we've seen, not only last night, but
the week before with the Redfern police, they're
attitudes simply mirroring a deeper attitude felt right
through the Australian community. You don't accept
that?
PM: I don't think so. No, obviously what we saw the other
night on television is there now, this is a year or two
ago. The fact is, I think these are still minority
attitudes, but the fact that they existed is disturbing
and the whole point of the reconciliation process is to
come to terms with those things.
SG: On the mat~ ter with the two police individually, do you
think they have a right to remain as members of the
police for-ce?,
PM: Well, I was heartened by the fact that the police
Minister i. n New South Wales told the Aboriginal Affairs
Minister this morning that they were going to take some
action, I can't remember exactly what they had in mind
against the two officers, I think they are standing
them down from active duty. And that they would
respond setriously to the recommendations of the Royal
Commission on Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. So I think
New South Wales Government and the New South Wales
Police force is taking this very seriously.
SG: There is a. greater problem here though, isn't there?
Aboriginal Aus9tralia tends to lurch from one disaster
to another. The Black Deaths in Custody Royal
Commission is just one. What is going to happen
eventually to improve the loss of Aboriginal
Australians, because certainly throwing money at it
really hasn't worked, has it?
PM: No, it is much about attitudes that what's in our minds
as it is about money. And that's why the Government
is taking the Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Royal
Commission recommendations seriously. We think this is
an opportunityperhaps to last in this decade to do
something again in material, to materially improve the
lot of Aboriginal Australians. And this is our
opportunity I think, and we are going to, we are now
seriously looking at this, and also enjoining the
States to -be in it. But it is an attitudinal thing and
the poverty of Aboriginal Australians only makes the
whole country poorer.
SG: I think back to my childhood, and I look at the
situation Aborigines were in then, and you would recall
it as well, it, hasn't really improved and yet as I say
money has been thrown at the problem. And is it fair
to say also do' you think, that the more moeny that's
thrown at Aborigines causes more resentment in the
wider community?
PM: If it does, it's unfair. I mean we spend a little less
than $ 5,000 per head on the Aboriginal population, and
most of it goes into things that matter. I've got: a
chart here now'showing where the money is spent. only
a third of it goes into labour market programs, the
rest goes iLntoeducation, health, housing and community
services, i -ndustry assistance. I think it is a great
shame if Australians believe that this area has been
indulged. It isn't. There has to be more done here.
SG: But you would accept that there is that perception,
and there is also the perception that a lot of money is
wasted by Government agencies and also by Aboriginal
groups?
PM: Well, I'd like to think that's not true. One can not
be certain about the delivery of any program, but this
has been tightened up over the years. But the fact is,
we've now as a Government got another chance to look at
the delivery of Aboriginal programs in response to the
Royal Commission, and we're doing that. We'll be
engaging the States as well. And, through the broader
process, the reconciliation process, that we can
actually come to terms with it attitudinally, as well
as in program delivery.
SG: On the issue of the Royal Commission, now $ 500 million
was recommended by the Royal Commission to be put into
that area. What is being done there, because only half
of that money has actually been approved by the
Government hasn't it?
PM: Well, the Royal Commission didn't recommend an amount
of money. It's a matter for the Government to respond.
What we'll be ' doing, in the first instance, responding
to the law and justice recommendations of the Royal
CommissionL, and adequately funding those changes to
make sure those recommendations are met. But if we go
beyond that and look at the underlying causes and
reasons inl poverty or opportunity, or lack of
opportunit~ y which exists, lack of employment
opportunities ' which exist for Aboriginal people, if we
look at those issues, they'll be the subject of a
second statement to Parliament. And we're now looking
to make sure that that statement is right that what
we do does, when I say right, as best we can, design
those programs to be of most assistance to Aboriginal
people.
SG: Prime Minister, just finally and fairly quickly, has
what you've seen over the last week, has that spurred
you on to any greater heights to really finally do
something about this? Can you now set some sort of
timetable where you can say in 18 months that these
attitudes that now exist are now going to be gone?
PM: Well, I don't think I can say that, but we've got to
continue to work at it. But the fact is that non-
Aboriginal Australians must come to terms with the
poverty of Aboriginal Australians and the inequality of
their opportunities. And until we do, we won't be able
to claim the name, the notion of ' One Nation', and
therefore it is a matter of great urgency for us as a
society. And, I for one will be taking this
opportunity we have with the Royal Commission's
recommendations seriously, and this very untimely
incident only encourages me in that exercise.