TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATING MP,
DOORSTOP, JOHNSTONE SHIRE COUNCIL CHAMBERS, INNISFAIL,
29 JULY 1992
E& OE PROOF COPY
J: Mr Keating, what's your reaction to Opposition claims
that you are deliberately avoiding Cairns in the lead
up to the election?
PM: I was in Cairns two weeks ago on a private visit, and
you can't be everywhere at once, can you? I was in
Townsville this morning and Innisfail today with Rob
J: So Mr Gayler hasn't told you to stay away?
PM: Mr Gayler is always wanting me to come there, and I
will whenever I can. But as I say, I was there two
weeks ago, that's reasonably recent.
J: So why visit Innisfail?
PM: Well, why not is the question. It's an important
district in North Queensland. It's not only important,
it's a very pretty district, I might say. And one gets
a feel of the local community, the agriculture. I've
just been to the Northern Iron and Brass Foundry and
presented some awards for aprentf gshlps'. -With ' the
focus this week onyouth trainnn arnlolrmentL, ntdh is
was a good thing to be doing. And Rob ( Hulls) and I
are going to be meeting representative members of the
community. I've Just been out to see some of the
structural adjustment things we funded with the Shire
here, Warrina Lakes, which is a lovely thing.
J: How would you gauge the Far North's response to your
visit?
PM: Well, I had 1 think a reasonable reception last night
in Townsville, a very warm visit to Townsville. While
there I opened the reclamation on Townsville Harbour,
with a $ 20 million program from the Commonwealth under
the One Nation package, and announced a further
million under the BetrtiJrOrD for Townsville.
And that, of course, was exceptionally well received,
as has been the funding which the Commonwealth has
spent here in Innisfail in the structural adjustmenit
package. The Commonwealth is relevant to North
Queensland. And in the spirit of One Nation, no place
in Australia Is not part of it all.
J: Prime Minister, the 0.3 per cent fall in the cost of
living, is there any case at all for a national wage
increase this year?
PM: Well, the Treasurer will be talking about this today,
but it's a marvellous result minus 0.3 per cent. It
gives us 1.2 per cent inflation for the year. It Means
Australia is pinning in, bolting in that low inflation
rate. And most particularly, the survey of
inflationary expectations has come down yet again,
which will give Australians interested in Australian
competitiveness, I think, a very clear view that we
have broken the inflation stick. That is, that
inflation is down, to stay down. This is a great
national achievement.
3: What about the implication for wages, though, Prime
minister?
PM: The Treasurer should answer this.
J; What about monetary Policy. Obviously this beds down
the easing
PM: Again, that's for the Treasurer to handle.
J: Mr Keating, superannuation, what's your response to
employers using a-looph-o Tto cut 10 per cent
PM: These are the people who should have paid the 3 per
cent in the late 1980s. When the economy was booming
and when they should have paid the 3 per cent, they
didn't. And some of them are now complaining about
needing to pay it when it should have been paid in the
past. And it's for them to pay it. Basically it's a
sort of red-neck response. The fact is, occupational
super is a great reform for Australia, it will give all
Australians a chance to a better retirement income, it
will build a pool of national savings, and It's the
shortest of the short sighted who can't see it.
J: So the employees will just have to bear it?
PM: No, the employees won't. By and large this will be
paid in accordance with national wage arrangements by
the employer as part of the national wage settlements,
without deductions from employees.
J: The Liberal Party says the seat of Leichhardt is
unwinnable for Labor In this next election. What's
Your response to that?
PM: Well, we've won It I've spent 23 years ini the House
of Representatives and I've seen changes take place in
the Parliament, but we've always had a good grip in the
Beat Of Laichhardt, and we will In the future. Look.
this Government has changed North Queensland. I
remember North Queensland in the early 1980.. I
remember it when the coal development stopped in the
sort of middle of Queensland. There was nothing
happening here. We had businesses closing. You've got
now the tourism industry which was developed by this
Government only, which has basically changed the labour
Position and the prosperity of Northern Queensland.
And the competitiveness of other products, be it beef,
or minerals, or sugar, has been guaranteed by the low
inflation, better wage outcomes, competitive exchange
rate. I mean, Labor has changed the face of North
Queensland, and that's why there are Labor members all
the way down the coast. That's why Rob Hulls has taken
his place in the seat of Kennedy in the Federal
Parliament for the same reason that in an area which
the National Party and the Liberal Party could do
nothing with, we've brought back, we've given it
economic life and a future.
J: Are you happy to see John Gayler not standing again?
He's been an opponent o6f your, in the past.
PM: He has not, no, no, he's been a good friend and a good
member. A good member. And somebody who's won the
seat of Leichhardt for Labor, and flown the flag
through the period. It you compare Cairns and the
Leichhardt region in 1983 and look at it today, it's
totally transformed. John Gayler can take a lot of
credit for that.
J: Mr Keating, Innisfail's unemployment has increased
three-fold. What will you be telling unemployed people
this afternoon when you visit Skillshare?
PM: Skillshare is one of the programs which we've now
decided to fund more of in this package during the
week, to try to give people that counselling and work
experience, which is important to them. But the main
thing is growth, the economy is starting to grow again.
when we get the June Quarter accounts, as we've just
had the June Quarter inflation rats, when the June
Quarter National Accounts come out, I think the year to
June will have grown by about 2 per cent. In the year
we are in now to June next year, we expect it to grow
by around 4. This will be about twice as fast as
Europe is growing. Most of the world is in recession
and we're actually growing faster than most places. So
with it will come the employment, and the more we see
the labour intensive industries continuing to grow,
particularly tourism and some parts of agriculture and
service, well we'll see the employment prospects coming
through, as we had them in the 1980.. Thank you.
ends