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TRANSCRIPT OF iNTERVI EW WITH THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J
KEATING, M. P.
COUNCIL OF AUSTRALTAN GOVERNMENTS MEETING -HOBART
THURSDAY 24 FEBRUARY, 1994
J: Mr Keating, do you think that tomorrow can achieve anything, the
Premiers seem particularly befl. igercnt?
PM; Well, I think that we've had quite a breakthrough in establishing the
Council of Australian G; overrnents ( COAG). It's a departure, a new one, from
the financial arrangements of 60 years longstanding of the Premiers' Conference,
so that we can discuss nion-financial things and we've had quite a lot of success to
date. in just a short time we've established a national authority for vocational
education. We're now working on the national trunk rail system, electricity
power ge~ neration and distribution and now on the agenda for this conference
is the question of competition policy across the country but including, of course,
the state government business enterprise area. So, much has been achieved in a
relatively short time and I think separation of the financial meeting and a
general policy meeting has been a good thing. This is a general policy meeting
and think it has all of the opporturnities that the last meeting has had to push
this agenda-a little further.
J: Well, Sir, what's your response to Mr Court's claimi that you're the worst
thing that's ever happened to federation?
PM: Well, I think the other Premiers don't agree because they've signed
up to a national rail freight corporation, they've signed up to a national training
authority, to power generation. I'm afraid Mr Court is the odd person out in this
view of the role between the Commonwealth and the states. And, simply, the
worst of parochial instincts won't help the people of Western Australia and
that's why other premiers, generally, won't have a bar of that kind of policy.
If the states want compensation for implementing the Hiliner Report are
you prepared to negotiate on that?
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PM: Well, it Would depend on whether it was compensation of the vAriety
which particularly affected the Commonwealth advantageously. But, if decoding
that message means that the Commonwealth pays for all reform the answer, of
course, is no.
J; What is the Commnonwealth prepared to pay to see the policy
implemented? PM: WelL understand this... ynu've got to just get this right. Here we have
some conservative governments and one which boasts of its conservativeness
Western Austraia and you've got a Labor government, repeat, Labor
govermrent asking them to open themselves up and be competitive in a free
market economy. Now, these are the conservative, so-called market people. Yet,
you've got the irony of a Labor government saying, please be competitive in an
open economy. And they're sayin& oh well, not sure about, not sure about that.
1: Prime Mirnister, NU Court's view is that the West Australian Government
has already implemented many of these sorts of competitive reforms.
PM; Well, if you believe that you'll believe in fairies at the bottomn of the
garden, won't you? Uf he can handle you that easily you're going to be a
pushover. J: If the states, tomorrow, won't agree to any of these competitive changes is
there much point in continuing with these meetings?
PM: Well, that's what we said at the first meeting of COAG and we got the
electricity agenda together and we got the National Training Authority together...
I wouldn't be too gloomy about it if I were you.
s it a-bargaining poit, is it?
PM: Well, I think there's a lot of understiinding for the need to that in some
of the important areas of electricity, water, gas, ports, wharves these are
peculiar things now that the states must be involved that the
Commonwealth can't do these things by itself.
J. inaudible... you've got to have changes to the tax sharing arrangements
or guaranteed. share of incouw tax?
PM: That's a view. That's only a view.
J: Mr Court's eager to talk about the whole future of the makeup of the
Federation, do you think it will get that involved tomorrow?
P-M: What do you mean, are we going to get a history lesson?
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J: He's keen to talk~ about the whole future where the Federation is
heading, whether more power should be returned to the states.
PM: It will these have always got their element of bargaining about them
but, in the end, it's pretty hard for conservative premiers who are believing in
market forces to say, " Oh no, we believe in market forces but we don't really.
And here's this Commonwealth Labor Sovernment comning along asking us to
adopt some market forces. Now, we'll only do it if you pay for it."
J: Prime Minister, who won the day in Parliament today?
PM: I thought D~ r I-ewson had all the leadership eggs in his basket and dropped
them all at once. It was a dreadful speech which he took on as a tactic himself, I
think, against the advice of some of his front bench advisers and whe~ n they
realised that he had perform~ ed so poorly they decided to blow the Parliament up
so that the news story was ' uproar in Parliament' instead of ' John Hewson
collapsing' in what ought to have been a relatively easy few debating points for
himn. Ends.