G-A& C.
PRIME MINISTER
TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW WITH THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON
P. J. KEATING, M. P.
COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENTS MEETING HOBART
FRIDAY 25 FEBRUARY, 1994
PM: The Commonwealth, myself and my colleagues the Treasurer and Deputy
Prime Minister, met with Premiers and Ministers over lunch and while there
were varying opinions we did manage, in a cooperative way to get an
agreement on adopting the general principles of the Hilmer Report on
competition policy; on authorising work to be undertaken jointly between us
on legislation, between now and the next COAG meeting which will include in
the broad the f1ilmer Report on competition policy applying to all sectors of
the economy and all levels of government.
So, I'm just about to give to Premiers the collated result of that session and that
will be incorporated in the communique. So, it was a productive lunch, -one
which will advance the whole process of competition policy reform over the
next months to August, but, more particularly, one which will advance
competition policy making the whole economy more competitive including, and
particularly, government business enterprises.
J: What about their demands about industrial relations reform?
PM: Well, this was not.., whatever discussion there is to be on that it was not part
and parcel of this result and this was one of the core matters of this COAG
meeting in fact the core matter of this COAG meeting and I'm pleased to
say we've had a very cooperative discussion.
J: Prime Minister, are you prepared to change the industrial relations legislation in
any way?
PM: Well, we're about to go in and discuss now the other elements on the agenda
water, electricity reform and all these other things. Industrial relations is just
one of those agenda items. The key message here is that the Hiliner discussion
has been encapsulated around itself only and not party to other...
J: So, IR legislation is on the table?
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PM: No, look, ask me about the IR legislation at the end of the day.
J: What about the audit that the states wanted?
PM: Well, that is the states understanding, themselves, what these competitive
changes mean in terms of costs for their own government business enterprises.
Well, that's fine, all governments should know that.
Ends.