PRIME MINISTER
TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P. J. KEATING MP
DOORSTOP, 600 LORIMER STREET, PORT MELBOURNE, MONDAY,
2 MAY 1994
E& OE PROOF COPY
J: Prime Minister, what sort of indication can Australia
PM: Well, the White Paper which I will be introducing for the Government
this week is one of the biggest things the Government will have
undertaken in ten, going on eleven years. I might say it will do as I
said we would do on election eve and that is not forget the
unemployed; that is leave an arm out to pull them up with the rest of us
so the recovery will be capable of being enjoyed by all Australians. Its
principal features will be a commitment to the long-term unemployed,
but it has many facets and another will be a commitment to the young
people of Australia; a guarantee that they are trained for work and that
the years of 15-19 are regarded as a period of vocational preparation.
Other features will be an involvement, a capacity for greater
involvement of the regions of this country in the national economy and
further reforms to industry policy which will carry the reforms of the
past decade even further.
The White Paper is something that our opponents could neither
conceive of nor deliver and it will paint very starkly the difference in
social and economic policy of the government and its comprehension
and the paucity of ideas and views on the conservative side of
Australian politics.
J: Will next weeks Budget contain any further incentives?
PM: The Budget will consolidate the White Paper and will contain other
changes, but they will be changes not related to the principal things
the White Paper is focussed upon.
J: What form will your commitment to long-term unemployed take?
PM: You will have to wait for them I think, but as you know we have had a
green paper which we commissioned after the election that has
reported. We then had consultations on the Green Paper, we've taken
notice of those consultations; there has been a huge investment of
ministerial work in this statement. As I say, it is one of the biggest
things that we have done and I am quite sure you would be flat out
finding the government of any other developed economy committing
the ministerial and bureaucratic time that this has taken to produce.
J: Do you think business will welcome it, that they will be happy with it?
PM: We are not going to have the complement to the labour market from
migration that we had in the last cycle. We cut the immigration intake
a few years ago and as companies see their markets pick up as is the
case here at this plant General Motors as companies start to grow
and rehire labour they'll want to find a source of skilled and trained
labour. We believe the best place that can come is from the pool of
unemployed and particularly the pool of those long-term unemployed.
J: What's your response to an internal DEET survey that is critical of
labour market programs?
PM: Well, this is a complete overhaul of labour market programs and will
have a completely new framework for the delivery of labour market
programs in the White Paper.
J: So, is it possible this Budget and this statement together could be a
good precursor to go to the polls early?
PM: No the Liberals, they are that spooked these days. I mean, today's
poIs again show the Government would clearly win an election
except the Saulwick poll, but I contend that is mostly wrong. But, if you
go to the Newspoll, Morgan, all the others, the Government is clearly
in a strong position and it is simply because it has got the energy and
the ideas. If there's one word will emerge or one observation will
emerge from the reading of the White Paper document it will be
energy. The enormous energy which the Government has committed
to this task. And that I is why I believe that in recognition of that the
energy and commitment and inclusiveness which the Government
brings to the job of Government and policy making, I believe the
Government is doing well in the polls. But that doesn't mean to say
because we've got the drop on the Coalition that this is the time to
leave off the tiller of Government. This is a time to push the changes
home.
J: Do you care to make a comment on Ayrton Senna's death today?
PM: I didn't know about it, I've only just found out. I find that very sad
because I think this fellow was a great champion. One of the great
drivers of the post-War years, but of course participating in a very
dangerous sport. I think everybody who is in it understands that, but a
champion is a champion and all of us are saddened when we see them
go.
J: ( inaudible)
PM: That was the different times for post-War reconstruction. This is for
the changes to an externally orientated economy that Ben Chifley
wouldn't have conceived of in those years. That is, the level of
sophistication in the Australian economy today as evidenced by what's
happening here at General Motors and the paper which reflects the
kind of economy and society we have, has the degree of
sophistication, I think, Ben Chifley would have been very proud of had
he been in a position of reading this White Paper.
ends