PRIME MINISTER
TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATING MP
PRESS CONFERENCE, HILTON HOTEL, ADELAIDE, 7 OCTOBER 1994
E EO PROOF COPY
PM: Well as you know the Cabinet has been meeting outside of Canberra
for the first time this year, and in quite a long time, to get the feel of
some of the economies and the societies of the States and to consider
particular State problems in the places where the Cabinet meets, and a
chance for my part to see members of my own party this evening,
and then to attend a fairly major dinner does give you the
feedback.. you have the consciousness of the atmospherics, the
ambience, of a particular State, and it reminds you of the problems and
opportunities, and I think, this has a lot of value. At today, s Cabinet
meeting, we also considered some South Australian related issues, but
the main body of the meeting the list of business was on general
national issues, as in all other Cabinet meetings. But let me just run
through the issues for you today.
At the top of the list was the question of the clean-up of the
Patawalonga area, and the transfer of funds under the Better Cities
= P~ d oiit, and I'll be saying more about that tomorrow: with the
Deputy Prime minister, and I think there will be more details released
tomorrow. We also had a discussion about the MFP, and had a fairly
up-beat report from Senator Schacht on progress onfthe MFP. Of the
peculiar South Australian issues, we renewed the Commonwealth
Government's commitment to a target of 50% of women for
overnmentappointments to the Commonwealth Boards andCouncirs,
and all Ministers will be looking at their own particular portfolio
environments and taking concrete steps to improve the participation of
women under that commitment at 50% up to the year 2000. On
another matter, the Government also decided to increase funding for
child care places in the JET program the Jobs Education and
Training for sole parents. Y -u ighr-iemember this was introduced in
the late ' 80' s it has been a very successful program, and it is of
course, demand driven. It needs more funding for child care places
and we provided that funding today. But it has been a particularly
successful program for finding employment training for sole parents.
The Cabinet also considered, had a long discussion, about the
economic situation in Papua New Guinea some of the particular
problems of Papq@_ New. Guinea. That, I think, was the general resume
of the Cabinet meefing, and I will be very glad to take questions.
J: Prime Minister, how do you get the ambience for a State like South
Australia at a $ 150 a head dinner wouldn't you be better off perhaps
getting out and meeting some of the wage earners of Adelaide?
PM: Well, I think when one goes to Ilet me tell you this, when you go to a
Labor Party gathering, you see a good cross-section of the community,
and you got an idea when people come up and talk to you about
things. In terms of investment and employment, you get a chance to
meet members of the business community. You see, I think, we have
got the economy growing at 4 and while South Australia isn't
growing at that pace, it has every chance now to lock in to the national
economy. And a lot of that is about confidence a lot of it is about how
the business community perceive themselves here, what their
opportunities are, and so, you know, I find that in such circumstances,
the chances of finding out what people think getting a feel of the place
is a fairly easy thing to do. That is, people are quite forthcoming
they do tell you things.
J: What can you tell us about the discussion about Papua New Guinea?
What was the upshot about the discussion about Papua New Guinea?
PM: Well, it was a concentration on Papua New Guinea's finanicial
problems for the moment and, as you know, irs looking at a change of
its exchange rate system, it has budgetary problems, and we had a
general discussion about how we see those problems, how we relate to
them, and that is, of course, over and above the more obvious ones
like the place conference of _ Bouganville, and the, you know, the
volcanoes etc in Rabaul.
So was there any decision about Australian action or was it just a
discussion?
PM: Well, it was a discussion about.. . a Government has to have an attitude
of mind to these long run relationships, and longer running issues.
And they change from time to time. So the cabinet, to organise its
mind about these things, has a discussion from time to time. And it
was one of those sort of discussions.
J: So you don't expect any action to be taken?
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PM: Well, there is a lot of action being taken with Papua New Guinea all the
time. We have just been involved and are currently involved with
the training of the group that will assist with the peace negotiations on
Bougainville. And in the last month when I saw Prime Minister Julius
Chan recently, we advanced Commonwealth Australian Government
budgetary payments to Papua New Guinea by a quarter to help them
through a liquidity problem. So there's quite a bit happening in the
relationship, but you need to re-focus every now and again, and find
your bearings again, and then move on.
J: Any further discussion about financial injection in Papua New Guinea?
PM; No, no.
J: Prime minister, there was a poll out this week which suggested South
Australians were the most pessimistic about the future of the State.
With the change of government, do you think the present
administration is going in the right direction in terms of turning the
structural problems that the economy has?
PM: Well look, as I said earlier, I think South Australia has every opportunity
to pick up on things happening in the national economy, and to focus
on the things which the national economy itself is focusing on on
expo~ s, on added value, on product innovation, and that is gradually
hippening in South Australia. You are seeing the product base
change towards exports, you are seeing the car companies focussing
on exports, you'can see it with specialised manufactures. And one of
the things I think, or certainly one of the things I wantied'to do, was to
try to bring South Australia more into the Eastern States' economy, and
that is one of the reasons why I proposed the building of the standard
gauge railway out from Melbourne to Adelaide. Now, without that rail
iink-there has always been a rail link but of a different gauge, and
that's always been a problem, and I think to do those sorts of things is,
you know, going to be important. But in everything, the important thing
is confidence and direction, and I think that as the business community
here picks up the general confidence of an upswing in the economy,
and also the linkages into Asia, the prospects for exports I don't think
South Australia is going to have any problem latching onto that.
J: Do you think, though, the fear of another round of interest rate rises
would prevent South Australia from locking in?
PM: No. Why? Interest rates are only 0.7% off their base in the last
years or something.
J: Prime Minister, on female representation on boards and that, is it fair to
say that some Departments aren't exactly getting anywhere near the
target at the moment?
PM: Well, its because it's the, I think, there are a number of reason for this.
One is that a lot of some of the so-called " boards" ( in inverted
comma's) particularly, say in Primary Industry where there are
virtually dozens and dozens of marketing and statutory marketing
boards -the producer representatives come to a notionally
Commonwealth Board, but there is no Commonwealth Cabinet
discretion about who comes. Now, we can encourage them, and we do
encourage peoplo to, particularly industry sectors of groups, to have a
better gender balance in the representation, but often you will find
these Boards send along the people that they think are most involved
with their industry. And that may not be with a large complement of
women. Thon there is the discretionary commitments by the
Commonwealth, or appointments by the Commonwealth to those
Boards. So in a sense, if you look at the totality, it is very hard to move
the representation up rapidly because a large part of the complement
of these Boards are not there at the discretion of the Federal Cabinet or
the Commonwealth Government. The other thing is, there are a lot of
so-called Boards that are not Boards they are essentially just
Departmental meetings. You know, it can be the sort of, you know, the
something the Defence Procurement Advisory Board, and you have
got a number of officers and Senior Public Servants sitting on it. I
mean, in a sense, it shouldn't have the status of a Board. So all these
things are changing the weighting and complement of what I think it
is going to be, and what has already been, a substantial change by the
Commonwealth in terms of the representation of women. Much greater
than say the Private Sector, and I think we're trying to encourage both
our own Departments and certainly, the view of ministries towards it's
constituency in terms of the representation of women, and at the same
time, encourage the Private Sector to do its bit.
J: Does that mean that the 50% target isn't really achievable in a lot of
areas?
PM: Well, if you say that blanket 50% only a relatively modest proportion
of the total numbers involved are there at the discretion of the
Commonwealth Government. So I think it's a case of objective
measurement, you know.
J: But isn't it, I mean some Ministers have been arguing that perhaps we
should be moving a bit quicker and perhaps that the target should
become a definitive figure now?
PM: Oh, that's what in a sense we decided today; that we remain
committed to this objective. What we are going to do now is to improve
the options that ministers have for appointing women to particular
Boards, and then say to the non-Government organisations, we want to
see when you give us a clutch of nominees for a particular Board, or
where we have ex-officio members to a Board, we would like a bit of
gender balance.
Would you be in favour of legislating that in the Private Sector as well?
PM: No, I don't think so. No, I'm not in favour of legislating. I think this is
something that has to change over time, because its such a huge
undertaking to get this change through business, but it's happening, I
think. And it will happen better with the leadership of the
Commonwealth.
J: Mr Keating, Dame Joan Sutherland yesterday took a spirited stand on
the subject of the republic were you impressed by her arguments?
PM: No. I wasn't impressed by her arguments. I mean, look, I think Dame
Joan is a person a most celebrated Australian and a most
appreciated one, but I think it is a long time since she has been part of
the contemporary Australian debate, if ever. And it is probably a little
unfair, I think, on her, to be asked to step into a debate which is shaped
by contemporary circumstances, and ask her to give, if you like, a set
of relevant and contemporary views. I mean, I just think that in her sort
of expatriate position, she's not really able to do that.
SBut she volunteered to be involved
PM; Well, all sorts of people volunteer for things. It's a case of good
intentions are not always good enough, and I think this is a case here
without detracting from the standing that she has earned for herself
with the country.
J: Is the Cabinet Sub-Committee making much progress in relation to
Government's response to the Turnbull Committee report?
PM: Well, I think the answer is that we have been thinking about it, and we
have been thinking about it in the context of the public debate. I mean,
we did say that we wanted a public debate we've got one, quite a
spirited one, and you know, you do pick up the threads of that debate.
I mean, all of us in this room, all your views would have changed today
from say, 6 months ago, about what elements of the debate are the
most interesting than perhaps was the case 6 months ago. And this
does help, I think, in forming your views. Now when we think our views
are informed to the point where we can say something that is very
concrete, then I think we will.
J: And do you know when that might be? Is there a timeframe?
PM:-No, I wouldn't want to commit us to a timeframe, but certainly we will
say something about it in the life of this Parliament. I was hoping to do
this before the end of the year, but I probably won't be able to.
J: Prime Minister, on the MFP do you think that South Australia was the
right choice, in retrospect? It has been a long time getting off the
ground.
PMV: Well, again I think you have got to look at the world economy. There
are very great influences on Japan to change. I mean. and to look at
other locations. I mean, Japan is going through a structural recession.
Japanese savings are so strong, The exchange rate has been
appreciated so much that large sectors of Japanese industry are now
uncompetitive, and it is simply an imperative for them to put those
industries and services off-shore. And you see this in car companies
in Australia, and you're seeing it with other electronic plants around
North America and Asia, and you'll see it with, I think, the MFP. I
mean, that is the genesis of it. But also in any recession as Japan has
been through, an uncharacteristically long one, it's not inexpiable that
they have wound back somewhat, but then now started to say as they
can see their way more clearly to see what sort of change Japan
should have in terms of its industrial structure and industrial sectors,
how the MFP opens up as an opportunity, and that's is why I think
there is more interest, and more genuine interest.
J: You don't think that the Japanese economy has become too wealthy for
its own good?
PMV: Well, what Japan has got to do is lift domestic demand, and-start
comnsu m tojm ports and running down savings. And it his been at the
savings game for now, what, all the post-war years, and the savings
are so enormous that obviously it has reflected now on the exchange
rate, and the exchange rate is now rendereing large slabs of Japanese
industry uncompetitive.
J: Just to go back to Dame Joan Sutherland are you concerned that the
comments she made about being served by Chinese and Indians in
the Post Office are sort of fostering racial tensions?
PM; Only concerned for her. I think that those sort of, you know, I don't
want to see her in this period of her very distinguished and truly
illustrious career, caught up in a political debate which she really isn't
familiar with. And I think it's a reflection on the organisers of this, as
much as it Is on her.
J: South Australia has been described as Labor's black hole how do you
rate Labor's chances of winning back much support by the next
Federal election?
PM: Well, the way we're going, pretty well. I mean, and I think also, I mean
no party in an election there's always, you know, we're always out
there with the binoculars looking for the silver lining. They are
bouncing around the clouds finding the lining. Because in some
elections you do poorly you know at the next one there's a chance to
do better, and I think this is true for the AtrIahaLabor Party in a
number of States it's true in South Australia, I think.
J: Prime Minister, given that you have one woman out of 8 federal reps
from South Australia Senator Rosemary Crowley you would
obviuosly see South Australia as very fertile ground for fast-tracking
women in the next round of pre-selections is that correct? Do you
think South Australia needs more work than other States?
PM: No. I think the committment by the Federal Conference of the Labor
Party is pretty clear, and State branches are now going to ex . ercise
theii-mind about meeting that commitment. And this is going to be just
as true in South Australia as any other place.
J: Mr Keating, what is your attitude to widows of Vietnam ' Vets following
the Governments decision today to accept the links between cancer
and Agent Orange?
PM: Well, there will be a process about the claims and their relativity to
exposure to these particular agents and defoliants, and you know, they
will be handled in the way in which other claims war-related claims
are handled.
J: But earlier today Con Sciacca said he wasn't sure if people would be
able to even make claims?
PM* Well. I haven't seen that detail yet, no. I haven't seen what he said
about that yet.
J: Prime Minister, what happened to make you to defer your assesment
to the Turnbull Report from this year to next year?
PM: Basically just pressure of work. I mean, I have been running that long
so hard for so long, you know up to Japan and Indonesia and we have
had Parliamentary sitting weeks, and the visits I did in relation to
putting together the drought package, and then Cabinet consideration
of theso sort of things, and the National Conference. It's very hard to
get the collective mind of Ministers and sit down on a subject as
esoteric as this and say now where are we dragging all these threads
together where are all the bits, how can you tie the bits up? You
know, we'll get around to it.
J: How important is the Committee's decision to respond to the various
reccommendations or suggestions that
PM: Look, I think that the Tumbull Report was a first class report it did go,
as it was asked to go to the real issues in the debate, and put views
down. Now often you don't quite got that from some reports, but this
really did address them, and I think it is a valuable document for the
public debate, but it is also valuable for the Government irs one of
those reports that you don't have to just take, look through and put on
the shelf if s one you go back to, and I think we will go back to it in
consideration of this.
J; Prime Minister, you mention the Patwalanga.. .( inaudible)
PM: Well, just to say that I think that this has the repuation of being one of
the worst polluted waterways in the country it obviously has very large
influences on this region of Adelaide, and I think that if we can do
something to remove pollution and improve water quality, the area will
again be used for recreational uses for leisure and I think it will
probably have other spin-offs as welt, in terms of a demonstration
effect of being able to show people what we can do with water
technology in Australia.
J. And you are confident that the package you announce tomorrow will be
able to ( inaudible)?
PM: I think so, and there are other elements of it which I think FI leave
until tomorrow.
J: Is there anything more we can be doing for Cambodia in the light of the
developments over the last 48 hours?
PM: No, I think they require some mature reflection Peter. There are, there
has been a great opportunity for Cambodia with the democratic
elections, but the system has got, the country has got to be made to
work, the system of government must be made to work, and you know,
I think any governemrnt certainly a government like Australia would
be at first looking to see how that political system might work better
before one embraces some of the other solutions being bandied about.
J, Prime Minister, the worst river you talked about flows past the worst
airport in Australia ( inaudible) some detail about the Conference
decision last week while you are in town this weekend....
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PM: Well, I thought, can I say that for a new man in the job, ke Rann did
very well at the Conference for South Australia with the Airport, and as
a consequence, Adelaide will have in the course of these
arrangements, an extension of its runway, and that will be part of the
scoping study. We can't at this point know who the lessee's of the
airport will be. The arrangements aill be such that the extension goes
there. Now, that's the commitment that I think matters to South
Australia. The detail will get worked out over time. Thank you.
ends.
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