22 November 1997
E&OE..............................................................................................................
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, is there a concern that the focus on the East Asian financial crisis may overshadow the agenda of trade liberalisation here at APEC?
PRIME MINISTER:
It would be unrealistic if what has happened in the region financially weren’t discussed and discussed a lot because there have been some very major developments. What happened has reinforced the need for continued progress on trade liberalisation and it also reminds all people, particularly the Australian public, that you have got to have the foundations of your economy right in this potentially volatile world, and those who thought that cutting the deficit and repaying debt and getting rid of Mr Beazley’s $10.5 billion deficit was an exercise in ideology and semantics were completely wrong. If we had not done that the Australian economy would be a lot weaker and a lot more vulnerable and a lot of Australians would be a lot more worried about the future than they need now to be.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, if the $10 billion deficit hadn’t been reduced then the IMF would have been in Australia by Melbourne Cup Day 1997. Do you agree with that assessment?
PRIME MINISTER:
There is absolutely no doubt at all that if we had not taken action to get our domestic house in order, Australia would be poorer, weaker and more vulnerable and I am more convinced than ever that we got our priorities right. And those who pretend that there is a magic pudding solution to economic problems are deluding themselves and the reality of what has happened in the region is a brutal reminder of that.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think Australians will accept Australia’s participating in an international bail-out of South Korea?
PRIME MINISTER:
We haven’t been asked yet. I don’t deal in hypothetical situations. We involved ourselves in the currency swap for Thailand, we indicated our willingness to help in relation to Indonesia. It remains of course to be seen whether there is an actual requirement in relation to the latter because the IMF support may well prove to be on its own enough. I will just deal with events as they come along but we are an active player in the region, we are a strong partner, we are in a stronger position now because of what my government has done, but we haven’t been asked yet, and we will see how the situation unravels, but realistically this financial turbulence has got to be discussed, it has got to be addressed and most importantly every country in the region has got to make certain that its fundamentals are strong and enduring and that they don’t kid their domestic audiences that you can have economic security without economic discipline.
Thankyou.