3 December 1997
E&OE..........................................................................................................................
ROBERTSON:
The Prime Minister, Mr Howard, is on the line. Good morning, sir.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning, Clive. How are you?
ROBERTSON:
Good. Did you vote for Mr Harradine? I’m trying to work out who voted for Mr Harradine.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, some people in Tasmania did.
ROBERTSON:
Is that it. I just wondered why he had so much power. But getting on to other things. We were, in fact, going to talk to the person who wrote the book about you. Have you read the book yet?
PRIME MINISTER:
I haven’t. I’m expecting to get a copy some time today. So I’ll have to do a quick reading of sections of it tonight. But I certainly haven’t read it, no.
ROBERTSON:
I’ll let you know, hey. All right, these fires seem to be part and parcel of this country, but even so, it seems to be a mini tragedy every time. Where are you at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I’m just travelling back from having visited the Fire Control Centre in Heathcote, the south of Sydney. And I received a briefing from the Commander there about the situation. They’re a lot more hopeful and optimistic because of the change in the weather.
I wanted to go there just to express the thanks of the Australian Government for the effort of the police and the firefighting services and the ambulance, in particular the volunteers. That volunteer spirit always comes out in Australia on occasions like this.
It is a worry that the fires have started so badly so early. But we must hope that the weather turns more benign and that the change that’s occurred in the last few days will continue at least for a week or so, so that the current outbreak can be brought well and truly under control and, indeed, got rid of.
ROBERTSON:
Indeed, well, we’ve got almost three months of summer left. I mean, it all seems a bit much, doesn’t it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, that’s the worry. The last few occasions we’ve had these very serious problems they’ve tended to occur after Christmas. So this is occurring at the beginning of December. I don’t want to overstate that. I’m certainly no expert on weather patterns or fire control but everybody seems to quietly say - well, it is a bit of a concern that it’s this early.
But I’m filled with admiration for the huge volunteer effort of people on occasions like this. And, of course, tragically two men lost their lives at Lithgow yesterday and, well, it’s the greatest sacrifice anybody can make to lose their life helping the community and all of us must feel quite saddened and, indeed, devastated by that news.
ROBERTSON:
All right Mr Howard. When you’ve got time and all the debate is over, perhaps you might pop in again. It’s about time I think.
PRIME MINISTER:
It is indeed.
[Ends]