JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, what can we expect tomorrow night?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I think the first thing you can expect is a complete destruction
of Mr Beazley's credibility on budget matters, because as a
result of Gareth Evans' admission yesterday that Labor did
leave behind a deficit of $10.5 billion, he's totally destroyed
the Opposition Leader's credibility on Budget matters. Because
for the last two years Mr Beazley has been denying that a deficit
of $10.5 billion was left behind, despite the starkest evidence
from the Treasury that that was the true state of the books.
So not only did Mr Beazley mislead the Australian public before
the last election, he is now, on the admission of his own deputy,
been demonstrated to have misled the Australian public for the last
two years. Because for the last two years, Kim Beazley has denied
the fact that he left behind a deficit of $10.5 billion. Now his
own deputy, Gareth Evans, has let the, not let the cat out of the
bag, but just demonstrated the obvious, and that is that Kim Beazley
has been misnd that is that Kim Beazley
has been misleading the public. So it's a double strike against
him. He misled the public before the last election and he's
been misleading the Australian public for the last two years. So
I don't think anybody can take any notice of what the Leader
of the Opposition says on this Budget or indeed Budgets for years
into the future.
Thank you.