E&OE...............................................................................................
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
....[tape starts] deliver low unemployment in this country as the
Federal Government.
JOURNALIST:
So the Carr Government can't claim [inaudible].....
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, the strong economy in this State is overwhelmingly due to the
policies that we have followed over the last three years. And at every
turn, Mr Carr and Mr Beazley have tried to stop us doing the very
things that have now given us the prosperity and the jobs growth that
Mr Carr wants to skite about.
JOURNALIST:
How do you see the Coalition campaign going here in New South Wales?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it's going very well. I think the Labor Party has got
very smug. I notice this morning that Mr Wran was luxuriating in predictions.
But one thing I have understood very well about the Australian people
is that they don't like being taken for granted and when political
parties start to say they are going to bolt it in or they are going
to win by a country mile or it's all over bar the shouting, the
disposition of the Australian electorate is to take it back a peg
or two. And I think this is a tough campaign but I think the campaign
is going very well for the Coalition. The last two weeks will be absolutely
critical and I think the Coalition's prospects are extremely
good. And I think Kerry has run an excellent campaign and the next
two weeks are really going to be fascinating and so far from predictions
of landslide Labor victories, I think it will be a very tight result.
JOURNALIST:
So what advice have you given Mrs Chikarovski?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, you know what it's like in politics, you chat.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible] in the polls what do you say to that? In the opinion polls....
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, you know the stock political response to any questions about
opinion polls.
Thank you.
[ends]