Subjects: Liberal Party reform package; leadership; security of defence intelligence
E&OE...............................
Well, ladies and gentlemen, today's decision by the NSW state council which voted by almost 82% to adopt a reform package is a fantastic result. It is a very important signal to the people of NSW that the Liberal Party has, in a very cross-factional united fashion, decided to put its internal house in order. It will give great strength to Kerry Chikarovski and her parliamentary team. It demonstrates a willingness to sink internal differences for the greater common good.
I have to say that the result has exceeded my expectations. It was much stronger than I expected and the terrific thing about it is that the different shades of opinion within the party, having had their argument about the method of electing delegates to state council, once that issue was resolved, that they to the tune of 82% got behind the package. And that sends a signal of unity and cohesion that I haven't seen for a long time. I think it is very importantly good news for the state parliamentary Liberal Party, for my colleague Kerry Chikarovski, and it is an important reminder of the underlying strength of the NSW division within the Liberal Party of Australia.
I want to record my thanks to Tony Staley who chaired the committee; to Kerry Chikarovski for the leadership she displayed at a state level; to Bill Heffernan who was my representative on the committee and who worked prodigious hours. I also pay respects to the various individuals in the party in NSW who speak from time to time on behalf of various groups within the party - for the honourable way in which they conducted their business in relation to this. That's very important and it gives me - as somebody who has been a member of this division for a very long time and who has attended more meetings in the Masonic Hall than he virtually has in the Cabinet room - it gives me very great heart that there's a great strength of wanting to go forward in unity. So it is a tremendous result and I thank the NSW Liberal Party for the great maturity and common sense all its members have displayed.
Perhaps Mrs Chikarovski would like to say something.
CHIKAROVSKI:
Well, can I echo the Prime Minister's words and say how delighted I am with the result. It has certainly exceeded I think most people's expectations but it does show as the Prime Minister has said, that the Liberal Party are now prepared to work together as a united team to move forward. And that is what this whole process has been about - working out a way in which we could make the political party, the Liberal Party in this state, an effective political machine. We've taken the hard decisions about reform. We've managed to reduce our state executive. We've put in place a system whereby our party faithful at large can be actively involved in the party in all sorts of ways - campaigning, policy - and I think that is a very positive thing for the party and it's about us moving forward. And I am totally and completely thrilled that the result was as overwhelming as it was. Thank you.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, your party is only half reformed - they've taken one of the most important aspects of the package that was put up by the committee and said we don't want that.
PRIME MINISTER:
No, that's not right. The argument about how you elect delegates to the State Council was not the core of the reform. The core of the reform was the reduction in the size of the state executive from an unwieldy figure of 44, and the introduction of a disputes resolution mechanism that means in future the state executive will focus on campaigning and focus on matters of external political moment to the division rather than on internal disputes. But the method of electing state council delegates - there is a range of views, that wasn't a black and white issue, some people wanted the status quo, others wanted a change. I've got to tell you, from my point of view, I'm quite happy with the outcome. I though either would have been appropriate. The core of the package was not how you choose delegates to state council. Under one result you have 885, under another result you have 715 - you can hardly say that represents a monumental difference.
JOURNALIST:
. the party remains factionalised?
PRIME MINISTER:
Nonsense. 83 to..
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible)
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I suppose if you want to try for something you can. But when you get a vote of 82% I think you are pushing uphill a little bit.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, does that shore up the leadership prospects of Kerry Chikarovski?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think the result is in part an endorsement of the leadership she has shown inside the organisation. But she campaigned very hard for this reform package. People were all the time giving me advice as to whether - not only where I should be today, but what I should think and what I should say - and I kept my counsel on that. Kerry was in there from the very beginning working very hard to get a positive outcome, and she put her authority on the line to get reform and she got reform. Look, the question of the parliamentary leadership is a matter for my NSW colleagues. You know my view of her abilities and I've expressed my views on this subject in the past and they haven't altered.
JOURNALIST:
Does this outcome shore up your federal prospects in NSW in particular?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it won't do them any damage, but look, you know I take one thing at time and it's a valuable organisational reform and I don't want to overstate it and I don't think we want to understate it. All political parties suffer from a range of internal views. Your capacity to manage the resolution of those differences of opinion and then unite behind a common result is the measure of your success. And if you look at the NSW division today, yes, there was a strong division of opinion on how you elect delegates to state council, but having resolved that, 82% of them said they wanted to adopt a reform package. Now, that is the test of maturity. That crystallises the triumph of the common good over the factional passion, and that is far more important and that is the thing that makes me feel very pleased about today's result. As to its contribution, yes, it makes a bit of a contribution but we've had a few other contributions from the state of NSW recently to our federal prospects and they are all welcome, they are all helpful, and they will all be appropriately utilised.
JOURNALIST:
Had the state council election.. not been excised from the package and been voted on separately, would the rest of the package have successful?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think irrespective of the outcome on how you elect the state council delegates, the package would have been carried, because as I said, it wasn't in my view fundamental. Look there was quite a deal of feeling on that, and people wanted the option and one of the things I sought to do over the last week was to bring about a state of affairs where people could have the option of voting for a different method of choosing the state council and we achieved that by giving people the option and then in a secret ballot people voted in favour of that different method and I think that's very good. I mean, it should be understood that there was always a feeling that we perhaps ought to stick with the current method of choosing people to state council. Everybody was agreed on the need to reduce the executive, on the disputes resolution mechanism, on a campaign assembly to get a greater focus on campaigning and politics away from internal argument. There was a difference in view on how you choose the delegates to state council. In the end the majority wanted to stay with the current method. I'm quite happy with that. I certainly had no passion for the other method but I understood the arguments in favour. Either method in my view is of equal utility.
JOURNALIST:
So it's a happy coincidence that it is a win for the right?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I don't see it in terms of right or left having a victory. I see it in terms of being an extremely good outcome for the party. You don't get 82%, Stephen, in this Division without people sinking their differences behind the common good. I mean, if it had been 51.6% or even a bare 60%, you might have said, oh well it was one side plus the centre against the rest, but when you've got 82%, that is everybody - as many as you could ever get in a political party out of what, some almost 500 souls, getting 82% of them putting their hand up for the same proposition, that is a stunningly good result.
JOURNALIST:
Mrs Chikarovski, does this have any impact on the speculation about you as leader of the NSW Liberals?
CHIKAROVSKI:
Look, that speculation I think has been fuelled by all sorts of things. Let me say that my only concern about today has been getting this result and that is what I have been concentrating on and I think that the speculation that you talk about is of far more interest to the media than it is to anyone else.
JOURNALIST:
Mrs Chikarovski, do you think there may be a leadership ballot next month?
CHIKAROVSKI:
No I don't, I make it very clear I don't think there will be a ballot next month. I don't think there will be a ballot before 2003 and only then after the election and only then if the result is as we expect it, I think there will only be one candidate.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, would you like to see Mrs Chikarovski stay on as leader?
PRIME MINISTER:
She has my full support, always has.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think the Staley committee went to far or misjudged the mood of the party in putting up its recommendation about the state council?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I don't think they did. I think in the normal democratic process what happened was they produced a package which had a method of electing people to state council which was a bit of a compromise between what we now have and a more, I suppose, extreme variation of that, but in the end the important thing was that people were given a choice to vote for an alternative in relation to that area so it was a product of the discussions I had with the Staley committee over the past 48 hours. Those discussions made it possible for the option to be put up and people voted for it, but the discussions I had were always on the basis that whatever the outcome of that issue, people should get behind the package. I mean, I know there's a lot of speculation about whether I was going to be here or not, I mean.
JOURNALIST:
What persuaded you Mr Howard?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I took the view that the first people who should know why I was coming were the members of state council and I told them this morning.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, could you just tell us how concerned you are about the adequacy of security of our intelligence organisations..?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I have great confidence in them. As for particular matters I don't comment beyond what has been said by the Justice Minister. I have confidence in the arrangements. There are certain matters before the courts, it is not proper for me to talk about them, but as to the generality of security, I have total confidence in our security agencies.
JOURNALIST:
You're not asking for increased vigilance..?
PRIME MINISTER:
I have total confidence in them.
[ends]