E&OE……………………………………………………………………………………
JOURNALIST:
Who won the debate Mr Howard?
PRIME MINISTER:
Who won the debate? I’ll leave that to the twelve-and-a-half million voters.
JOURNALIST:
Kim Beazley’s camp thinks it’s a clear victory.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well they would say that wouldn’t they.
JOURNALIST:
Has the worm turned?
PRIME MINISTER:
That worm that was Laurie Oakes’ did. But I mean, you know, well that’s for the Australian people to decide. As you know I’m not a person who ever takes anything for granted. It will be a tough election campaign. Very tough indeed. And I was pretty happy with tonight because I was able to get a few points across about issues that Mr Beazley had been talking about incessantly and I was pretty happy with it. But all of these debates in the end are….who wins and who loses that’s all resolved on polling day.
JOURNALIST:
Why won’t you debate Kim Beazley again?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think you have debates as part of a broader campaign. I don’t think you just decide elections on debates. You have them as one part of it and there are other parts of it. Mr Beazley’s got plenty of opportunity to put his point of view. And he’s had five and a half years to define himself to the Australian public and so have I. And I’m perfectly philosophical about these things. In the end the Australian people will make a judgement.
JOURNALIST:
Are health and the environment not worth debating?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, he could have mentioned them tonight. I mean it wasn’t my fault that he spent time on other issues. He decided to talk about them. Any way look, these things in the end are not for you or for me or for selected audiences. In the end the Australian public decide who they want and whatever decision they make on the 10th of November I’ll be accepting of. I’ll be disappointed if they don’t re-elect us. I’ll be deeply honoured if they do. But whatever happens I’ll continue to serve the Australian people. Thank you.
[ends]