Subjects: Ryan by-election.
E&OE................................
KIRK:
Prime Minister, how much responsibility are you willing to accept for the result in Ryan?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I'm the Prime Minister. In the end I accept responsibility for anything and everything that effects the Government. I was responsible for the reshuffle which set in train the events which led to a by-election. The political climate then was very different from what it turned out to be on Saturday, the 17th of March. I have no doubt that the reshuffle was good for the Government. I think it's also fair to say that the by-election ended up being held in the worst conceivable set of circumstances for a by-election. We actually ended up doing better than most people thought we would.
KIRK:
But in three years you've gone from a super safe Liberal seat, Liberal heartland with a margin of 18%, you're now down to about zero. That's more than just a by-election wake-up call, isn't it, something's gone seriously wrong?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, hang on. You don't aggregate several elections, come on, I mean, that may be the line coming out of the Labor camp but, I mean, you don't.I saw Greg Sword, the National President of the ALP running that line yesterday. Forget about that. We had a bad by-election result. No worse than Bob Hawke experienced in the late 1980s and it was eight years after those by-election setbacks that the Labor Party was defeated. In no way can Ryan be compared, whoever ends up winning it, with either Bass or Canberra, which are the, sort of, benchmarks of disastrous by-elections. But I don't treat it lightly. It was a bad swing. I learnt a number of lessons from it and I want the Australian people to know that I don't take it lightly and I understand that there was a rebuke delivered to the Government.
KIRK:
So what's the primary lesson then?
PRIME MINISTER:
The primary lesson is that the reform process is always difficult because it involves change. There are a lot of benefits out of reform, namely higher living standards and more jobs but in the process adjustment can be difficult and we must, as a Government, communicate the reasons for change even more effectively than we have in the past. And we have to make sure that, where we can, the vulnerable sections of the community who may be adversely effected by change are helped. Now, that's a general lesson that comes out of this. We've now been in power five years. We've given the Australian economy much greater strength. We have a lower Government debt, lower interest rates, lower inflation, a budget in balance - all things that would be impossible under a Labor government.
KIRK:
Well, the biggest change that the Government has introduced is tax reform and the GST. So, when you say that you want to cushion those effected more, do you mean more compensation?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I'm talking more generally about change. I mean, I think that compensation for the GST has been very effective.
KIRK:
So when you're talking about cushioning people more, those effected by change, what sort of specific things though?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I'm talking generically, Alexandra. We don't have enough time on a programme like this to go through each individual issue.
KIRK:
Well, say, give an example where you think.
PRIME MINISTER:
Alexandra, I'm stating a generic proposition. You know that when particular issues come up you can come back and ask me about the cushioning arrangements that the Government will put in place.
KIRK:
Well, what do you say to your troops now? One of your troops told me last week that if the Liberals lost Ryan on top of the losses in Queensland and Western Australia he didn't know how the Government could stop the ball rolling to defeat. Now, obviously MPs are going to be feeling demoralised and edgy and that's a recipe for greater instability, isn't it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I will say to my colleagues that, yes, it's a bad result. No, it's not a Bass or a Canberra. That any suggestion that this means the Government will inevitably lose the election is defied by all historical experience. That we have a good story to tell, that we must, in a united way, redouble our efforts to tell the Australian people how effective we have been and how we have strengthened the economy of this country and how disastrous it would be to go back to the 17% interest rates, the $85 billion of Government debt and the 11% unemployment that were the hallmarks of Mr Beazley's years when he was last in Government.
KIRK:
But the key to whether you can still win the election or not is if Australians are still listening to you. Is it your view that their ears are closed or they're still open?
PRIME MINISTER:
The Australian people are always listening. They may not agree with what they hear and there are some things we have been saying over the past few months with which they have not agreed. And those Australians living in Ryan who don't like what they've heard told us on Saturday and I hear that and I understand that. But there's no point at which the public stops listening. In the end the Australian public always make very common sense judgements.
KIRK:
Well, they stopped listening to Jeff Kennett, didn't they?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well look, there are a whole lot of reasons why Jeff Kennett lost. I'm not going to get into that. That's not relevant to our discussion. I'm concerned about the contest at the end of the year between Mr Beazley and myself. And I have no doubt that, properly marshalled, the arguments that we will put over the months ahead will be heard by the Australian people. Whether, in the end, they accept them is for their good sense and their judgement and I will accept whatever judgement they make.
KIRK:
Well, you've had a bit praise for one Labor figure, that is Peter Beattie. You say that you've observed that his style is to talk directly to voters, that he sounds real. Are you going to try that approach a bit yourself?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I'm just going to be what I've always been and that's somebody who calls it as it is.
KIRK:
John Howard, thank you very much.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[Ends]