PM Transcripts

Subjects: health; roads; Telstra; GST; election.
JOURNALIST:
And with me in the studio, very pleased to welcome the Prime Minister of Australia John Howard good morning sir.
PRIME MINISTER:
How are you?
JOURNALIST:
I';m quite well indeed. I guess you';re having fun at the moment are you?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don';t know whether you';d quite classify it as fun, I';m going all around Australia and I find that is always very stimulating.
JOURNALIST:
I can imagine you would, you get it all don';t you from the good side to the bad.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that';s natural.
JOURNALIST:
Bit of a rough time in Tassie yesterday.
PRIME MINISTER:
I don';t know about a rough time, I had three people out of about 50 who disagreed with me. But can I make the point, I don';t think my opponent has gone on one street walk in the four weeks of the campaign. I mean there is no point in running an election campaign were you';re too afraid to put your nose outside a radio studio and the whole thing is just orchestrated, the whole thing is done in an antiseptic clinical way. Every so often you';ve got to go out and just meet people and of course you';re going to get somebody who';ll come up and say you';re a mug. That';s the Australian way.
JOURNALIST:
Exactly. As we cover a lot of country area there';s a couple of quick issues, I know you';re very short for time, but there';s a couple of quick issues I';d like to touch on with you. Firstly with the health situation in the bush. Obviously we require more nurses, doctors out there, that kind of that.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that is true and we have begun, not just on the election campaign trail but we started a couple of years ago to do something about this, we had a very big package in the budget before last to get more doctors into country areas and that';s built on some earlier initiatives that this was a really big $500 million programme and it will take a while for the effective of it to flow through. The last budget we had something on practice nurses and of course in the election campaign we';ve announced the provision of a $100 million for extra nursing home places, particularly in country areas. So we are responding to those things and we';re also working with the professions to make sure that no, with the medical profession, to make sure that the trade practices laws don';t work in a way that prevents country doctors properly negotiating with hospitals and the like. It';s not easy and the insurance, the professional indemnity insurance laws create a difficulty for some of the specialities in rural areas but we started this process a long time ago, we haven';t just done it in the last few weeks of the election campaign. I went on an extended trip around countries areas more than two years ago and the two things that came through to me then that they really wanted the government to do something about where medical issues and roads. And we have acted on both of those things. There are some things they know that we can';t fix like the weather or international commodity prices. But the two things on that trip, which was the beginning of 1999, beginning of 2000 I';m sorry, they said to me we want you do something about and those things were roads and health. And we have acted on both areas, we';ve got this roads to recovery programme, we have a 70 per cent increase in the amount of money going into rural roads, it';s an enormous increase and I think people see that as a practical response, not on the eve of an election but a long way back.
JOURNALIST:
Certainly. The other issue that affects the bush obviously is that telecommunications issue and the sale of Telstra. The Labor Party have said that they don';t intend to sell it.
PRIME MINISTER:
Although they were looking at when they were in Government. Like they looked at and sold the Commonwealth Bank and looked at and sold Qantas. But anyway, go on.
JOURNALIST:
So with Telstra, what can we expect to see with Telstra under a Liberal Government as far as the sale is concerned? I believe that you';re trying to ensure that services to the bush is improved before the sale of Telstra.
PRIME MINISTER:
Our position is that we won';t sell anymore shares in Telstra, and we now own just over 50 per cent in controlling interests. We won';t sell anymore of them until facilities in the bush are up to scratch, simple as that. There was a Besley inquiry and Besley made a number of recommendations and we are in the process of implementing those recommendations and unless and until those recommendations have been fully implemented and we are satisfied after proper inquiry by talking the NFF, talking to local rural groups, talking to local Members of Parliament and other ways of satisfying, unless and until that happens we';re not going to sell anymore shares in Telstra.
JOURNALIST:
Also you put some pressure on the Labor Party to take their funding packages and their proposals to be priced and costings worked out on those. How close do you think…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think what the Labor Party is trying to do, is trying to delay the submission of these policies to the Treasury and the Department of Finance so that when they are published as will happen under the Charter of Budget Honesty we';ll be so close to the election they will hope that if there';s some problem for them it won';t matter. And I got a letter from Mr Beazley last night requesting all sorts of assurances that the document wouldn';t leave the sight of his emissary until it got the department. Look I';ve been prepared to provide an armed escort for his staffer to take the documents there. I just want him to send the documents, they should be there now. We submitted our documents several days ago, what';s he waiting for? What';s he holding out? I think he';s just a bit nervous that there are a few holes there. We reckon there';s a hole of about $1.2 billion and I think he';s very nervous about that.
JOURNALIST:
The other issue that we';ve asked people to send faxes and things into us prior to your visit to us this morning and the biggest issue that came through on that was the number of people who were wondering, they';re pensioners, aged care situations and the affect of the GST on them to this point in time. Do you think the GST has had a large impact on the aged people or is it more the Australian dollar and the fluctuation what';s gone on there. What';s been the…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well if you look at the measurements, the impact of the GST has been less then the increases in the pension that have occurred since the GST was introduced. Up ‘til September the increase in the cost of living, including the increase from the GST, which was a one-off increase, was about two per cent less than the rise in the pension over that period. I mean we have effectively increased the pension by two per cent over and above the cost of living as a special additional compensation to the introduction of the GST. So if you look at the general figures that argument can';t be sustained and on top of that you have the special $300 bonus in last year';s budget and there have been a number of improvements in the tax arrangements for self-funded retirees. So if you just look at measurements of the cost of living, the argument that people have been made worse off by the GST can';t be sustained, there';s no evidence that that is the case.
JOURNALIST:
How do you react to the number of businesses who claim that the GST has put them into bankruptcy. Do you think that';s the case?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well once again the surveys I';ve seen indicated that the causes of bankruptcy are largely unrelated to the GST. The reality of life is that some businesses will cease operation no matter what the economic circumstances are.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think some of the businesses might have decided that it was an easier way to go bankruptcy rather than face up to having to declare the money that they';ve been able to hide…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I do know that the GST has cut into the black economy, I can';t make particular linkages with individual bankruptcies, I don';t have that information. But I don';t get the mail that the GST has put people into bankruptcy. There are some people found the transition difficulty and I know that and I acknowledge that and that is why we tried to respond and I don';t pretend that it was easy for everybody but most people in business I talk to now, I';ve had a very long talk to a swag of small business men and women up in Townsville a few weeks ago and they basically said look it';s in now, we find it really gives us more information about our business than we ever had before, it might have been a bit of a hassle at the beginning but now it's there we don';t want to go back, we don';t want to change it, we';re running our businesses better, we';re more on top of what';s happening and we really don';t want to alter it.
JOURNALIST:
So what do you think about the supposed rollback?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think rollback is a joke, I mean effectively what they';re going to do is they';re going to keep the GST, they';ve got a few bits at the margin, the biggest item in rollback is gas and electricity and doesn';t start for 18 months.
JOURNALIST:
Fair enough. I know you';re pressed for time and need to get away, so just finally what';s the one thing that you would say to the voters who are heading off to the polls next Saturday. What';s the one thing that you would say about the Liberal Party and your ensuring should you get into office?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I can promise that we';ll run the economy, along with our Coalition partners the National Party, we will run the economy far better. Remember that when Labor was last in office interest rates went to 17, 18, 19, 20 per cent, they left us with $96 billion of Government debt, they took unemployment to a very high level, they let the unions dominate the waterfront, they would never have introduced the industrial relations reforms that we have and in a time of international uncertainty and difficulty, it';s a time for an experienced successful team to be at the helm, they haven';t really changed their spots on economic management, they are still party of high interest rates, high debt and union power. And could I particularly say to people who may be living in the New England electorate, that I need Stuart St Clair in order to be certain to be Prime Minister. I don';t have any observations to make about other candidates and I do say this that there';s not really the option of being certain that you';ve got a Coalition and also having a few independents. It could be a very close election and I really do need Stuart St Clair to get re-elected as the member for New England to be certain that I';m going to be Prime Minister and John Anderson';s going to be Deputy Prime Minister.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, thank you very much for your time and good luck next Saturday.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ends]