E&OE……………………………………………………………………………………
JOURNALIST:
What’s your reaction to Kim Beazley’s admission this afternoon?
PRIME MINISTER:
Mr Beazley has been caught out. I want to know whether there was more than one meeting, I want to know what was discussed, I want to know why Mr Beazley didn’t tell us this earlier. Of course he would have discussed the sale of Telstra. Just as they discussed and executed the sale of the Commonwealth Bank, and the sale of an airline. Of course they would have discussed it. This has completely destroyed any credibility he has on this issue. Nobody can believe after this admission any guarantee that he gives on the sale of Telstra.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think Kim Beazley’s lying ?
PRIME MINISTER:
Mr Beazley has been caught out. He’s concealed this until now, and it’s because he has been put on the spot and he’s had to come clean. That’s no way to deal with the Australian people. He’s tried to make a virtue out of his pure as driven snow position of opposition to privatisation, yet he now admits when he was Finance Minister he considered the privatisation of Telstra. The man can no longer be believed on that issue.
JOURNALIST:
But does it matter now. He says he’s definitely not going to sell Telstra.
PRIME MINISTER:
It matters on the score of credibility. This is credibility, this is hypocrisy. This is somebody saying one thing and doing another. I repeat, don’t listen to what he says, remember what he did. He says he won’t sell Telstra, he now admits he was involved in a discussion about the sale of it.
[ends]