Subjects: 2001 election.
E&OE……………………………………………………………………………………
MCGRATH:
Prime Minister thanks very much for joining us.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning.
MCGRATH:
We’ll get to the bigger picture shortly but can I ask you first of all the Molongo observatory telescope may need to be abandoned, what can you tell me about that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I’ve only just been told in the last half hour of this claim in the Canberra Times apparently. I’ve sought advice on it, I can’t tell you anything more than that. When somebody can say something more, either Senator Minchin or Mr Reith will deal with it, I can only say to your listeners that I was advised that the site chosen for the defence headquarters was appropriate in all respects and I’d be surprised if something like this had been overlooked. But Catherine I don’t know, I’ve only just heard of the allegation and in the space of 30 minutes on a Saturday morning I haven’t been able to get advice but when I do one of the Ministers will say something.
MCGRATH:
Well no doubt we’ll hear a bit more about that later. Prime Minister you said yesterday that you wanted Australians to put their trust in the status quo. You said there’s too much happening on the international scene now to risk change. Do you think that’s enough to ask the Australian voters to virtually say vote for me because it’s not a good time to vote for someone else.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I went further than that Catherine. I did say that but I also said that over the last five and a half years the Government has proven a very competent economic manager, that we’ve repaid $60 billion of Labor’s $96 billion of debt and instead of interest rates being at 17 per cent and unemployment at almost 11 per cent, interest rates are now at 30 year lows and we’ve generated 900,000 more jobs. So I’m not just seeking a mandate for stability, certainty and strength in troubled time, I am doing that, but I am also happy to contrast our record of economic management in government and the strength that that management has given to the Australian economy and therefore its capacity to stand up in very troubled international economic circumstances, comparing that with the economic difficulties we inherited from Labor and the total incapacity of Labor to articulate over five and a half years any alternative plan whatsoever.
MCGRATH:
Prime Minister obviously the polls are very much in your favour, more so than they have been in the last two years. Are you concerned though about the National Party? In the seat of New England Stuart St Clair will be opposed by Tony Windsor, the very popular New South Wales state independent. Agriculture Minister Warren Truss’ seat of Wide Bay could be in jeopardy as well. Are you worried about their prospects?
PRIME MINISTER:
Catherine, this is a very tight election. The Labor Party only needs to win six or seven seats and they’re home. And the polls, the generic polls will inevitably tighten now that the election has been called. So I see it as a real fight. Yes Windsor’s got a big following, on the other hand Stuart St Clair has been an incredibly tenacious local member and I think there is a very strong case for believing that many country people will have a look at the situation and say well the bush is doing a little better, this Government has been responsive to our concerns about roads and telecommunications infrastructure and country doctors. And many of the things that we have been meticulously addressing, not in the last six months but over the last two or three years and despite Tony Windsor’s popularity at a state level, look at things in a more national way and I believe Stuart will hang on. It will be tough, very tough indeed because he faces the danger of a low Labor vote and Labor preferences going against him. So it’s going to be a very tough fight for Stuart but I’ve been impressed with his energy and tenacity, he’s prepared to stand up for his voters in the party room and really take it up to a Minister if he thinks his electorate is not being properly cared for. And I think his voters should bear that in mind.
MCGRATH:
Prime Minister can I move onto the tax cuts, you suggested in the last few months that there would be tax cuts once the surpluses were available. You said yesterday they’d now be more modest and more limited. You also said that there would not be many surpluses this year or next year. So what can the electorate expect on the issue of tax cuts?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it can expect us to say something about that but the offering and the extent will be more limited than might otherwise have been the case because the surpluses are going to be lower. And that is because the economy is slowing because of the impact not only of a slow down in the United States and many of the other world economies before the 11th of September but the terrible hit to economic confidence that the terrorist attack produced not only but particularly in the United States but around the world. I mean it will have a draining affect on economic growth in the months ahead, I hope not too much and the good thing is that we are better placed than most to withstand it. But inevitably when growth slows you have slightly higher expenditure in some areas and lower revenues, therefore the surpluses are lower. Once again having repaid so much debt the impact of lower surpluses will not be anywhere near as …
MCGRATH:
Prime Minister we’re nearly out of time…
PRIME MINISTER:
…we don’t really in this country have a Federal Government debt problem, our debt to GDP ratio is one of the lowest in the world. So fortunately once again because of what we’ve done over the last five and a half years we’ve put a lot of shock absorbers in the economy which can handle these sort of set backs. But the surpluses will be lower and therefore any tax cuts will be more modest.
MCGRATH:
Prime Minister can I just ask you very briefly, we’re nearly out of time, from what you’re saying there, for people who are looking into their own hip pocket and looking to see what they’re going to get from this Government and weighing up whether they should vote for them, just briefly if I can, will there be any dollars for middle income earners in tax cuts?
PRIME MINISTER:
… lot of dollars via lower interest rates, higher real wages and $12 billion of tax cuts last year. And may I also make the point if you put it in dollar terms and it’s not only a question of dollars, campaigns are about more than just dollars, the same constraints apply to the Australian Labor Party. They don’t have a surplus that’s available to them and not available to us. We are just living, because of changed international economic circumstances, we are now living in more difficult economic times and it’s going to get somewhat more difficult and that is a constraint that applies to both the Government and to the Australian Labor Party.
MCGRATH:
Prime Minister thanks very much for speaking to Saturday AM.
[ends]