HOLT:
Prime Minister, John Howard, welcome to the programme.
PRIME MINISTER:
Very nice to be with you.
HOLT:
It is very much appreciated, you taking the time out of your very busy schedule today to talk about a couple of local issues that we';d like to take up with you, one issue that is in the press today Prime Minister is the Princes Highway, in fact there are figures showing now that is the deadliest road in the state. Now going back into the early 90';s and the 1990';s we had several very serious bus crashes at Grafton and Kempsey and it was that time that the Federal Government decided to take more responsibility for the funding of that road. Is now not the time for the Federal Government to take a look at the Princes Highway and take a greater role?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well this is a difficult issue, because I';m not suggesting for a moment that there haven';t been a lot of fatalities and I can understand the concern of local people, the dilemma we have is that in the end you might as well abolish states, for every time there';s a state responsibility which they argue they should pass over to us, that happens. There are some roads that we have responsibility for, national highways, what are called roads of national importance, local roads where we fund local councils and we';ve extended that programme, but there are other roads, and this is one of them, where it';s clearly a state responsibility. Now it';s easy for Mr Scully to say well we can';t afford it, well New South Wales like all the other states gets all of the GST and the Federal Budget on Tuesday night revealed that every state';s going to be better off without exception as a result of the GST than they would have been under the old arrangement. So if the federal system is to mean anything, and I must say the more I see states just trying to shift responsibilities I begin to have my doubts as to whether the federal system is functioning properly, if it';s to mean anything then those things for which we have responsibility, we don';t ask the states to help fund the Army, or things for which we clearly have responsibility and I just ask people to accept that if we are going to have a federal system and there are some things the states have got to do and some things we';ve got to do and some things we share. Now this is a state responsibility and we believe it should be funded by the New South Wales Government. That is incidentally the view of the Federal Labor Opposition as well, I think Mr Ferguson as Opposition spokesman has made the same comment. Now I know that';s probably not a popular response for me to give to people who are listening but sometimes you really do have to try and hold the line as far as our system of government is concerned, otherwise it just, you know we might as well not have it.
HOLT:
It would seem though that the Princes Highway, particularly south of Nowra is a special case, there is no rail, this region relies entirely for transport, transport services for the goods and services that come into this region and go out of this region on that highway. It is also a highway now that will be servicing the naval ammunitioning depot at Two Fold Bay at Eden. Why can';t the state and federal government work together to find a solution for funding on this highway.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the state and the federal government are meant to work together in relation to highways and roads generally, with us accepting responsibility for national highways and local roads, a sharing in relation to certain other roads, and then others being the responsibility of the states. But what happens almost without exception is that whenever any pressure comes from a community on the state government even in relation for things which they have responsibility, they say oh well we';ll put in a certain amount and we want the federal government to put in the rest. We don';t ask them to sort of put in the rest for things that we have responsibility for, I mean the Roads to Recovery which involves $1.2 billion for the local councils, we haven';t said to the local councils we';ll only make that money available if the states make it an equivalent amount of money available, we accept that if we';re going to fund that programme it';s our responsibility. Now if I could just go back to my original point, if we simply say well this is something that we';ll pick up the tab for as I say what is the point of having state governments?
HOLT:
We';ll move on just very quickly to another issue, and a very important issue, and that of drought, and exceptional circumstances.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, and we accept our responsibility there and we get very little contribution from the states and we';re not, you know, when we give drought money we don';t say we';ll only give it if the states match it.
HOLT:
The funding is not the issue of this that I';d like to raise, there is a real issue though of the process that needs streamlining and the other issue is that once exceptional circumstances have been established there';s a real reluctance, and this is starting to appear not just in this region but across Australia, for farmers to apply for that assistance because I guess one is the issue of pride and there are also so many hoops for farmers to jump through. Now this is an issue that really needs looking at and some changes in the processes.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I wouldn';t disagree with that, I think you could always improve it, it';s another one of these programmes where most of the money is provided by the Commonwealth, in fact almost all of it under the EC system, yet the application has to go through the states and whenever you have two bureaucracies involved, one is bad enough, with great respect, but when you have two involved you will always get complications and I';m sympathetic and sensitive to the views of the farmers about the complexity and it';s something that we, I gather Warren Truss had a major gathering in Canberra a few weeks ago where he brought the agriculture minsters from all the states in and they tried to work out a better way of the two governments working together. Sometimes the state and federal governments work well together, and sometimes they don';t, and you do get rivalries, it';s one of the unhappy incidences, elements of the federal system of government. But we would want a simpler system, we';re certainly full on in our financial commitments under the EC arrangements and if there are ways in which we can make it better from an administrative point of view and encourage more people to apply who are entitled well I';d like to see that happen.
HOLT:
Prime Minister, you';re visiting the Eurobodalla region this morning, what will you be doing?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I';m doing a number of things, I';m going to visit a retirement village, and I';m going to inspect some roads, you don';t visit any rural area of course without inspecting roads and I';m going to go to a school assembly and then attend a lunch. So I';ll be pretty busy in the space of a few hours, but I like visiting the Eurobodalla, I';ve been there before and it';s an area that';s very well represented in Federal Parliament by Gary Nairn who';s been in the Parliament as the Member for Eden-Monaro since 1996 and he works very hard.
HOLT:
Just a final question Prime Minister, you and I share a passion for a particular football team#8230;
PRIME MINISTER:
Something went wrong last weekend.
HOLT:
Something went very wrong last weekend, I';m just wondering what are your thoughts for this weekend?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well they had a number of injuries.
HOLT:
Well they did have a number of injuries.
PRIME MINISTER:
That';s my story.
HOLT:
That';s your story, it';s mine too.
PRIME MINISTER:
And I';m sticking to it.
HOLT:
What about this weekend against the Bulldogs, can they do it Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I wouldn';t be surprised if they did because see they have sort of been giant killers this season haven';t they?
HOLT:
They certainly have.
PRIME MINISTER:
They';ve risen to the occasion when they';ve not been given much of a chance. Now people would look at last weekend, although the Bulldogs lost too last weekend didn';t they?
HOLT:
I think they did.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes they did, so therefore on that. #8230;and then of course there';s another game in another code that a lot of people will be watching very closely, the Brumbies, and we do wish them well, they';re Australia';s only hope now in the tri-nations if I can put it that way and so there';ll be a lot of support all over the country for them.
HOLT:
Prime Minister, we do appreciate you taking time to speak on South East morning and the invitation is always open. Enjoy the hours you spend in the Eurobodalla today.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you very much.
[ends]