LIEBMANN:
Prime Minister, good morning to you.
PRIME MINISTER:
Hello Steve.
LIEBMANN:
You acknowledge that you're in the fight of your political life and the polls would confirm that. Do you now regret not calling the election sooner?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, Steve. Look, there's no point in having regrets, I don't. I'm looking to the future. We've got a campaign and I've got an opportunity to present my plans for the next ten years for this country over the next six weeks and I will be asking that fundamental question of who do you trust to better manage the economy, keep interest rates low, keep living standards high and deliver strong budgets so we have more money to spend on health and education. They are the issues that are going to be central to this campaign and rightly so because it goes to the heart of people's living standards and their sense of personal and economic wellbeing.
LIEBMANN:
Can I put it to you, though, that a six-week campaign is a long one, in fact it's the longest since 1984. That in itself is risky and that who do you trust question could backfire.
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, Steve, I am in the hands of your viewers and their fellow Australians all around our country and there's really no point in asking me to give a commentary on the structure of the campaign. I have decided to have an election on the 9th of October. There will be a six-week campaign, that's all the more opportunity for Mr Latham to lay out his plans. But, look, I'm not going to spend my time dwelling on whether it should be six weeks or five weeks, I want to spend my time talking to the Australian people about my plans for our future over the next ten years.
LIEBMANN:
Alright, we'll talk to them now because you're going to have to give voters a reason to return you and a lot are looking, as I suggested to you last week, for any excuse to send you packing. How are you going to counter that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Steve, I'll be drawing on our very strong record. I'll be reminding people of the tremendous strength of the Australian economy of the huge falls in unemployment and the fact that under Labor their interest rates will be at risk. Over the last 30 years, every time we've had a Labor Government interest rates have gone through the roof because Labor Governments always go into deficit, they always spend more than they collect, they also run risky economic policies and this is the last time in the world, the last moment in the history of this country to be running risky economic policies because there's upward pressure on interest rates around the world, many Australians are very highly geared with their mortgages and therefore the sensitivity of interest rates will be central to this campaign and that is a very strong domestic reason why this Government should be returned.
LIEBMANN:
But interest rates could rise if your Government is returned. I mean, to suggest that it's only under a Latham Labor government that interest rates will rise, that's scare tactic, isn't it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Steve, what I'm saying is that interest rates are always higher under Labor Governments and I've got evidence to prove it. I'm not making that up, it's not a scare tactic, it's a fact. Everyone knows that interest rates have come down dramatically under this Government, everybody knows that if the interest rates that prevailed when Paul Keating was Prime Minister prevailed now the average Australian would be paying hundreds of dollars more a month on their mortgage bill. Now that is not a scare tactic, it's a fact. They went up under Whitlam, they went up under Keating, they went up under Hawke...
LIEBMANN:
They went up under Fraser.
PRIME MINISTER:
And it's the same... well, I mean, I've been Prime Minister for eight and a half years and this has been the best interest rate climate this country has had in a generation. Now that is an undeniable fact and the point I'm making is not a scare tactic, it is a statement of fact.
LIEBMANN:
How long will you serve if you win this election? Surely it's time to be upfront with the electorate.
PRIME MINISTER:
Steve, I'll stay as long as my party wants me to, it's not time specific. Anybody who thinks I don't like this job, you know, isn't looking or listening. I love this job. I love working for the Australian people. I get a buzz out of it no matter how challenging the days occasionally are, I get a buzz out of it on every single occasion I engage with the Australian people and I want to go on serving them but I'm not going to be time specific about it, I've said that I'll remain the leader - if the Australian people are good enough to re-elect me - I'll remain the leader for so long as my party wants me to. But I am so pleased, though, that I have in Peter Costello as a Deputy and as a Treasurer somebody who I think has been the best Treasurer this country's had and I see the partnership between the two of us as being a tremendous strength of the Government.
LIEBMANN:
Will you debate Mark Latham during the election campaign?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, I'll have a debate. I'm happy to have a debate...
LIEBMANN:
A debate?
PRIME MINISTER:
... yes, a debate, yes, a debate, we'll have a debate and we'll have it, I think the right time to have it will be in a couple of weeks time. I think the arrangements that obtained in the past where it's been hosted by Channel Nine, I think that's always worked effectively, I believe however on this occasion as well as having an anchor man from Channel Nine, we perhaps ought to have a small panel of experienced political journalists to provide a bit of variety.
LIEBMANN:
Who selects the journalists?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I think that should be a matter to be discussed. I mean, I wouldn't presume to nominate them, but I think you need a spread. I think the ABC should be represented and commercial television and perhaps commercial radio and News and Fairfax, but that is a matter to be discussed and I believe that there should be discussions between the party directors about the details and the protocols. Their my views and that's my position.
LIEBMANN:
Is there going to be dirty campaign?
PRIME MINISTER:
Won't be from my point of view, it'll be hard campaign. I will throw everything at it from a policy point of view. But I'm not going to attack Mr Latham as a man, I never have. I'm not interested in all that stuff, I'm not the least bit interested in it. I'm just interested in the fact that I can offer the Australian people a better outcome, they can more readily trust me to keep their interest rates low and to keep their living standards high and to keep the Budget strong so we've got more resources to spend on health and education.
LIEBMANN:
And to tell them the truth?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes.
LIEBMANN:
Look forward to talking to you through the campaign. Thanks for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ends]