Subjects: Centenary of Federation; the year in review; Ministerial re-suffle; Williamstown Naval base; Australian self-confidence
E&OE……………………………………………………………………………………
ACKERMAN:
Good morning Mr Howard.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good Morning Piers, good to be with you. Did you have a nice Christmas?
ACKERMAN:
I’m sorry?
PRIME MINISTER:
Did you have a good Christmas?
ACKERMAN:
Look I had a wonderful Christmas. Bit quiet. How about you?
PRIME MINISTER:
The same.
ACKERMAN:
Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER:
Very quiet, which was good.
ACKERMAN:
Well I think we’ve both worked through.
PRIME MINISTER:
We have yes, I’m not going on leave until the second or third of January, I’ve got a number of things to do on the first of January. It’s the kick off for the great year to celebrate the Centenary of Federation and Sydney of course will be the centre of activity on the first of January. And as the year goes on of course there’ll be events all around the country including a very big commemoration in Melbourne on the ninth of May to mark the inauguration of the first Commonwealth Parliament and the opening of it at the Exhibition Building, so it will be quite a year.
ACKERMAN:
I certainly hope to get down there but before we talk about the Centenary celebrations, you’ve had an extraordinarily busy 12 months in 2000. I was thinking this morning that 12 months ago there was a fairly noisy media mob still wondering why the Australian people had voted down that republic proposal at the referendum, yet earlier this year the Queen was welcomed back by very enthusiastic crowds. Twelve months ago the information industry was making very dire noises about the Y2K bug, yet it seems to have, might I say, it seems to have buggered off without biting. And probably most famously there were those warnings 12 months ago about the GST, yet the polls now show a very high level of acceptance and prices are down an average 4%. How do you see the last 12 months?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the last 12 months has been not only busy but more importantly it’s been a year in which a lot of long term, very good things have been achieved for the country. Certainly the economic highlight has been the very successful introduction of the new taxation system. And although I acknowledge that there are still some transitional challenges, and I’m very sensitive to those challenges particularly for small business, it has gone much, much better than our critics hoped and I feared might be the case. And it really is a great tribute to the capacity of the Australian people to accept and adjust to something which might be difficult in the implementation but in the long term is very good for the country, so thank you Australia, particularly thank you to the small business community. The prices impact of the new system is better than our official advice suggested. They are down in many parts of the country, and the other good news of course is that there are some signs around at the moment that the price of petrol might start to come down, it’s already come down a bit, I understand in the last month the average capital city weighed average price of petrol at the bowser has fallen by about 6 cents a litre and with a stronger Australian dollar and also a fall in world crude oil prices I’ll be looking to the Australian oil companies for further reductions in the weeks and the month ahead if those two conditions, that is the stronger dollar and also the fall in crude oil prices is maintained.
But this year has been a year of great activity, and of course we ended the year with a very major statement on defence. It’s the biggest commitment of additional money for Australian defence in a quarter of a century, and it’s the most comprehensive revamp of our defence forces. We had a very major agreement between the Commonwealth and the states to tackle the problem of salinity and water quality, that’s a long term environmental problem of very great magnitude. We’ve put down markers for social security reform, and early in the new year I’ll be making a major statement about science and innovation, which is so very important to the future of Australia. So we’ve done a lot, we’re doing a lot and as always in government there’s a lot more to be done.
ACKERMAN:
Sounds like you’ve got a very busy agenda. Those fuel prices statistics are certainly encouraging.. Of course the statistics coming out of Newspoll are also, I think, fairly encouraging for you, even though the Opposition is two points ahead in the mid-December poll, your leadership is still seven points ahead at 41 to 34. Are you smiling?
PRIME MINISTER:
I never smile very much about opinion polls Piers, I’ve been in this game too long to get carried about with them. I would have thought our poll position would have been weaker but I do have to acknowledge that Australian politics now is very unpredictable. I believe the Government deserves to be re-elected because it’s tried to do far sighted reforming things for the Australian community, and I don’t see any sign of an alternative road map from the Opposition, but that doesn’t mean to say that will happen.
And one thing that I can assure the Australian people of, or many things I can assure them of, but one in particular is that I’ll never take them for granted and I’ll never complacently assume that we’re going to be re-elected. I think the next election is going to be very tough for the Coalition, getting elected a third time is always hard and I won’t be taking it for granted. I’ve changed the Cabinet a bit and I’ve got a somewhat changed line-up. It’s no criticism of people who are going but we’ve had a bit of generational change and the new people in new positions will all give a good account of themselves so we’ll be firing from the very beginning of the New Year.
ACKERMAN:
Well there was certainly some solid performances put in by those outgoing people, I’m thinking particularly of Senator Herron with Aboriginal…
PRIME MINISTER:
He did a great job in that portfolio.
ACKERMAN:
Under a lot of fire too.
PRIME MINISTER:
A lot of quite unreasonable criticism and he held his nerve and he always of course had my very strong support, there were times when it seemed every newspaper in Australia, with one or two exceptions, were calling for his resignation. And I took the view that he was tackling the problems at their source and I found in the last few months, in particular, the widespread appreciation, once you get away from Canberra, amongst Aboriginal leaders of what he’s done.
ACKERMAN:
Yeah. Prime Minister from where you are this morning at Kirribilli House you’d be looking across the bridge, the Opera House, and in our defence paper of course you signalled some moves to move some of the naval activities away from Garden Island. Victoria’s Labor Government seems to read this as a threat to its Williamstown facilities.
PRIME MINISTER:
I’ve noticed that. Can I just say to the Premier of Victoria that he should remember a few weeks he rang me and asked for an assurance that in relation to the location of the Holden engine plant, where a choice had to be made between Adelaide and Melbourne, he wanted an assurance from me that the Federal Government would remain neutral. I gave him that assurance, the Federal Government did remain neutral. We don’t play favourites amongst the Australian States, irrespective of what their Government’s political complexion may be, and I can say again to the Victorian Government we’re not pushing in one direction or the other in relation to the location of ship building capacity in Australia. That will ultimately be decided by companies, and it will ultimately be determined by commercial considerations. In now way are we going to say well we’d rather have it in Adelaide or we’d rather have in Melbourne. The only thing I wanted to do in relation to the Holden engine plant was to make sure it came to Australia, but where it went in Australia is really something on which the Federal Government is neutral and the same thing applies to the shipyards and all this scare talk about this or that happening to Williamstown. That will ultimately be decided by commercial considerations. It’s not for the Federal Government to decide it and I’m not interested in getting caught in some kind of fight between South Australia and Victoria. I’m only interested a strong defence industry for Australia, and I want the maximum investment in defence industry in this country. Where it goes in this country is really a matter for commercial considerations because in the end we are dealing with companies that will make decisions based on commercial assessments. And I’m not into the business of playing favourites and I don’t think it’s very productive for some of Mr Bracks’ Ministers like Mr Hulls to be suggesting, as he was yesterday that we’re playing favourites because South Australia has a Liberal Government. I would just remind him and remind Mr Bracks I didn’t play favourites on the Holden engine plant. Victoria got that. That’s fine by me. It would have been equally fine by me if Adelaide had got it. The important thing is that Australia got it. And I’m interested in good outcomes for Australia and I don’t really mind what part of Australia secures the good outcome as long as it comes to Australia.
ACKERMAN:
I agree. I understand you’ve invited all the State and Territory Premiers and Chief Ministers to Kirribilli House and that you’ll all watch the fireworks with the Governor-General, Sir William Deane, from Admiralty House at the weekend. This is a rare bi-partisanship. I’m sure they’ll be able to talk about the Defence White Paper. Can we expect more of this sort of co-operation? I think that the Australian public would like to see a lot less of the toe-to-toe brawling in the Parliamentary bear pit.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I agree and I, in relation to all significant national occasions, I take a very bi-partisan view. I took very great care in relation to the involvement of our defence people in Timor that Mr Beazley and Senator Lees were involved in all the official farewells so to speak and visitations. I think it’s very important that we achieve as much bi-partisanship as possible. You need competition. It’s unrealistic to imagine that you won’t have fierce competition but you are right in saying that the Australian public is tired of opposition for opposition sake. They give marks for endeavour by people on either side of politics to act in the national interest and certainly on occasions like the Centenary – we have an enormous amount to celebrate. Australia has been a stunning success as a nation. Sure we’ve made mistakes, we’ve got things to be ashamed of like any other country but the great bulk of the last 100 years has been colossal achievement and good things and we’ve built a very cohesive, humane community and we should all of us, whatever our politics are, be very proud. And I see the Centenary as an opportunity for Australians to celebrate irrespective of their political background and all of us to feel an equal sense of pride in what our nation has achieved.
ACKERMAN:
I’d like to talk about national pride. I’m sure that you saw Premier Bob Carr’s excellent piece in the Telegraph earlier this week and Donald Horne has a piece also this morning. But we aren’t a nation of great flag wavers and there’s a fairly dour piece in the Financial Review this morning suggesting that we lack confidence as a people. Do you agree with that?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I don’t and I think there are a group of people, who for whatever their own political or cultural agenda may be, want to create the impression that we lack confidence presumably in the hope that if they can persuade people we don’t have enough confidence then we’ll agree to make major changes to the way we conduct our affairs. I have to say to you Piers that the most emotional moment of my 12 months as Prime Minister was on the Gallipoli Peninsula on Anzac Day this year and what stirred me most was the sight of between ten and fifteen thousand young Australians absolutely densely packing the peninsula – all of them expressing tremendous pride in the history of our country, many of them you talk about flag waving, many of them are draped in Australian flags, all of them cheerful, none of them irreverent and the experience of that will stay with me for the rest of my days. And it was a reminder of a change that’s occurred in our country. You wouldn’t have got that 25 years ago. You may not have even got it ten or fifteen years ago. Whatever the combination of reasons there may be it has been a change and I think people do have a greater appreciation of what this country’s achieved.
We also have an understanding that we have made mistakes and I think in relation to reconciliation in our different ways we’ve all come a long distance in the last year. I think people agree there are a whole lot of different paths that lead in that direction but overwhelmingly people have a positive view about Australia and nobody could have lived through the Olympic Games, and nobody could have experienced as I have over the weeks following the Games the reaction of world leaders to what this country presented to the world and then turn around and say, oh we lack confidence. I mean that is ridiculous. I think Australians are very self confident. They are people who are increasingly interested in and curious about their history and they are displaying their patriotism in an Australian fashion. I mean we’re not Americans, we’re not Europeans, we’re Australians and we demonstrate our passion for this country in our own particular style and we shouldn’t change it. And we shouldn’t feel in any way self conscious about it because it’s our style and it’s distinctive.
ACKERMAN:
I think you’ve been reading the notes prepared for my Sunday column Prime Minister!
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I’m pleased to hear that others may have my views because I just think that a lot of myths about this country have been exploded over the last few years – particularly in the last 12 months. We do have our own way of doing things and we shouldn’t try and change it to fit the mould of some self-appointed cultural dieticians.
ACKERMAN:
No, I agree and certainly the Fairfax view of Australia’s sense of place and confidence is totally at odds with that view that the Premier Carr discovered during his recent trip to the United States. He was on this program two days ago talking about the American executives he met who all were so positive about Australians they’d hired and he said what they really found is that they were intelligent, they had leadership capabilities and their educational background matched the best that come out of the US institutions.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don’t think there’s much doubt about that and for all that our education system – particularly at a primary and secondary level – gets knocked, the reality is it’s very good. The generality of school standards in this country is higher than in the United States. We have a better public education system than the Americans have but we also have a very good mix of public and private. We’ve achieved success in that area beyond probably any other country. But the real message that came out of the Olympic Games is that you couldn’t have done that as successfully as it was done without your nation being very self confident, being very sophisticated, technically very competent and also having a very sure view about it’s place in the world. My experience has been since then, meeting world leaders, of absolute praise for what Australia was seen as during that period of time. I think it has done wonders. It’s demonstrated something many of us believed and knew and I’m pleased to hear that there’s a bi-partisan view about it coming from the New South Wales Premier and being of a different political party because if that is his view he’s absolutely right and I agree with him.
ACKERMAN:
Yeah. Prime Minister, we’ve got a few more minutes. You’re going to take a break towards the end of January.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes I’m going to have a couple of weeks after the 2nd of January.
ACKERMAN:
Did you get any Christmas books? What are you taking away with you?
PRIME MINISTER:
I have got quite a number of … I’ve just finished reading … I’ve got several. I got a copy of Geoffrey Blainey’s History of the World, I’ll try – sounds a formidable undertaking to read a history of the world but I got a marvellous book from one of my brothers called “Five Days in London May 1940” which is an analysis of that five critical days during World War II when there was genuine debate within the British War Cabinet as to whether they would try and enter into negotiations with Germany to end the war.
ACKERMAN:
I think Halifax emerges as a most fascinating character.
PRIME MINISTER:
He does indeed and of course Churchill was successful in persuading them against any kind of compromise.
ACKERMAN:
An extraordinary battle though wasn’t it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I’ve just literally begun it and I’m told it’s very good. At page 23 it’s fascinating reading already. And I’ve just finished reading a book on the Federation, appropriately, by Bob Birrell which puts a rather more positive slant on the reformist zeal of the founding fathers than is often conferred by some other historians and it’s a very good read. I also got Geoffrey Bolton’s book on Barton – our first Prime Minister. I’ve just finished reading a book on the Bosnian Peace Settlement although it’s not particularly peaceful so I’ve got a fair amount to read.
ACKERMAN:
Well that Bosnian books sounds like a real …
PRIME MINISTER:
I’ve just finished that. It’s heavy going but it’s a good read.
ACKERMAN:
I think I’d turn to that one at about one minute past midnight. Prime Minister thank you very, very much for joining me this morning. I do appreciate it.
PRIME MINISTER:
Nice to talk to you Piers and happy New Year and I think it will be a year of great celebration for Australia but more a year to reflect on all that the country’s achieved and what the country represents and an occasion where people put aside their political differences – certainly for a while – and celebrate what we have in common which is an enormous amount.
ACKERMAN:
And certainly celebrate the opportunities that this country provides. Its wonderful. Well all the best for the New Year to you and your family. Thank you for joining me and all these 2GB listeners this morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Happy New Year to all of them.
ACKERMAN:
Thank you very much Prime Minister.
[ends]