TRANSCRIPT OF DOORSTOP, RADIO 3UZ, MELBOURNE
22 MARCH 1909
R. 0 E PROOF ONLY
JOURNALIST: How much electoral damage do You think the
airport decision will do to your Government? Will it
threaLten your Government's survival?
PM: No, I don't think it will threaten the survival
but it is the case that in regard to a few seats around
the airport there'll be some strong feelings. I believe
that once the message gets out, which is the truth, that
there will be a reduction in the number of Lhose affected
by noise which will result from a combination of the;
gradual introduction of quieter aircraft plus the virtual
closing of the east-west runway when the parallel northsouth
runway comes in. When those facts are understood
and it's understood that we had the courage Lo take the
decision which was in the interest of the country as
a whole then I think it will be accepted. But thei ea-: y
political decision would've been to go the other way.
JOURNALIST: How many seats do you think you might lose?
PM: I'm not saying that we'll lose any. I'm simply
saying that it was a hard political decision to take.
JOURNALIST: You must have advice that particular seats
are in very gravo danger.
PM: You don't need advice, you know that seats like
Barton and St George, Phillip, Kingsford-Smith, Sydney
to some extent, you know these are the seat~ s that are
an issue where the question of the additional use of
Kingsford-Smith airporL has been an issue. Now as I
say, the easy thing for me to have done would've been
to say I'm not going to run any risk. But we've been
in Government for six years now and I think we've established
a reputation of being prepared to take tough decisions
in regard to issues which may initially be electoralY
unpopular. I mean you don't get to the position of Prime
Minister in this country at least I don't to take
2
decisions which I think are against the interests of
this country. At the present moment people are saying
look at the high interest rates. The easy thitng we could
say is yes,. let's have some low interest rates. But
I know LliaL LhaL would be Liiu wrong devisioi for Lhis
country. You've got to take the decisions which you
believe are right for the country. In the end I have
faith, as I've always had, in the good judgement of the
Australian people, that they will understand that we're
taking the right decisions.
JOURNALIST:. You desperately need those seats and you
also don't want high interest rates coming up to an election.
So are those two factors going to affect your election
timing?
PM: They don't affect the election timing at all. I've
said quite consistently that the sort of period that
would be Involved is the sort of end of this year up
until about the middle of next year. I've Just said
on the program here Lhat I'm not looking at 1989 as an
election year. Within that timeframe I said that you could
thdve it. at. the end of the year. But I'm not thinking
of 1989 as an election year.
ends