AS. e_ kLL4be si
PRIME MINISTER
TRANSCRIPT OF NEWS CONFERENCE, PADDLES SHOE FACTORY.
SEBASTOPOL, BALLARAT 8 JUNE 1989
R a oE-PROOF ONLY
JOURNALIST: 58,000 more people in Jobs. That's good new.
obviously for those people out there, but is the economy
going too fast still Prime Minister?
SPM: It's on. of the Indications of an economy going very
Wstrongly. That brings It up now to the best part of a
million and a halt new jobs in this period and a
participation rate also at the highest level ever recorded.
So there are signs of an economy which is still operating
strongly. There are some other indications of course in the
housing area and so on which suggest that we are beginning to
see the signs of a slow-down which has got to come.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, if the economy Is still running
strongly, does that mean Interest rate. have peaked?
PM: As I've said, I don't see any need for them to go
higher and I certainly hope that that's the case because I've
had the opportunity as I go around now of actually listening
to the stories of people who have been affected. I took the
opportunity at lunchtime today of just going to a private
home, a very modest home. The people there, It wasn't only
the one family but friends of theirs and I just * at down and
O had lunch with them and listened to them. There's no doubt
that the Interest rates are hurting and I don't like seeing
that. But as I explained to them, and I think they
understand, that we've just got to hold on for a while until
we get this level of activity down. I just hope that we're
going to see that before too long.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you think It would be a bit
of a shame if the money markets simply see good employment
figures as an Indicator on interest rates or other elements
of the economy without seeing it as the social victory that
It Is?
PM: I do hope that not only the commentators but the
community generally will understand the evidence that this
of providing the best possible means of protecting people. I
mean the best protection for people In an economy Is that
they have a job. It truly Is remarkable the rate of job
creation that has taken place. As I say, it's now one and a
half million jobs rounded off in this period of six years and
it means that that's one and a half million of our fellow
Australians who are in work that weren't there before, it
gives them the capacity to earn an income to look after
themselves so that they are not dependent upon the community.
But unfortunately, as in economics generally, there's usually
a down side. The down side Is that, as far as It is an
Indication, It means that the economy is operating that
strongly that it's going to be continuing on that indicator
to bring In Imports at an unsustainable level. But as I say,
it's one of a number of indicators, and I think It you take
them all together I think we are starting to see the signs of
a levelling off. I certainly hope so.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Senators Ray and Richardson say
that-privatisation will not get through either the NSW branch
of the Labor Party or the Victorian branch. Where does that
leave the issue?
PM: It wasn't suggested that at this coming conference it
was going to get through. It wasn't on the agenda to get
through. That's an Irrelevance.
JOURNALIST: But they're also suggesting that It won't be
possible they think to change policy before the election.
PM: That's a report I saw, it said It in there. They
thought It wouldn't be possible In the next few months.
There's really no story to be beat up here very much. The
processes In the Party will go on and they're not processes
which involve state conferences, they are processes which
Involve the committee which is established by the national
conference. I think fairly sensible discussions will go on
In the weeks and months ahead.
JOURNALIST: Do you still hope the processes will be
finalised before the election?
PM; I'd like to see that happen, I'd lilke to see that
happen.
JOURNALIST: Mr Hawke, isn't there a risk involved in you
saying that you don't think Interest rates will go up any
higher? PH-. I said, If you listened to what I said, I said I don't
think there's any need for that to happen and I say that in
light of the situation that's confronting us. But I'm not
saying anything more than that because you've got to see the
way In which the economy develops. You would think and hope,
as I say, that the level of interest rates that exist now,
together with the other tight arms of policy of wages and
budgetary policy, one would hope that In combination that
will be enough to bring the economy back.
O JOURNALIST: Do you think it's possible for the Government to
keep employment growing at some sort of reasonable rate and
still get cutbacks in the areas that you want so that there
Is not that kind of consumption? Is that the juggling act do
you think that you can perform?
PM: It's not a juggling act. What I've said before is that
you've got to bring back the level of activity in a way which
doesn't put the economy into recession. keeps enough growth
to keep employment growing but not at the rate at which It Is
growing. See, as I say, you've got the participation rate at
the highest level ever. If you had a participation rate now
that existed when we came to office you'd have the
unemployment rate in the order of two to three per cent and
that's the measure of how we're going back toward. a full
employment economy. You don't need the rate of growth and
employment growth that we've got now to be able to take up
some of the people that are coming onto the market. I think,
as I say, we can handle things In a way which will give us a
soft landing. That is, a dropping back in activity but still
at a level which Involves growth, economic growth and
employment growth. I think we can do that.
JOURNALIST; Have you had an update of the situation in
China? PM: I've been speaking during the day to the office, I
haven't spoken In the last two or three hours, but when I
last spoke there wasn't anything new to report. They were
still in that state of uncertainty. They are not prepared,
our Embassy there is not prepared to say at this stage this
is a few hours ago they're not prepared to say that they
have firm evidence which would sustain the proposition that
there was serious, substantial fighting between different
4.
umits of the army there. There's been some skirmishing but
not yet enough to say that you've got that type of civil war
situation an your hands. So it's still gravely disturbing
and we will keep our people there so that we can be reported
to about what's happening. I keep expressing the hope that
there will not be the insanity on the part of those who seem
to be in power at the moment of getting rid of those in whose
persons Ilies the future hope for China.
ends