TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER
THE HON JOHN HOWARD MP
PRESS CONFERENCE
PARLIAMENT HOUSE
4 May 2001
Ladies and Gentlemen you will have seen the statement that the Federal President of the party issued. I just want to add one or two things to that. First is that what I would like to say to the Australian people in relation to this issue is that I’m very well aware that several months ago there was unhappiness within the community about certain aspects of the way in which the Government was handling policy in a number of areas. I was aware of that criticism and since then working very closely with the Treasurer, I and other members of the Government have been responding to those concerns. And I repeat what I said two nights ago, I will never be a Prime Minister who is reluctant to cop criticism. If the community has concerns about anything the Government I lead is doing I will listen carefully to those concerns and I will respond. At the time this meeting took place which was a day after the devastating election defeat for the Coalition in Queensland clearly there was considerable concern and unhappiness and people were expressing views. And I want to say that the important thing is that three months on the Government has been very conscientiously addressing those concerns and will continue to do so. Do you have any questions?
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
Because I’ve always thought that Peter is perfectly capable of conducting press conferences on his own. I know you people love joint press conferences, I’ve always found joint press conferences from wayback as fairly awkward unproductive affairs. Peter is perfectly capable of handling you ladies and gentlemen without my assistance.
JOURNALIST:
Did you pass the information and views Mr Stone gave you, to Mr Costello?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I’ve already indicated that the reason that I didn’t show this document to Peter was that the policy issues raised in it had all been raised in Party meetings.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]… Has this undermined the relationship or the trust between you and the Treasurer?
PRIME MINISTER:
No it hasn’t. It hasn’t. We have a very close working relationship. I think in the five years or more he’s been Treasurer he’s done a fantastic job. He’s demonstrated considerable skill in recent weeks. His decision on Woodside was a courageous correct decision, well argued, well explained, widely accepted within the Australian community and there is nobody in the Government for whom I have a higher regard than Peter Costello.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
Look you ask the Treasurer anything you like. I mean one thing I never do in this game is to try and put words into the mouth of my colleague. Peter’s quite capable of answering that question and he doesn’t need any help from me.
JOURNALIST:
Do you accept that Mr Stone did not leak the memo which means it had to come from somewhere in your domain?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I don’t. I don’t know how it got out.
JOURNALIST:
What are you doing Prime Minister to uncover the source of the leak?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I wouldn’t be saying anything about it in public.
JOURNALIST:
Are you reporting it to police?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well you can’t use the Federal Police.
JOURNALIST:
What, not even for theft?
PRIME MINISTER:
You can’t use the Federal Police to investigate in the way that you use them where disclosure of official Government … this is not a Government matter, this is a party political matter and there are limitations to the use of the Federal Police in those circumstances. But let me say in relation to investigation, I don’t intend to say what I’m doing in relation to that. You will understand why.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, supporters of Mr Costello were two days ago calling for the scalp of Mr Stone. How damaging do you think this affair will be for the government in the lead up to the election?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don’t think it will be of any long term consequence at all.
JOURNALIST:
It will be destabilising for the government won’t it? I mean you’ve got key supporters including a minister……
PRIME MINISTER:
No I don’t believe, do you want to make another speech?
JOURNALIST:
No no I was just asking. You’ve got a minister asking for Mr Stone to consider his position just two days ago. Surely it’s got to be damaging and destabilising to your government.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well you will write that if you want to Steve. I’ve given you my version I don’t think it’s long term consequence is anywhere near as damaging as you’re suggesting. Can I say what people are concerned about is how government’s respond to their concerns. The fervid dissection of how a document gets into the hands of a journalist is of great interest to all of us but is of minimal interest to the Australian public. The Australian public are interested in what we’re doing about their concerns.
Two more questions because I don’t want to….
JOURNALIST:
You responded on the policy questions but to what extent have you responded on the concerns expressed about your leadership and the communications within the party and its ministers?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Dennis, my leadership style and my leadership approach is always open to scrutiny and criticism and I never regard myself as having got it exactly right. I can always do better. We can all always do better and I always try to do better and I always try to improve communications with my colleagues. I work on it very hard. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I don’t. And in the end my colleagues will make a judgement on that. That’s all I can say about that and I constantly urge my colleagues to listen to the community, to listen to the backbench. I do that frequently, I do it all the time and I never tire of exhorting them to do that and I try very hard to do it myself.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, did Mr Stone offer to resign?
PRIME MINISTER:
No.
JOURNALIST:
Is there going to be federal intervention in Queensland?
PRIME MINISTER:
We are discussing the affairs of the Queensland Division with the Queenslanders.
JOURNALIST:
No decision was made today?
PRIME MINISTER:
We are discussing the affairs of the Queensland Division with the Queenslanders.
JOURNALIST:
Today?
PRIME MINISTER:
We discussed it today yes, yes. But I don’t have anything to say beyond that. We’re discussing it with them.
JOURNALIST:
If Mr Stone didn’t offer to resign did anyone seek his resignation?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I saw some comments in the paper about that. But look, I’m not going to in any way disclose the contents of the discussions. I mean we had a discussion, the three of us this morning. Shane’s issued a press statement, I’ve made myself available, Peter’s going to do the same thing and you ask him any questions you want to and he will respond in a manner that he sees fit. And I am quite certain that when we meet in Melbourne on Monday to discuss important matters that are coming up towards the end of this month this issue will be very much behind us and Peter and I will be working very closely together to deliver a good budget for Australia on the 22nd of May. On that note I’ll bring this news conference to a close and have a pleasant weekend.
Thank you.
END
