TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER
THE HON JOHN HOWARD MP
RADIO INTERVIEW WITH CATHERINE MCGRATH
AM PROGRAMME, ABC
9 May 2001
McGRATH:
Mr Howard, thank you for joining AM this morning. Today is the centenary of Australia’s first Parliament and so far the federation celebrations of Australia have been very low key. A lot of the public haven’t really tapped into it. Is this just a bash for politicians that’s costing $3 million?
PRIME MINISTER:
No it’s not. I think we need to understand that the Australian federation has been a huge success. I just heard my immediate predecessor showing his typical ignorance of Australian constitutional history. The Australian Constitution may I remind Mr Keating was in fact an amalgam of British and American constitutional practice. We did in fact borrow somewhat from the American experience in the way we divided powers giving specific powers to the central government and leaving the remainder to the states. And so far from denigrating and putting down in that sneering fashion for which he his famous, Mr Keating should be honouring the men who put together our constitution because the measure of a constitution is whether it expresses the ethos of the people and whether it works. And by any measure the last 100 years has been an astonishing Australian achievement and we ought to honour the people who put it together, not sneer at them and denigrate them.
McGRATH:
Well if we look at that constitution it was written by 19th Century minds. Now we have 21st Century minds. Times have changed. Isn’t it time to update it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well only if you’re going to make it better. I mean the American Constitution was written by 18th Century minds. I mean every constitution that lasts, by definition, was written by people in an earlier age. The test of a constitution is whether it works. And if you look at the cohesion and the stability and the prosperity of the Australian nation, sure we have flaws, we have made mistakes, but why do we so denigrate, sneer at and put down our historical achievements. I mean this above all days is an occasion to celebrate the success of Australian democracy.
McGRATH:
If you look at that constitution though we’ve had 44 attempts to change it, only 8 have been successful.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that doesn’t mean to say that the people were wrong.
McGRATH:
Do you think they knew that it would be so hard to change?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think part of the federal compact was that it would be hard to change. I mean federation was a compact between the heavily populated cities of Melbourne and Sydney and the more sparsely populated areas of the outlying states. And the compact was embodied in a popularly elected House of Representatives where inevitably the population centres would dominate and an equality of representation from the states in the Senate. Now that was the fair go, the deal, the Australian compact. And it followed from that that you had to make it hard to change. And I don’t think the Australian people are unhappy about that. I mean in the end look around our democracy. We are but one of six countries that was continuously democratic through the entirety of the 20th Century and ours has been a remarkably successful democracy. Sure weaknesses, sure flaws, it was wrong, an historic injustice that the first Australians were not included properly, fully until 1967. And that was corrected by the very referendum device that you are asking me about and people voted overwhelmingly for that because they felt there was an injustice that should be remedied.
McGRATH:
Well if we look to the future, if there’s not going to be at the moment constitutional change, if there’s not going to be a republic, the republic issue is not on the agenda……
PRIME MINISTER:
Can I just say on that that as always is a matter for the Australian people. There is a mechanism there if a future government wishes to put that matter back on the agenda, as I did….I mean for all that I keep being questioned about this I was the Prime Minister who gave the Prime Minister who gave the Australian people a choice on this issue. I didn’t try and force my own view down their throat, I gave them a choice. And that remains my view. It is a matter for the Australian people.
McGRATH:
But as you said in interviews this year it’s not on the agenda this year…..
PRIME MINISTER:
Well hang on Catherine. We only had a referendum a little over a year ago. I mean they’re not the sort of things people want to be voting on every year.
McGRATH:
But what I want to ask is about the future. If that’s not something we’re looking at this year, if an apology isn’t on the agenda, what is the future for Australia? Is it just mateship and more mateship? How do you see it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I certainly don’t see Australia exclusively defined in terms of whether or not this country becomes a republic. I see Australia defined very much for the future in the maintenance of that egalitarian spirit. How we handle the increasingly borderless world, globalisation as some people call it, how we handle the impact of that on our society and how we ensure that Australian values civilise the impact of that borderless world on our society will be one of the great challenges. And how we ply the unfolding advantages of medical science and medical technology, and how we handle the inevitable ethical tensions that that will create in our community as well as taking advantage of the enormous human benefits that it will deliver, they are some of the challenges. As always you need to maintain a stable economic growth base because that is the way in which people get jobs and the way in which they are able to bring up their families.
McGRATH:
So is this an Australian future like an Australian past?
PRIME MINISTER:
No. Look you don’t know, I don’t know what Australia will be like in a hundred years any more than Deakin and Barton a hundred years ago had any idea of what Australia would be like now. But there will some things that will be constant. Values are constant, circumstances are different. And the challenge of any civilisation, any society, is to apply its values to changing circumstances. Australians have always been able to do that in a very spectacular way.
McGRATH:
Can you see something new, something fresh on the horizon?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think the challenge of civilising the impact of this borderless world in which we live is, it’s not new in the sense that people have talked about it before but it is certainly one of the greatest challenges that we have.
McGRATH:
Now today is a day of history. As our current Prime Minister facing an election this year, you’ve said previously that half way through the next term, should you win, you would be ready to move on. Do you still feel that way and how do you want to remembered by the Australian public?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I’m not into being remembered by the Australian public. I’m into continuing to serve the Australian public. And hopefully being re-elected by the Australian public. I am not going to, Catherine let me make it very plain, I am not going to get into reminiscences. I’m not going to speculate about how I would like to be remembered. I’ve not turned my mind to that at all, I turn my mind to continuing to serve the Australian public and working towards the re-election of the Government and pointing out that amidst all the wallowing in triumphalism of the Labor Party over the last 48 hours here in Melbourne we’ve not heard any outline of what Mr Beazley might do that is different if he were to become Prime Minister.
McGRATH:
Now can I turn to current issues, HIH. This week the Labor Premiers have called for a national conference to be convened, they’ve also called for a judicial inquiry. Steve Bracks for one has said that the Federal Government has a responsibility, it hasn’t acted.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that is just the sort of mindless Labor Party nitpicking that you get. Now this is a very big company, it’s been a major collapse. We don’t have all of the information from the liquidator. It’s not possible for me or Joe Hockey to say right now exactly what we will end up doing. We do have responsibilities, so do State Governments. State Government’s have statutory responsibility under compulsory motor vehicle third party insurance arrangements. And in relation to workers compensation. And I look to the State Governments, not to do something they’re not obliged by law to do but simply to meet their legal obligations and not try and push those over to us. We have a task force that is sifting through all of the information. We’ve given instructions to Centrelink to make sure that Social Security payments flow quickly to people who are right at the moment in dire need. When we get all of that information in, and in particular when we have a full report from the liquidator, which I hope will be within a short time, we can then make a more effective assessment of what reasonably can be done. We will not walk away from our responsibilities, but no Federal Government can guarantee the liabilities of every company that goes bust in Australia, that is just not realistic.
McGRATH:
Are you in support of the industry rescue plan?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we’re looking at that. I’m not endorsing it. But it’s one of a number of things that we will examine.
McGRATH:
What about a tax hike for Australians? There’s a story in The Australian newspaper today that that’s being considered by Cabinet.
PRIME MINISTER:
We did not consider any tax hike, we’re in the business of cutting taxes and on the first of July company tax is going to fall by four cents in the dollar to 30 cents. And the financial Institutions Duty is going to be abolished and we’re going to take stamp duty off share sales. So we are a tax cutting, not a tax increasing Government.
McGRATH:
Prime Minister the New Zealand Government has announced a dramatic change this week in its defence outlook. Doesn’t this spell the end of the ANZAC tradition?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, the ANZAC tradition is a human, almost spiritual thing, it’s not something that is just defined in terms of the relative levels of defence spending by the two Governments at any given time. It’s a shared history and a shared commitment. It’s not surprising what the New Zealand Government has done and I’m not going to publicly comment on what another Government does except to make the observation that when a Government adopts a certain level of defence spending and a certain defence posture that has consequences both domestically and internationally. Now New Zealand is aware of that. I’m not going to give a public lecture to the New Zealand Government. I respect it’s an independent country that makes its own decisions. But there are consequences of that decision, just as there are consequences for us having decided to increase defence expenditure. I mean we decided to put more money into defence because we thought that was in Australia’s interests and I’m very proud to have lead a Government that’s given this country the best defence blueprint in 25 years and will increase defence spending by something like $20 billion over the next 10 years.
McGRATH:
But isn’t New Zealand letting the side down in a sense? Australia believes there is an arc of instability, New Zealand is sitting in that just as much as Australia is yet they’re not going to be pulling their fair share anymore.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I’m not going to get into a slanging match with the New Zealand Government. I simply repeat what I said, Government’s take decisions in the full knowledge of the consequences of those decisions and we’ve taken decisions that we regard as important and helpful to the Australian national interest.
McGRATH:
Prime Minister just one very very short quick question, GST on caravan parks. Is that going to go?
PRIME MINISTER:
We don’t have any plans to change that.
McGRATH:
Prime Minister thanks for speaking to AM this morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Pleasure.
END
