Transcript No. 2001/105

 

TRANSCRIPT

of

HON PETER COSTELLO MP

Treasurer

Interview with Alexandra Kirk

ABC, AM

Friday, 27 July 2001

8.00 am

SUBJECTS: Biography

PRESENTER:

Mr Costello is on the line from Melbourne, he’s speaking to Alexandra Kirk

in Canberra.

KIRK:

Treasurer, the book says that back in 1997, when the Government faced a big

threat from Pauline Hanson and her comments about Asian immigration, that you

believe that they hit Howard’s blind spot because the Prime Minister was still

uncomfortable about the prevalence of Asian faces on Australia’s streets and

that’s why he couldn’t effectively deal with One Nation as a political force.

Do you think Mr Howard has learned from that experience?

TREASURER:

Well, Alex, before I come to your question, which I’m happy to do, can I just

say, this is a book by an Age journalist, it’s not written by me. It

is his views of me. Now, I want to make it clear, it’s not authorised. I have

no control over what he writes, no more control over what he writes than what

the ABC broadcasts. So, these are his views. They’re not my view. And if it

were an autobiography or if I had written it then it might be different. But

this is an unauthorised biography and it’s not the first one that’s been written

on me incidentally. One of Kim Beazley’s staffers has written a biography on

me, they’re entitled to their view but it doesn’t mean that I agree with it…

KIRK:

So in 1997 did you believe…

TREASURER:

Back to One Nation, the Liberal Party decided, I think it was in 1997, I can’t

remember the dates, that it would put One Nation last on its how-to-vote tickets.

That was a decision that was made by Mr Howard and it was thoroughly endorsed

by me. In fact…

KIRK:

But in the lead up to that decision did you believe that the issue had hit

Mr Howard’s blind spot, the issue of Asian immigration?

TREASURER:

No, of course not. There was a debate as to how the Liberal Party would deal

with One Nation and Mr Howard decided, and he has my thorough support on this,

that we would put them last. That was his decision, it was endorsed by all of

the State divisions of the Liberal Party, it has my thorough support and I think

then it was the right decision, I think now it’s the right decision.

KIRK:

But in the lead up to making that decision did you believe that the Government

took too long to react your view effectively?

TREASURER:

No I don’t, I believe that that was a new development which took – the Government

had to think about and had to consult with its State divisions on how to deal

with it, I think it was dealt with the right way. I mean to go back to 1997

and to say oh well you know it took a day long, a week long, no that’s not my

view at all. I think what the Government did and what John did was absolutely

right, it has my full support, always has had, it’s all there, it’s all on the

record.

KIRK:

Well if we can step a couple of years forward in 1999 the book says that you

considered that the Prime Minister had run out of puff and had unofficially

retired. Do you still hold that view?

TREASURER:

I most certainly do not hold that view and I most certainly was never of the

view, and have never been of the view, that John Howard has run out of puff.

Anybody who knows John Howard, and I know him very well, knows that there are

probably very few people that work harder than John Howard. He is amazing. He

gets up at 6am every morning, he walks you know for miles, he’s read every newspaper,

he’s on the phone by 6.30, and he’s still going at 11 o’clock or 12 o’clock

at night. It is an unbelievable punishing workload that he has. I can tell you

this, I have never ever seen him run out of puff in my life, I think a few of

his political enemies would have liked to have seen him run out of puff, but

I have never seen anybody work harder than John Howard. Look, I think I probably

work harder than most people in the Government, but I can tell you, keeping

up with his schedule is absolutely punishing.

KIRK:

Try this one, what about when you weren’t allowed to take part in the reconciliation

march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge? Do you think that the relationship has

improved since then so that you now have the freedom to show the support that

you have for things that you deem important, social issues like reconciliation,

the Republic, treatment of drug addiction, those sorts of things?

TREASURER:

This is this point about these books, Alex, is that we can sit here and we

can start at chapter one, and we can read line one, and we can say do you agree

with this sentence? Well a lot of the sentences I’m going to agree with, a lot

of the sentences I’m not. But I can’t go line by line through every book that’s

been written on me. There’s been another one, the newspaper columnists write

them every single day. If I went line by line through and gave my views on everything

it would be my autobiography. I have neither the interest nor the inclination

to write an autobiography. So people can write their own biographies, they’re

entitled to do so, some of it I will agree with, some of it I will not. But

I make this point, I think that the work between me and John Howard, as Prime

Minister and Treasurer, has been one of the successful partnerships, one of

the most successful partnerships of Australian politics. Certainly we have achieved

together far more than anything that was ever achieved under the Hawke Government.

And in the Liberal Party terms, you think of the great partnerships like Menzies

and Holt, I think this has been one of the great partnerships. Over a period

of about five years we’ve delivered five consecutive budgets, 800,000 new jobs,

repaid $60 billion of Labor’s debt, reformed the taxation system and stared

down the Asian financial crisis. Have there been differences on policy between

a Prime Minister and a Treasurer? Well, of course there have and they are discussed

in the Cabinet room and the Cabinet comes to a decision. I can tell you, as

a Treasurer, there are many occasions when my policy views are not accepted

but I always accept the Cabinet decision. There might even be occasions when

a Prime Minister’s view is not accepted, although that is very rare, if it ever

happens. So of course you will have differences about policy, of course you

will, but what you do in a Cabinet, is, you put your view and the Cabinet comes

to a conclusion and if you can live with that conclusion and I can live with

every one of the Cabinet decisions that have been made, you defend them and

you implement them and I think we have done that in a very successful way, now

you won’t…

KIRK:

So you won’t fess up to at least, you know, discuss in detail any past criticisms

you’ve made of the Prime Minister, but a couple of months ago he did anoint,

or at least accept that you will succeed him. Has that eased tensions between

you?

TREASURER:

Well look, I don’t know that that’s what actually happens in politics to be

frank. I don’t think there are anointings. I don’t think that’s the way politics

works. The way politics works, is, that if there is a vacancy in a position,

whatever the position be, people determine by election or otherwise who they

want to fill that vacancy. And there’s no such thing as an anointing. It just

doesn’t happen. Leaders don’t anoint, colleagues anoint. A leader has one vote

in any party room election, just the same as every other colleague. I don’t

think there is an anointing. I’ve never looked for an anointing in politics,

and I will never look for an anointing in politics. What I will do, is, I will

do the role that I have, which is Treasurer, to the best of my ability, in partnership

with the Prime Minister, which I think we have done with great success. And,

you know, if you go back through the Liberal Party – and I think the record

of achievement is greater than anything that happened under the Hawke Government

by a long shot – then you would be going back to the days of Menzies and Holt

to see a partnership which lasted as long as this one and which had a record

of achievement. And I think it’s got, if I may say so, many, many years left

in it.

KIRK:

Well Peter Costello, thanks very much for joining us.

TREASURER:

Thanks Alex.

But in the lead up to making that decision did you believe that the Government

took too long to react your view effectively?

TREASURER:

No I don’t, I believe that that was a new development which took – the Government

had to think about and had to consult with its State divisions on how to deal

with it, I think it was dealt with the right way. I mean to go back to 1997

and to say oh well you know it took a day long, a week long, no that’s not my

view at all. I think what the Government did and what John did was absolutely

right, it has my full support, always has had, it’s all there, it’s all on the

record.

KIRK:

Well if we can step a couple of years forward in 1999 the book says that you

considered that the Prime Minister had run out of puff and had unofficially

retired. Do you still hold that view?

TREASURER:

I most certainly do not hold that view and I most certainly was never of the

view, and have never been of the view, that John Howard has run out of puff.

Anybody who knows John Howard, and I know him very well, knows that there are

probably very few people that work harder than John Howard. He is amazing. He

gets up at 6am every morning, he walks you know for miles, he’s read every newspaper,

he’s on the phone by 6.30, and he’s still going at 11 o’clock or 12 o’clock

at night. It is an unbelievable punishing workload that he has. I can tell you

this, I have never ever seen him run out of puff in my life, I think a few of

his political enemies would have liked to have seen him run out of puff, but

I have never seen anybody work harder than John Howard. Look, I think I probably

work harder than most people in the Government, but I can tell you, keeping

up with his schedule is absolutely punishing.

KIRK:

Try this one, what about when you weren’t allowed to take part in the reconciliation

march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge? Do you think that the relationship has

improved since then so that you now have the freedom to show the support that

you have for things that you deem important, social issues like reconciliation,

the Republic, treatment of drug addiction, those sorts of things?

TREASURER:

This is this point about these books, Alex, is that we can sit here and we

can start at chapter one, and we can read line one, and we can say do you agree

with this sentence? Well a lot of the sentences I’m going to agree with, a lot

of the sentences I’m not. But I can’t go line by line through every book that’s

been written on me. There’s been another one, the newspaper columnists write

them every single day. If I went line by line through and gave my views on everything

it would be my autobiography. I have neither the interest nor the inclination

to write an autobiography. So people can write their own biographies, they’re

entitled to do so, some of it I will agree with, some of it I will not. But

I make this point, I think that the work between me and John Howard, as Prime

Minister and Treasurer, has been one of the successful partnerships, one of

the most successful partnerships of Australian politics. Certainly we have achieved

together far more than anything that was ever achieved under the Hawke Government.

And in the Liberal Party terms, you think of the great partnerships like Menzies

and Holt, I think this has been one of the great partnerships. Over a period

of about five years we’ve delivered five consecutive budgets, 800,000 new jobs,

repaid $60 billion of Labor’s debt, reformed the taxation system and stared

down the Asian financial crisis. Have there been differences on policy between

a Prime Minister and a Treasurer? Well, of course there have and they are discussed

in the Cabinet room and the Cabinet comes to a decision. I can tell you, as

a Treasurer, there are many occasions when my policy views are not accepted

but I always accept the Cabinet decision. There might even be occasions when

a Prime Minister’s view is not accepted, although that is very rare, if it ever

happens. So of course you will have differences about policy, of course you

will, but what you do in a Cabinet, is, you put your view and the Cabinet comes

to a conclusion and if you can live with that conclusion and I can live with

every one of the Cabinet decisions that have been made, you defend them and

you implement them and I think we have done that in a very successful way, now

you won’t…

KIRK:

So you won’t fess up to at least, you know, discuss in detail any past criticisms

you’ve made of the Prime Minister, but a couple of months ago he did anoint,

or at least accept that you will succeed him. Has that eased tensions between

you?

TREASURER:

Well look, I don’t know that that’s what actually happens in politics to be

frank. I don’t think there are anointings. I don’t think that’s the way politics

works. The way politics works, is, that if there is a vacancy in a position,

whatever the position be, people determine by election or otherwise who they

want to fill that vacancy. And there’s no such thing as an anointing. It just

doesn’t happen. Leaders don’t anoint, colleagues anoint. A leader has one vote

in any party room election, just the same as every other colleague. I don’t

think there is an anointing. I’ve never looked for an anointing in politics,

and I will never look for an anointing in politics. What I will do, is, I will

do the role that I have, which is Treasurer, to the best of my ability, in partnership

with the Prime Minister, which I think we have done with great success. And,

you know, if you go back through the Liberal Party – and I think the record

of achievement is greater than anything that happened under the Hawke Government

by a long shot – then you would be going back to the days of Menzies and Holt

to see a partnership which lasted as long as this one and which had a record

of achievement. And I think it’s got, if I may say so, many, many years left

in it.

KIRK:

Well Peter Costello, thanks very much for joining us.

TREASURER:

Thanks Alex.