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Kim Beazley - Doorstop - HIH, Maralinga, Queensland ALP Conference, Deaf And Special Needs Funding, Port Hedland, Max Moore-Wilton, Arthur Tange http://www.alp.org.au//media/0501/kbmcwa120501.html

Monday, 14 May 2001

Kim Beazley - Doorstop Interview Subjects: HIH, Maralinga, Queensland ALP Conference, Deaf And Special Needs Funding, Port Hedland, Max Moore-Wilton, Arthur Tange

Transcript - Fremantle, WA - 12 May 2001

E & OE - PROOF ONLY

BEAZLEY: Testimony of Mr Macfarlane yesterday made amply clear that the Treasurer has failed in the structure he put in place to ensure proper supervision of our financial institutions. APRA is his creation. The powers associated with APRA are his creation. The Commonwealth's responsibility for APRA is fundamental. This is now sheeted home directly at the feet of the Australian Treasurer. It is his obligation now to clean up this mess. He has to sit down with the State colleagues, not spurning them in the way in which they have been for the last few weeks, except that he is engaged in this process, and start to come up with solutions.

JOURNALIST: How do you propose he do that?

BEAZLEY: Well, you've got to start by talking to them. The States have been trying to engage this Government for some time now. The Government has been saying it has nothing to do with them. There was disturbing information given last year that efforts had been made, and I acknowledge this has been denied, but nevertheless, efforts appear to have been made to engage the Commonwealth to get them to deal, or get APRA to deal with the situation which appeared to be some to be emerging within HIH. There is yet to be a satisfactory explanation on that matter from this Commonwealth Government. And there is yet to be an acknowledgement, but there must be an acknowledgement now, given what Mr Macfarlane said yesterday, that part of the problem here is the supervisory regime that Peter Costello put in place and was so boastful of at the time he did it.

JOURNALIST: Do you think that he should match the Government, the Commonwealth should match the $50 million that the NSW Government is going to provide?

BEAZLEY: There may be required to be a whole range of activities. That particular initiative by the NSW Government is admitted by them to be only a temporary fix and a problem to deal with immediate emergencies. The Commonwealth has got to sit down with the States and deal with this across the board.

JOURNALIST: Do you agree with Joe Hockey that it's premature to offer any rescue package at the moment?

BEAZLEY: I applaud the NSW Government. They're accepting a bit of responsibility even though the overall supervisory function is the Commonwealth's function. And I applaud their willingness to get in and mix it with the needs of people who are suffering as a result of inadequate supervision. The Commonwealth has got to accept that it has substantial responsibility for the circumstances that have been created and sit down with the States and work them out rather than just abusing the State Governments when they try to sweep up.

JOURNALIST: And this should be happening ASAP? They say they need it now.

BEAZLEY: It should have been happening months ago. That's when it should have been happening. At any point of time at which it happens it is too late. But because it is too late doesn't mean it shouldn't happen.

JOURNALIST: Just in terms of the atomic testing and the Australian soldiers who were involved in that. There's now revelations that that testing was actually for clothing, not on people. What's your response to that?

BEAZLEY: I think that this needs full investigation. We thought this was a closed matter, that all elements of those tests had been properly studied and they were the subject in our time to quite intensive investigation but apparently not all things have been covered, according to these revelations. So, the Commonwealth needs to sit down, see what additional investigatory requirements ought to be put in place and they ought to be open and public - people ought to be able to be reassured that all aspects of those tests and their impact on the Australian population have been properly studied and considered and to come forward with explanations on all of it. It's new information, just came out very recently, at least, it came out in public very recently, I don't know how much the Government has had hold of this over the last few weeks. But whatever, the Australian public need to be reassured and therefore urgent inquiries have to be initiated and the results of those inquiries publicly revealed.

JOURNALIST: In Queensland at the moment, the ALP Conference, they've come up with a list of reforms to prevent or clean up rorting in that area and they're saying that if ALP federally doesn't accept those reforms it may damage your prospects for the next federal election in Queensland.

BEAZLEY: I'm very satisfied with the way in which Peter Beattie, with Federal assistance, handled the problems associated with that last year. Basically, most of the reforms, or pretty well all the reforms that were required to be put in place have been put in place. And this is a session, though there are disagreements over elements of it, that are basically ticking off on those reforms. So, I'm pretty happy with the way progress is going.

JOURNALIST: In relation to...would you in Government renew the funding available for AUSLAN....?

BEAZLEY: Yes, we would. And also, looking at their role in the funding arrangements for the interpreter services that have been put in place to cover other minority languages in the Australian community and I also think that the University of Australian Online proposal of ours would, if you like, as an ancillary benefit of what is a benefit to the entirety of the community will be a vast benefit to people with special needs who find it difficult to access the full variety of university courses available at the moment.

JOURNALIST: People with special needs in this country, do you think they're all categorised at the moment by the Government, just lumped into one pigeon hole and that....?

BEAZLEY: The Government is trying to brush so many of these issues under the carpet. They have a different philosophy. They are trying to shift more and more responsibility on to the individual and less and less taking the role of identifying special needs in their different categories throughout our community and responding to it. And they want to collapse the sorts of advocacy opportunities that were presented by having specialist Human Rights Commissioners associated with that. Now, we're opposing the legislation that will do that. We're opposing the orientation of the Government towards welfare reform, the orientation that they have at the moment. And we are concerned that people with special needs should not be lumped into the various types of needs which need to be identified and appropriate responses developed.

JOURNALIST: Specifically for this deaf conference, this is the first in WA of its kind. How important do you think something like this is in terms of our attitude to....?

BEAZLEY: I think it changes things when you have gatherings like this with all of you here. And understanding and listening to the various issues that they do raise. I think the World Congress that was held here in Australia provided a substantial lift in public perception at the time of the special needs of deaf Australians. And that this, in many ways, is a spin-off from that experience. I think that this will aid advocacy, it will aid a comprehension of the issues associated with the deaf, and that's a good thing.

JOURNALIST: We've come so far, you know, when you're talking about telecommunications and the captioning and all of that. Do you think it will stop now as far as....

BEAZLEY: Well, it shouldn't stop now. That's why these conferences are so important because they identify additional needs, additional issues, additional problems that need to be thought through and they also provide the focus for analysing the effectiveness of measures so far.

JOURNALIST: ...detention centre riots. What's your opinion on.....

BEAZLEY: I am worried about the number of riots which are occurring in those detention centres. And, of course, I condemn rioting as a solution to anything. Having said that, we have now had about two years of constant reports of mismanagement, constant reports of problems and we were given no comfort from that very narrowly confined report recently in to Woomera done by the public servant. We think, firstly, detention centres have to be sustained, it is appropriate that in some part of the reaction to illegal migration there is a detention arrangement put in place, we agree with that. But at the same time, there are question marks over the way in which this has been done. Now, we said that here ought to be a judicial inquiry into the conduct of the various complaints that have been associated with the operation of detention centres and we stick with that.

JOURNALIST: What about the responses of security? I mean, there's all sorts of stories coming out, who started it and how it all happened. But, you know, firing tear gas at various people. How do you respond to that sort of reaction?

BEAZLEY: Clearly, in these circumstances infinite capacities for misunderstanding. There is clearly great nervousness inside the detention centres and nervousness among those who have responsibility for detaining them. That is why we need an air-clearing operation. And I think the sort of inquiry that we

have proposed would assist with that. A decent inquiry then tells you what sort of things you need to do so that you don't constantly respond piecemeal to some indication you've got a problem with security, some indication you've got a problem with basic humanitarian treatment. You need a proper inquiry to deal with all those issues.

JOURNALIST: So, you're basically saying that you believe there is a system failure up there?

BEAZLEY: Port Hedland happened last night, and I don't know all the circumstances of it. What I'd say is this: there're enough incidents happening around the country, and have been so for some time, for us to warrant looking more closely at it, or to have an dispassionate person look more closely at it.

JOURNALIST: Just the simple fact that, in respect of illegal refugees, had access to each other seems to be a complete breakdown of the system.

BEAZLEY: There are clearly a whole variety of problems here. Now, We can deal with each of them piecemeal, and I guess that there has to be a piecemeal response to an urgent situation, or you can choose to sit down and say, 'OK, we've had a few years experience of this now. There's question marks over some of those conducting this particular operation and we need to clear the air and then get a clear-cut understanding of what needs to change and what we need to do about it.

JOURNALIST: Max Moore-Wilton has just had his contract renewed for another five years and a reported quarter of a million dollars. It's a little bit premature, don't you think, seeing it's an election year?

BEAZLEY: We've said, as a general rule, that we're not going to engage in nights of the long knives should we be lucky enough to assume office in this country. We think that the way in which the public service has been politicised has gone way too far. We think we need to return to stable public service in which all Australians can have the complete confidence that our great public servants deserve. I think, particularly in that regard of the contribution made over the years of Sir Arthur Tange, who died only a day or so ago and I do extend to his family my deepest sympathies. But he was the epitome, though he attracted much criticism from his day, including, from time to time, by us, he was brought up in a situation in which there was an independent public service that would offer free dispassionate advice to Ministers and not worry about watching their backs or the politics of it. We've come a long way since then, and basically to the detriment of good government in this country. So, I'm not about long knives. I'm not about launching into attacks on Max Moore-Wilton, or whatever. It is endemic in this system that has been introduced that there are contract and contract renewal periods. This is simply not good enough. These things have to change. But at the same time, they have to be viewed as policy matters, rather than matters related to particular individuals.

JOURNALIST: So, he'll be keeping his job, then, after the next election?

BEAZLEY: Well, as I said, as a general proposition we don't believe in operating nights of the long knives.

Ends Authorised by Geoff Walsh, 19 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600.

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