Fed: Howard unveils priorities for 2000

AAP General News (Australia)
12-05-1999
Fed: Howard unveils priorities for 2000

By Debra Way

CANBERRA, Dec 5 AAP - Prime Minister John Howard today unveiled his agenda for 2000,
saying he wants to maintain the momentum of economic growth, drive unemployment down further
and address the feeling of alienation in rural Australia.

Mr Howard said he would also look to build further on Australia's international reputation.

After a hectic year that saw his historic GST tax legislation passed by parliament,
Mr Howard said he had no intention of slackening the pace.

"I certainly want to keep the momentum of economic growth going," he told the Nine Network.

"I want to drive unemployment down further and I'm optimistic that that can be achieved.

"I want to work hard on the feeling of alienation that many people experience in the
regional areas of Australia and I want to build on the respect that I believe Australia
has in our region and around the world."

Mr Howard said he ranked Australia's lead in the East Timor peace mission this year
as a more important achievement than the government's massive GST tax overhaul.

"This is the first time that Australia has led, ever in its history, an international
peace enforcement operation," he said.

"There were a lot of risks involved in it. There was a lot of advice flowing to us
to take a different tack and we chose not to.

"We were able to achieve something that Australians feel justifiably proud of."

Mr Howard said the East Timor effort had strained relations between Canberra and Jakarta,
but he was confident they could be rebuilt.

"Sure there are problems with Indonesia at the moment, but, over time and with patience
and providing our expectations are not too high, that relationship will slowly repair
itself," he said.

"But there are many other countries in the region that saw Australia take a very strong
and principled stand and deep down they have a lot of respect for us as a result."

Mr Howard said the next federal election was anybody's to win, despite the prediction
of bright economic times ahead.

"We live in a very volatile political climate. You can't assume that because the economy
is doing well that you're going to be automatically re-elected."

He said there was growing evidence that the Asian financial crisis had bottomed out
and the economic outlook was bright.

"There's no reason why we shouldn't achieve the 3.5 per cent (economic growth) of the
Treasury's forecast," he said.

But he acknowledged that many Australians felt they were missing out on the benefits
of a strong economy.

"It's always the case that disadvantage is a relative thing," he said.

"If the whole economy is doing well, then those who are aren't doing well feel the
pain even more.

"There's no overnight solution to that."

But the government was opening more job employment agencies and services in regional
Australia to help get people back in work, he said.

Mr Howard accused Opposition Leader Kim Beazley of taking a negative view by pinning
all his electoral hopes on the implementation of an unpopular GST.

"I never thought it would be easy, but my message to Mr Beazley is that ... just hoping
and praying that the GST transition will fall over and hurt the government is not a vision
for the 21st Century."

AAP daw/apm/de

KEYWORD: HOWARD NIGHTLEAD

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