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Government Media Monitoring Unit GOVERNMENT MEDIA MONITORING UNIT DATE: MAY 17TH, 2006 TIME: 10.13AM STATION: 720 ABC PERTH MORNINGS(MELLET) SUBJECT: BLACK/CALLERS – KUCERA COMEBACK This transcript is produced for information purposes only. Although all care is taken, no warranty as to its accuracy or completeness is given. It is your responsibility to ensure by independent verification that all information is correct before placing any reliance on it. MELLET Well, Bob is back, after seemingly being sent to Coventry over a breach of conduct, the former Cabinet minister, Bob Kucera, yesterday put himself back in play, nominating for the Cabinet position that was left vacant by disgraced former police minister, John D’Orazio. If you remember, Mr Kucera was pressured to resign last year by former premier Geoff Gallop over a scandal involving personal shares. He resigned from the Cabinet position of sport and seniors, having previously held the portfolio of health. Now, Mr Kucera has declined to be interviewed today, so we thought we’d talk to Curtin University’s political analyst, Professor David Black… (greetings not transcribed)… I’m just wondering how you rate Bob Kucera’s chances? BLACK Well I must say I find this a rather unexpected development and… I suppose I could look at it from two perspectives. The first is how long has it been since he was required to leave the ministry, and the answer is of course, it was many months, but it seems a relatively short time to return to the ministry is you are leaving because you have had some error. The only case I can think of quickly off the top of my head was Bill Grayden, who in 1978 got involved in a punch-up in a hotel yard and was dropped by Sir Charles Court from the ministry, and he reappeared just under two years later after there’d been an election. So perhaps the amount of time that he’s served, if you like, hasn’t been all that long, and from that point perhaps it’s a bit surprising. The other issue of course, is… well the second issue relating to that of course, is that subsequently other problems developed with people like Alannah MacTiernan and they did not have to resign, and so perhaps this may be, you know, he may be feeling that he really took a fairly harsh punishment in terms of what happened. So, you know, who knows. 2 But the other issue beyond that again is the question of talent for the ministry, and I think there was a bit of a feeling that while Bob Kucera was a sound and solid minister, he’d not been one of the great achievers of the ministry. He’d been the health minister and had then been moved to what might be called a range or diverse portfolio, and therefore I suppose there’s a little bit of a feeling that there must be a few ambitious members of caucus around who think that they have a stronger case than he does to return to the ministry. MELLET I’m really interested in how this appears to be perceived by the voters. We’ve had the situation where John D’Orazio resigned after, well it was less than 24 hours that Alan Carpenter decided not to sack him, there was a lot of talk around that people felt disappointed in Mr Carpenter for not taking a harder line. How do you think they’d feel with Bob Kucera going back? BLACK Well I think that’s an extremely relevant point. I mean I think that whatever the arguments for and against Kucera coming back are it would not look at all good in the light of what’s been happing in the last couple of weeks. I mean Alan Carpenter’s handling of the John D’Orazio thing clearly was just politically unsound – he just simply got it wrong. While John D’Orazio, I think, was a very successful minister in many respects, the fact is, to allow one transgression after another and then still try to keep him in Cabinet, really was quite a serious error, as was his suggestion he was being moved to sort of minor portfolios, which in fact didn’t thrill people who have disabled children and so on. So I think that was not at all well handled and so I think there would be a real perception around if Bob Kucera came back now that really that either Alan Carpenter’s got it wrong, or he doesn’t have control of the situation, of either the ministry or the caucus. MALLET I’d love to know the audience’s position on this. Give us a call if you’d like to be part of this discussion on Bob Kucera… David, from what you understand within the party, how do you think this is being received? BLACK Well, as I say, there will be some people who had their hands up for ministerial posts already who will not be at all excited and… I mean there have been various people, Tony McRae, parliamentary secretary at the present time, is certainly one; Jay Radisich is another one. There are a number of young hopefuls who really see themselves as having, you know, a future career, and who undoubtedly were lining up for this post, and I don’t that they’ll be terribly excited if they see this happen. So whilst there will be people like Carol Martin who feel that Bob should come back, there’ll be others who I think would not, you know, be all that excited… 3 MELLET Do we know of Mr Kucera’s sort of backing within the party? Is he part of a faction? BLACK Well that’s a tricky situation. I mean the faction situation’s quite complex. But I would have thought that Bob Kucera’s position originally was very much based on his previous experience as a senior officer in the police force, and the fact that he received from Geoff Gallop – virtually instantly – a very senior portfolio in health, suggests that it was his standing, if you like, in the community and that kind of thing which promoted him rather than factional support. So the fact that he did so well so quickly undoubtedly came from those kinds of issues. So I would be surprised if there’s a strong degree of factional support for this. MELLET I was very interested to read the comments by Labor MP Carol Martin, raising concerns that Dr Gallop was unwell during the time he asked Mr Kucera to resign, and therefore that decision was, well, in fact the words are: ‘Someone who is suffering from mental illness, they’re not a fit witness to their own decisions’. BLACK Well I think… I was very surprise indeed that a member of the Labor caucus would make such a comment. I mean there are two factors, firstly, I mean the Premier made all sorts of decisions, and I don’t know whether she’s trying to suggest all of the decisions he was making in October, November and December were haywire, but the other thing is that I don’t think there’s any evidence to suggest that anything that took place in that time was… any decisions were done other than in terms of the normal factors and criteria, and the decision of Bob Kucera to resign at the time seemed imminently the right thing to do. I mean he had – unwittingly or not – he had transgressed in a serious principle in terms that he was present in Cabinet and voting on something in which he was… there was a direct financial interest. Now obviously in the light of subsequent events perhaps, you know, the guidelines have to be drawn up more carefully, and maybe particularly when the company is only indirectly linked to the decision that’s being made, but I’m very surprised that Carol Martin made that comment and I wouldn’t think it would have a great deal of support. MELLET And she’s also called for Bob Kucera to be reinstated. BLACK Well, I mean, there may well be others who feel like she, that Bob Kucera was, if you like, a fall guy for the rest of the Government and that really, you know, he’s served his time and he ought to be able to return, but that’s a completely different issue. 4 MELLET David, we’ve had a call from Phillip and I wonder if you’d just stay with me while we talk to him… Phillip, you’re on the line with David Black, political analyst from Curtin University. PHILLIP (CALLER) … look, my comment on this is that it seems to me as a one-time Labor voter many, many years ago, but unable to vote for the Liberals and therefore unable to be satisfied other than through the minor parties, and of course none of them ever get elected, is that the Labor Party seems to be so disorganised that you’re likely to be as, or as likely to be attacked from within the Labor Party if you’re a Labor parliamentarian as you are to be attacked from without. It seems to me that they have talent both at State and Federal level, possibly more talent than the Libs, but the Libs are better organised and better marshalled and protect each other, and therefore seem to last longer as a result. I’ll stay and listen to your comment on that, David.
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