GOVERNMENT MEDIA MONITORING UNIT
DATE: DECEMBER 14TH, 2006
TIME: 8.33AM
STATION: 720 ABC PERTH MORNINGS(HUTCHISON)
SUBJECT: CARPENTER – CABINET RESHUFFLE
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.
GEOFF HUTCHISON
Alan Carpenter, very good morning to you. (greetings not transcribed) I’d like to have a closer look at this Cabinet reshuffle. We know there was considerable pressure on Ljiljanna Ravlich, why did you remove her from the education portfolio?
ALAN CARPENTER
We needed a fresh start there. There had been a very difficult year – I don’t have to go into it, everybody knows the issues that have been going on.
GEOFF HUTCHISON
I’m just interested specifically where you thought that this can no longer continue, was there something.. you know the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak?
ALAN CARPENTER
Oh no, not really. Look it’s been.. I was education minister for four years, Geoff, it is a very, very tough job and anybody who’s been education minister and says it’s not a tough job was completely useless and didn’t know what they were doing. It’s a tough job and you’re confronted with issues all the time. And this year, it was almost like the perfect storm for Ljiljanna, there were so many issues that came at her. The implementation of change is always resisted and creates problems, difficulties. The Federal Government joined in to try and stop the.. ironically to try and stop the change which would bring us into line with the rest of the country and on the other hand they’re saying we should have a.. you know, a nationally consistent approach. So their approach is just completely bizarre and stupid. But nevertheless we got hammered by them.
Bits of the media joined in. There was the issues related to the CCC’s inquiry and so on - 2 – and for everybody’s sake, I think, including Ljiljanna’s, it was obvious by the end of the year or by now, that we needed to move on. Ljiljanna needed to move into a new area for some new challenges and I put Mark McGowan there, because he’s demonstrated a lot of skill as his time as environment minister, in resolving.. identifying, addressing issues, identifying issues, engaging with the stakeholders and putting solutions into place. Now he’s got a big challenge in education and training.
GEOFF HUTCHISON
There were some competency issues with Ms Ravlich, would you concede that? I know it was a difficult year and I know the challenges were enormous, but did you think that she handled that portfolio competently?
ALAN CARPENTER
Look can I just make this.. Ljiljanna Ravlich is not incompetent. It is.. it’s a tough job and she admitted that it was a very, very challenging portfolio. It’s easy to sit back and just watch things and say oh well, this is a sign of incompetence. I don’t share that view and if I thought Ljiljanna was incompetent, I wouldn’t have kept her in the ministry. I worked with her, you know she came into Parliament about the same time as me, 10 years ago, she’s got tremendous amount of ability, she works very hard and I think that she can succeed in the other portfolios that I’ve given her.
GEOFF HUTCHISON
Why have you given her a portfolio that is.. it’s not meaningless, but it has been the portfolio that’s been handed over to a whole range of ministers over the last few years, it’s not.. all portfolios are important, Premier, but this is one of the least significant ones.
ALAN CARPENTER
Well, I mean, I don’t share that view and if you.. I think a lot of people would not share that view. I’m assuming you’re talking about.. which portfolio, you’d better tell me which one you’re talking about…
GEOFF HUTCHISON
Okay, multicultural interests, that has had no shortage of people doing the job over the last few years.
ALAN CARPENTER
Well a lot of ministers go through different portfolios, I mean I’ve had about eight.
GEOFF HUTCHISON
Yeah I know but the.. I mean let’s not.. I don’t want to go on about multicultural affairs, but you know… - 3 –
ALAN CARPENTER
…don’t want to put your foot in it, that’s why.
GEOFF HUTCHISON
No, it’s not a portfolio that has been given a high priority by your Government and I wouldn’t think that there’s been much stability there with ministers drifting in and out the door all the time.
ALAN CARPENTER
Well they don’t drift in and out Geoff, I take the point. Look multicultural interests in Western Australia is a significant portfolio area, it has been for quite some time. We have had a year in which there have been a few changes, forced upon me generally, and that’s one of the portfolio areas that has changed a couple of times. But I want stability. I want stability, hard work, competence, recognition of the issues in these areas and engagement with the groups. And right now, look around Australia, the issues – economy, climate change – and if anybody thinks that the issue of multicultural interests and the way we are dealing with migrants and our approach to international affairs is not a major issue, then I’d be surprised.
GEOFF HUTCHISON
Can I ask, you mentioned Mark McGowan, you know I’ve obviously thrown him stupid questions in the last couple of weeks and he’s ducked and weaved them very easily – what will be his first priority in education?
ALAN CARPENTER
Mark’s first priority in education will be to assure parents that we have got a brilliant education system, that the issues that have been controversial this year and the last couple of years are being addressed systematically. That the stakeholders, the teachers, the parents, the teachers’ union are engaged in resolving issues that have created problems for us. Bedding down the final implementation of the new courses of study, outcomes based education, bringing us into line with the rest of Australia, which is a current theme running strongly in national politics. And making sure that we give an assurance to parents, no matter whether their children are in government schools, non-government schools, private schools, that the education system in Western Australia will deliver your child a brilliant education.
GEOFF HUTCHISON
…I’d like to get your views, 1300 222 720 – how do you reflect on this first year of the Carpenter Government, it’s not quite a year yet? Are you satisfied… - 4 –
ALAN CARPENTER
…It’s been amazing.
GEOFF HUTCHISON
I’m not asking you, you will be satisfied.
ALAN CARPENTER
I was going to say, I take a leaf out of John Worsfold’s book, I heard him interviewed once, he was under pressure at one stage and I heard him say – every day’s a bonus. Now to me this has just been an amazingly exciting year. There have been lots of ups and downs and challenges, but I knew when I took it on that it was going to be tough. There were issues that were there that needed to addressed. We have got a very powerful economy, we’ve managed the economy well. We’ve got the lowest unemployment for 30-odd years. We’ve got double digit economic growth. We’ve got record business investment. We manage the environment very well.
GEOFF HUTCHISON
Would you concede.. would you concede Premier that that boom, I mean it does continue, but it also continues to insulate your Government from the harm, the controversies and the perception that the talent pool isn’t very deep?
ALAN CARPENTER
Yeah, but people who say that are not necessarily all that talented themselves mate.
GEOFF HUTCHISON
Are you talking about me now?
ALAN CARPENTER
I haven’t heard you say it. But look, we’ve got a challenge ahead of us in Western Australia. First of all, let’s be clear about this – is there anywhere else in the world that people would want to prefer to live?
GEOFF HUTCHISON
Yeah but that’s… look I’m not going to let you say.. make the statement yet, because that’s a bit too easy. Let’s.. I’d like to get back to a couple of these issues. John Bowler…
ALAN CARPENTER
I haven’t finished yet. The themes that we’ve got to pursue now are maintaining our strong - 5 – economy, if we let the economy go off the rails or if we don’t manage it well, everything else will fall apart. We’ve got to focus on creating jobs for tomorrow, the innovation sector, the new industries, very critical for us, so that when the boom starts to come off its peak, there are plenty of other opportunities. We’ve got to deliver on the key services and be seen to be delivering and concentrating hard on those key services. Education, we’ve spoken about. Health, health is so important. And obviously community safety. And you know, stand back, have a look at the record of community safety, we.. the crime rates have come down across a whole range of areas.
GEOFF HUTCHISON
Can I look at another aspect of community safety, before you completely take over this program. I note the Department of Community Development is now the Department of Child Protection – it’s a good name change.
ALAN CARPENTER
Yeah it is.
GEOFF HUTCHISON
And it would appear to signal an intention to sharpen the focus on keeping kids safe, but how will it change in practice?
ALAN CARPENTER
Well it’s already changed and changing in practice. What we had was a Department of Community Development, one of its functions was child protection. There was a confusion, a lack of focus from the staff in there about the philosophy of the department, about the primary intent of the department. Addressing those issues that came.. those horrible issues that came to the surface this year, I realised that we had to actually crystallise in everybody’s mind that the primary function must be child protection.
Community development is important work, but for that department child protection is the number one task. So I’ve actually separated out those functions and assigned the minister, quite clearly in his portfolio, the task of child protection. Communities and community development, yes we must continue to do that, but we’ve got.. we’re pouring massive resources into that department and I want to see it deliver a better outcome on child protection. And I think I’d be supported pretty broadly in that ambition.
GEOFF HUTCHISON
There’s, as these things always are, a terribly sad coronial inquiry going on in Kununurra at the moment and calls for WA to introduce mandatory reporting of child abuse. These calls don’t go away, why does this Government remain so unwilling to change tack on this thing?
ALAN CARPENTER - 6 –
You know it’s one of those issues that people look around for the immediate silver bullet and they hear this phrase mandatory reporting. In that particular case, for example, it was reported. In every other state where they’ve introduced mandatory reporting, it’s caused almost chaos because the system just gets completely swamped.
GEOFF HUTCHISON
Yeah, it’s a big work load, that’s absolutely true. But…
ALAN CARPENTER
…created chaos everywhere and all the people who are.. not universally, but the majority of people who are involved intently in these areas say for God’s sake, don’t over load us with millions of frivolous complaints through mandatory reporting, which has happened everywhere else in the world where it’s been introduced, allow us to focus on the critical issues. And if you talk to people like Fiona Stanley, have a look at what’s happened in Tasmania, their system collapsed because of mandatory reporting. It.. all it does is flood those people working in there with thousands and thousands of complaints, which they should never have to deal with. They need to be able to focus on the really important, the diabolical circumstances, such as that which has happened under investigation there in the Kimberley. We can’t allow that sort of thing to happen in Western Australia and while I’m the Premier, I want to make sure that I can do everything I possibly can to stop it from happening.
GEOFF HUTCHISON
Finally Premier…
ALAN CARPENTER
…I love the cricket.
GEOFF HUTCHISON
No, no, not the cricket, not that easy yet. Can you promise us some political stability within your Cabinet next year?
ALAN CARPENTER
Stability is, I think, one of the prerequisites that people look for from government. I don’t want to be.. you know having a revolving door of people going in and out of Cabinet. I didn’t believe that there was any reason for any of those ministers in my group to be put out of Cabinet. Some of them have had some big difficulties and challenges, but they’re competent people, they’re well meaning people, they’re hard working. What we have to be is one, hard working; two, focused; three, disciplined; four, competent.
GEOFF HUTCHISON - 7 –
And five…
ALAN CARPENTER
…we have to demonstrate all these qualities.. (inaudible).. the big agenda and the state will support us because we are going in the right direction. The proof is in the pudding out there.
GEOFF HUTCHISON
And five as John Bowler found out, no contact with Julian Grill or Brian Burke. Are we done with that issue now, Premier?
ALAN CARPENTER
Well, mate I hope so, but you know, life will tell us I suppose the full story as we go forward. You know it was.. I don’t believe I made a mistake really in lifting the ban, but obviously the result was a negative, because I think that Brian Burke, for example, abused the freedom that he was given and it’s just very unfortunate that we have to have these sort of impositions in place in our state, in the year 2006, in a free western democracy.
GEOFF HUTCHISON
Enjoy the cricket.
Ends…jg