GOVERNMENT MEDIA MONITORING UNIT

DATE: FEBRUARY 17TH, 2006

TIME: 7.14AM

STATION: 720 ABC BREAKFAST (CAMERON)

SUBJECT: KENNEDY – WEEK IN POLITICS

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.

CAMERON

Big news this morning, a Julian McGauran move in .

KENNEDY

It’s an interesting story, isn’t it?

CAMERON

Isn’t it.

KENNEDY

My word, it’s the Max Trenorden, the former National Party leader, Member for Avon, been there 20 years, saying that he’s been approached by the Liberal Party, not once, but about five times…

CAMERON

Wow.

KENNEDY

…in recent…in recent months, to stand for the Liberal Party, turn his party on the Nationals…stand for the Liberal Party in Avon and he’s knocked it back…

CAMERON – 2 –

Right.

KENNEDY

…but I hear that Danielle Blain, the Liberal president, saying that’s not the case, but Judi Moylan, the Liberal Member for Pearce, says, yes she’s….

CAMERON

Of course, because that’s her neck of the woods, as well, isn’t it?

KENNEDY

Yes, indeed, stretches through there.

CAMERON

Yep, yep.

KENNEDY

She said yes, she raised it with Max Trenorden a couple of months ago…

CAMERON

Right.

KENNEDY

…and, I mean, it’s just…with Julian McGauran the…the National Party senator…

CAMERON

…who jumped ship in Victoria.

KENNEDY

…at a very strategic time…

CAMERON

Yeah.

KENNEDY

…and cost the National Party one member in the Ministry…one member in the…that… and caused bad blood federally, you can just see what it’s going….what’s going to happen – 3 –

locally…

CAMERON

Yeah.

KENNEDY

…if.. the blood hasn’t been all that good in recent times between and Matt Birney and I don’t think it’s going to get better. And by the way….

CAMERON

A bit tetchy, is it?

KENNEDY

A bit tetchy. Talk about tit for tat, I…I was speaking with one National Party source who told me that during a recent visit to Kalgoorlie, the Nationals were sounding out candidates to run in Kalgoorlie at the next state election. Approached about five people, I think the figure was, and they said they’d all been approached by the Liberals to run in place of Matt Birney, when Matt Birney takes…when Matt Birney takes a city seat at the next election. So there’s a….that set the hares running, as well.

CAMERON

Oh yes, it’s getting pretty willing, obviously.

KENNEDY.

So Matt says…Matt says he’s in Kalgoorlie for the election, but according to the Nats, the groundwork has already been laid for him to move to the metropolitan area and take a metropolitan seat and with someone coming in behind him in Kalgoorlie. So just watch this spot.

And by the way, that…that interview with Brendon Grylls, that we heard about, with Max…with Brendon Grylls, that will be on Stateline tonight. Rebecca Carmody will have that interview…

CAMERON

Oh, right.

KENNEDY

…and that’ll be a story running through…through the day to day. You can bet your boots on that.

CAMERON – 4 –

You can… certainly can. Now, the new Premier spoke at a luncheon yesterday. How was his speech received?

KENNEDY

About 450 people there, low key speech for a….went for about 35/40 minutes. Vast contrast to ’s style. This was…Alan Carpenter, sort of discussing, rather than sort of sort of giving a speech.

CAMERON

Right.

KENNEDY

Sort of discussing issues that he went through. Says that….you know, he’s still enjoying the job. He’s astounded at the way it happened, that with Geoff…he expected Geoff Gallop to be there for, you know, up to ten years, who knows, but suddenly in the circumstances, that he’s found himself in the job.

He said, last week’s meeting in COAG, he thoroughly enjoyed, everyone was very civil to each other and he enjoyed, you know, sort of raising those questions about Western Australia with the Prime Minister. But I think this is most interesting, I think his style, he was…and he said to the people at the lunch, look we’re all in this together, regarding Western Australia.

CAMERON

Yep.

KENNEDY

Western Australia’s going like a rocket, but we’re all in this together, to make sure that it keeps going and to make sure that we, sort of, all benefit from it. And he wasn’t just…he wasn’t just, sort of, the business sector, or the union sector, or the government sector, saying.. or the mining sector, or whatever. He said, look we’re all in this…

CAMERON

Yeah, conclusive…

KENNEDY

We’re all in this together, we’ve got to make it work and…I spoke to a few people afterwards and they said, he’s very good, he is very good, that was very impressive, you know… – 5 –

CAMERON

Yeah.

KENNEDY

He’s…he’s smarter than I thought. Now, not everyone would have thought that obviously.

CAMERON

Yeah.

KENNEDY

They were just a few of the people that I…that I talked…I mean, other people would have said, there should have been more substance in his speech and…and…

CAMERON

Yeah.

KENNEDY

…those sorts of things. But overall, Ian, I think the impression seemed to be quite…quite positive and…and augers well, of course, for Mr Carpenter. He said…he checked out who was the shortest term Premier in Western Australia’s history and he found out it was senior, who was Premier for about a month…

CAMERON

Right, yes.

KENNEDY

…and now he’s got three weeks and one day, so he’s counting the days.

CAMERON

Checking it out.

KENNEDY

But seemed to be a good start.

CAMERON

– 6 –

It seems he hasn’t put a foot wrong so far, unlike some other people who maybe have some strange dining companions.

KENNEDY

You’ve got to be careful with the company you keep, Eoin, don’t you.

CAMERON

You sure do.

KENNEDY

…and this…

CAMERON

You lay down with dogs, you get fleas, Peter.

KENNEDY

Yes, yes, show me your friends and I will tell you who you are.

CAMERON

Yes.

KENNEDY

…that one before. Well two.. on both sides of politics here, both sides of politics. Wonderful photograph by Don Palmer, in , earlier in the week of Norm Marlborough, the new Minister for Small Business, getting down to lunch, serious lunch, with Colonel Gadaffi of Libya, his son, visiting Perth, and was there too, the Agriculture Minister, at a lunch hosted by the Roberts family. John and Tim Roberts. Well, you could almost be in a time warp here, because John Roberts from Multiplex was a vice patron of the John Curtin Foundation, you know, back in the mid-80s, and very, very closely enmeshed with the Burke government of the day, that John Curtin Foundation, a brainchild of Brian Burke. So you think, 20 years, gone, and here were are back again…

CAMERON

Yep. We’ve been in the Tardis.

KENNEDY

…dining…dining…dining down at the Old Swan Brewery, overlooking the…overlooking the river.

See, the point about that…they didn’t…the Ministers’ didn’t like Geoff Gallop’s 14 member – 7 –

Cabinet, cause, perhaps one of the reasons was, they’ve now got a 17 member Cabinet, didn’t have time for this sort of thing…

CAMERON

Right, yes.

KENNEDY

…and Alan Carpenter, yesterday, was talking about discipline…

CAMERON

Yeah.

KENNEDY

…and I think he might be, sort of, reminding his Ministers about discipline and lunches and things like that and just get on with it. Get on, just do the job and I think, Norm Marlborough, the rookie Minister, he might have had a flea in his ear, again.

CAMERON

Well, he didn’t help.

KENNEDY

No, and then…and then, not only that but, of course, Matt Birney himself, having breakfast earlier in the week with Noel Crichton-Browne, in a West Perth establishment and this is after one of his colleagues has said, he’s used up his nine lives…

CAMERON

Right

KENNEDY

…already, so I…these things…sort of things don’t go down… I mean there’s nothing…

CAMERON

Wait for the dead cat bounce?

KENNEDY

Nothing wrong with speaking with Noel Crichton-Browne, nothing wrong with speaking with Brian Burke, but it might be wise just to pick your locations, because other people read things into them.

– 8 –

CAMERON

I’m biting my tongue so hard, it’s bleeding.

KENNEDY

I know, I know, it’s painful…you should see the pained expression on Eoin’s face, here . You’re doing well, Eoin.

CAMERON

Now the pokies debate has been revisited. What’s going on there, Peter?

KENNEDY

Well, James Packer was in town with one of his lieutenants, Chris Anderson, and they did the rounds. James Packer, of course, his company now owns the Burswood Casino.

CAMERON

Yeah.

KENNEDY

They did the rounds and the rounds included a call on Alan Carpenter, in which the issue was raised, and as we said there was a $500million expansion that he would like to do, but it all depends on getting the pokies, because the pokies are more profitable…

CAMERON

Right.

KENNEDY

…than the machines they’ve got at the moment. Now, don’t….ask me the difference between poker machines and the gaming machines and it’s a very subtle difference.

CAMERON

Sure.

KENNEDY

But, there apparently is a difference…and, but they want these pokies because the returns on the pokies are better.

Not only did he do the rounds with the Premier, he did the rounds with Mr Birney and sounded him out and there was some conjecture as to just where Mr Birney stood…and I mean…it seems that the Government…I mean, this all started with , Richard – 9 –

Court said no pokies.

CAMERON

No, yep, yep.

KENNEDY

…and Geoff Gallop said, no pokies.

CAMERON

Yep.

KENNEDY

…but then, you know, if there’s a chink in the armour, the PBL boys will be in there, and they’ll be…assume…

CAMERON

They’ll exploit it.

KENNEDY

There was a survey in The West Australian this morning about who wants pokies and apparently the vast majority of West Australians surveyed yesterday, said that they didn’t want pokies. The West Australian editorialised yesterday, in favour of pokies.

CAMERON

Right.

KENNEDY

Interestingly enough, The West Australian…WA Newspapers and PBL have an interest…50/50 interest in Hoyts, so, look, there’s …there’s…

CAMERON

So there’s, sort of some meshing going on there…

KENNEDY

Well, it’s a bit blurred, it’s a bit blurred. So I….don’t, don’t…just…don’t be surprised, this…this issue will persist, because Western Australia’s apparently the only mainland state holding out against pokies. – 10 –

CAMERON

Right.

KENNEDY

The Government says, and the Lib…Richard Court said, the social issues aren’t worth it. There’s enough outlets, if you want to gamble, there’s enough outlets for you at the moment. But, but….

CAMERON

Go to .

KENNEDY

If you want the pokies. I mean they’re not the one-arm bandits anymore, they used to be a bit of fun, but that’s another issue.

CAMERON

Now, what’s coming up, Peter?

KENNEDY

Well, we’ve got the by-election on March 11th. By the way, the Tasmanians will go to the poll on March 18th, same as the South Australians, but the Victoria Park by-election, March the 11th. Nominations for candidates close at 6.00 o’clock today. Looks as if there could be a cricket team field, in this one.

CAMERON

Right.

KENNEDY

…ten, eleven, a big number of candidates.

Gough Whitlam’s in town. He’ll be speaking at a literary lunch and also at a function for the former Labor Party president of the Upper House, John Cowdell, this evening.

And Jim McGinty, the Health Minister, he’ll be announcing an initiative to protect West Australian school children from suffering allergic reactions and no doubt will be also pursued on the issue of the location of the…future location of Princess Margaret Hospital and the Institute for Child Health Research, suggested it might be Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.

CAMERON – 11 –

Right.

KENNEDY

The preferred location at this stage, north block at RPH…

CAMERON

Yep.

KENNEDY

…but the clinicians are putting in an alternative approach. So plenty going on.

CAMERON

Peter, we’ll look forward to catching up with you on Monday.

End…jg