Paul Keating interview – 1984

Treasurer Keating was on the 10-week campaign trail in the run-up to the December 1984 Federal Election. He was visiting Perth and promoting deregulation of the banking system.
This has an element of public humiliation – I was a journalism student but not a TV journo. I was very sing-songy and totally inexperienced. Am the one with crimped ginger hair – it *was* the 80s!
After the interview he sincerely asked us what we thought the ALP’s chances were of winning the election and how their campaign was going.


Samoa has a $US12.9m pool it can’t afford

Paid for by China – the SMH says it’s  “so expensive to run New Zealand would have problems maintaining it”. The report says China makes short-term loans so other countries will recognise Taiwan etc.

Productivity Commission acts stupid to avoid scrutiny

David Marr writes re: the book publishing industry stoush: “One side issue to emerge: the strange lack of confidence in both scrutiny and competition shown by the Productivity Commission’s decision to sit tight on its 240-page report all day yesterday until 3 o’clock. This, a spokesman told the Herald, was to achieve market neutrality between TV, radio and newspapers. He wasn’t joking.”

Earns the TULIP of the Week Award.