JOURNALIST:
Treasurer, in your speech you talk about promoting parents' involvement in schools. Could you elaborate on that a bit?
TREASURER:
Well, I think that parent control and parent involvement in schools is very important for educational outcomes because parents have an interest in the schooling that their children get. They want high standards. And it also builds a community around a school which is supportive, and the school, in turn, rebuilds a community. It becomes a centre in a neighbourhood, or a community, for social engagement. And making the schools centres like that, I think is positive. And making the schools accountable to parents for higher standards in education is also a very positive thing.
JOURNALIST:
You also say that, when you spoke about tolerance last month, people wrote you letters saying they wouldn't vote Liberal. Did that surprise you?
TREASURER:
Well as I said, as I say in the speech, the response was overwhelmingly positive. It was not unanimously positive. There were some people that wrote to tell me why they did not regard tolerance as important. I have tried to set down today some reasons why I think it is.
JOURNALIST:
On your comments on tolerance, how does it stand with the Government's agenda for asylum seekers? Is it in line?
TREASURER:
Well, I think one of the reasons why asylum seekers come to Australia, is, it has a reputation as being a tolerant society. One of the reasons that people support the, want to come into Australia and support the Australian way of life, is, that compared to other societies around the world, we are a remarkably tolerant society. And I think Australia has been remarkably successful in relation to that.
JOURNALIST:
Would you advocate a more sympathetic line, then, for the Government on the issue?
TREASURER:
Look, the thing, the thing I think is that, it is important in this area that people smugglers, and those that seek to traffic human beings, get a very clear message that an available destination is not Australia. I think that message has been sent. But those people who are legitimate refugees, who are assessed as being such, come in under a humanitarian programme, which per capita is one of the largest in the world. Unfortunately, we cannot take every person that wants to come in under that programme, but we do operate a very generous programme.
JOURNALIST:
You referred to Margaret Thatcher in your speech as extremely individualist. Is there anything wrong with that?
TREASURER:
Well, I note that her view attracted a lot of criticism. Okay. Thanks.