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21 February 2002
TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER
THE HON JOHN HOWARD MP
TV INTERVIEW WITH MIKE MUNRO
A CURRENT AFFAIR, CHANNEL 9
Subjects: Governor General
E&OE
MUNRO:
Mr Howard, thanks for your time. You certainly surprised
a lot of people today.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I did what I thought was right. I didnt feel
that the grounds existed to sack the Governor General
because thats really what it amounted to. I read
his statement and having read it I couldnt bring
myself, having examined my conscience, to remove the man
from office when I knew that hed done nothing wrong
as Governor General. There was no evidence of any
criminal behaviour, no evidence of any moral lapses on
his part, and at worst a number of errors of judgement
and who amongst us have not been guilty of errors of
judgement.
MUNRO:
No none of us. But were there too many errors of
judgement?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that is a matter of
.thats a subjective
thing and in the end Im left with the
responsibility of making that decision and I have to live
with the decision. A lot of people will disagree with me.
It would have been a constitutional earthquake to sack a
Governor General. It was a very difficult decision.
MUNRO:
One of your hardest?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh yes. Probably in relation to an individual the hardest
because you are dealing with something that I find, you
know, beyond belief and repulsive. On the other hand, I
know that its so easy by smear to associate
somebody with that repulsive conduct when theyve
been in no way involved in it themselves.
MUNRO:
But did he dig himself in even further on his appearance
on the ABC when he seemed to imply blame on the
14-year-old girl who had sex with the priest?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well he did say something about that today. I mean he
said that he was purporting to respond to something in
relation to an adult association. But can I
..
MUNRO:
Prime Minister sorry to interrupt you. He said I think I
didnt hear the question properly or something like
that. I thought I was talking about an adult
relationship. But on the ABC he said this is something
that happened 40 years ago, a young priest and a young
woman.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well look I wasnt there but what I do know is that
he has said something about that today, hes
apologised to the person and hes apologised to the
community for that and knowing him as I do I dont
believe for a moment that he would ever condone sex with
an underage girl any more than you and I do. Its
appalling and can never be condoned in any circumstances
of any kind whatsoever.
MUNRO:
What about the bishop? This priest later became a bishop
and remained in office for many years while Dr
Hollingworth was Archbishop.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes but to be fair the original decisions about that
persons life in the Church were made before Dr
Hollingworth became Archbishop of Brisbane.
MUNRO:
And yet the Church sacked this bishop the moment Dr
Hollingworth left office for the Governor General. What
does that tell you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I understand
.well it means that a different
approach was adopted by the person who followed him. The
easy thing to have done would have been to have said oh
this is all too difficult you should go. Now that would
have been politically more expedient and easier than the
decision that Ive taken. But in the end I couldnt
in my conscience believe that I was doing the right
thing.
MUNRO:
Do you think Dr Hollingworth was sensitive and
compassionate towards the families and towards the
victims who approached him when he was Archbishop of
Brisbane?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well he claims he was. I mean I wasnt there. In my
discussions with him can I say hes as repelled by
child abuse as you are and I am and theres nothing
in my contact with him over the years Ive known him
to suggest other than he is like any other ordinary
person, man or woman, they find it disgusting and
abominable.
MUNRO:
Its not going to go away Mr Howard though is it?
Should you be launching a full government, an independent
inquiry? Its not going to go away.
PRIME MINISTER:
But theres nothing
.see Mike this is the
difficulty with this issue. In the end the criticism of
Dr Hollingworth is not that they think his behaviour
amounts to a crime or some kind of personal moral lapse
of his. I mean people arent saying, even his
fiercest critics
.I mean I saw one person say he
should be behind bars. I mean that is ridiculous. Theres
no evidence of a crime and Ive had advice from the
Attorney General to that effect. So theres really
nothing to inquire into in that sense. Its a
question of whether his judgements in relation to the
handling of some of these things were good or bad and we
can argue that forever. But you will never totally
resolve it. It fell to me today to decide whether those
lapses of judgement were of such a magnitude that he
should be removed from the highest office
constitutionally in the country and thereby be condemned
in the eyes of the Australian public of having failed
.
MUNRO:
Isnt he already condemned?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well in the eyes of some
..
MUNRO:
The majority.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there could be a majority at the present time. I dont
know. I havent done any opinion polling on it and
in the end on something like this you have to do what you
think is right.
MUNRO:
All right Prime Minister well leave it there and
thank you again for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[Ends]
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