Australian Broadcasting Corporation
TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT
LOCATION:
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2004/s1149849.htmBroadcast: 08/07/2004
US has gone too far: Fraser
Reporter:
TONY JONES: Well, returning to our top story.
The US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage may well be regretting he loosened his tongue.
He's been tagged a thug by one former prime minister, while another has urged him to butt out of Australian politics.
The crudeness of Armitage's public critique of the Labor Party so close to an election has drawn an angry response that's taken the gloss off the PM's attempt to win back the political high ground today with his headland speech Getting the Big Things Right - if one of those big things is Australia's relationship with the US.
The long-serving former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser says the Government's still got work to do.
I spoke to Mr Fraser at his home on the Mornington Peninsula earlier this evening.
TONY JONES: Malcolm Fraser, thanks for joining us.
MALCOLM FRASER, FORMER PRIME MINISTER: Thank you.
TONY JONES: Richard Armitage has now made two forays into Australian politics in the last month.
Has he crossed the line between legitimate commentary and interference?
MALCOLM FRASER: I think Richard Armitage crossed the line quite a long while ago because it's not the first time he's done this.
It's worse because we're approaching an election but he has, on a number of occasions, said, for example, that if there is a war between China and America over Taiwan, Australia would have to do a good deal of the dirty work.
Now that's not his decision to make.
It's Australia's decision as, hopefully, an independent country.
And the intervention, not only of Richard Armitage but his bosses, in our political scene, I think, are quite unforgivable.
TONY JONES: What do you make of Mr Armitage's - sticking with him for a moment - his latest remarks which specifically target the Labor Party, suggesting its "rent down the middle" because of discussions he's apparently had behind the scenes.
He says he knows there are deep divisions in the Labor Party.
What do you make of that kind of commentary?
MALCOLM FRASER: Well, again, it is an intervention in Australian politics.
He's doing it for a very specific purpose - to try and achieve a specific outcome that the United States wants.
If it had been in older times, American officials would have been told to butt out.
If it had happened in Menzies's time or it had happened in my time, ambassadors or State Department officials would be told to keep well clear of Australian domestic politics.
snip...
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2004/s1149849.htmget your fucking nose out of my countries politics ..asshole
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