E&OE…………………………………………………………………………….
JOURNALIST:
Can I ask you about the legal injecting rooms in Sydney. Do you think it is the role of the Vatican to become involved in Australia’s affairs?
HOWARD:
Well that’s a matter for the Catholic Church. As I understand it, it was a decision taken by the Vatican exercising its authority in relation to the Catholic Church and I certainly don’t argue with that. I don’t want to get involved in a judgement about the internal workings of the Catholic Church. I respect the Church. I also happen to agree with the result. I don’t support injecting rooms. I never have and I never will. As to the decision by the Vatican, well I respect its authority within the Church. I don’t intend to be drawn into a debate about whether the Vatican should have exercised that authority. I’ll leave that to people who are at adherents of the Church. It’s for him to talk about but as far as the result is concerned, I don’t believe in injecting rooms.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think that Rural Transaction Centres will really replace the role of banks in country Australia?
HOWARD:
The rural transaction centre is the best alternative and what these transaction centres represent is hope for services coming back to the bush. The reality is that unless we have things like this, services are going to disappear more widely, they’re going to disappear more rapidly. And what we have done today is send a powerful signal to the bush. We want to bring services back to the bush. I sense here this morning in Eugowra and I believe it will be duplicated all around the nation, a real sense of excitement about the prospects of what lie ahead through these centres.
JOURNALIST:
The communique has been completed and delivered from the regional summit. How long will be it before the Government responds….?
HOWARD:
We’ve already responded very dramatically in a couple of areas. The announcement about the Rural Partnerships Trust very much is an initiative great Australian philanthropic family, the Myer family. The commitment of $14 million that I announced to that trust last night, and of course the great announcement I made last night – the final commitment to the Darwin to Alice Springs railway. And that’s going to create 7,000 jobs in rural and regional Australia. It’s going to provide at least 18 months work for the BHP steel operation in Whyalla. It is giving new hope and new heart and new encouragement to regional communities in South Australia and the Northern Territory. It is the stuff of which regional revival is made, and I couldn’t think of a more practical gesture carrying greater substance than that.
JOURNALIST:
How crucial is it that they use it?
HOWARD:
How crucial is that they’ll use it? I think they’ll use it. I mean I’ve only just opened. I’m sure they’ll love it.
JOURNALIST:
.. rail proposal…(inaudible)…
HOWARD:
Well each project according to its own merits and its own assessment. You see the reason why the Darwin to Alice Springs railway is getting up is that there’s been a partnership between the Government and the private sector. And for that partnership to come to fruition there needed to be a demonstration by private enterprise that there was potential support, potential economic return. And I can’t give a running commentary on each and every project. But the principle is the same.
JOURNALIST:
There’s actually a Centrelink …. How happy are you…(inaudible)…?
HOWARD:
Look I think the more facilities we can bring to small communities the better.
JOURNALIST:
..inaudible…
HOWARD:
No I don’t believe that will happen.
JOURNALIST:
Finance Sector Union has called on the government to take action against the banks…this is a Westpac building, is it good enough to have a credit union….(inaudible)…
HOWARD:
Look of the question of what can be achieved, and we have to recognise that not every single bank in every single area is going to stay there forever and we have to try and provide some alternatives and some areas encourage the banks to stay. The banks are certainly getting the message and some of them now have a moratorium on further rural closures. I met the board of one of the banks only three days ago in Melbourne and they told me that that was their policy, and they were very concerned about it. It’s a question of doing a number of things. There’s no one single answer. But what is good about this is that it’s the community and the government working together.
JOURNALIST:
So how will you respond to the Finance Sector Union’s call?
HOWARD:
I will respond to them in the way I’ve responded this morning and that is to provide an initiative to a local community to get services back within reach. And the good news about this morning is that we in partnership with the community have done something to bring services back to the bush. That is the best possible response.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, if I could just ask you about the Olympic ticketing scam? The Opposition leader has offered to return his tickets to give other Australians a fair go at seeing the events. Would you be willing to match his offer?
HOWARD:
Mr Beazley’s offered to do that?. I think there are other ways in which I can help even more. If Mr Beazley returns his ticket and his wife’s ticket then that’s two tickets. There are thousands upon thousands of Australians, and let me say to those thousands upon thousands of Australians there are a few other things that I think I can do as Prime Minister which will be of more practical help to you than that.
JOURNALIST:
Can I ask what they are Prime Minister?
HOWARD:
I’ve got a few things under consideration. I’m not in a position to say at the present time.
JOURNALIST:
… talks with the NSW government?
HOWARD:
I’ll always be….to talk to the New South Wales Government and I’ve been very cooperative with the New South Wales Government. The Federal Government has provided $500 million of support for these Olympic Games and I want them to work. I’m a proud Australian who wants this to be the greatest sporting event Australia has ever seen and I think it’s a great shame that this exercise, this fiasco has occurred.
JOURNALIST:
Could you withhold some of that support?
HOWARD:
Look Alison, don’t put words into my mouth. I’m simply saying that I’m examining what we might do to help. I think as Prime Minister I’m into providing practical help, not stunts.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister on the Darwin railway, do you expect it to …(inaudible)..
HOWARD:
I think it will. But the important thing is that that’s a judgement made by people who make commitments and it’s a bankable project. We’ve had letters from reputable banks making that very clear, otherwise I wouldn’t have announced it. But that in the end is a judgement that has got to be made by the private sector people.
JOURNALIST:
How positive was …(inaudible)… a consideration?
HOWARD:
Oh it was an element. There were a lot of elements. But I have always believed in that project. It was question of sufficiently closing the gap between aspiration and economic reality and that is what occurred.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, how would you respond to claims that your regional summit was too late?
HOWARD:
Well that’s wrong. The spirit and the atmosphere there last night at the dinner that’s been evident over the past few days indicates that people from the bush who are there see it as a genuine exercise in listening, and understanding and comprehending. And that, laced with the practical measures of support that I have announced – the railway, the rural partnerships, the importance of the opening of the rural transaction centre to date – all of these things are sending a message that we care, we understand, we want to work with you. We don’t pretend we can solve every problem but there’s a genuine commitment to include all Australians in the national economic affluence. We recognise that some are missing out. We grieve about that and want to try and do something within limits to change the situation.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard what about Daryl Melham’s comments this morning I guess advocating a no vote on the preamble. What does that say, coming from the Shadow Aboriginal Affairs’ minister?
HOWARD:
It’s amazing. This is the first opportunity in a hundred years to write something positive into our constitution about the indigenous people of our country and the Labor Party’s shadow minister for Aboriginal Affairs is saying say vote no to it. I mean, I am amazed. It shows an indifference to an opportunity that the community has – it doesn’t matter what your view on the republic is - the republicans and anti-republicans can unite and say yes to the preamble because it contains aspirations that are common to all of us. There are things in that preamble that Kim Beazley and I can easily agree with each other about. The preamble crosses the republican divide. And what is Daryl Melham saying : no, vote no to the preamble – but the Labor party’s official position is a yes vote to the preamble. Worst of all, he is the spokesman on Aboriginal Affairs and he is saying, this may be the first opportunity in a hundred years to say something positive in our constitution about the indigenous people, but he doesn’t want it, and I am amazed at that and I would hope that Mr Beazley repudiates his behaviour.
JOURNALIST:
Do you understand Mr Melham’s logic with this?
HOWARD:
No I don’t. It’s illogical. But this is not a question of logic. It is a question of whether you support the aspirations of the preamble or not, and this preamble talks positively and appropriately about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia. The words of it, as you know, were discussed with the only indigenous member of the commonwealth parliament Senator Ridgeway and this is the first chance that we’ve had as a community to vote for something that talks positively about a number of our national characteristics, but most especially the place and role of our indigenous people and I am amazed that the Labor Party spokesman on Aboriginal Affairs is against it.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Melham has rejected suggestions that he’s going against the lines of the Labor Party?
HOWARD:
Well, you know, I mean he’s saying black is white. It’s ridiculous.
JOURNALIST:
Can I ask you about Kim Beazley’s suggestion that people who don’t vote for a republic you don’t have the ticker. What message do you think that is sending to maybe half the country?
HOWARD:
Well, I think it is rather insulting. I mean, I have throughout the whole of this debate said that I respect the fact that some people in the community have a different view from me. I haven’t insulted people who intend to vote yes, I respect them. We are Australians together, and whatever the result is, we will be Australians together forever from the seventh of November onwards and I will accept the result. I don’t use perjorative terms about yes voters and I don’t thank Mr Beazley for using perjorative terms about no voters. There are millions of Australians who have a hell of a lot of ticker who are going to vote no because they are just as patriotic and just as concerned about our nation as is Mr Beazley.
JOURNALIST:
I wonder if you could tell us what the chances are of the preamble getting through Mr Howard?
HOWARD:
I don’t know. I don’t know what will happen on either. But my position is very clear, I’m voting no to the republic and I’m voting yes to the preamble and I encourage all Australians to do likewise, but I can’t imagine that everyone is going to agree with me.
[ends]