PM Transcripts

Subjects: Taliban jihad; Labor';s costings; baby bonus; US economy; Peter Nott.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, the ABC';s Jonathon Harley has done an interview with the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan and has suggested that the jihad threat has now moved to Australia, has actually named Australia. What kind of security risks does this pose to Australia?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well this reaction is not unexpected. It was obvious after the 11th of September that nations such as Australia strongly supporting the United States would experience a heightened alert. We have responded to that and I want to assure the Australian public that we have been on a heightened state of alert and quite a number of security measures have been implemented. I';ve made a number of announcements about that and I do want to assure the Aust public that everything is being done that can be done. We shouldn';t ignore this but we shouldn';t overreact, and we should understand that in a sense a remark of this kind was to be expected given the fact that Australia has quite properly and quite strongly identified herself with the United States. I would make the point that it is the Taliban that is defining this issue in religious terms. It is not the United States. It is not Aust. At no stage has the United States sought to define this issue in religious terms. It is not an issue of religion against religion. It is an issue of good against evil and fighting evil ought to be common cause amongst the great religions of the world of which Islam is clearly one. So, it is important to make the point that it is the Taliban that has chosen to define this in religious terms not the Americans and not the Australians.
JOURNALIST:
What concern does this have for you personally?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I';m not looking at this in personal terms. I am concerned about the interests of Aust. It is not a surprising comment. It is not unexpected. We knew once the terrorist attack occurred that all countries which could be readily identified with the United States and shared the values of the United States, because they are common values, they are not possessed alone by the United States, they are values held very widely throughout the world, ought to be on a heightened state of alert. So, my message to the Australian people is one of reassurance and also one of saying we cannot just be brazenly indifferent to this sort of thing but equally we should not overreact. We continue to go about our daily lives, and again I make the point that it is the Taliban and the harbourers of Bin Laden who have sought to define this issue in religious terms, not the Australians, not the Americans, not the British, not others who are working together in response to the terror attack.
JOURNALIST:
Are there any specific security measures you';ll now take or is it…?
PRIME MINISTER:
All of the security measures that ought to have been taken and were taken contemplated this kind of comment.
JOURNALIST:
… give weight to Mr Costello';s assessment that Australia would be the third biggest terrorist target?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I';m not going to start getting into gradations. There is a heightened alert, obviously. But please I do not want this to be a cause of overreaction. Obviously we';ve had to take additional precautions and take additional care since the 11th of September and, as I said a moment ago, it is not something that I was entirely surprised about.
JOURNALIST:
Have you received a briefing from ASIO about this?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I';ve only just heard about it, I am getting a more detailed briefing.
JOURNALIST:
Are you aware of Econtech finding another hole in Labor';s costing of their aged care policy?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes I am. The point being that they have made apparently no provision at all for funding the additional places. I mean, you can';t just say you are going to create more places and then not provide any ongoing subsidies. And this is something that we believed was a deficiency, a further black hole, and my understanding is the Econtech now says the Labor package has got a black hole of $1.4 billion. Now, can I renew my request to the Leader of the Opposition to send his policies to the treasury and the department of finance for costing. I mean I saw Simon Crean tonight on ABC, I think, saying that he didn';t want the process corrupted. Look, the process can';t be corrupted because under the charter of budget honesty once the election is called the secretaries of the two departments act independently of the government. They can prepare the PEFO independently of the Government and any costings that are requested would be done and it would then of course be naturally up to the Labor Party to release them. And we would expect them to be released. So, we have sent our policies for costing. Why is the Labor Party unwilling to do that? What have they got to hide? Why won';t they subject their policies to the same costing rigour that we have been willing to do? So are they frightened that the treasury and the department of finance will confirm Chris Murphy';s findings? This is becoming a major issue of economic credibility.
JOURNALIST:
In 1998 Labor claims they were leaked to the Melbourne Age, that';s why they are not doing it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I don';t know, I mean Labor will claim anything to avoid the scrutiny of the proper processes of a campaign. I mean, we set up this charter of budget honesty. It';s a discipline on us and we accept that discipline. We don';t have anything to hide. We';ve prepared our policies. We';ve costed them and we';ve sent them off to the department for costing. Now, I want Labor to do the same and I want it done immediately. I don';t want this sort of chickening out by sending it off to the department at the beginning of next week so the results arrive on Mr Crean';s desk at five minutes to six when you';ve all filed your stories next Friday evening.
JOURNALIST:
How many people will get the baby bonus in the first year. Is it going to be 240,000 people?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the 245,000 figure is the estimate of the annual number of babies born. I mean, can I just say, self-evidently if a child is born halfway through the a year there is a prorata-ing. There';s never been any attempt to hide that. I mean, I think this is a ridiculous accusation being made by Mr Crean.
JOURNALIST:
… spokesperson today said that you don';t have as good a relationship with Indonesia as your predecessor. What do you …?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I always thought the relationship that my predecessor had with Indonesia was not based as any relationship should be on full mutuality of respect.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Keating has said today that you were a “silent supplicant” to Indonesia. Do you have any response to those comments?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think the Australian people have a view about the difference between the relationship that I have and Mr Keating had. I think Mr Keating';s foreign policy, particularly in the region, was an abject failure. But it';s interesting isn';t it that Mr Keating sort of can';t stay out of this election campaign. I don';t think Mr Beazley would welcome Mr Keating';s intervention. But if Mr Keating wants to give a running commentary well I invite him to continue to do so.
JOURNALIST:
The US economy officially contracted last quarter. What impact will that have on Australia?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I';ve been saying for weeks that the American slow down would have some effect on Australia. Of course because it is the biggest economy in the world. The good news is that we are better able to withstand that impact because of the way the Government has managed the economy. You will have noticed that the retail sales figures were down by 0.1% against a predication by economists of 0.5%. In other words, we continue to perform beyond expectations and predictions and that is because of the way the government has handled the economy.
JOURNALIST:
Peter Nott has linked US foreign policy to the September 11 attacks. Is it not appropriate for different points of view on this conflict to be expressed within the parliament?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think this is a test of Mr Beazley';s leadership. When, in the 1996 election campaign, we had a candidate who expressed views on a controversial issue that were at odds with the party';s, that candidate lost her endorseme#8217;s, that candidate lost her endorsement. On this occasion you have Mr Nott thumbing his nose at Mr Beazley';s position and what does Mr Beazley do? He says he disagrees. Well look he';s the leader. Mr Nott is a would be member of the federal parliamentary Labor Party on the central political foreign policy issue of the day. He thinks so poorly of Mr Beazley, has so little concern for the unity of his own party that he goes unrebuked in defying his own leader. I think that speaks volumes for Mr Beazley';s weakness.
[ends]