Subjects: value of the dollar; Opposition negativity; Sir Donald Bradman's State Memorial Service; PNG.
E&OE................................
JOURNALIST:
Another day with the dollar below 49 cents. Do you still think we're not heading towards recession?
PRIME MINISTER:
Absolutely. And I want to condemn people who for political purposes embrace the word 'recession'. I mean Mr Beazley's behaving in a quite irresponsible way even entertaining the notion that there might be a recession. It's quite outrageous he's doing it. He knows that the fundamentals of the Australian economy are strong. He knows we have low inflation, he knows we have low interest rates, he knows we have a very strong government debt position. In those circumstances he should be talking up the Australian economy. He is part of the public face of Australia to the rest of the world. Opposition Leaders have responsibility as do Prime Ministers, and for cheap political purposes associated with the Ryan by-election he is perfectly happy to encourage talk of recession and embrace those words and I think that is quite wrong and to be condemned.
JOURNALIST:
You said he almost had a smile on his face...
PRIME MINISTER:
I watched him last night. I mean it's almost as if he and Mr Crean are salivating about some of these transient economic challenges. Well I don't think the Australian people want that from any of their political leaders.
JOURNALIST:
Isn't it also important to be realistic as well as talking up the economy?
PRIME MINISTER:
It is important to be realistic. That is why I say it is unrealistic that an economy as fundamentally sound as Australia should have for any length of time a dollar at the present level.
JOURNALIST:
Wasn't it Mr Costello who said the level of the dollar was what the world thought of the economy?
PRIME MINISTER:
We're talking here about an Opposition Leader who is encouraging people to think that we may be sliding into recession. I mean we know that he's doing that and he shouldn't be doing it, and he shouldn't be doing it for cheap partisan political purposes. He has responsibilities, we all have responsibilities. We are talking about the stability of this country economically and we're talking about the living standards of Australians. And in those circumstances everybody has the responsibility to choose their words carefully and not encourage things they know are not the truth.
JOURNALIST:
Is the GST to blame for the low level of the dollar?
PRIME MINISTER:
No. The GST's influence on the level of the dollar is absolutely minimal. I can't find any evidence that the GST has had anything to do with the current level of the dollar.
JOURNALIST:
If the fundamentals are all in place why is the dollar down and why was there negative growth in December?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well as far as the dollar is concerned it's down as a product of the turbulence on world financial markets. You only have to look at the television and read the newspapers to know that there is serious concern about growth in the United States, there is a concern about aspects of the Japanese economy and in those circumstances people always put their money into what is the strongest currency in the world which is the American dollar. And if you look at the position of the Australian dollar against the trade-weighted index, that's an average of all currencies, the fall has been nowhere near as dramatic as it has been against the American dollar.
JOURNALIST:
Are the electors in Ryan justified in being irritated at having a by-election costing half a million dollars six or seven months before a general election?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well in the end the people of Ryan will make judgements about a whole lot of things. I'm asking them not to reward the negative irresponsible talking down of the Australian economy by Mr Beazley and Mr Crean.
JOURNALIST:
Do you accept that the electorate feels irritated by that?
PRIME MINISTER:
On the eve of an election or by-election John you're still into advocacy rather than commentary.
JOURNALIST:
The most recent poll has a 5% swing back towards the Liberals. Do you think the the wake up call to the electorate is having effect?
PRIME MINISTER:
John I don't know in the end what factors people are going to take into account. I've come to ask people who are thinking of lodging a protest vote not to reward the negative behaviour by Mr Beazley over the last five years and the irresponsible way in which he's talked down the economy over the last week.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I'm not going to comment on every poll.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, should Sir Donald Bradman's Memorial service be shown live?
PRIME MINISTER:
That's a matter for others to resolve. I mean, I can't tell networks what to do. I mean I would hope that everybody has the opportunity of seeing it. But people make commercial judgements about these things and it really is a matter for the networks to resolve. My understanding is that the Nine network has got the rights in relation to it and the ABC wants to show it live. Well that probably wouldn't be a bad idea, but that's matter for the networks to work out.
JOURNALIST:
The Liberal Party's communications forum.. is Liberal policy for sale as the Opposition claims?
PRIME MINISTER:
No.
JOURNALIST:
..thousand dollars to join and what value do they get?
PRIME MINISTER:
You should go and talk to the national president of the party. I haven't organised it, the first I knew of it was is in the papers.
JOURNALIST:
Do you welcome it?
PRIME MINISTER:
I welcome the involvement of all Australian citizens in the development of policy. We are a very open, inclusive, accommodating party.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
There are other ways of getting their views and we get them frequently.
JOURNALIST:
Do they get more of a say if they pay?
PRIME MINISTER:
No.
JOURNALIST:
Kim Beazley said the transition to the GST is the only thing holding back growth at the moment. What's your comment on that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that is wrong. If he looks at the national accounts he will see that growth in 95% of the Australian economy and the December quarter was very strong. So he's fundamentally wrong - he hasn't even read the latest national accounts.
JOURNALIST:
Just one more question - military unrest in PNG. There's reports that the Australian Government might be called to oversee the cutback in the number of PNG Defence Force, [inaudible]. Is that true?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the Australian Government has been aware of the desire of the PNG Government to restructure its defence force. There was the involvement of a senior Australian person, the former governor of Western Australia General Michael Jeffrey in the high level groups that made some recommendations to the Government of Papua New Guinea. We are very supportive of the reform efforts of the government of Papua New Guinea but in the end that's a matter for the government of Papua New Guinea and a matter for the prime minister for whom I have a very strong, personal regard and who enjoys my very strong confidence and support.
JOURNALIST:
There's also rumours that 200 SAS troops are already in Papua New Guinea to potentially oversee or to calm unrest during this period.
PRIME MINISTER:
That's news to me.
[Ends]