PM Transcripts

Subjects: Anthrax scare; election campaign; APEC
GRIMSHAW:
Prime Minister, good morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning, how are you, Tracy?
GRIMSHAW:
I';m very well thanks. You moved to reassure Australians, understandably, yesterday in a series of Anthrax…in the grip of a series of Anthrax scares but do you believe, given that this Anthrax seems to be being distributed by post, that it';s inevitable that we will one day be hit.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it';s not inevitable. We have to be very cautious but we shouldn';t panic. I have spoken this morning to the head of the Protective Services Coordination Centre, the man, Mr Tyree, who';s coordinating the response of all the security agencies and law enforcement agencies around Australia and he tells me that so far where a powder substance has been discovered all of the examinations thus far have indicated hoaxes. There are some, I think, 55 to 57 reported incidents now around Australia. A very large percentage of them have been reported because either the mail article was addressed from a suspicious, on the face of it, place such as Florida or somewhere else that immediately triggers a connection with some kind of Anthrax threat, or the parcel looks, on the face of it, to be suspicious. And all of those have been dealt with and so far are not of concern. There are seven cases where a powder substance has been found and discovered and in each of those cases, that have been fully tested and investigated, they';ve been found, in a sense, to be hoaxes. Now, I';m not being complacent and I';m not saying – and I';d be the last person to say, in relation to something like this, that it can';t happen here. But what I am saying at the present time is that as a result of very careful and thorough checking there has not been any reason to suspect circumstances of concern up until now and that process will go on. And I want to, again, assure the Australian public that we have a well-coordinated response between the Commonwealth and the States and the health agencies at both levels are working together very closely indeed to deal with this problem.
GRIMSHAW:
So do you feel confident that we are quite prepared to defend ourselves against an outbreak, or are there more measures that you';re looking at putting in place?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, you always keep looking at whether there are more things you can do. I can say now that whilst it is impossible for any Prime Minister, any chief medical officer, to give an absolute guarantee, I can';t and I won';t try and do that, what I can say to the Australian people is that we have a very well coordinated response arrangement around the country. It';s methodically working through each of these reported incidents and we do have the experience, Tracy, importantly, we do have the experience of having got prepared more than a year ago for the Sydney Olympic Games. In so many of these areas we had, as it were, trial experience at the Olympic Games just 13 months ago and that has put us in a very good situation so far as dealing with these kind of things are concerned. Now, once again, I can';t give an absolute guarantee. What I can give is an assurance that everything within our capacity is being done and so far nothing has turned up to indicate a direct Anthrax threat. So I think people should be assured of that but they also should understand that we have to be very vigilant and can';t afford any degree of complacency.
GRIMSHAW:
Can I get you to clarify – you mentioned 55 to 57 reported cases, have all of those cases been investigated or do you say that are still being…
PRIME MINISTER:
No, they are being worked through methodically and those that have been investigated fully, something in the order of about 28 where there was just nothing and all that was of concern was an apparently suspicious originating post mark or an apparently suspicious parcel. There were seven cases, so I understand, where there was a powder substance but on testing it was found not to be threatening and the other cases are being worked through. Every single reported incident is being very methodically examined and as more information becomes available then either myself or others will let the public know.
GRIMSHAW:
Okay, Prime Minister, let';s turn to the fallout from the debate. You have said that you won';t do another but given that you are widely regarded to have come out second best from the match up on Sunday night don';t you need another one?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, Tracy, we';ve had a debate. A debate is part of an election campaign. The question of who won or who lost is a matter, ultimately, for the Australian people to decide and it';s just one of a number of things that is going to be fed into the judgement they make. I don';t take this election campaign in any way for granted. I think it is going to be a tough fight and I';m quite sure in the end it';s going to be close either way, whether we win or the Labor Party wins. But there have been, over the years, sometimes there';s been one debate, sometimes there';s been two debates, sometimes there';s been no debate. So, look, it';s part and parcel of the process of an election campaign. We';ve had a debate. There are other ways in which I can get my story across and Mr Beazley can get his story across. I think we now move on to another phase of the campaign.
This week the figures will be released by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of the Department of Finance. And I made a major policy statement which laid out really an agenda for the next term in relation to business reform. And one of the key things I announced yesterday were major changes that are going to encourage a lot more venture capital to come into new enterprises in Australia and I think that';s going to be very important in the challenging economic environment that Australia';s going to face over the next few years.
GRIMSHAW:
You mentioned the budget position which should be known by Thursday before you fly out to Shanghai. You';ve had a pretty expensive few months, what can we expect from those figures, is there going to be bad news?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it won';t be bad news. When you say, we';ve had a pretty expensive few months, all of the things that we have spent money on have been good for Australia and they';ve been important to Australia';s future. I mean, this is a line the Opposition run as they complain about us spending money on defence but they don';t complain about the outcome. The things that we have spent money on over the last few months have been defence, roads, petrol excise, tackling the problem of salinity and water quality, something that the Opposition was itself talking about yesterday. I mean, all of these things they';ve called on us to spend money on, then having spent the money they now say, oh, you shouldn';t have done so. Once again it';s an example of the Opposition saying one thing one day and something else the next day.
GRIMSHAW:
Prime Minister, one final quick question – are you expecting any indication in Shanghai this weekend about when Australia';s troops might become involved in Afghanistan?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, at this stage the agenda for the meeting is really the agenda of all of the leaders and it';s going to be dominated, I';m sure, by the issue of terrorism and that is the principle reason why I am so determined to go because you';re going to have the President of the United States, the President of Russia, the President of China, the Prime Minister of Japan and the President of Indonesia. And may I say, in the context of the election campaign, Mr Beazley says I should be staying at home. Now, from the point of view of the Australian national interest I can';t think of a more absurd claim for the alternative Prime Minister to make. That the Prime Minister of Australia, at this time in our experience and this time of international tension about terrorism with a meeting of that group of people, I should be staying at home. I mean, it';s a ridiculous proposition.
GRIMSHAW:
Will you get an indication this weekend, do you think, about when Australian troops might become…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, at the moment the schedule of that meeting is to deal with other matters. I';m quite sure that a whole range of things might come up in discussions that I hangs might come up in discussions that I have with the President but I';m not, thereby, foreshadowing that he';s going to raise that particular issue at that meeting.
GRIMSHAW:
All right, many thanks for your time this morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
You';re welcome.
[Ends]