19 October 2001
E&OE……………………………………………………………………………………
GEORGIE GARDINER:
Prime Minister, good morning to you.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning.
GEORGIE GARDINER:
Both you and President Bush have been criticised for attending the forum when the world’s at war and you’re in the middle of an election campaign. Just explain why this meeting’s so important and what you hope to achieve for Australia.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, the most significant thing about this meeting is that it is the largest gathering of world leaders since the 11th of September and that alone is significant and that alone is reason enough, despite an election campaign, for me to go. I’ll only be out of Australia for two days but it is important that the national interest be put ahead of the political interest on an occasion like this. It will be an opportunity for leaders across a range of countries – you’ll have the President of the United States, the President of Russia, the President of China, the Prime Minister of Japan, the President of Indonesia and many others. Now, it simply would not be in Australia’s interests for me to absent myself from that meeting. And it will be an opportunity for those countries to express a collective view about terrorism. They come from diverse parts of the world, the leaders do, and they represent a complete spectrum of interests both regional, political and economic. And, on top of that, it’s important that as much momentum as possible be given to regional economic activity because one of the challenges the world faces – and Australia is part of it – is that as a result of the loss of confidence, especially in the United States since the terrorist attack, the world economy is slowing and nobody can escape the effect of that. So it is in Australia’s interests that the Prime Minister of the country be there. And I really cannot understand how Mr Beazley can complain about my going there. He should think of the national interest and forget about the political nitpicking.
GEORGIE GARDINER:
While you’re there do you hope to have private discussions with President Bush about Australia’s role in the war?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I will have a lot of opportunities to talk to him during the meeting and also other leaders. And, of course, I’ve had a number of discussions with him over the last month. But the great value of these meetings is that for a day the leaders and really nobody else are together both in formal session and informally over meals and the like. And it really is, of all the meetings I’ve been to, it provides a better opportunity to interact with people than virtually any other forum and that is one of its great advantages. And it would just not be good for Australia if I weren’t there.
MARK BARETTA:
Prime Minister, how soon do you think you’ll be able to announce to the Australian people the details of when the first troops will be leaving for the war on terrorism?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I hope to be able to do that very shortly. I don’t want to commit myself to a day but I hope to be able to do it very shortly. As soon as that is settled - there are ongoing discussions between the Australian Service Chiefs and the Americans and just as soon as some of the logistics have been settled with the Americans and aspects of departures and arrivals, then I will be in a position to say something. I don’t want to give a date and then have to change it because for perfectly natural reasons those dates can change.
MARK BARETTA:
All right. Prime Minister, there has been some suggestion of conscription being reintroduced. Can you give us a firm position on that at this point?
PRIME MINISTER:
I certainly can. There is no way that conscription is going to be introduced by this Government. If we’re re-elected we won’t be introducing conscription. There’s no need for it. We have to understand that this is a targeted, a very difficult, very important but, nonetheless, a targeted military involvement. There’s a defined objective. We’re not trying to subjugate the people of Afghanistan. We’re trying to get hold of some terrorists and their cells. We don’t have any quarrel with the people of Afghanistan. So any suggestion that we need conscription is wrong. We don’t and we won’t have it.
MARK BARETTA:
Prime Minister, the cost of the operation, the figure being bandied around, if you like, is around $5 million per day. Are you able to give us any more information on that cost?
PRIME MINISTER:
The information I can give you is what the Treasurer gave two days ago and that is that the costs have been factored in to the budget figuring. Obviously if the operation were to go on indefinitely, and I don’t expect that, then there might be occasion to come back and give some further indications of additional funding. But we don’t’ see any need in the foreseeable future for that to occur and we certainly don’t have in contemplation the introduction of any kind of levy or special tax.
GEORGIE GARDINER:
Mr Howard, speaking of the Treasurer, Peter Costello, was he being an alarmist yesterday when he said that Australia ranks fourth in terms of countries on a terrorist hitlist?
PRIME MINISTER:
Australia is more vulnerable now, everybody’s more vulnerable, and it’s fair to say that and I think it ought to be said. Equally, of course, we’re not as vulnerable as a number of other countries. But everybody is more vulnerable and you’ve got to remember that more than 20 Australians died in the World Trade Centre and people sometimes forget that fact. They think it was over there and perhaps a little remote from us. It did involve our nationals, it did involve Australians and that is one of a number of reasons why it is important that we be involved on the side of the Americans. But it’s also important that Australians understand that this is not a fight against Afghanistan, it’s not a fight against Islam, it’s a fight against terrorism and terrorism is a threat to all of us, irrespective of our religion or even if we have no religion at all.
GEORGIE GARDINER:
What was he basing that ranking on, though, he was very specific about it?
PRIME MINISTER:
I thought, when I saw the news reports last night, I thought he was making the wholly legitimate point that Australia is more vulnerable.
GEORGIE GARDINER:
But is it Pine Gap, what is he basing that information on?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, the existence of Pine Gap is not something that is a dramatically new element in relation to our vulnerability. We’ve had those installations, those communications installations in Australia for a very long time. That goes back to the 1970s, quite a long period of time. So, plainly, that was not something that he had in contemplation.
MARK BARETTA:
Mr Howard, on to election issues now and we hear that Kim Beazley will announce details of Labor’s GST rollback today. Are you concerned he’s offering an immediate tax cut?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I’ll be fascinated to hear what he’s got to say about rollback. For three years we have been told that rollback was the number one priority of the Australian Labor Party. We’ve been told that the GST was an evil tax and unless Mr Beazley announces today a very significant rollback – and I don’t just mean a few hundred million, I mean a lot more than that – he will be revealed as having practised fraud and deception on the Australian people over the last there years. He can’t have it both ways. He can’t say that the GST has mugged the economy, which it hasn’t. He can’t say the GST is unfair to families, which it’s not, and then at the end of the day when the chips are really down say, oh, by the way, we’re going to really keep the GST. And unless there’s a serious rollback that, in effect, is what he will be doing, he’ll be keeping it. I mean, the GST collects 26, $27 billion a year, so he won’t be able to say I’ve seriously rolled it back with a few hundred million. I mean, if he’s really fair dinkum about implementing everything he’s said over the last three years about rollback I will expect a very large number of rollback items today otherwise he’ll just demonstrate to the Australian people that he’s misled them and deceived them over the last three years and he will really, in effect, be saying, well, after all my huffing and puffing I really support the GST after all.
GEORGIE GARDINER:
We hear this morning that his top priority is to rollback the GST on gas and electricity bills, a big saving for many families, does that concern you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I’ll wait and see what he’s got to say but, Georgie, I think most Australians, even those who didn’t support the GST, want to move on. There’s no point in going back and that’s always been our argument. I think Australians want to move on. I mean, after all, the GST was accompanied by $12 billion of tax cuts. The GST, the tax reform has involved a reduction in the company tax rate, it’s helped boost our exports, it’s led to cheaper fuel in rural Australia. They’re all part of the tax reform process. But I think Mr Beazley is looking backwards. He’s always criticising me for looking backwards. I think he’s the one who’s going backwards. I think Australians want to move on, even those who mightn’t have liked tax reform or the GST, they recognise it’s here now. I don’t find any businessmen and women - I mixed with a lot of people in small business in Townsville yesterday – I don’t find any of them wanting rollback. They just want to get on with their lives and the last thing they want is a return of high interest rates which, of course, was a hallmark of economic policy when Labor was last in power. That’s the biggest threat to small business from the election of a Labor government, a return to the 18% to 20% interest rates.
GEORGIE GARDINER:
All right. Given what you know about the ALP’s plans, do you think a Labor government could avoid raising taxes to keep the budget in surplus and to keep its promises?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, if the Labor Party is to be serious about rollback – and I don’t just mean a few hundred million, I mean a lot more than that – then they’ll either have to cut other programmes, lift income tax or go into deficit. I mean, they won’t be able to run that sort of three-card trick of suddenly finding large amounts of tax avoidance money. That tired old argument was trotted out by Ralph Willis on the eve of the 1996 election. They’d been in power for 13 years and, you know, after 12 years, 11 months and 26 days they suddenly discovered $800 million of tax avoidance money, come on, they won’t be able to run that either. So the spotlight will be on Labor today. This is their moment of truth on rollback. They’ve been telling us for three years that the GST is evil, that it’s mugged the economy and it ought to be rolled back. So they’ve got an opportunity today to roll it back in earnest, tell us where the money’s coming from, tell us what the higher taxes are, tell us whether they’re going to go into deficit, tell us what other programmes they’re going to cut to fund it. They won’t be able to slide through with some kind of wafer thin, phoney argument about tax avoidance money.
MARK BARETTA:
All right. Prime Minister, just on to another matter – is the Government concerned about Qantas spending $1.5 billion to expand its fleet and the impact that that could have on the future of Ansett Mark II?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, every company has a right to invest and I welcome the fact that in these difficult economic times a company like Qantas should be investing more money. I welcome it. Look, we mustn’t be frightened of expansion and investment by companies. Please, let’s keep a sense of perspective. I would certainly like to see Ansett back in the air on a permanent basis. There’s talk that Mr Fox and Mr Lew are going to unveil a plan in Victoria today. I hope they do, I hope there are others and I would like to see Qantas face stiff competition from both Virgin and from a revitalised but obviously slimmed down Ansett. But we mustn’t retreat into our shell and sort of take fright at the fact that a company is going to spend some money buying some new plant and some new aircraft. I think that’s very good and I’m pleased at the fact that unlike a number of other world airlines that Qantas is doing well. So my desire to see competition and my sympathy for the Ansett workers and the willingness of the Government to help the Administrator and, indeed, to respond to every request he’s made of us doesn’t mean that I’m against expansion by Qantas, certainly not.
GEORGIE GARDINER:
Prime Minister John Howard we wish you well on your trip to Shanghai. Thank you very much for joining us on Sunrise this morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[Ends]