Subjects: CHOGM; Queen's visit; election timing; Terrorist financial assets freeze.
E&OE................................
Well Ladies and Gentlemen as I think many of you are aware the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Mr Don McKinnon released a statement in London a short while ago saying that he had decided in the light of indications from a number of Commonwealth Prime Ministers that they would not be attending the Brisbane CHOGM. That the reluctantly the Brisbane CHOGM should be postponed. In the light of this advice I regret that I have no alternative - as the host Prime Minister and on behalf of the host nation, Australia - I have no alternative other than to acquiesce in his decision to postpone the CHOGM conference. It is regrettable, an enormous amount of work has gone into preparations and as late as three days ago we were informed by all of the relevant agencies including the Queensland Police service that there was no domestic security reason why CHOGM could not have taken place in Brisbane and I want to record my thanks to the Queensland Government, to the Queensland Police service to the people of Brisbane for the way in which they have cooperated with the Commonwealth in preparing for the holding of this very important meeting.
The situation is that the Secretary-General had been told by the British Prime Minister Mr Blair, the Indian Prime Minister Mr Vajpayee and the Canadian Prime Minister Mr ChrŠtien that they would not in the light of international circumstances be able to attend the meeting. He also received earlier advice from the Prime Ministers of four Carribbean countries that for domestic reasons those four leaders would not be able to attend.
Mr Blair rang me last night in Brisbane to foreshadow the difficulty he had in coming and I indicated that although I could understand his domestic reasons for it, the decision of the British Prime Minister not to attend a Commonwealth meeting of itself raised a very serious doubt about the feasibility of the meeting proceeding and in addition when the Canadian and Indian Prime Ministers have done likewise the Secretary-General felt he had no alternative.
So, I'm very sorry about this. I was looking forward to this Conference but given the advice of the Secretary-General based as it is on indications from those three very senior figures that they were not coming I think regrettable though it is, he's taken the only decision that he could have taken in the circumstances.
It's important to bare in mind that the meeting is not being cancelled. The meeting is being postponed. I told both Mr Blair and the Secretary-General, to whom I spoke several days ago, that if there were a difficulty about CHOGM being held now in Brisbane I would want it to be postponed that I have offered again and I've discussed this with the Queensland Premier to whom I spoke a short while ago, that Australia would want the reconvened CHOGM, the postponed CHOGM to take place here in Brisbane in the early part of next year.
And can I just say, I should also indicate that as a result of the postponement of the visit, the postponement of CHOGM, the visit by the Queen and Prince Phillip to Queensland and South Australia, which was meant to take place in conjunction with the CHOGM meeting, that will also be postponed. The idea once again being that if CHOGM met again, met in the early part of next year, well, the Queen as head of the Commonwealth will attend the meeting and would also undertake bilateral visits to Queensland and South Australia.
I've discussed the arrangements with the Secretary-General and that's certainly the view that I've put very strongly and in his statement he contemplates this being a postponement and certainly not a cancellation.
JOURNALIST:
Just to clarify Sir, when did you first formally and officially learn of .?
PRIME MINISTER:
Formally and officially, well I learned formally and officially this morning but naturally I'd been talking to the Secretary-General for probably a couple of days ago I spoke to him, or was it yesterday, I forget now, inquiring as to how things were going because I was starting to hear suggestions that Mr Blair may not be able to come. Mr Blair spoke to me when I touched down in Brisbane last night at about 7:30pm and he basically said John, I'm afraid I won't be able to come. And we talked about it, we talked about world events for probably a quarter of an hour and then got onto CHOGM and then he indicated that he wouldn't be able to come. I said to him that I understood his position but it did have implications because the Commonwealth after all is bound together amongst other things by the common historical association of all the member countries with Great Britain. And if the British Prime Minister doesn't come to CHOGM I can't recall ever having been at a Commonwealth Prime Minister's meeting without the attendance of the British Prime Minister. So that in itself, I think he understood that, and I'd previously spoken to the Canadian Prime Minister who's a good friend of mine and we often chat about things and he obviously, he was keen to come but quite clearly he understood that if Mr Blair were not coming then it raised some questions about his attendance and of course the Indian Prime Minister, I think for separate reasons, given the juxtaposition of counties in that part of the world they would probably have reasons for not wanting to come. So it's, it is obviously in the wake of the world reaction to the 11th of September, I'm very sorry it's happened I was very much looking forward to it and I know Brisbane was, and there'll be many people who are disappointed. But I do want to say to the people of Brisbane, let us make certain that it's a postponement. I know the people of Brisbane will want to treat it that way and that's certainly the attitude the Premier has taken, I've had two conversations with him this morning and as recently as a few minutes ago he and I are both talking very positively about it being a postponement and about trying to get the conference back as originally planned for this next weekend some time in the first half of next year. Exactly when will have to be a matter of discussion between myself and the Secretary-General.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister will you call an election this weekend?
PRIME MINISTER:
Calling an election on Grand Final weekend, you've got to be joking. You have got to be joking, it's sacrilegious.
QUESTION:
How about next week.
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, look, I'll just rule out sacrilege.
QUESTION:
Definitely out?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I'm not going to talk about election timing except to indicate that I plan to be following the football over the weekend.
QUESTION:
Was it a difficult decision to go ahead with meeting with the CHOGM workers...?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I thought there was a strong possibility, I didn't know for sure when I went there. Well it was difficult but you may be aware that I actually was very honest with the people. I told them that it was in doubt. I felt I couldn't sit there and thank them for their efforts and react to the briefing I had been given knowing that there was a possibility it could be postponed. So I told them, every group I met, I raised it, you may have heard me do so.
JOURNALIST:
.guarantee that it will be held in Brisbane?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there's no reason if it's postponed it won't be held anywhere else in Australia. I can give you that guarantee, I have no desire to hold it anywhere else. I mean no disrespect to any other part of Australia but Brisbane has put in the hard yards and Brisbane's done all the work and Brisbane's entitled if there's a postponed CHOGM held in Australia next year, Brisbane's entitled to have it, and Brisbane will have it.
JOURNALIST:
..postponements send to the rest of the world [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
It would be hard to assess.
JOURNALIST:
Was Mr McKinnon's original thought to cancel CHOGM altogether [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I don't think there it's fair to say that that was his view. When things like this arise you first start to focus entirely on whether or not you're going to have it at the ordained date. And then you start turning your attentions to whether the it should be put off or if it's a cancellation or a postponement. But he certainly never put to me the idea that it should be cancelled all together and another CHOGM held in two years. We don't want to do that. We hold CHOGM on a biannual basis and I really do sincerely hope that we can get it organised for the first half of next year and we are willing to host it, we want to host it and we intend if that goes ahead, we intend to have it here in Brisbane. And I'm, I mean in his statement which you may not have, Mr McKinnon says Prime Minister Howard has told me that the Government of Australia is keen to host this meeting in Brisbane early next year and will be consulting her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, head of the Commonwealth, in relation to the exact timing. Naturally I will also consult other Commonwealth leaders. And so my office can supply you if you want with a copy of Mr McKinnon's statement. But certainly I think there'll be quite a lot of support for the idea of a postponed meeting being held here, but obviously trying to assemble everybody again at the same time is always quite a challenge.
JOURNALIST:
This does clear the way for you to go to the polls, have a formal campaign. How confident are you of winning?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I'm not going to talk about the timing of the election at all except to say that I can't have an early election. The Parliament expires next week, three years is up next week and in fact this current Parliament, or the one that rose last night, has sat more days than any Parliament since the one between 1946-1949. So it's always amused me that people have been running around talking about an early election some time in November. Look as far as the result of the election is concerned I believe it's going to be very tough for us to win the third term. That's been my view for a long time. And nothing has happened over the past few weeks to alter my view, it's always tough to win a third time and I counsel the Government's supporters all around Australia not to imagine that because there has been some change in the composition and the character of public opinion polls, I counsel people not to be over confident.
JOURNALIST:
If you win a third term will you serve that entire third term?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I've been asked that question before and you know the answer.
JOURNALIST:
Would you like to repeat it?
PRIME MINISTER:
No.
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible).
PRIME MINISTER:
You know the answer and I don't intend to repeat it.
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible).
PRIME MINISTER:
You know the answer and I don't repeat it.
JOURNALIST:
What does this postponing of CHOGM say to the terrorists do you think? What message does it deliver?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don't know what message it delivers, but I have to deal in reality. The postponement has taken place because the correct judgement's been made and because the very senior people indicated they weren't willing to come, it was not appropriate to hold it now. I think we can spend too much time sort of, how shall I say, reflecting on what messages are sent by these things, to just assume that terrorists by their very definition bear only malice toward countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom and the United States and organisations like the Commonwealth. And I think we can spend too much time wondering about what messages are sent, you have to deal in realities.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that's a matter for them. They're not accountable to me, they are accountable to their own electorates and their own people. I'm accountable to the people of Australia and I say to the people of Australia we were ready, anxious and able to have the CHOGM meeting here in Brisbane. There were no grounds on domestic security considerations for us not having it. I want to make that very clear, Australia was ready, Queensland was ready, Brisbane was ready, and Australia, Queensland and Brisbane are all disappointed that the conference is not going ahead.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible] any compensation at all for some of the businesses that now have been [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we'll have a look at that issue, I make no promises but I am very conscious that this will cause a financial loss to quite a number of people. But I'm very sorry about that but I didn't cancel the meeting. We were ready but equally it has to be understood that we are living in a very different world as result of what occurred on the 11th of September and I can understand why somebody in the position of the British Prime Minister would reach the conclusion that he did. So I have to be fair-minded enough to make allowance for that fact.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible] Peter Beattie asks as he often does, he often asks you for money, has he asked for any assistance..?
PRIME MINISTER:
He's not asked me for any money today.
JOURNALIST:
Aid agencies are reporting a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan [inaudible]. Would this Government be willing to take in [inaudible] Afghans as we did with the Kosovars during [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don't want to make, Craig, I don't want to answer that question without having the benefit of a little more advice about what is occurring. I'm just not going to give an on the run response to that. I recognise that there is a possibility of a very severe problem, the best way in the short term of responding to that problem is to significantly improve the capacity of Pakistan to deal with the refugees. and we are sympathetically looking at that side of it. That is the most immediately adjacent country and the one that's most likely to bear the burden.
JOURNALIST:
You haven't had any indication from the UN?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I am not aware of any request, there may have been one made to some other agency of the Government but it hasn't come across my desk.
JOURNALIST:
You said you'd be watching the football on the weekend. Who's going to win?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think it would be good for AFL if Brisbane won. I think it would spread it around. As you know I enjoy watching AFL, although it is not my first football allegiance but I think it would be good for the game. I guess in relation to rugby league St George having been knocked out and then I sort of had a flirtation with Brisbane and they got knocked out. I guess of the other two my heart would be with Newcastle but my head would be with Parramatta.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, what time this morning were you told about the CHOGM decision? Had you left the CHOGM centre?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think I may have been in transit somewhere. I just don't remember exactly when. I mean these things, they evolve over time. I'm not going to be held into a particular hour and a particular minute. But while I'm here can I just make another announcement you might be interested in? I'm putting out a statement in Canberra today saying that Australia will strongly support initiatives recently announced by President Bush to freeze the financial assets of terrorists and their sponsors. The Government will be doing everything in its power to suppress terrorist financing. We're very well placed to do that. The Government will direct the Reserve Bank to use the banking foreign exchange regulations to stop any payments in Australia by or to the 27 terrorists and 27 terrorist organisations identified by the United States President in his executive order. And this bill's on existing sanctions against Taliban which have been in place since December 1999.
Australia will also take action to strengthen the charter of the United Nations regulations to enable Australia to freeze the funds and other financial assets of Osama bin Laden and his associates. The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, AUSTRAC, will provide its full support to the relevant United States counterpart in obtaining information. The Attorney General's department will facilitate inquiries for the purpose of tracing financial transactions suspected of being related to terrorist activities and will assist in the enforcement in Australia of restraining orders of confiscation orders made in the US in respect of serious offences under US law.
The Government is also looking at further ways to reinforce Australia's capacity to identify and suppress terrorist financing. Measures being examined include strengthening Australia's ability to combat the use of false identities in the conduct of financial transactions; enhancing the reach of Australian law beyond national borders under the charter of the United Nations sanctions Afghanistan regulations; and encouraging a more pro-active sharing arrangement of financial transactions information with our US counterparts.
We very strongly associate ourselves with the announcement made by President Bush and by this announcement we make it very plain to people both here and abroad that we will do everything we can within the reach of Australian law and within the reach of our financial capacity to close off financial opportunities for terrorists or terrorist organisations and to get hold of and intercept the flow of money between and from and to terrorists and terrorist organisations.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, have you had a briefing on the Australian magnesium corporation? And if you are re-elected will you continue to offer the incentives or assistance that the Commonwealth had held out?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we are not withdrawing what we've held out. As I understand what's occurred is that the parties themselves have taken action. That's not the result of anything that the Government has done or failed to do. We would like to see the project go ahead but obviously if commercial judgement is being made that in present circumstances they're not going to go ahead with the public offering. Now there's really nothing we can do about that or should be expected to do about it. That's a commercial decision. If at some time in the future it gets back on track then I guess what we indicated before that we'd be willing to do we'd still be willing to do. But what's happened is not a result of anything on our part.
JOURNALIST:
Would you making any [inaudible] to the Opposition...?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I'll just be behaving like any caretaker prime minister. It will just be normal. I will consult the Leader of the Opposition as appropriate. But during a caretaker period you don't make joint decisions. That's not what the caretaker period means. The caretaker period means that you don't make appointments or you don't make important policy decisions or you don't make important commitments. Where in the national interest it's necessary then the obligation is to consult your opposite number, not to make a joint decision. You don't become joint prime ministers during the caretaker period. He remains the Leader of the Opposition and I remain the Prime Minister. If and when something comes up involving national security I'll naturally talk to him. But I tend to do that now anyway albeit in not quite the same way as you might do in a caretaker period. But it's not a joint decision making process. It's an obligation to consult. Thank you.
[ends]