PM Transcripts

Subjects: Laurie Brereton and illegal arrivals; Labor';s costings and costings errors; aged care; Doug Moran; World Tourism Congress; Lang corporation; Greens preferences; Telstra.
PRIME MINISTER:
Last night when interviewed on the PM Programme the Labor spokesman on Foreign Affairs Laurie Brereton really let the cat out on the bag on the Labor Party';s attitude in government to illegal arrivals. He spend much of his interview attacking our policy of having illegal arrivals processed in third countries. He said, and I quote, “I think the Pacific camps are full so I think that';s an academic question”. And when he was asked specifically would you let them come here, and that meant of course would he allow them to be processed on the Australian mainland he replied “Kim Beazley has indicated that we will certainly be having an inquiry into this”. Now what this interview revealingly discloses is that the Labor Party is really saying we';re not going to continue the Government';s programme of processing people in third countries, we';re not going to do that, we think it';s disgraceful, we think it';s wrong. They naively believe that a mere change of government will magically trigger an all embracing agreement with Indonesia that will magically end the movement of any further boats and any further challenge from illegal arrivals. When everybody knows full well that if there were to be a change of government next Saturday it would not make any material difference to the attitude of the Indonesian Government. In fact the former Foreign Minister Mr Ali Alatas indicated in this morning';s Melbourne Age that there was no substantive difference in his view between the two governments and it';s been indicated by other spokesmen for the Indonesian authorities that it';s not the political complexion of the current Australian Government that is the reason why we haven';t got an agreement with Indonesia, it is for other reasons. And I think it is highly regrettable that the spokesman on Foreign Affairs for the alternative government should be sending a signal that they are really going to potentially walk away from the policy, that they have until now said that they were supporting. I mean if you have boats arriving and you have a policy of them not being processed on the Australian mainland and part of that policy is to have them processed in third countries and then you come along and say that that policy is not working and you think it';s wrong then what you';re really saying is that if you don';t do that you';ll have to have them processed on the Australian mainland.
Now this is typical of the Labor Party on this issue, they keep chopping and changing. They say there';s no difference and in his policy speech last Wednesday at Hurstville Mr Beazley devoted virtually nano-seconds to the issues of national security and illegal arrivals to give the impression that there';s no difference. But there is a big difference and Laurie Brereton exposed that big difference last night. I mean if they';re not going to be processed in these third countries and if they';ve not stopped coming immediately where are they going to be processed? They';ll have to be processed on the Australian mainland. And that is why Mr Brereton made the comments that he made last night and I think it reveals the continued chopping and changing by the Labor Party on this issue.
Could I also before taking questions say that Mr Beazley wrote to me last night about the costings and he said he wanting assurances that nothing would be leaked. Well nothing was leaked in 1998, but I wrote back to him straight away agreeing to all of the assurances that he sought. As far as I';m concerned when his staffer comes to my office he can be followed by an armed escort to the depths of the Treasury so the document is handed over and is not even for a tiny moment left in the hands of a Coalition staffer. I mean what I want is those documents to the Treasury as soon as possible, we think there';s at least a $1.2 billion hole and late last night there was an admission from a Labor Party spokesman that they had made a mistake in relation to some costings concerning Australia Post. We believe that the total costing errors are $1.2 billion at least, we submitted our policies to the Treasury several days ago. I want Labor';s there immediately so we can have a fair analyse by the Treasury and the Department of Finance. I mean what have they got to hide? Why are they holding it back? They';re holding it back in the hope that if a hole is revealed it will right on the death knock and nobody will notice. Well that really isn';t good enough for the Australian people. We have put our policies there, they';ve been costed and in accordance with the Charter of Budget Honesty the departments will reveal the result of that work. Mr Beazley should submit himself to exactly the same security as that.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister are you surprised today by departmental reports which suggests, or confirms that there are 12,000 beds shortage in nursing homes?
PRIME MINISTER:
I haven';t seen those reports.
JOURNALIST:
Are you surprised though if that is the case?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I haven';t seen them so I never comment on things I haven';t seen.
JOURNALIST:
Are you disappointed that Doug Moran has hitched his wagon to the Labor Party?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don';t know whether he';s hitched his wagon to the Labor Party but his policy conclusion is wrong, our aged care policy is better, more comprehensive and properly funded. Whereas, in our view, there';s a serious funding flaw in Labor';s policy because they don';t make any provision at all for the ongoing funding of the individual places.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Moran';s been quite critical of Bronwyn Bishop personally, will you been committing to reinstate her…
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I don';t make comments about the personnel of the Ministry in the event of us winning, about anybody, I think it';s presumptuous to talk about who will be in the Ministry, I am intent on winning first and then I';ll worry about the Ministry if and when we are successful.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard is the Government still approaching more pacific islands to take asylum seekers?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh we';d leave open the possibility of doing that but right at the moment we are not in discussion with any beyond those that have been talked about. But you know can I just make the obvious point that what we have done over the past few weeks is to send a very strong message and the intelligence we have is that there are fewer entering the pipeline as a result of what we have done. That doesn';t mean to say there won';t be more boats come. We can';t guarantee that, we never have. But what our policy is is not to have them processed on the Australian mainland and if that message can unequivocally go around the world, the number of people coming into the pipeline will slow down, perhaps stop altogether. But this sort of message from Laurie Brereton is the wrong message at the wrong time and will have the wrong effect and will have an effect that is not in Australia';s interest.
JOURNALIST:
What will you do (inaudible) number of pacific islands you can send asylum seekers…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well look, I don';t hypothesise but I deal in reality and the reality is that if you as an alternative foreign minister say that the current arrangements are now workable then what you are really saying is that if you get into government you are going to adopt a more flexible approach and potentially you are going to process people on the mainland. There can';t be any alternative, I mean he is not going to get an agreement, he is not going to get an agreement if he were to become foreign minister within a matter of a few days or a few weeks. He will have no better chance of getting an agreement than the present government. No better chance at all. And if he does get into government and he disavows the Pacific Island approach then he is left with no alternative other than to have them processed on the mainland.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister the Lang Corporation has emerged as a possible bidder for Ansett, will the Government give that the same backing as they had for previous bids…
PRIME MINISTER:
The Lang Corporation ….. yes.
JOURNALIST:
Would the Government give that the same backing as they had for previous bids…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we don';t decide. That';s a matter for the administrator. We would neither oppose or give special support to the Lang Corporation. They should be treated like everybody else, they shouldn';t be discriminated against, should they? I mean what';s wrong with the Lang Corporation, they have as much right if they are prepared to put a proposal together, good luck to them. But good luck to Solly Llew and Lindsay Fox and good luck to Graham McMahon and good luck to anybody else who comes along. I don';t really want to get, we are not going to play favourites but we will continue to give help short of making an equity injection. We don';t think that is appropriate to have an equity injection.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister the Greens look likely to preference against you when they announce it tomorrow, that';s the Dems and the Greens.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, that makes it very hard for us.
JOURNALIST:
Is this election going to come down to preferences?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I suppose it depends how strong each major party';s primary vote is but I have said all along that this is going to be very tight. Don';t believe some of these stories that have been running around about it not being tight. The, I mean I always thought in the end the Greens would preference Labor, they have in the past. But the Democrats have completely sold out any claim they have to being a party of the middle. I mean the Democrats have run around in this sort of aren';t we better than the rest of them sort of attitude saying we are above all of this and we are special but when it comes to the crunch they do a deal that is deliberately designed to help the Labor Party in a lot of marginal seats. So that makes our task very difficult and I want every Liberal Party supporter to understand that. This is going to be very close.
JOURNALIST:
Has your campaign run out of puff?
PRIME MINISTER:
I beg your pardon?
JOURNALIST:
Has your campaign run out of puff?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that could only have been written by somebody who has not been on the campaign bus. You fellas have been complaining that I am doing too much.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister how do you respond to criticism yesterday after your address to the World Tourism Congress that you politised the event by…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that criticism on my advice was completely unjustified. I was told by my staff that it was perfectly in order after discussions with those people. I mean I just think that somebody there has got their wires crossed. But look it was a group of tourist leaders. I think they would have amazed if I hadn';t have announced my policy but I was told it was perfectly in order and that';s why I did it and I stand by that. I actually inquired of my staff whether it was in order and I was told it was. Somebody has got their wires crossed somewhere but it wasn';t me but I';ll tell you what, the policy has been well received. The tourist industry said that it';s a much better policy than the policy launched by the Labor Party. That';s the important thing.
JOURNALIST:
We have now got two former Liberal leaders Mr Fraser and Mr Hewson accusing you of playing the race card. What do you say to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well they are wrong.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister on the Treasurer';s website I gather yesterday at Town Hall he was asked, he said all policies have been put in for costings and the sale of Telstra has been part of that. Does that mean that the sale of Telstra is still back, has he placed it more back on the agenda?
PRIME MINISTER:
No it doesn';t mean anything of the kind. The position with Telstra, let me repeat is we do not sell another share until we are completely satisfied that everything in the bush is up to scratch.
Thank you. You have run out of puff have you?
[ends]