PM Transcripts

Subjects: federal election; war against terrorism; Ansett; superannuation; illegal immigration
GARDINER:
Prime Minister good morning to you.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning Georgie.
GARDINER:
I see you';re in your tracksuit, off for your morning walk. How';s your stamina heading into the home stretch of the campaign.
PRIME MINISTER:
My stamina is not only good for the home stretch but for quite a while into the future, I can assure you. I couldn';t feel fitter and the next five days will be hectic, I don';t know what the outcome is going to be but I';m going to hurl everything I';ve got into the next five days to make sure if we can, to get over the line. But it';s going to be very close, the Green preference deal with Labor makes it harder for us. What Labor';s done of course is to sell out on issues like Lucas Heights in order to get Green preferences, it makes a bit of a nonsense of their alleged commitment to medical research because the closure of Lucas Heights will deny us precious radioisotopes for cancer research. And I can';t think of anything more inconsistent with a party';s professed commitment to science and research into the future.
GARDINER:
Alright, we';ll get to preferences a little later. I';d like to begin this morning by getting your response if I could to a statement released yesterday by Osama bin Laden who';s essentially attacked Australia over our involvement in East Timor saying we';re an enemy of Islam. What';s your reaction to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we';re not an enemy of Islam and it';s just extraordinary that we should be attacked over our involvement in East Timor. The whole world applauded the leadership Australia displayed in relation to East Timor, it was difficult but it was right. And we';ve brought freedom to that tiny nation and that is what the United Nations, and we worked within the framework of the United Nations, is all about. So anybody who suggests that we are fighting Islam is wrong. The fight against terrorism is a fight against those people responsible for those dreadful deeds of the 11th of September. It is not a fight against Islam, it is those who are the terrorists and the relievers and the harbourers of the terrorists who are trying to convert this into a war between Islam and the rest of the world. But it is not. Many Islamic people died in the World Trade Centre and many Islamic people are as horrified, indeed the great bulk of Islamic people I';m sure are as horrified as you and I are about what happened on the 11th of September. So naturally I reject that completely.
GARDINER:
Could such a statement have an adverse effect on our relationship with Indonesia?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don';t believe so. Indonesian opinion on this issue has been broadly supportive of the American reaction to terrorism. Obviously there are going to be different emphasis on individual responses by the Americans but the great bulk of Indonesians I';m sure would not see what is happening as being in any way a war on Islam, it';s not. And I want to make it very plain as Prime Minister of Australia, I don';t see this issue as something dividing Islam from the rest of the world, it shouldn';t. Islam and the principles of Islam are as antagonistic to violence and terror and death as are the principles of Christianity or Judaism or indeed the values of people who have no religion at all.
GARDINER:
Prime Minister there have been some reports that some Australian troops could already be on the ground in Afghanistan, can you confirm that.
PRIME MINISTER:
That';s not true. They have not as yet deployed. When the basing arrangements have been concluded they will, but they have not as yet and those reports are incorrect.
GARDINER:
Willing to put a date on that?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I';m not. I think you may be referring Georgie to the fact that a few Australians who are on posting or assignment to British or American units, which is part of normal service life, it may be that if those units are already involved in operations one or two Australians could be involved but they are not Australian units. This is a regular part of military life, we have British service personnel and American service personnel on assignment or secondment or posting if you like in Australian units. But there are no Australian units deployed.
GARDINER:
Alright. Lets turn to domestic issues, today you';re going to announce details of the Coalition';s savings policy. What initiatives can we expect to see?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there';s going to be quite a wide range of initiatives including a new co-contribution proposal that will give a lot of encouragement and help to low income earners to start investing in superannuation. We';re also going to do a little bit about the level of the superannuation surcharge, we';re not going to abolish it and we have a number of other proposals to make superannuation more effective. By contrast I understand all the Labor Party is proposing is an inquiry. Superannuation is very important and one of the challenges we have as a nation for years into the future is to encourage all sections of the community to be making provision for their retirement. If you';re looking into the future with an aging population nothing can be more important or nothing is more important than encouraging more people to save and incidentally encouraging them to save from early on in their working lives. Now that';s very difficult for people on low incomes and that is why one of the components of our policy will be that for every dollar, up to a certain limit, of contributions made to a super fund by a low income earner, that contribution will be matched by a Government payment. So that will make it easier for low income people to get into superannuation and this is designed to spread over time the benefits of superannuation and to get more Australians involved in saving and this is very important to our future.
GARDINER:
The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees says the income splitting proposal will in fact provide no real improvement. What benefit will there be for these people?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well let me give you an example, if you';ve got a couple where one of them is the breadwinner and the other is at home caring for children, that person at home can';t establish his or her own superannuation entitlements. And this income splitting proposal will enable that to happen and it will also apply in relation to a couple where one person has got a high income and the other a very low income and can';t afford to make contributions, it will enable either the at home spouse or the low income earning spouse to get a separate tax threshold, a separate reasonable benefit limit and in all respects have their separate superannuation identity. I think is this a long overdue reform and I';m very surprised that the institute should make that comment. I don';t think that it will be unwelcome to many Australians couples, I think they';ll like the idea.
GARDINER:
Mr Howard, turning to Ansett, administrators say they could strike a deal to sell the airline, possibly as early as this week, if they receive the $10 air ticket levy. Can you guarantee all money collected from that levy will in fact be used to pay workers entitlements?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes I can. Look I can';t understand, other than politics, why people should be running around calling into question our position on the workers entitlement guarantee. Obviously the ACTU four days out from an election campaign is going to attack a Liberal Government, but they ought to pay some regard to the facts and the truth and some regard to the interests of the people they claim to represent. I mean the Federal Government has guaranteed the workers entitlements. We have done more to protect the entitlements of the Ansett workers than the ACTU, bidders for the airline, and indeed anybody else in Australia put together. I mean we from the 14th of September, the day that Ansett was grounded, the day I arrived back from the United States, after a Cabinet meeting, I said we would guarantee the workers entitlements. And the purpose of that levy is to help the budget fund those entitlements. It couldn';t be plainer and this campaign of misrepresentation, deliberately designed by the ACTU on the eve of an election to try and persuade all of the Ansett employees to vote Labor is really dishonest and it';s not helping the interests of those people who I am concerned about, I care about them, I found them a very courteous staff to deal with when I flew on Ansett many many times over 20 years and we are putting money on the table, we';re actually doing something, we';re not talking and distorting, we';re actually putting money on the table to help people and of course the ticket levy is there to help us fund it and if those entitlements end up getting funded from another source well the ticket levy will be cancelled and if there';s sufficient there we';ll try and make some arrangements about refunding it with a particular bias towards the tourist industry.
GARDINER:
Alright, Prime Minister leadership seems to be a key issue in this election. Is your decision not to serve a full term as Prime Minister therefore going to work against you?
PRIME MINISTER:
I haven';t decided not to serve a full term.
GARDINER:
Will you? Will you serve a full term as Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
What I have said is that if I am elected on Saturday, two years into my three year term I will give some thought to my future. Now I haven';t said that I';m going to retire then, I';ve never said that. I';ve simply said that two years in I will give some thought to my future and that remains my position and nobody should interpret that as a decision to retiree. Frankly at the moment wild horses wouldn';t get me from this job, and naturally the voters of Australia are much stronger than wild horses and if they decide on Saturday that they want a change well naturally I accept that. I hope they don';t. I believe that I present a clearer, stronger alternative to my opponent. I mean on the issue for example of illegal immigration there is already fraying at the edges inside the Labor Party, it';s spilling into the open and in those circumstances there';ll be many Australians who doubt very much that Mr Beazley will maintain, if he becomes Prime Minist will maintain, if he becomes Prime Minister, the support for our policy on illegal arrivals. He's saying that now for the purpose of the election, does anybody really believe that if he were to become Prime Minister with all the internal pressure and people criticising his policy and disagreeing, like Laurie Brereton, does anybody really believe he';d have the strength to maintain that policy for a very long period of time, I';m sure he wouldn';t.
GARDINER:
Mr Howard we';ll let you get to your power walk, thank you very much for joining us on Sunrise this morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ends]