Subjects: Trade; Zimbabwe; privatisation of Sydney Airport; Social and Community Services Award.
E&OE...........
JONES:
Good morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning Alan.
JONES:
Welcome home.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you very much.
JONES:
Goodness me. Look I must add my question I suppose to the queues that are asking when is John Howard going to give it away? I mean he seems to be fitter and fresher than ever.
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm certainly feeling very fit and I';m finding the job very stimulating every day.
JONES:
Do you regret the fact that you made that silly comment 18 months ago?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well to come back to a time honoured phrase of mine I've got nothing to add on that subject.
JONES:
What did Bette Davis say, I'm somewhere between 40 and death.
PRIME MINISTER:
That';s a good line.
JONES:
Now just to two international questions PM because there are domestic issues. How ever can a little outfit like Australia penetrate a European market with $118 billion in agriculture subsidies, America with $300 billion? Have you made any progress?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think there is some possible light at the end of a very long tunnel. What was announced last week if it is accepted by the member countries and that's far from certain particularly when you think of the French, if it is accepted then over time, by the subsidies being paid not in relation to production but as an income support supplement, overtime that could result in lower surpluses being generated inside the European Union and as a result there'll be fewer examples of those surpluses being subsidised for export into third markets thereby competing unfairly with Australian exports into those third markets.
JONES:
Yes I understand that, they pay not according to production but according to how well they care for the rural environment.
PRIME MINISTER:
Exactly. Now that could result in there being less over production in Europe because they'd still be getting the money, the farmers, the European farmers and if that does happen then there'll be lower surpluses for subsidisation for export into third countries and that could overtime be of benefit to a country like Australia. Now there are as you can tell a lot of ifs, buts and maybes but I've got to be honest with people. This is some light at the end of a very long tunnel.
JONES:
Perhaps our only hope or our best hope would you agree is that as central and European states enter the European Union they won't be too happy about having to pay continuing subsidies that so far have been paid by the fifteen other states?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that's right because a country like Poland which is one of the ten to enter, slated for entry in the next couple of years, Poland has a very large farm sector and if the Polish farmers get paid exactly the same as the French and Irish and Greek farmers get paid, and they are three countries that benefit enormously from this policy, then that's going to add in a big way to the bill which is picked up largely by countries like Germany and Britain. So there'll be a lot of pressure on that front. So there's some remote chance after quite a while, I don't want to put it any more strongly than that, but it is better than not looking at reform.
JONES:
Yes Germany dirty. Just one other question and I don't want to dwell too much on this but I mean you're the Chairman of the International Democratic Union, you're also the Commonwealth boss. Can I just ask you again what if anything is being done by an international community that seems to be increasingly gutless in the way in which people are being murdered and brutalised in Zimbabwe?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I have a limited role as Chairman in Office of the Commonwealth in relation to that. Only yesterday I saw the Prime Minister of one of Zimbabwe's closest neighbours, Namibia, and they have a close relationship with the very unacceptable regime in Zimbabwe. I'll be talking in the course of the next week with both the President of Nigeria and the President of South Africa who are the other members of the troika. If we don't get some response from what the Commonwealth troika decided earlier this year from Zimbabwe then countries like Australia have no alternative other than to look at some action on the sanctions front. I don't like sanctions. I was on record years ago as not supporting sanctions in relation to South Africa because I was concerned about their impact on people right down the bottom of the economic ladder. But unless there's some response then the rest of the world has no alternative but to look at this kind of action.
JONES:
Well they weren't as tolerant in Bosnia when all this sort of stuff went on. I mean what's happening is a disgrace. Prime Minister, to come home, it seems to me to have been a policy of your Government to simply sell these airports off to the highest bidders. My own view would be that the $5.6 billion that Nick Minchin accepted for Sydney Airport is too high. The ink is barely dry and now today the beleaguered consumer who sees aviation as a necessity not a privilege finds that the deregulation into airport charges which took place from July 1 has meant open slather. And now, I don't know whether you're aware of this, already domestic aviation charges have gone up by over 100%, international charges 130%, they're talking about charging for taxis to pick people at airports, we're talking about terminal rents going up by 9%, international check-in counters 30%-70%. You're constituents at the end of the day are paying for this. What do you say to these people?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I'd say a couple of things and I don't think the price was too high and from the taxpayers' point of view I would point out that the higher the price the better for the general taxpayer.
JONES:
Well except the taxpayer owned the asset to start with.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes I know but if you're going to sell it isn't it a good idea you get the highest price possible.
JONES:
Well why would you sell it, why did you sell the management rights?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well because the experience all around the world has been that privatised airports get run better. I mean it's not as if we';re Robinson Crusoe in privatising our airports.
JONES:
Look at these charges.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah but Alan can I just point out that the world aviation industry has been under enormous pressure ever since September of last year. There was an absolutely catastrophic fall in the usage of aircraft after that attack.
JONES:
Well if that's the case why would you pay $5.6 billion for an airport?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it may well be that if that attack hadn't have occurred they would have paid a lot more. I don't know. I mean you'd have to ask the financial experts that. But the point I'm making Alan is that a lot of the pressure on airlines, on airports, on all sorts of other things is because patronage is down all around the world. We're not as badly affected as some. We're in fact doing quite well compared to the American airlines. But I mean the United States airlines have retrenched something like 40,000 people. They received a huge bail out from the Bush Administration.
JONES:
Do you think by jacking up ticket prices by $7, $8, $15 you're going to increase patronage?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it depends on the circumstances Alan. There's a whole lot of other charges. The point I'm making to you and I don't run airlines and I don't pretend to know everything about the economics of them, the point I'm making is that the airline industry has been under a lot of pressure and I don't think you can blame the privatisation of Sydney Airport or indeed other airports for these increases.
JONES:
Well [inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I mean there's always an assumption by people who criticise privatisation that if you leave everything in government hands it runs, you know, hummingly, it runs at a very….
JONES:
[inaudible] too badly.
PRIME MINISTER:
….and everything's efficient.
JONES:
But hang on. Prime Minister, we've now got on the public record an admission by Senator Robert Ray that the only reason the Commonwealth Bank was sold by the Labor Government was because they needed budgetary funds. Now that is the perception that exists now. You'll sell stuff….
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that is…I mean don't hold me responsible for what the former Labor Government did. His admission was a cynical admission that, you know, I think it goes very much to their credibility in relation to their opposition to the sale of Telstra. But look we sold the airports, the former government had a similar, because we think it is better for private organisations to run airports with governments regulating safety and air traffic control, those sorts of things. But I mean there are good in our view economic reasons for those airports to be operated by private industry.
JONES:
But Prime Minister there's no economic reason for a poor staff member reading today that now he goes to Sydney Airport he's going to have to increase staff parking charges by 30%. I'll tell you what something's got to give.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well as I said earlier I don't pretend to understand all of the intricacies of the financing of these but I do know that simply by leaving assets like that permanently in government hands doesn't mean that the taxpayer gets a better deal.
JONES:
Could I just come back to something that I wrote to you about way back in May, which is still unresolved. Why won';t you instruct Amanda Vanstone to meet with the people in the world of the disabled who are still shy of up to $69 million from your Government, which Mr Costello, Senator Vanstone and all those people, refuse to pay. The result is that as I speak to you, people are being turfed out of homes in New South Wales. There are people in Western Australia – 243 people in need group home accommodation – they flew to Melbourne. Amanda Vanstone wouldn';t even meet with the parents of these people who are profoundly, intellectually and physically handicapped. We';ve got $5.6 billion for Sydney airport. Can';t we get some $69 million for the disabled.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Alan, in relation to our responsibilities, we did at the last meeting of the Commonwealth and State Ministers, we made an additional offer of $125 million over a period of years and the States have gone away to consider that. We';ve also indicated that in relation to organisations for which we have the total responsibility, that we would increase the amount of money we';re paying to those. In respect of individual meetings, look I don';t know the circumstances. It';s always been my policy and that of my Ministers to meet groups whenever we can and I will talk to Amanda about that particular issue. There may have been a perfectly proper and fair explanation. I don';t want to suggest there wasn';t. But I will take that matter up with her.
JONES:
The Commonwealth share of the SACS Award is $69 million. Now you said in Parliament you wouldn';t let people with disabilities down.
PRIME MINISTER:
I don';t believe that if our offer is accepted…
JONES:
That';s not the answer Prime Minister. Look it';s already underfunded, this area. It';s already underfunded. I';m begging you if I can beg you, to whatever priority you give to spending in your Government, to please look at the plight of disabled people. There are 243 people in Western Australia whose parents can';t handle their disability and Amanda Vanstone doesn';t want to talk to them.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I will particularly raise that incident with her. As I say there, I';m not accepting that she is insensitive to them. I have never found her to be an insensitive person. But I will talk to her about that. And I am concerned about this. I mean to deliver on what I said in Parliament. We did put an offer on the table. We do believe that if that offer is accepted and matched by the States, then the problem can be properly addressed.
JONES:
I don';t think you';re being properly advised here Prime Minister. That is not true. That is not true. The SACS Award hasn';t yet been funded. The States have paid their money.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well when you say that, no it hasn';t. I mean, we have as part of a resolution of the issue, we have said we will contribute an additional $125 million provided the States contribute on a pro rata basis. They have gone away to consider that offer.
JONES:
Can I check that out, and I';ll come back to you.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes.
JONES:
We';re going to be beaten for time but I just want to leave you with this because you';re not an uncaring person. And today we wake up to find out that on any one night last year, more than 26,000 people between the ages of 12 and 18 were homeless. What does Government do about that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there are a lot of things Governments can do about that. I mean some people are homeless through…
JONES:
Let me leave you to consider it and we';ll talk again. And I';m going to go to the News.
PRIME MINISTER:
I';d be very happy to talk about that.
JONES:
I would like to.
PRIME MINISTER:
It';s not something that you can give us…
JONES:
I';ll go to the News and we';ll come back and talk to you. Not today, on another occasion. Thanks Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[Ends]