Subjects: Liberal Leaders'; meeting; New South Wales & Victorian State elections; home ownership taskforce; Iraq; Mal Brough';s comments.
E&OE...........
PRIME MINISTER:
Ladies and gentlemen, I can report to you that we';ve had a very productive meeting this morning of all State, Federal and Territorial Liberal Party leaders throughout Australia. It has been an opportunity to review the national political environment as well as the political environment in each of the States and Territories. We have discussed some of the challenges facing the Liberal Party organisation in different parts of Australia. We';ve naturally focused on the upcoming elections, both likely to be held… certainly in New South Wales in March of next year and strongly rumoured in Victoria before the end of the year.
Let me say speaking as the Federal Liberal Party leader as well as Prime Minister, I will be giving my strong support to both John Brogden and Robert Doyle in those upcoming contests. Speaking in relation to New South Wales, I believe the Carr Government has become increasingly arrogant. There is a growing mood in the state of New South Wales for a change of Government. I believe in the case of Victoria that the people of Victoria have responded very strongly to the change of Liberal Party leadership in that State and Robert';s campaign will have my very strong and active involvement and support. I mention those two states, not to indicate for a moment that the fortunes of the Liberal Party in the other States and Territories aren';t important, but because elections are certainly due in New South Wales on the 22nd of March and in Victoria, as I say, very strongly rumoured for a date before Christmas, perhaps the 30th of November or the 7th of December.
We also discussed a number of joint policy initiatives and one in particular I want to announce is that we';re going to establish a taskforce to be supported at a Secretariat level by the Menzies Research Centre to have it remit the development of new initiatives in relation to home ownership. The taskforce will be charged specifically to look at three particular propositions.
Firstly, innovative approaches to reduce the cost of home ownership through new financing partnership arrangements, and partnership arrangement would involve the joint acquisition of a property by a person to occupy and own in a traditional sense the property and a financial institution where the two participants would share the equity in the property, and if it were sold then the home owner would enjoy a proportionate gain out of the increase in the value of the property. This would be, I believe, particularly attractive to younger people wanting to enter the housing market in high cost areas of Australia, not only, but in particular, the larger cities such as Sydney and Melbourne.
The second part of the remit would be a new approach to the provision of public housing assistance through changes to the way assistance is delivered through the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement, including through the use of more private sector finance and also a series of proposals regarding the challenges of outer metropolitan living which have arisen from consultations conducted on my behalf by Jackie Kelly, my Parliamentary Secretary who has particular responsibility for these areas. Now this is a taskgroup, as I say, that will be supported by the Menzies Research Centre and some further details of that will be advised shortly.
Can I conclude these opening remarks by saying that it has been a very productive meeting. We do face the unusual challenge of having a Federal Liberal Government accompanied by eight State and Territory Labor Governments. As the Federal Parliamentary Liberal Leader it is not a situation that I want to continue for any longer than the next available State election and I will be giving all of my assistance to each of my colleagues as their electoral challenges come along. And we';ve had a very candid discussion this morning. I think it';s been a very valuable gathering and I thank all of my colleagues for coming here.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, what does John Brogden need to do to win in New South Wales?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think John Brogden should continue to do what he has been doing very successfully, and that is bringing a new energy and commitment to the Opposition here in New South Wales, running very hard on law and order issues and on health issues, and also highlighting the arrogance of the Carr Government. Every sign is there, I mean from the symbolic disdain of reading a German text in State Parliament to the presumption that a State Premier can propose the hosting of a major international sporting event in this country without even bothering to involve the Federal Government.
JOURNALIST:
Does he have a hopeless task overturning a political [inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
I think he has a big challenge but to suggest that any task is hopeless in today';s political environment is absurd. I think the Opposition in New South Wales is being energetic, it is being realistic and it is running on issues that relate to people. I mean I';ve been somebody who was born and grown up in the city of Sydney and I know it well, and as I move around people want change. They wanted a strong, viable alternative Opposition. They';ve got it. I think the Liberal and the National Party is working together, they';re both working together very effectively. I think the Party organisation in New South Wales has got its act together. A lot of the difficulties of the past are in the past and I don';t say this idly and just for the surface appearance of Party unity – that';s not the case at all. There is a new mood in Sydney towards the State Liberal Party and I';ll be doing everything I can to accelerate the process.
JOURNALIST:
Arthur Sinodinos was reported today as being rather more pessimistic about Mr Brogden';s chances.
PRIME MINISTER:
No that report was wrong.
JOURNALIST:
What do you think of Mr Brogden';s policy of moving towards mandatory minimum sentencing in New South Wales?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I support it. It';s excellent. But he might want to add to it. It';s his policy.
JOURNALIST:
Your announcement on this home ownership [inaudible] would appear to be sort of focused towards the high cost of housing in Sydney. It';s a pretty big leg up for Mr Brogden, isn';t it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well if you like to interpret it that way, that';s fine. I';m in the business of helping my State colleagues. But there is a social need to try and reinforce the importance of home ownership. I mean home ownership is a central Liberal faith. It always has been and we have to find ways of continually renewing it and if this is a way – the investigations will obviously throw up some challenges and hurdles - and at this stage we';re looking at the proposal. We haven';t committed ourselves to it, but I think you all know how hard it is for people in high priced housing areas of Australia to get your foot on the bottom rung of the ladder and if this is a way of it occurring, well good. And I';m happy to have the proposal investigated.
JOURNALIST:
Would these proposals include perhaps getting access to superannuation to help contribute to…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that particular part of it is not something that we have looked at this morning. We haven't got into that level of specificity but the taskforce will undoubtedly have an opportunity of looking at all of that.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, using your own words there, I guess what a lot of people are wondering is is this intended to give a leg up to John Brogden?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well what I say in answer to that is that if it helps the Liberal Party in New South Wales, I';m delighted. But this is designed to help all people, whether they vote Labor or Liberal. And if in the process it encourages more people to the Liberal Party banner, well that';s terrific. Isn';t it?
JOURNALIST:
Is the idea of joint acquisition, is that an admission that the Australian dream of total home ownership is over?
PRIME MINISTER:
No it';s not. It';s just a recognition of reality, that there is a social gain and there is a social good in private property ownership, and that is as I say a central Liberal faith and if we can give fresh meaning to it in 2002 well all to the better.
BROGDEN:
Can I just add that for many it would be a transitory process. If you take a couple, say in their mid 20s, they might seek to purchase a home in this joint arrangement, stay there for five years, home or a unit – stay there for five years, move out of that arrangement, receive the profit from the property price increase over that period and then buy their own home alone. So for many people it will be a transitory arrangement that actually gets them, as John Howard said, on to the bottom rung of the ladder and then eventually they can see it as a way of getting into the property market in Sydney. And also I think for many people it ensures the discipline of paying off a mortgage at a young age. So we all as State Leaders have received this warmly and we welcome the research that will be done in order to provide more opportunities for people to get into the housing market.
JOURNALIST:
Can I just make it clear – your Chief of Staff was misquoted in that article, was he?
PRIME MINISTER:
My Chief of Staff was misquoted in that article. He just made an observation that bore in no way upon the performance of the Liberal Party. He didn';t mention them in New South Wales.
JOURNALIST:
Did he give Mr Carr a glowing reference?
PRIME MINISTER:
No. You';ve got to be joking.
JOURNALIST:
Can I just ask you to comment on Donald Rumsfeld';s comments to the US Congress when he said that a number of the allies of the United States had given private undertakings to support a military action against Iraq.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I haven';t seen what he said but I would only repeat that we have made no advance commitment. We have, as I';ve repeatedly said, because of our close alliance with the United States, we';ve had people inside the American military setup for some time now and are therefore very aware of and very much abreast of American military thinking, not only on Iraq but also otherwise. But there has been no decision taken by the United States administration and there has been no commitment made by this Government to commit military forces to a strike against Iraq.
JOURNALIST:
Publicly or privately?
PRIME MINISTER:
Publicly or privately.
JOURNALIST:
Even though Australia is one of the United States'; best allies on this issue?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I mean you can ask me the question any way you like. We haven';t been asked to contribute and we haven';t therefore given any commitment. I';ve said before that I thought it likely that if America is involved in military action, that we will be requested. I';ve made no bones about that. I said that two months ago. But a request has not been received because no final American decision has been made. Obviously the Americans have involved themselves in contingency planning and clearly our own placement of people inside the American military structure means that we are aware of that and abreast of it and conscious of it. But the American administration has not made any final decision on this and I was informed of that as recently as last Saturday week when I spoke to President Bush.
JOURNALIST:
But if Donald Rumsfeld was saying that allies have made private undertakings, wouldn';t it be odd that they wouldn';t ask Australia as well?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don';t know what Donald Rumsfeld has said. This is the first I';ve heard of it, and with no disrespect to you, I';ll make my own assessment of what he said. But I can only repeat to you that we have received no request from the American administration to contribute military forces because we know it to be the case that they have not made any final decision on this issue.
JOURNALIST:
What about a request to support the United States if the UN fails to make a resolution to endorse military action?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I can only repeat what I';ve said.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, Mal Brough has said that no one needs to…
PRIME MINISTER:
Who? Mal Brough? Sorry, I thought we were talking about Iraq. I';m sorry.
JOURNALIST:
He said no one needs to retire at 64, you included.
PRIME MINISTER:
I don';t have anything to add to what I';ve previously said on that subject.
JOURNALIST:
What do you think generally about people staying at work for longer?
PRIME MINISTER:
I have spoken earlier generally about that issue but because you have made the mistake of relating it particularly to me, I don';t have anything to add to what I';ve previously said on the subject.
JOURNALIST:
Can we perhaps ask the other Liberal leaders what their views are?
BROGDEN:
I';m happy to confirm that if I';m still Premier of New South Wales at 64, I';ll retire.
PRIME MINISTER:
Okay, thank you.
[ends]