E&OE……………………………………………………………………………………
Ladies and gentlemen, I have a number of announcements to make but can I first report that after the memorial service the Heads of Government of the States and Territories and I signed the Inter-governmental Agreement on counter terrorism and security matters. This was a document that was originally slated for signature at the COAG meeting on the 29th but we decided to bring it forward given that we were all going to be together. This measure brings together the combined administrative arrangements of the Commonwealth and the States and will provide a far more effective method of dealing with security and terrorism matters.
Under the agreement there is a National Counter Terrorism Committee and I've asked that committee to prepare for the COAG meeting on the 29th of November a joint Commonwealth-State officials report on additional methods that can be adopted in cooperation between the Commonwealth and the States to enhance security and counter terrorism measures, recognising that cooperative effort between both levels of government is necessary.
I could also, though, moving on from that, make two specific announcements. The first is, pursuant to the review of counter terrorist and security capacity that I ordered after the 12th of October and the measures I am about to announce are very much the first instalment of responses coming out of that review. These new measures build on the very substantial improvements to our counter terrorism capability that were announced as part of this year's budget and when we committed an additional $1.4 billion over 5 years.
The Government is very strongly committed to ensuring that Australia has every tool it needs to prosecute individuals who engage in heinous crimes like those in Bali. And in order to ensure that Australia can effectively cooperate with the broadest range of countries in bringing such people to justice, including through mutual legal assistance and extradition on the basis of dual criminality for murder, the Government is introducing an extra-territorial murder offence which may form the basis of cooperation in this and other cases where Australians have been victims of atrocities abroad. This new legislation will be additional to the existing offences relating to terrorism in the nature of the Bali bombings that already have extra-territorial effect. And this legislation establishing the extra-territorial murder offence will have retrospective operation from the 1st of October.
We're also going to establish a standing reward of up to half a million dollars in addition to the $2 million reward announced specifically in relation to the Bali bombing for anyone providing information leading to the conviction of a person for an indictable offence contained in our counter-terrorism legislation.
In addition, we have taken the following decisions. We're going to provide the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs with extra funding of $12.3 million over 5 years to employ additional Airline Liaison officers. These are people who assist in identifying and countering document fraud and strengthening our visa security arrangements which are designed to let us know who is entering the country.
We're going to provide an extra $15 million over 4 years to the Australian Customs Service to assist in the detection of fraudulent travel documents. We're going to further enhance, through more resources, the capabilities of ASIO and ASIS to respond to the terrorism threat. We're going to expand the Air security officer programme as a matter of priority to include selected international flights. Air security officers have been operating on domestic flights since December of last year and we're going to provide an extra $31.7 million over 5 years to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to increase physical security at Australia's overseas posts.
Counter-terrorism prevention of and response to terrorist incidents is a shared Commonwealth-State responsibility and that's why the signing of the agreement today and the referral to the committee established under that agreement is a very important step towards further entrenching a very high level of cooperation that already exists. And there's one administrative change that I've decided upon and that is to ensure that the Commonwealth optimises its arrangements for strong policy coordination between the Commonwealth, the States and the Territories. I've asked my Department to take over the lead role for counter-terrorism policy coordination. The Attorney-General's Department will continue to have responsibility for operational coordination on all of these issues.
I am releasing a statement which contains the details of the announcements I've made in this area and that will be available immediately, or as soon as the conference is over, in accordance with the normal efficiency of my Press Office.
The other announcement relates to the issue of gun control. I did indicate that I would put on the agenda for this meeting the issue of gun control and I have, in fact, given the State Premiers and the Chief Ministers a set of proposals which will very significantly, if adopted, very significantly tighten the handgun laws of this country. They will provide a justifiable carve-out, if I can put it that way, for legitimate sporting shooting pursuits subject to some carefully designed guidelines. I should stress that at this stage these proposals are the Commonwealth's proposals.
The reaction I had from the States was very positive but I’m not saying that they endorse the proposals but I had quite a positive response. And one or two of the States indicated that they had proposals in mind that were very similar to what is contained in the Commonwealth document and the proposal is attached to the separate news release that you'll also receive dealing with this issue.
The challenge of handgun control is one that, I believe, should be met by all of the governments of Australia. The public demands that more be done to control the proliferation of handguns. We have won very significant dividends from the controls enacted after the Port Arthur disaster and I believe over time, if we have the determination and the unity to act together, that we can achieve similar dividends in relation to handgun control. And essentially what I am proposing is that we make allowance for Commonwealth and Olympic Games and similar events, that weapons destined for police, security or military use, and apart from that, all other classes of handguns should be banned nationwide. And we also propose in this document some additional measures regarding storage, regarding the tests that people must meet. It is self-evident from some of the material that has been around that whatever may be the formal requirements now, in order to get handgun licenses in practice, the tests are not very rigorously enforced. That appears to be part of the problem.
Now, I want this issue to be handled on a bipartisan basis. I think there's a lot of support on both sides of the National Parliament for tighter gun laws. And the impression I had today was that the State Premiers were supportive of tightening the laws. And we are going to establish an advisory committee from the Sporting Shooters Movement so that we can work with them to ensure that their legitimate concerns are met and we've already had some extensive discussions, or Chris Ellison has, with the Sporting Shooters. I believe it's possible to legitimately accommodate their position but by the same token dramatically tighten the handgun laws. Now, we need the cooperation of the States on this, it's State law, but we are putting forward a proposal. The idea is that this will go to the Police Ministers and, indeed, any other proposals the States might have - they're meeting on the 5th of November - and then their report will go to the COAG meeting for endorsement by Heads of Government on the 29th of November. And I’m very hopeful that we can really achieve something quite big in this area. The public wants it. Our responsibility as Governments requires that we do it and I was very encouraged with the generally positive response of the Premiers, but quite naturally I didn't expect them to endorse a bit of paper they hadn't seen until I'd passed it around, they're naturally going to go away and have a look at it.
The only other I would like to mention ladies and gentleman is that at 4.00 this afternoon, I'll be leaving to go to the APEC meeting in New Mexico. And I there, of course, be meeting regional leaders including President Megawati, who I spoke to again by phone yesterday afternoon to thank her for the cooperation that has thus far been extended in relation to the joint investigation. I'll also have the opportunity of seeing President Bush and other APEC leaders. It's an important meeting particularly coming in the wake of the Bali outrage and it will be an opportunity to reinforce the commitment of nations in the region to the fight against terror.
JOURNALIST:
Why are we introducing the extra territorial murder offence? I mean, what does it do? What does it mean?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it's really a backup in case, for whatever reason, somebody wasn't prosecuted under Indonesian law. It's a reinforcement.
JOURNALIST:
How does that work in [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, what it means is that another country might be willing to allow somebody to be tried in Australia.
JOURNALIST:
…contradiction Prime Minister, that when Australia's signed up to the international criminal court [inaudible] asserting the primacy, asserting the [inaudible] jurisdiction if they can be tried into Australia, but you want this legislation…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, that has not occurred to me and I think in the current circumstances, I don't think it will occur to many Australians either.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, on handguns - Did you [inaudible] supporting shooters under this proposal who are not yet at the Commonwealth or Olympic Games level, who might argue that they would never be able to get to that level if they can't…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I think if you have a look at the proposal, it says here restricting classes of legal handguns to those meetings sporting shooter classifications for the Commonwealth and Olympic Games and similar events…
JOURNALIST:
Does that mean you can train under…?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, obviously if your training for these events, I mean self evidently, you have to be…I mean, you don't go from not being able to shoot to being competent enough to compete at the Commonwealth Games. I mean, that's self evidently the case.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, you proposed a buy-back or compensation, would that require a levy [inaudible] to the States?
PRIME MINISTER:
I doubt it very much. I don't think the amount of money required would involve that. I don't see the need for a levy, no. But proposing that it'd be shared jointly between the Commonwealth and the States, I mean, this is a predominantly State jurisdiction, isn't it? But we're prepared to, because of the great national interest involved, we're prepared to come to the party half way.
JOURNALIST:
…ballpark figure?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, they'd be pretty spongy at the moment. There are a lot of estimates to what the value of these on a certain market would be. My suspicion is, and I'm no expert in this area, but my suspicion is that it will be nothing like the long arm buy-back because the weapons involved will be no where near as expensive.
JOURNALIST:
…putting into ASIS and ASIO, which…in terms of dollars? And have you completed your consideration of whether there should be a reorganisation of…?
PRIME MINISTER:
There's more to come, Laura. This is very much a first instalment, I want to emphasise that, very much a first instalment.
JOURNALIST:
Will you be outlining…?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'll be providing…, there's more to come.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, in relation to sporting shooters that still meet your new criteria still allowed to have guns, will they be allowed to take their guns home or will they have to keep them locked up?
PRIME MINISTER:
These are issues that we have to work our way through and it's one of the reasons why I'm going to establish an advisory council of sporting shooters, so they can sit down with the Government and work our way through these things.
JOURNALIST:
Do you have an initial position?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh look, I have some views on that. But I don't think there's any point in just shooting the breeze on the subject at the moment.
JOURNALIST:
…would that enable say someone who might be a political problem for another country who may…?
PRIME MINISTER:
I would never put it…what I'm saying is that if for whatever reason somebody were not tried then by the authorities in another country then they could be here.
JOURNALIST:
Do you have the support of the National Party for your stand on handguns?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm sure that the Government parties will support what we end up doing. There are many people in the National Party who are just as concerned about the gunmen as are members of the Liberal Party - you shouldn’t see it in those terms. The public is alarmed at the proliferation of handguns and they want their governments to do something about it. They also accept that there are a lot of people who are legitimate sporting shooters who are law-abiding citizens like you and I, and they really want us to sit down and work something out that accommodates both goals and I'm sure we can do it.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
I beg your pardon.
JOURNALIST:
Which of the two States you mentioned had similar proposals?
PRIME MINISTER:
The two States?
JOURNALIST:
You said the two States have roughly, have indicated they had roughly similar proposals.
PRIME MINISTER:
Did I say two, did I?
JOURNALIST:
Well, you said a couple.
JOURNALIST:
I think they put proposals down didn't they?
JOURNALIST:
Didn't two States put proposals forward today?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, one of the State Premiers indicated that he had a set of proposals and that was Mr Bracks. And I think one of the others said he might have some proposals too, I forget now.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, on terrorism - what's your thinking on the proposals that a couple of Premiers put forward that defence forces should be more available to protect, particularly energy production areas in Australia, in the light of the terrorism threat?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm prepared to look at any proposal that a State Premier puts forward. And you know, we'll all be part of the consideration because when something like we've been through occurs, you have to be willing to look at things you wouldn't have previously looked at. But I want to make it plain that the civilian police function is a matter for State police forces and I'm not going to have a situation where the ordinary civilian police role is taken over by the military. I mean, that is not Australia and it won't ever be Australia as far as I'm concerned. I mean, the police are the police and the miliary are the military. But there are a few areas where the two seem to dissolve into each other and we're happy to look at that.
JOURNALIST:
You said they'd be security officers on selected…
PRIME MINISTER:
International?
JOURNALIST:
Yes. How will determine which flights and from which countries?
PRIME MINISTER:
We'll keep that to ourselves.
JOURNALIST:
How will you determine it then?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, in the right way.
JOURNALIST:
Just explain the detail [inaudible] murder law, if someone overseas, they'd have to be extradited back here? We couldn't sort of sneak over and grab them or anything like that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, no.
JOURNALIST:
What if you didn't have an extradition treaty…?
PRIME MINISTER:
I mean, there's consequences like…
JOURNALIST:
Is this the extent of your review of terrorism laws or is there a…
PRIME MINISTER:
No this is a first instalment. I mean this is very much the first cut and I hope you understand the relevance of the proposal in relation to the extra-territorial murder offence.
JOURNALIST:
How did it feel this morning at the national service?
PRIME MINISTER:
I was very moved. I had spent some three-quarters of an hour with the families here. I invited them all to come here beforehand for a cup of tea and I invited Mr Anderson and Mr Crean and their wives to come around as well, and we spent quite a lot of time with them. And I hope it was of some comfort to them. I believe it was. I certainly had that in mind when we were putting together the service and I thought it was a fitting service. It recognised the role of the Balinese people and recognised the different religious and cultural background of the country in which these people were murdered, and it was also a service very much in a interdenominational Australian tradition. And I thought the Bishop preached a very fine homily.
JOURNALIST:
The fathers of one of the victims, John Iliffe, was very upset because he says he didn’t get an invitation to the service.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes I’ve been told about that and I’ve investigated and I’ve been informed that his family was in fact invited and I’m told that his son declined the invitation. Now I can’t, I mean I don’t know more than that but I can assure you that the family was invited.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, Mr Carr calls for a lowering of the threshold where defence forces were called out to guard key installations. I mean, does your melding of police and military introduce a situation where key institutions could be permanently guarded by the military?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I’ve said that I’ll have a look at what he said and I’m not going to go further than that. I’m not going to go any further than that.
JOURNALIST:
Do you handgun measures also include any boost to Customs there, because a number of Premiers said today that…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there have already been a lot of additional resources put the way of Customs. I mean they’re now up to 100% x-raying of parcels and you’re getting a very high percentage of container x-ray and more measures are coming into operation in that area towards the end of the year. I’m not saying we can’t do more but we have already given Customs an enormous boost in that area.
JOURNALIST:
What do you think of Mr Carr’s suggestions that guns are coming in through [inaudible] borders?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don’t think it’s in the degree that he suggests, I really don’t. But let me say this – I want to work with the States on this issue and my advice equally with respect to them is that if we work together we can together achieve a very good outcome for the public. I’m not saying it’s all their fault and equally none of them should suggest it’s sort of our fault either. I mean it’s a joint challenge for us. There is no one single unambiguous receptacle of constitutional power so you’ve got to work together.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister generally, have you been happy with the level or the effect of your earlier gun laws in keeping down the sort of attacks…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there is already independent evidence that the gun laws that came out of Port Arthur have reduced the gun related homicide rate in Australia – very clear evidence of that. It’s independent. It came out of that study that was very extensively covered in The Australian some weeks ago. It was a study carried out by an Australian at an American University I think. It indicated what I believed to be the case, that we’re making progress.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible] gun buy back start by the end of the year if it’s agreed at COAG in November?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I’d want it to start as soon as possible.
JOURNALIST:
Brendan Nelson is reported today – he wants schools to start raising the flag every morning and singing the anthem again across the country. Do you support that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes. Very much so. It should never have stopped. Thank you.
[ends]