Subjects: Drought; Farm Management Deposits; Exceptional Circumstances; RAAF storage depot.
E&OE...........
DE KROO:
Hello, is that John Howard?
PRIME MINISTER:
Speaking.
DE KROO:
Hi. Welcome to our area. It';s Leo here at 2DU.
PRIME MINISTER:
How are you Leo?
DE KROO:
I am very, very well. And what are your first impressions? You';re at Cobar at the moment.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it';s as bleak and despairing, as far as the impact of the drought is concerned, as I expected. The other impression I have is the extraordinary resilience and determination and sense of optimism of farmers, despite everything they have been through and are going through and potentially face. They are remarkably resilient people.
DE KROO:
John, as you travel through you';re also going to Gunnedah and so forth. What do you think will come out of this? Any changes, any announcements you';re making today for instance?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I';ll be making a couple of small announcements to provide some additional assistance in certain areas. I';ll be announcing a change to the operation of the Farm Management Deposits scheme so that anybody who has deposited money in that and who is in an EC area and has to pull it out in less than 12 months, will be entitled to retain the benefits of the scheme as if the money had remained for a year. And there are several other small initiatives that I';ll be announcing which provide some additional assistance, but as for longer term, more comprehensive measures, one of the purposes of coming here today and some other trips I will make to areas that have been affected, will be to get an assessment for myself to supplement what I';m being told by the Deputy Prime Minister and others who are very much in touch with these areas about things that we might do in the longer term. We are already doing a great deal. I mean the conservative estimate we have of EC is about $360 million it will cost this year and next year to fund the EC applications that have been made and are likely to be made in the future. That';s a conservative estimate but if it turns out to be more expensive or more comprehensive and there are more EC areas declared, then it will obviously go much higher than that.
DE KROO:
John, one of the things that I think a lot of people feel, and I feel very strongly – this business about the Federal and the State Governments. There are a number of things here. Not just with the drought and our education, transport and the list goes on, where we';ve sort of had to go through too many different departments. I mean…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I suppose if we were starting Australia all over again, we';d only have… we mightn';t have State Governments. But we';re not starting Australia all over again. We';ve got to deal with the present system we have and we';ve all got to deal with history. And we have a State Government, we have Local Government, we have the Federal Government, and we';ve got to try and make the system work. I think we do have a lot of layers of Government in this country.
DE KROO:
We do, and it wastes…
PRIME MINISTER:
You can';t change that overnight.
DE KROO:
But can it be changed?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I don';t think people are going to eliminate one layer of Government but I';ll leave that for somebody else to argue the cause of. I want to [inaudible] some benefits in my lifetime.
DE KROO:
Okay. Look I tell you what…
PRIME MINISTER:
By my say so too. Look my philosophy about these things is that the public is not interested in hearing arguments between State and Federal Governments.
DE KROO:
No, but they take time. Now that';s the problem.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well they do. And I mean the way the Exceptional Circumstances scheme works at the moment, we provide almost all the money for that and make the ultimate decisions, but under the system at the moment we can';t give Exceptional Circumstances until we get an application from the State Governments. Now, that';s a pretty unwieldy system in many respects and I don';t know that there isn';t a case for altering it in some way. But the important thing at the moment is to make the present system work for people affected by this drought. And we have decided that when we get an EC application, as soon as it';s gone in, providing there';s a prima facie case – in other words it';s not a bogus application, we don';t expect to get any of those – then we will immediately start paying the welfare assistance and then later on if the declaration is made, then the other assistance, the business assistance which is really interest rate subsidies, that begins to kick in.
DE KROO:
This is what I just would like to cover with you if I could, because farming has changed a lot over the years. More and more contractors are being used when you think of harvest and so forth. Now these people at the moment are not being assisted in retaining their gear. A farmer will end up with a home and his farm generally, and I guess you';ve been made aware also that we are now seeing a lot of suicides, a very serious side of this as well.
PRIME MINISTER:
I have been aware of that and John Anderson has spoken to me on a number of occasions about that and it is one of the tragic human consequences of something like this.
DE KROO:
But if we declare this a national disaster, then there would be loans available would there not, at a cheaper rate for these people? They';re not after handouts. You know, they want to be able to access cheaper loans to retain their… I know of a number of them we';ve spoken to…
PRIME MINISTER:
I mean you don';t need to have a… you';re talking about declaring a natural disaster. That is a sort of an illusory alternative. You can provide any assistance you wish to a particular area that is affected by something like a drought. I mean the Exceptional Circumstances provides welfare assistance, it provides business assistance – that';s interest rate subsidies, and if the Government decides that the circumstances require the granting of other assistance, it can give it. I mean we did that in relation to parts of New South Wales following the very severe floods of late 2000 and early 2001. We provided a lot of assistance to allow people I think to replant their crops. I think we gave many of those people cash grants. I mean Governments, depending on the circumstances, can do any number of things. You don';t need a sort of a magical description of a natural disaster.
DE KROO:
Okay. John, just finally if I may – being a live local station here, we push very much for regional issues and so forth. Now when you were here last time, you actually walked through the RAAF storage depot here.
PRIME MINISTER:
Big hangar.
DE KROO:
Exactly. Now there has been a lot of talk about this, and on the 6th of December – in fact the final submissions – now, the Defence Department has decided that they want money for it. Could you look into this and just change their mind because you';re the top man. Now in Sydney the harbour foreshores are being handed back to people. Here we have to actually pay to get something back we gave the Federal Government many years ago.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I remember the argument was put to me then, a couple of years ago I think it was. And you say the final submissions are being made on the 6th of December.
DE KROO:
This is for expression of interest for people to buy it. You definitely want to sell it. I';m saying – give it to us. You know, it was ours in the beginning.
PRIME MINISTER:
A lot of people are saying as I go around the country, will we please give things. You talk about the Harbour foreshores. There is some development taking place there. I mean it';s not the completely simple handover that you speak of. However I understand the submission you';re making. I';m not going to do other at this stage than promise that I will consider what you have said. I can';t promise that we';re going to alter the policy we now have. I will think about it but we…
DE KROO:
It';s only a couple of million to you.
PRIME MINISTER:
We';re talking here of everybody says only a couple of million. I understand that. You';re talking here about the Defence Department and we have enormous demand from the Defence budget at the present time and I just can';t on the run make a commitment.
DE KROO:
Oh no, no. I just wanted to make you aware.
PRIME MINISTER:
But I will certainly consider and bear in mind what you have put.
DE KROO:
Good on you. Well John, thank you very much for your time and welcome to our area. It';s the best part of the country you';re in. And we look forward to a chat some time in the future.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks a lot.
[ends]